A renowned health expert has unveiled a simple kitchen hack that could significantly reduce cholesterol levels and decrease the likelihood of heart disease. By dedicating just 10 minutes to this straightforward technique before cooking, you can make a substantial impact on your health.

Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of the ZOE diet app and a familiar face from the Covid era, has shared transformative advice for those who frequently cook with onions and garlic. His insights could revolutionize how you prepare these common ingredients.

Spector advises letting onions and garlic rest for 10 minutes prior to cooking. This pause enhances the production of a potent chemical that targets cholesterol reduction and stabilizes blood sugar. In an interview with The i, he elaborated on how this easy step can yield significant health benefits.

As part of his dietary recommendations, Professor Spector emphasized the value of vegetables like onions, garlic, cabbage, and broccoli. These foods are rich in sulforaphane, a compound known to boost glucose control and lower cholesterol levels.

He pointed out that cooking typically destroys an enzyme called mirosinase, essential for activating sulforaphane. Allowing these vegetables to rest for five to 10 minutes before heating activates sulforaphane, ensuring it withstands the cooking process.

Additionally, Spector suggested a savvy meal-planning tip: consuming salads or vegetables about ten minutes before a carbohydrate-heavy meal. This method can help you feel fuller for longer and mitigate blood sugar spikes often caused by starchy foods.

The diet expert also recommended Brits incorporate more fermented foods into their diets, such as kimchi. He praised vinegar for its role in salad dressings, explaining that its acidity helps stabilise blood sugar levels, keeping you feeling satisfied between meals and reducing the temptation to snack.

Other tips included swapping processed stock cubes for miso paste and cooking tomatoes in extra-virgin olive oil to extract more nutrients. Prof Spector shared his personal preference: “I drizzle and spread extra virgin olive oil on my toast rather than butter, for greater health benefits. This is what they do in Spain, and it tastes delicious.”

He suggested a healthier breakfast alternative: “Instead of quickly reaching for cereal, have full-fat Greek yoghurt topped with nuts, seeds, and berries. It contains less sugar, and the toppings will help you reach your 30 plants a week. Research shows people who eat 30 different plants a week tend to have a more diverse gut microbiome than those who eat 10. A flourishing microbiome can help the body fight infections, reduce the risk of autoimmune disease, and regulate appetite and body weight.

“Eating the rainbow not only supports your gut health and reduces the risk of disease, it also enriches your diet with a greater range of flavours and textures (and will help you reach your 30 plants a week target too). A simple and cheap way is to buy pre-mixed combinations; packs of multi-coloured peppers are a good example, as are combinations of other root vegetables, or mixed nuts and seeds.”