A Portfolio Diet week of dinners
A week of dinners from five cooks, each with at least one of the Portfolio Diet’s cholesterol-lowering foods: soy, soluble fiber or nuts. About $38.43 for two people for the week ($2.75 a serving) at typical US grocery prices, against roughly $227 as takeout.
The week
Five cooks cover seven dinners for two: the two bigger cooks each make a second dinner later in the week.
Why these dinners
The Portfolio Diet adds four foods known to lower LDL cholesterol: soy protein, soluble fiber (oats, barley, beans), nuts, and plant sterols. In a 6-month trial of 351 adults with high cholesterol, published in JAMA in 2011, LDL fell about 13% on the Portfolio Diet, against 3% on a standard low-saturated-fat diet. These dinners cover soy, soluble fiber and nuts. Plant sterols come from fortified foods or supplements, not home cooking, and the trial’s daily amounts (about 50 g of soy protein, 10 to 25 g of soluble fiber and about 50 g of nuts) take more than dinner: oatmeal at breakfast and a handful of nuts as a snack help close the gap.
Soy: tofu
Soluble fiber: lentils, chickpeas
Nuts: cashews
Plant sterols: not in home cooking; they come from fortified foods or supplements. Ask your doctor before adding a supplement.
What helps in this week: tofu, lentils, cashews, chickpeas.
The shopping list
chicken breast · 1¼ lb
$5.63
canned tomatoes · 2 cans
$4.58
green onion · 1 bunch
$0.75
From your pantry: miso, mirin, rice mix, curry powder, oyster sauce.
Typical US grocery prices, for the part of each ingredient the dishes use, plus $0.25 a serving for oil, salt and spices. Takeout at $15.00 a person plus tax, picked up.
Plan your own week like this
Eat Healthy AF builds a week like this from the dishes you already cook: pick your goals and anything you can't eat, and it plans the leftovers and the shopping list for you. Free for 14 days, no card needed.
General nutrition information, not medical advice. Dish checks go by each dish's main ingredients as we cook them; sauces and salt vary by recipe, and allergy facts can't see inside packaged foods, so check labels. Keep your doctor in the loop.
Eat Healthy AF is general nutrition information, not medical advice. It doesn't diagnose or treat anything. Keep your doctor in the loop, and don't change any medication without them.