24 Dinner Recipes for Healthy Cholesterol You Can Make in 30 Minutes or Less
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Homemade pesto may seem daunting, but in this quick pasta recipe you can make a simple sauce in minutes while the pasta water comes to a boil. You can substitute frozen green beans and cauliflower for fresh; in Step 4, cook the frozen vegetables according to package directions before tossing with the pasta and pesto.
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This veggie-heavy bowl is loaded with crunch and color, thanks to crispy carrots, chickpeas, fresh kale and a vibrant avocado dressing. It also delivers more than 50% of your daily dose of fiber, key for weight loss, energy and healthy digestion. Bulgur, also called cracked wheat, is a quick-cooking whole grain. These bowls would be excellent make-ahead lunches. Pack the avocado mixture separately, adding a little water to thin it as needed.
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In this mahi-mahi fish taco recipe, chili-coated fish gets a lovely crust from the hot pan. The creaminess of the avocado sauce complements the crisp crunch of the jicama, and it's all pulled together in 20 minutes.
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Hearty yet simple to prepare, this stuffed sweet potato with black beans, kale and hummus dressing is a fantastic 5-ingredient lunch for one!
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You can often find presliced and ready-to-cook fresh vegetables in your grocer's produce section. Use these to your advantage to cut down on dinnertime prep. Here, presliced fajita vegetables are sautéed with canned black beans and Southwest seasoning for a quick and easy Tex Mex-inspired meal. Plus, this recipe requires just three ingredients, not including basics like salt, pepper and oil. You can easily take your bowl up a notch by adding some cheese, sour cream or another tasty topping.
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This black bean and quinoa bowl has many of the usual hallmarks of a taco salad, minus the fried bowl. We've loaded it with pico de gallo, fresh cilantro and avocado, plus an easy hummus dressing to drizzle on top.
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This nutrient-packed grain bowl recipe comes together in 15 minutes with the help of a few convenience-food shortcuts like prewashed baby kale, microwaveable quinoa and precooked beets. Pack these ahead to keep on hand for easy meal-prep lunches or dinners on busy nights.
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This load-and-go slow-cooker chicken recipe is perfect for a busy weeknight dinner. Serve this Tuscan-inspired dish with crusty bread, a glass of Chianti and a salad.
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Inspired by the viral TikTok trend, this salmon rice bowl makes for a tasty lunch or dinner. With healthy ingredients like instant brown rice, salmon and veggies, you'll have a flavorful meal in just 25 minutes.
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This one-pot pasta dinner is simple, fresh, and healthy—what's not to love? Cooking the pasta right in the sauce saves time and cleanup while infusing the noodles with more flavor. This speedy recipe is also endlessly adaptable, and lends itself to plenty of easy ingredient swaps (make sure to check out the clever riffs below). Change up the spinach for any vegetables you have on hand such as sliced zucchini and mushrooms, or add leftover chicken or cooked and crumbled sausage. We've happily embraced whole-wheat spaghetti as a healthier alternative to white pasta; it works especially well in this one-pot application.
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Poke (pronounced poke-ay), a Hawaiian word meaning "to chop" or "to cut," refers to a traditional Hawaiian salad of diced raw fish in a simple, soy-based sauce with punchy seasonings like toasted sesame and chopped scallion greens. These tuna poke bowls feature seasoned brown rice and fresh veggies for a healthy, satisfying meal packed with protein and fiber.
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In this healthy BBQ shrimp recipe, shrimp are seasoned with a peppery spice blend and served with zucchini, peppers and whole-grain orzo for a delicious and easy dinner that's ready in just 30 minutes. The shrimp and veggies are cooked in the same skillet, so cleanup is a snap too.
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Consider making a double batch of this easy pasta salad—it's delicious the next day. The orzo will absorb the dressing as it sits, so add a little more olive oil and lemon juice if you'd like.
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These quick vegan tacos, filled with a spicy tofu filling, make a perfect weeknight dinner. To keep them vegan, top them with shredded cabbage, fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. For vegetarians, add crumbled queso fresco.
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This easy dinner takes just 20 minutes to prepare, meaning that seared steak can be a weeknight meal. Cooking herbs in the pan with the steak releases their aroma, infusing it into the meat while creating a crispy garnish. After the steaks and herbs are pan-seared, the escarole is cooked in the same skillet, so this healthy dinner requires minimal cleanup too.
