I personally only use cream on special occasions, and always use Benecol spread and plant sterol tablets available from the internet. I also try to eat white meat mainly, and red meat is perhaps once a week. I also eat a lot of salads (without mayonaise etc). I only eat puddings on rare occasions. I also eat lots of onion, tomatos and garlic. I very rarely eat any junk food, perhaps once a year if that ie burgers, fried chicken. In casseroles I do not add any tins of soup or packet mixes, just tins of tomatoes, carrots,tin of healthy eating, oxo,baked beans, peas, onion, peppers, tin of rataouille and of course the meat (chicken).
I was put on statins for a long time, and believed they were causing me health problems. I came off the statins, and by using these two things my total cholesterol remains between 3.5 and 4.5 (depending if I have a test after Christmas / New year). In fact taking the statins did not do anything to my levels, since coming off them, my cholesterol rates have stayed the same. I do not eat that much dairy product like cheese but I do have a fair bit of semi skimmed milk in my diet everyday.
You also need to know what your good cholesterol and what your bad cholesterol is, not just your total cholesterol.
I do know of a gentleman, that had a heart attack, and survived and instead of going on a low fat diet, he went on a 'no fat' diet to huge extremes......he has caused himself to have endless investigations in to his stomach and anaemia and looks physically awful. His hair is falling out, he is grey and has lost an extreme amount of weight. He now has sever difficulty walking, but he will not come off this extreme diet that he is on. He literally has cholesterol of 2.5 but will not eat an ounce of anything with fat in it, and it is killing him, but he will not listen. He is not diabetic.
Please don't think that cutting out all fat will be good, it isn't, our brains and body need some fat.