Start Your Dining Experience
Search by Restaurant name:

What do Avocados, garlic, oranges and prunes have in common? The LetsGoDine.com team investigates cholesterol.

Avocados
Although this is one of the few fruits high in fat, it's mainly monounsaturated fat. Several studies find that eating one avocado a day can lower your LDL as much 17 percent while raising your HDL. Try them in salads and sandwiches or mashed with a bit of lemon juice, onion, and chopped tomato as a topping for baked potatoes. Just don't go overboard; one avocado has about 340 calories.

 

 

 

Garlic
Garlic can lower cholesterol modestly as well as prevent blood from becoming sticky and forming dangerous clots. The compound most studies focus on, allicin, is the same one that gives garlic its distinctive odour. In one analysis of five trials in which participants received either garlic supplements or a placebo, the authors concluded that you could lower your total cholesterol about 9 percent with the equivalent of 11/2 to 3 cloves of garlic daily for two to six months You need to crush, chop, or otherwise bruise the cloves to release the allicin. For a sweet way to get your garlic, remove the loose paper covering from a head of garlic, cut off the tops of the garlic, drizzle olive oil on it, wrap in foil, and bake in a 350°F oven until soft, about an hour. Then squeeze the heads of the cooked garlic onto toasted bread and spread.


Oranges

Think of your morning orange juice as cholesterol medicine in a glass.

 

 

 

 

 

Prunes   
Prunes (dried plums) contain a special kind of soluble fibre called pectin,which forms a gel in your intestines that sops up cholesterol before it hits your bloodstream. Blend cooked prunes with water into a puree that can replace oils and fats in baking, add dried prunes to stews for a delicious sweetness, or chop and sprinkle over salads, yogurt, cottage cheese, or cereal.