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Eating eggs for breakfast can help your weight loss efforts!
Photo by Woodley Wonderworks
Think about it…eggs were made as fully equipped little packages to sustain life. They contain high quality protein. Eating eggs for breakfast can also help you feel full and maintain your lean body mass.
But don’t just stop at breakfast- eggs are great for lunch, dinner or even snacks! They are inexpensive, convenient & quick. Eggs can be cooked in so many ways that you might never tire of them.
Eggs are “nutrition rock stars”, according to Frances Largeman-Roth, who wrote a wonderful article in the January/February issue of Health Magazine. Largeman-Roth is a nutritionist who recommended these tasty ways to upgrade eggs:
By adding a splash of hot sauce, you will “kick up” the flavor and add some health benefits. It is the capsaicin in the hot sauce that revs up your metabolism and may help keep you slim.
Asparagus spears can be dipped into soft-boiled eggs and you can try adding herbs and goat cheese to scrambled eggs.
She also states that “simple poached eggs are a wonderful foil for salty salmon” and that eggs combined with a little diced ham in ramekins and baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes offer a “big dose of flavor”.
Why are eggs “nutrition rock stars”? Here’s a break down of the good nutrition found in eggs:
Eggs are high in vitamins and minerals. One large egg has 251 milligrams of choline, more than half of a woman’s daily requirement and 25 micrograms of vitamin K, one third of the daily requirement for women. Choline is crucial for brain health as it important for brain development of unborn babies and affects memory later in life. Vitamin K is a key nutrient in blood clotting.
One medium whole egg has 65 calories, 1 gram of effective carbohydrate, 4 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein. A large egg has 75 calories, 1 gram of effective carbohydrate, 5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein. An extra large egg has 85 calories, 1 effective carbohydrate, 6 grams of fat and 7 grams of protein.
One large yolk has 60 calories, no carbohydrates, 5 grams of fat and 3 grams of protein.
One large egg white has 15 calories, a trace of carbohydrates, no fat and 4 grams of protein.
¼ cup of egg substitute has 35 calories, a trace of carbohydrates, 1 fat gram and 6 grams of protein.
If you have high cholesterol, you might have been told to avoid eggs. However, it is saturated fat that substantially impacts your blood cholesterol levels. Recent studies have shown that adding eggs to a healthy diet did not increase LDL or heart disease. It’s best, as always, to check with your physician before changing your diet, but why not ask if you can add a few eggs to your life?
Ultimately, eggs are good for you. Maybe the English egg industry had it right when I was growing up. Their TV commercials used a very memorable slogan – “Go to work on an egg”.
Did you know that salmon, avocados, honeydew, kidney beans and artichokes can actually help LOWER your blood pressure? That’s right. Those foods are high in potassium and scientists have recently discovered that a diet high in potassium and low in sodium can have positive effects on hypertension.
More and more evidence is mounting on the importance of potassium in a healthy diet, yet between 90 percent of men and 99 percent of women in America don’t get enough potassium in their diet, according to The Nutrition Action Health letter.
One out of every three adults in the U.S. has high blood pressure, and that jumps to two out of three if you’re over 65. High blood pressure is a very common problem and can lead to other health issues. About three out of four people who suffer a stroke, a heart attack, or congestive heart failure also have high blood pressure.
“It’s absolutely clear that potassium can lower blood pressure,” says Dr. Frank Sacks, professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. In a study that tracked 43,000 men for 8 years, researchers found that those who consumed 4,300 mg of potassium daily were 38% less likely to suffer a stroke than those who consumed 2,400 mg a day.
Everyone has heard that decreasing the amount of sodium in your diet helps to lower blood pressure, but adding potassium to a low-sodium diet has an even greater effect. Recently over a 10 year study, Prevention researchers discovered that eating more foods with potassium and reducing high-sodium foods lowers your risk of heart attack and stroke more than if you just lowered the sodium in your diet.
Scientists aren’t really sure how potassium lowers blood pressure, but they do have a few ideas. Potassium could be making the larger blood vessels more flexible, which is important in maintaining lower blood pressure. Scientists also believe that potassium may dilate smaller blood vessels, which lowers blood pressure by decreasing the resistance to blood flow.
The good news is that some blood pressure problems that were considered permanent can be reversed, according to Dr. Sacks. A diet rich in potassium and low-sodium can completely reverse the effects of age on blood pressure.