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A honey-and-chipotle glaze gives this roasted salmon a sweet and spicy kick. If you have time, consider grilling or broiling the corn for a few minutes for additional flavor. Short on time? Thawed frozen corn can be used in place of fresh.
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This healthy copycat recipe of the comfort food classic trades beans for some of the meat to bump up fiber by 7 grams. We also cut back on the sugar and ketchup in this Sloppy Joe recipe makeover to save you 12 grams of added sugar.
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This rich yet healthy white chicken chili recipe comes together in a flash thanks to quick-cooking chicken thighs and canned white beans.
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These easy vegan black bean burgers have a healthy dose of fiber thanks to the combination of black beans and quinoa. Cumin and chipotle chile powder give these vegan burgers a Southwestern spin. Using your hands to combine the mixture creates a soft, uniform texture.
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Taco night meets baked potato night with this simple recipe for loaded baked potatoes with salsa, beans and avocado. This easy, healthy family dinner comes together with just 10 minutes of active time, so you can make it on even the busiest of weeknights. This recipe is just as delicious with sweet potatoes in place of russets.
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This nourishing, vibrant soup is on the table quickly, making it the perfect weeknight meal. The broth is delicate and creamy, thanks to the Parmesan rind, while dried basil adds an herbaceous note. We call for cheese tortellini, but you can easily swap in your favorite kind.
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These easy wraps are filled with black beans, corn, red pepper and creamy queso. They cook up quickly in a panini press.
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This hearty chicken soup builds flavor quickly, thanks to store-bought recaito, a cooking base made from culantro, onions, sweet peppers and garlic. Each bite is packed with veggies, including potatoes, carrots and red bell pepper. Lime juice finishes the dish to add brightness.
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Fast Company
7 minutes ago
- Fast Company
A new FDA-approved device could change how Americans lose weight
Small wearable patches that continuously scan your blood and zap numbers to your smartphone are about to be everywhere. Once the sole domain of people with diabetes, glucose monitors are gaining popularity as a health tracking accessory not that different from an Apple Watch or an Oura Ring. On Wednesday, the FDA approved a glucose monitoring system from the startup Signos for weight management – a first for the tech, which represents a growing corner of the digital wellness space. 'Everyone deserves access to insights that help them live healthier, longer, more vibrant lives,' Signos CEO Sharam Fouladgar-Mercer said in a press release. 'Signos isn't just about data; it's about giving people ownership over their health and weight journeys in a way never before seen.' Signos designed an app that sets glucose range goals based on individual needs and tailors them over time, encouraging its users to make healthy lifestyle choices to meet them. The app pairs with the Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM) sensor patch made by Dexcom, which already sells its devices over the counter for around $100 a month. 'This is the first-ever FDA clearance for a system for weight that isn't a pharmacological intervention, isn't a surgical intervention,' Fouladgar-Mercer told STAT. FDA approval is an expensive, time-intensive process, but obtaining the clearance means a Signos subscription could be covered by HSA and FSA plans and potentially be reimbursed by insurance in the future. Signos sells its plans for $129 for six months, which includes glucose sensors and access to its app, which converts real-time blood sugar data into health insights and tips. The company can also now boast about being the 'world's first and only FDA-cleared app and CGM for weight management and wellness,' which might take it pretty far in a soon-to-be crowded market. As is the case with all technology these days, Signos uses AI to offer personalized recommendations based on the data it logs. Users can also track their food and exercise within the company's app, blending that data with glucose monitoring to make changes to their behavior and diet. Fouladgar-Mercer believes that bariatric surgery patients and some people using GLP-1s for weight loss will want the additional insights possible with the Signos app. The app also offers an alternative non-pharmaceutical path for people looking for new ways to succeed in their weight management goals, and could provide an off-ramp for former GLP-1 users looking to maintain their results with behavioral changes. One piece of the MAHA movement Obsessively quantifying the self right down to your blood sugar levels isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it is a major health goal for the Trump administration. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is championing health tracking devices as part of the Make America Healthy Again movement, which is pursuing disparate health goals from regulating ultra-processed foods to investigating well-studied vaccines, sowing doubt about life-saving shots in the process. 'It's a way… people can take control over their own health. They can take responsibility,' Kennedy said at a recent House Subcommittee on Health hearing. 'They can see, as you know, what food is doing to their glucose levels, their heart rates and a number of other metrics as they eat it, and they can begin to make good judgments about their diet, about their physical activity, about the way that they live their lives.' Beyond RFK Jr., the U.S. government is poised to have a major glucose tracking booster in the administration. In June, Trump swapped his previous surgeon general nominee out in favor of Dr. Casey Means, a wellness industry figure who co-founded a blood glucose monitoring startup called Levels. Like Signos, that company sells subscription access to an app, pairing custom software with off-the-shelf glucose monitors made by Dexcom. Unlike Signos, Levels is not FDA approved for weight management and is marketed for general wellness. Kennedy, a skeptic of weight loss drugs, has advocated for dietary and behavioral changes over GLP-1s to reverse the most worrying U.S. health trends. 'We think that wearables are a key to the MAHA agenda — Making America Healthy Again,'' Kennedy said. 'My vision is that every American is wearing a wearable within four years.'
