That's a tricky question. What I knew and what I know now are immensely different. There is a reason why doctors ask the question : Where are you from? I was born overseas (Lima, Peru to be exact) and as kids we ate everything. Our cuisine is a mix. There were stews, white rice, milk. I didn't grow up eating a lot of red meat and was not surrounded by tons of candies and cereals and the amount of information we have on hand now is huge compare to back then. I became aware of food about 8 years ago (I am 64 now). So that's the answer. Nowadays I am prioritizing vegetables, no dairy but still keeping fish and chicken as options (not a lot of it though). Internet indicates that 25% of cholesterol we produce is genetic, the rest is food intake. Statins have stabilize my condition. I still have to improve my food intake so working on it.