A big part of the problem in the American diet is that sodium is added to many processed foods, but potassium is not, and we all know Americans eat a lot of processed food. Eating more fresh and frozen foods, which are sometimes lower in sodium, may help you get your recommended intake and lower the amount of sodium in your diet. Adding foods that are good sources of potassium include fish, such as salmon, cod and sardines, beef, chicken, spinach, bananas, leafy greens, and potatoes (especially the skin).
A balanced diet –eating a variety of fruits and vegetables, along with lean meats, fish and nuts-helps you get all the vitamin and minerals that you need. Please check with your doctor before making any dramatic changes in your eating habits, but consider monitoring the potassium you are getting in your daily diet. A balanced diet helps you get all the vitamin and minerals that you need.
A fiber super hero, the avocado has almost 12 grams of fiber!
Anyone who has been on a weight loss program at our center has heard about the importance of fiber in your diet. By calculating the effective carbohydrate content of our food, we determine how much fiber is in each food and try to get more of it in our diets.
Why is fiber our new best friend? Fiber is great for weight loss. First of all, its bulkiness gives you a feeling of fullness, and it is calorie-free! It also has a lot of health benefits. Research shows that a diet high in fiber can reduce cholesterol and the diseases associated with it, as well as improving your glucose tolerance. This helps control swings in blood sugar.
There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble. It is best to try to get both kinds into your diet. Soluble fiber dissolves in water and has been linked to lowering bad cholesterol or low-density lipoproteins (LDL’s). The other fiber-insoluble cleans out your gut and is associated with reducing risk for cardiovascular disease.
Fiber is found naturally in whole grains, fruits, vegetable and nuts and there are many fortified products on the market. Try looking for products that are 100% whole wheat and have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving. Choose brown rice instead of white, or mix them if you don’t like brown as much. Find whole-wheat pastas and breads in your grocery store. Sprinkle nuts on your salad, in yogurt and in cereals. Snack on fruits and vegetables. No longer are fiber foods twiggy and bland! There are delicious options out there.
So, how much fiber should you get? If you are under 50 and a woman, you should shoot for 25 grams, and 38 for a man. If you are over 50 it is 30 grams for a man and 21 for a woman.
Remember to work up to it slowly. DO NOT run out and eat all the fiber you can. Adding too much fiber at once can cause nausea and other gastrointestinal distress. Add just a few grams each day until you reach your recommended daily allowance. Along with the fiber, be sure to drink more water, as fiber absorbs water, and you want to make sure to keep things moving.
Have you ever had one of those weekends? You’re running errands and you get hungry so you run through the drive through for fries. You smell the pretzels or the cookies while shopping at the mall, and you have to have one. You’re watching the game with your pals eating chips and drinking too many sodas, beers or wine. You have a great weekend.
And then you step on a scale.
Why is it that it is so easy for us to gain weight and SO hard to lose it? Putting on weight is no problem for most of us but losing it is a huge struggle. How can we gain several pounds in one short weekend of poor food choices? And how come if we balance that off with two days of healthy eating and exercise, we are never back at our starting weight? Why does it seem to take more work to lose the same two or three pounds than it did to gain it?
Well, one big reason it is easier to gain weight than to lose it is because eating more is easy. Adding 200 calories to your daily food intake is no big deal, but take away 200 calories and you might feel hungry and cranky. Food is good, and junk food is especially inviting and convenient, and many of us are not really aware of how many calories are in those little indulgences. There are many stumbling blocks out there- convenience stores, fast food restaurants, those kiosks in the mall, and even the grocery stores can all have calorie-laden choices.
A second reason that it is difficult to work off our weekend indulgences is reflected in a study conducted by Dr. Jules Hirsch at Rockefeller University. He found that our bodies slow down their caloric burn rate after we’ve been losing weight. We actually have to eat less to keep from gaining weight. If you go back to eating the way you did before you lost weight, you may gain more back than you started with- even though you are not consuming any more calories. It doesn’t seem fair, but that is the way our bodies are made.
Gaining weight is a survival mechanism. As people evolved we had to endure lengths of time with unreliable food sources. Our bodies became very good at storing and keeping fat that would be needed for energy when there was nothing to eat. When you’ve been reducing your fat stores by losing weight, your body worries that there might not be food coming, and so when you have a wild weekend, it is eager to store up fat, just in case there’s another famine.
Another aspect of your weekend weight gain might be water weight. Salt and carbohydrates can make your body hold onto water. So if your favorite weekend indulgence is a bag of potato chips, guess what? You could be retaining water, and that will show up on your scale. Many of us get discouraged by our water weight gain, but keep in mind it can take several days to lose water weight.