WebMD
7 minutes ago
- WebMD
The Real Risks of Turning to AI for Therapy
Aug. 20, 2025 — Whenever Luke W Russell needs to work through something, they turn to ChatGPT. (Luke uses they/them pronouns.) 'I've wept as I've navigated things,' said the Indianapolis filmmaker, who uses the chatbot to pick apart intrusive thoughts or navigate traumatic memories. 'I've had numerous times when what ChatGPT is saying to me is so real, so powerful, and I feel so deeply seen.' Russell's experience reflects a broader, growing reality: Many people are turning to chatbots for mental health support — for everything from managing anxiety and processing grief to coping with work conflicts and defusing marital spats. More than half of adults ages 18-54 — and a quarter of adults 55 and up — say they would be comfortable talking with an AI chatbot about their mental health, according to a 2025 survey by the Harris Poll and the American Psychological Association (APA). The catch: OpenAI's ChatGPT and other chatbots — like Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini — are not designed for this. Even AI products promoted as emotional health tools — like Replika, Wysa, Youper, and MindDoc — were not built on validated psychological methods, said psychologist C. Vaile Wright, PhD, senior director of the APA's Office of Health Care Innovation. 'I would argue that there isn't really any commercially approved, AI-assisted therapy at the moment,' said Wright. 'You've got a whole lot of chatbots where there is no research, there's no psychological science, and there are no subject matter experts.' Critics warn that AI's potential for bias, lack of true empathy, and limited human oversight could actually endanger users' mental health, especially among vulnerable groups like children, teens, people with mental health conditions, and those experiencing suicidal thoughts. The growing concern has led to the emergence of the terms 'ChatGPT psychosis' or ' AI psychosis ' — referring to the potential harmful mental health effects of interacting with AI. It's even drawing attention from lawmakers: This month, Illinois enacted restrictions on AI in mental health care, banning its use for therapy and prohibiting mental health professionals from using AI to communicate with clients or make therapeutic decisions. (Similar restrictions have already been passed in Nevada and Utah.) But none of this is stopping people from turning to chatbots for support, especially amid clinician shortages, rising therapy costs, and inadequate mental health insurance coverage. 'People have absolutely reported that experiences with chatbots can be helpful,' said Wright. The Draw of Chatbots for Mental Health Data shows we're facing a massive shortage of mental health workers, especially in remote and rural areas, said psychologist Elizabeth Stade, PhD, a researcher in the Computational Psychology and Well-Being Lab at Stanford University in Stanford, CA. 'Of adults in the United States with significant mental health needs, only about half are able to access any form of treatment. With youth, that number is closer to 75%,' said Jessica Schleider, PhD, a child and adolescent psychologist at Northwestern University in Chicago. 'The provider shortage is clearly contributing to why so many folks are turning to their devices and, now increasingly, to generative AI to fill that gap.' Unlike a therapist, a chatbot is available 24/7. 'When [people] need help the most, it is typically after hours,' said Wright, who suggested the right AI tool could potentially supplement human therapy. 'When it's 2 a.m. and you're in crisis, could this help provide some support?' Probably, she said. Results of the first clinical trial of an AI-generative therapy chatbot showed 'significant, clinically meaningful reductions in depression, anxiety, and eating disorder symptoms' within four to eight weeks, said lead study author Michael V. Heinz, MD, a professor at Dartmouth College's Geisel School of Medicine and faculty affiliate at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The chatbot — Therabot, developed at Dartmouth — combines extensive training in evidence-based psychotherapy interventions with advanced generative AI. 'We saw high levels of user engagement — six-plus hours on average across the study,' Heinz said. Participants said using Therabot was like talking to a human therapist. But results are early, and more studies are needed, Heinz said. Access and affordability drew Russell to ChatGPT, they said. 'I didn't set out to use ChatGPT as a therapist. I quit therapy in January due to income dropping. I was already using ChatGPT on the regular for work, and then I started using it for personal idea exploration. ... I've never had a therapist who could move as fast as ChatGPT and ignore miscellaneous things,' they said. Perhaps one of the most appealing aspects is that chatbots don't judge. 