•  "Prime" grades are heavily marbled, making them high in saturated fatty acids.

•  When choosing hamburger, look for the medium-to-deep color that signifies a low-fat content (a light pink color is a warning that excess fat has been ground in with the meat). Ground beef should contain no more than 15 percent fat. Or buy ground round, which is usually very lean. Better yet, select a well-trimmed piece of steak, lean stewing beef or lean chuck roast, and ask the butcher to grind it for you.

•  Liver, brains, kidney and sweetbreads are high in cholesterol and should be limited or omitted.

•  Select lean pork such as tenderloin, loin chops, center-cut ham (fresh and cured) and Canadian bacon.

•  All cuts of veal are lean except veal cutlets (ground or cubed) and breast. Examples of lean veal are chops and roast.

•  The lean cuts of lamb are leg, arm and loin.

•  Some wild game, such as venison, rabbit, squirrel and pheasant, are very lean; duck and goose are not.

•  Processed meats should be eaten only if they contain no more than 10 percent fat or 3 grams fat per ounce. Many processed meats (luncheon meats, wieners) and sausage are high in saturated fatty acids.

•  You will often see the words "lean" and "extra lean" used to designate beef, lamb and pork that have less trimmable fat (fat surrounding the meat) and sometimes less marbling. "Lean" means a 100 g or 3 1/3 oz. serving of meat, poultry, seafood or game meats contain less than 10 g of fat, no more than 4.5 g of saturated fat and less than 95 mg of cholesterol. "Extra lean" means a 100 g or 3 1/3 oz. serving of meat, poultry, seafood or game meat contains less than 5 g of fat, less than 2 g of saturated fat and less than 95 mg of cholesterol.

Remember, for balanced eating, you need some protein foods every day. Buy fish, chicken, turkey and lean meats more often than fatty beef, lamb, pork and ham, which contain more saturated fat and consequently less meat per pound.

Fish
•  Fish is low in sodium, and it generally contains less saturated fat than red meat and about the same (or slightly less) cholesterol. For a cholesterol-lowering diet, this gives fish a slight edge over lean red meat and a definite edge over fatty red meat. That's why it's often recommended that fish be eaten two or three times a week.

•  All fresh and frozen fish are good selections, as is tuna canned in water or rinsed. Uncreamed or smoked herring and sardines, canned in tomato sauce or rinsed, are good choices.

•  Shrimp, lobster, crab, crayfish and most other shellfish are very low in fat. But ounce for ounce, some varieties contain more sodium and cholesterol than do poultry, meat or other fish. Even these can be eaten occasionally within the recommended guidelines of less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day.

•  Some fish have omega-3 fatty acids, which may help lower the level of triglyceride (a blood fat). Some fish high in omega-3 fatty acids are: Atlantic and coho salmon, albacore tuna, mackerel, carp, lake whitefish, sweet smelt, and lake and brook trout.

Poultry
•  Fresh poultry is a favorite choice of many people on cholesterol-lowering diets.

•  Since a great deal of the fat in poultry is in the skin, removing the skin greatly reduces the fat content.

•  Select chicken, cornish hens or turkey for your entree.

•  Avoid goose, duck and processed poultry products, which are high in saturated fatty acids.

•  Stay away from self-basting turkeys, because commercial basting fats are highly saturated. Even when the turkey is basted in broth, the broth is usually high in sodium. It's much better to baste your own turkey with an unsalted broth.