First of all, don't listen to the SOY munchers here. They are totally ignorant of what soy is and what it does to the human body. If you are interested in an in-depth study, read the book called "The Whole Soy Story." It is very well written and well documented. Tofu was developed to cause monks to lose their libido and it works. The only soy you should consider eating is what the Japanese eat, fermented soy --- soy sauce and miso. Basically, soy is loaded with toxic elements and damages the body. It is so loaded with goitrogens that even the drug companies warn you NOT to eat soy when taking Synthroid or other thyroid lower hormones because it cancels the effects of those drugs and slows the thyroid down. Soy inhibits the absorption of minerals and in particular, iron (more than 50%) and this is why so many vegetarians are anemic, along with the lack of vitamin B-12. Additionally, soy has a high infinity for the heavy metal, Aluminum and this ends up in your thyroid gland. High cholesterol is troublesome, but you need to have your doctor check your coronary calcium to really know what is going on with your heart and arteries. Low Fat, High Carb, no red meat is not a good idea. Your heart, for instance, uses fat for energy to run. A great example of people who eat huge amounts of saturated fats compared to Americans are the Inuit (Eskimos). They eat nothing but wild animals and wild fish for 9 months out of the year and do not get heart disease, diabetes, cavities, etc. that Americans do. In fact, if you look at cultures around the world that are healthy, they don't eat vegetable oils, high carb diets, and lots of refined sugars and white flour. Go to the web site: www.westonaprice.org Read about Dr. Price who, in the 1930's traveled around the entire world examining various people in these cultures and their diets. He found NO cavities, NO heart disease, NO diabetes, and NO degenerative diseases that we have in modern cultures today. In fact, many villages and cultures had NO doctors because they didn't need them! If you want to be healthy, you need to study those people's diets rather than listening to the "hired guns" of the food industry they are calling them "food experts." What a joke. What they are recommending is ludicrous. They site studies that have been funded by large corporations with an agenda. The soy industry is spending billions on advertising and promoting that garbage. It reduces costs for manufacturers and poisons people. Truly amazing. A very good read is Elaine Hollingsworth's work on the soy problem. She has done extensive research and has actual case histories of problems directly related to soy intake. 85% of the cholesterol in your body is made in your liver. All of the steroid hormones used by organs in your body rely on cholesterol, including the sex hormones and the thyroid hormones. No wonder Viagra is so popular. The role of cholesterol is to strengthen the arteries. Many of the cholesterol problems come from organs, like the liver, gall bladder, and pancreas that are not functioning properly, as well as diet. A great test is to take a cod liver oil capsule and see if you burp it. If you do, these organs are not digesting it well. Much of the cholesterol problem starts with bad digestion. You also need to look at your blood sugar regulation first. If this is out of whack, you can't even begin to address the endocrine issues that allow you to fix the digestive organs relating to bile and cholesterol problems. The high carb, low fat, no red meat diets are very destructive for many reasons and blood sugar issues is one of them. Especially eliminate all Soybean, Canola, Cottonseed, and Corn oils because these are very unstable polyunsaturated oils that go rancid very easily and when heated even slightly polymerize from the "cis" configuration to the "trans" configuration and become TRANS FATS! You should eliminate ALL vegetable oils, except Olive Oil, Palm Oil, Sundrop rice bran oil, Almond Oil, Virgin Coconut Oils, Walnut Oil, and Avocado Oil. Your fats should consist of a diet that is 60% monounsaturated fats (like olive oil high in omega 9 Oleic Acid), 30% saturated fats (like in RAW butter made from raw cream, coconut oils that are high in lauric acid, red meat beef from GRASS FED CATTLE, not commercial red meat found in stores from Angus Cattle that eat grain in feed lots) and 10% polyunsaturated fats (omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids in a 1:1 Balance). The total diet should consist of 40% carbs, 30% fats, and 30% protein for maximum health. When you eat Low Fat diets, you will find you will have many cravings and the High carbs will only give you temporary energy. Fats give you long sustained energy and nourish your body. A good book that explains how this works is: "Life Without Bread" by Christian Allan, pH.D. A great book that shows how you need fat to lose fat. Is it any wonder Lipitor is the number one drug being sold today in America? We now rank 24th in the world for longevity. 23 other countries have people living longer than Americans do. The first case of cardio myfarction was recorded in 1921. Today, 3 out of 4 die with heart disease. Diabetes is rampant and getting worse, not better. 35% of Caucasian children born in the year 2000 will have diabetes in their lifetime; 53% of black children and 62% of Latino girls born in 2000 will get it. Imagine the health care crisis then! A great exercise is to walk to a McDonald's restaurant and watch the amount of coca cola, french fries, and burgers people eat and then look at the obesity. The sugar, bad oils (especially soybean and canola being used there) is amazing. The stinch of rancid oil cooking and the trans fats being generated by those oils is truly remarkable that anyone can eat there. A very good suggestion for you is to NOT rely on your doctor to recommend a diet for you. They are not trained to do that. In fact, BY LAW, they are required to only diagnose a disease and the treat you ONLY with drugs or surgery. If they deviate from that protocol they will lose their license. I suggest you find a good Certified Nutritional Therapist that can determine what nutrients your body lacks and recommend a good quality diet that will make your body healthy.