'People are reluctant to be judged, and so they are often reluctant to disclose symptoms,' said Jonathan Gratch, PhD, professor of computer science and psychology at the University of Southern California, who has researched the topic. One of his studies found that military veterans were more likely to share PTSD symptoms with a virtual chatbot than in a survey. When Chatbots Are Harmful Most people don't know how AI works — they might believe it's always objective and factual, said Henry A. Willis, PhD, a psychologist and professor at the University of Maryland in College Park. But often, the data they're trained on is not representative of minority groups, leading to bias and technology-mediated racism, Willis said. 'We know that Black and brown communities are not adequately reflected in the majority of large-scale mental health research studies,' Willis said. So a chatbot's clinical symptom information or treatment recommendations may not be relevant or helpful to those from minority backgrounds. There's also an impersonal aspect. Chatbots do what's called ecological fallacy, said H. Andrew Schwartz, PhD, associate professor of computer science at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. They treat scattered comments like random data points, making assumptions based on group-level data that may not reflect the reality of individuals. And who's accountable if something goes wrong? Chatbots have been linked to cases involving suggestions of violence and self-harm, including the death of a teen by suicide. Some chatbots marketed for companionship and emotional support were designed with another incentive: to make money. Wright is concerned that they may unconditionally validate patients, telling them what they want to hear so they stay on the platform — 'even if what they're telling you is actually harmful or they're validating harmful responses from the user.' None of these conversations are bound by HIPAA regulations, either, Wright pointed out. 'So even though they may be asking for personal information or sharing your personal information, they have no legal obligation to protect it.' The Psychological Implications of Forming Emotional Bonds With AI In an opinion article published in April in the journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences, psychologists expressed concern about the long-term implications of forming emotional bonds with AI. Chatbots can replace users' real relationships, crowding out romantic partners, co-workers, and friends. This may mean that individuals begin to 'trust' the opinion and feedback of chatbots over real people, said Willis. 'The ongoing positive reinforcement that can happen instantly from interacting with a chatbot may begin to overshadow any reinforcement from interacting with real people,' who may not be able to communicate as quickly, he said. 'These emotional bonds may also impair people's ability to have a healthy level of skepticism and critical evaluation skills when it comes to the responses of AI chatbots.' Gratch compared it to hunger and food. 'We're biologically wired to seek out food when we get hungry. It is the same with social relationships. If we haven't had a relationship in a while, we may feel lonely, and then that motivates us to go out and reach out to people.' But studies suggest that social interaction with a computer program, like a chatbot, can sate a person's social needs and demotivate them to go out with friends, he said. 'That may have long-term consequences for increased loneliness. For example, research has shown people who compulsively use Facebook tend to be much more lonely.' Counseling with a therapist involves 'a natural curiosity about the individual and their experiences that AI cannot replicate,' Willis said. 'AI chatbots respond to prompts, whereas therapists can observe and ask clinical questions based on one's body language, a synthesis of their history, and other things that may not be conscious to the client — or things the client may not even be aware are important to their mental health well-being.' The Future of AI Therapy "I think there is going to be a future where you have really well-developed [chatbots] for addressing mental health that are scientifically driven and where they are ensuring that there are guardrails in place when somebody is in crisis. We're just not quite there yet,' said the APA's Wright. 'We may get to a place where they're even reimbursed by insurance,' she said. 'I do think increasingly we are going to see providers begin to adopt these technology tools as a way to meet their patients' needs.' But for now, her message is clear: The chatbots are not there yet. 'Ideally, chatbot design should encourage sustained, meaningful interaction with the primary purpose of delivering evidence-based therapy,' said Dartmouth's Heinz. Until then, don't rely on them too heavily, the experts cautioned — and remember, they are not a substitute for professional help.