Bottom line – losing weight is much harder because it is work. You have to work on your diet, work on your exercise and work on your lifestyle! Try not to go hog wild every weekend so your body doesn’t grab back those pounds, and you don’t have to work so much harder to lose what you have already lost once.
You know how mom used to always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Well, guess what? She was right! Mom knows best when it comes to realizing that breakfast is the fuel that keeps us running throughout the day. Let’s talk about the importance of breakfast and some alternatives for anti-breakfast folks.So, why do we do it? Sometimes it’s just too easy to skip breakfast. You’re in a rush, you’d prefer to sleep a little later rather than prepare a meal, or it’s so hectic getting the kids off, you just can’t seem to make the effort or find the time. Slow down or resist that snooze button!
You can even find some breakfast ideas in this article that are portable! Eat it on the way to work or, pack it and eat it once you get there and get settled in. How about fixing the whole family a healthy breakfast instead of setting for Pop Tarts or donuts for the kids? Or perhaps you’re taking the (unwise) meal-skipping approach to losing weight. Chances are this is going to backfire on you because skipping meals almost always leads us to overeating. This is especially true in the case of breakfast, because you’ve just been asleep for 7 or 8 hours and your body needs to recover from this brief period of starvation.
If you don’t eat something in the morning, you are literally forcing yourself into running on empty. Say the last time you ate was 8 p.m. last night. If you didn’t eat lunch until noon today, that’s sixteen hours of no refueling! Your body is screaming out, “Give me some help here!”
The fuel that keeps our motors running is glucose. Your brain and your nervous system need glucose to work: that means walking, speaking, stretching, typing – any activity requires this fuel. If you don’t supply it, your system resorts to finding stored carbohydrates or it tries to turn fat into glucose. Why put your body through all this? Instead, do what mom said and eat that breakfast!
But… there’s a problem. So you don’t like traditional breakfast foods. Don’t worry! There are alternatives to traditional breakfast fare that you may not have considered!
One thing I’ve noticed in all the years that I have worked in both fitness and weight management is the amount of people who skip breakfast. Either people complain that they don’t have time to eat in the morning or they believe that skipping breakfast will cut calories and therefore, help them to lose weight. Research has consistently shown that that the people who successfully lose weight are the ones that wake up and eat breakfast.
Why is breakfast considered to be the most important meal of the day?
Firstly: Eating a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day so that better food choices can be made the rest of the day and portion sizes can be controlled.
Eating breakfast will give you more energy for the rest of the day and studies have shown that people are better able to focus and function throughout the day.
For many people, eating breakfast is part of a healthy lifestyle so they are more likely to set a healthy precedent for the rest of the day by making wiser food choices and exercising.
People who eat breakfast regularly tend to eat fewer calories from fat and have a better vitamin and mineral intake.
So, how can we work breakfast into our busy lives?
Prepare the night before by planning what you are going to eat the next morning and have it ready to go.
Place a list of foods on your fridge that are quick and easy but also ones that you enjoy. It will make it easier to choose what to have for breakfast the next morning.
Decide to drive through a fast food restaurant on your way to work but know ahead of time what healthy choice you will be ordering.
Finally, the following are some foods that you might consider for breakfast:
Protein shakes. Select already pre-mixed shakes or ones that are easily prepared by adding water.
Eggs. They are great for satiety and that is partly because they are high in protein. Proteins require more calories to digest. If cholesterol is a concern, egg whites are also high in protein and a great alternative.
Dairy products such as cottage cheese, yogurts and milk are also high in protein but take the carbohydrate count into consideration for the rest of the day.
High-fiber complex carbohydrates found in whole grains and cereals will also help to keep you satisfied because fiber increases the sensation of fullness. Low carbohydrate tortillas are great for using as wraps. Cheese, eggs, Canadian bacon and deli meat are just some of the foods that you could place inside the wrap. Just make sure that you are getting adequate protein and keep track of your carbohydrate intake for the rest of the day.
Next time you are tempted to skip breakfast, remember that many studies, in both adults and children, have shown that breakfast eaters tend to weigh less than breakfast skippers.
There has been a bit of debate amongst diet experts regarding meal frequency; some say that eating three regular meals a day is more beneficial for weight loss, while others say it is better to have six smaller meals throughout the day. The truth is that some studies have shown eating six smaller meals has helped some people lose weight, yet other studies have been inconclusive. With this kind of confusion going on, where does that leave you when it comes time to decide on your eating habits? Here are a few things to remember:
You should set your food plans to meet your lifestyle. For some, three regular sized meals with a small snack works fine and will not hinder their weight loss efforts. Others may find that six small meals are a better fit. The key thing to remember is that you do not want to get so hungry during the day that you overeat at one of your meals.
