Guarding olive oil and fighting bad cholesterol

I KNOW that good olive oil is expensive, but I never expected to see the sight above!

My mom and I stopped by SuperMaia supermarket at QI 19 of the Lago Sul area of Brasilia yesterday and we were surprised to find that every single bottle of olive oil that they had in the store had an anti-theft device attached to its neck.

The prices of the various brands of olive oil ranged from $12 a bottle to more than $20 a bottle, so I guess it could add up pretty quickly if there were many olive oil thieves!

It's a common sight nowadays to see shaving blades encased in huge plastic anti-theft cases or totally unreachable in glass cabinets which forces you to ask a sales attendant to unlock the case and hand you Gillette's newest, multi-bladed wonder. But olive oil?! That I had never seen being guarded so assiduously against theft.

Speaking of olive oil, today I went to see my doctor and show him the results of my blood and urine tests that I had done to check my uric acid and cholesterol levels. Turned out my uric acid levels were actually quite normal, even though I have gout in my left ankle. My total cholesterol number is borderline high, and my bad cholesterol levels, the HDLs, were also high. Dr Rogerio told me that what is really important is the ratio of the good cholesterols, or LDLs, to the HDLs. My ratio was not good, so he said I have to try to lower my cholesterol levels through my diet. That means no butter, fried foods, animal fat or eggs. He's given me two months, then if my bad cholesterol levels are still high I will have to start taking a cholesterol-lowering drug on a daily basis.