Medscape
7 minutes ago
- Medscape
GLP-1s Don't Increase Suicide Risk
It's not uncommon for me, when discussing a GLP-1 medication with patients, to have them inquire about the drug's purported risk in increasing suicidal ideation. What has never occurred? Patients asking about the possible benefits of GLP-1 medications to mood and to their decreasing the risk of suicidal ideation. On the face of existing data, that's odd considering there is far more substantial evidence that GLP-1 users see improvements in mood: with no increase —and possibly decreased — risk of suicide. It's not odd, though, when considering things through the lens of how risk is overestimated by the public along with the lens of weight bias where, at least with obesity medications, negative findings — however small, tenuous, or early — tend to be readily internalized and amplified, while positive findings are often minimized and ignored. Where and how did the concern about suicide arise? On July 11, 2023, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) released a statement that, consequent to the Icelandic medicines agency's highlighting three case reports involving suicide among GLP-1 users, they would be investigating further. The EMA's statement rightly and explicitly noted, ' The presence of a signal does not necessarily mean that a medicine caused the adverse event in question .' But much of the media didn't seem to care how premature or unsubstantiated the putative risk, and this story definitely had legs gaining scary coverage in most major media outlets. By way of example, the BBC, in its story headlined Weight-loss jabs investigated for suicide risk , rather than responsibly covering the prematurity of concluding anything at all, chose this quote from the EMA's statement to highlight, ' A signal is information on a new or known adverse event that is potentially caused by a medicine and that warrants further investigation .' No doubt this sort of reporting is in part why, to this day, patients still recount suicidality as a concern when discussing these medications. But what has happened on this file since the July 2023 initiated investigation of those three purported cases? While nonexhaustive, here's a brief rundown: In April 2024, the EMA's own investigation exonerated GLP-1 medications as a source of increased suicide risk in April 2024. The US FDA also conducted its own investigation and similarly found no ties between GLP-1s and suicide risk. In June 2024. a paper was published demonstrating no increase risk in suicidality among 36,083 adults prescribed GLP-1 medications. In August 2024, a paper was published investigating GLP-1 medications and their impact on 22 neurological and psychiatric outcomes over 12 months. It found no impact among 23,386 GLP-1 users. In September 2024, a paper was published demonstrating no increased risk in suicidality among a cohort of 124,517 adults prescribed GLP-1 medications over a 1-year period. In October 2024, a paper was published demonstrating a 33% reduction in suicide ideation or attempts among 6912 adolescents with obesity for those who initiated treatment with GLP-1s over 3 years of follow-up. In February 2025. a paper was published of a nationwide (France) case-time-control of individuals who had attempted or died by suicide which found no linkage with GLP-1 use. In May 2025. a paper was published demonstrating in a meta-analysis of doubly blind randomized controlled trials that, among the 107,000 patients studied, GLP-1 use was not associated with increased risk of psychiatric adverse events or worsening depressive symptoms relative to placebo. Instead, GLP-1 use was associated with improvements in both physical and mental health-related quality of life. Finally, in June 2025, a paper was published describing a multinational self-controlled case series analysis of suicide or self-harm attempts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom that yes, again, demonstrated no increased risk among GLP-1 users and that, compared with the nontreatment period, lower suicide attempt or self-harm risk following GLP-1 treatment was observed, especially after longer periods of treatment. Negative publication bias appears to extend beyond academia into society at large. However, it manifests somewhat differently. The studies receiving the most attention are often those reporting literally negative (ie, adverse) outcomes. In contrast, more rigorous studies that challenge these negative findings, even if publicized, rarely achieve comparable societal penetration or awareness.