For those who have diabetes (type 1 or 2), it may be preferable to eat smaller meals in order to better manage insulin and blood sugar levels.
Whatever eating habits you adopt, make sure you abide by them from day to day so that your body can become accustomed to it.
They call breakfast the most important meal for a reason. Make sure you eat breakfast every morning in order to start off your metabolism properly.
Don’t eat simply because food is present or has been offered to you, unless it is time for one of your scheduled meals or snacks.
Beware of the junk-food-for-energy cycle. If we are tired, our bodies can make us feel as if we are hungry, even if we are not. This can cause us to eat junk food with lots of sugars and carbohydrates in order to feel energized. This energy boost is only temporary, however, and leads to a “crash” which leaves us feeling tired again. Sticking to your food plans, getting proper sleep and exercising regularly can help avoid the tired feeling to begin with.
As always, be careful with the kinds of food you choose, regardless of how frequently you eat throughout the day
Did you know that the timing of your meals is one of the most important nutrition secrets for successful weight loss and maintenance? Unfortunately with our hectic lifestyles and schedules it can be very difficult to sticking with 3 meals a day never mind 6 small meals or 3 meals with several snacks interspersed! Once I explain why researchers have found eating more often improves weight loss – you may decide to make an extra effort to eat more often. Now, eating more often doesn’t mean increasing the amount that you eat, it means taking the calories that you would normally consume in a day and spreading them out throughout the day.
It is believed that by spacing 3 large meals in one day, you allow your body to enter the starvation mode. When this happens your body tries to conserve as much energy as it can until the next meal because it assumes that the meal may not come. In the starvation mode your body reduces metabolism and conserves as much fat as possible to increase your chance of survival. The solution is to eat more often by dividing 3 large meals into 6 smaller ones. Many of us do this by having 3 main meals and several small snacks in between.
By spreading your calories throughout the day you will prevent low energy and mood, and ward off hunger pangs because you will be supplying your body with enough fuel to function throughout the day. Meal frequency regulates blood sugar levels and that eases hunger. You will also be less likely to overeat at the next meal and that will help to prevent weight gain.
By eating more often throughout the day your metabolic rate will also be faster since your body’s digestive functions are more active. Each time you eat your body’s temperature is raised slightly which, in turn, raises your metabolism. We call that “TEF” or the “thermal effect of food.” With your metabolism staying higher you will be in a state of burning fat throughout the day.
Protein from the food you consume has nitrogen and nitrogen maintains your muscle. To maintain positive nitrogen balance throughout the day you need to consume some protein every 3-4 hours. If we lose muscle we will burn fewer calories during the day and I know that is what we are all trying to avoid.
The ability to lose weight is under YOUR control and I hope that I have inspired some of you to eat something every few hours so please don’t skip meals –especially breakfast!
Just about everyone has been in situations where they have eaten too much. Perhaps a meal was so delicious that passing on one more helping seemed impossible, or maybe stress has led us to snack on too much comfort food throughout the day. Overeating causes us to fill up on food while not necessarily getting the nutrition we need and can definitely get in the way us reaching our weight loss goals. If you find yourself overeating at times, here are a few strategies to keep in mind:
Take time to enjoy your food. If you eat in a hurry or eat while doing something else (driving, working, etc.), you brain may not quickly get the message that you are eating. This means that it will take longer for you to feel full and the desire to keep eating will continue. Try eating slowly and waiting half an hour after the meal is done. You may find that you did not need that extra serving after all.
Prevent diet sabotage beforehand by limiting your portions. Putting a lot of food on your plate can make you feel obligated to eat a larger serving than you really need. Also, if you place additional serving out of immediate reach—for instance, on the kitchen counter rather than the dinner table—it can reduce the temptation for another helping.
Have a healthy snack in between meals. Snacks such as fruit or low-fat cheese with crackers can help keep your blood sugar in check, reducing the need to eat high-carbohydrate foods for energy. Eating snacks can actually help you in your weight loss because your body will feel less hungry when meal time comes around and there will be less of an urge to eat a larger meal.
Start your meal off with some fiber. Salads and vegetable broth soups contain fiber which, in addition to their nutritional value, causes your stomach to feel fuller. Having one of these healthy choices at the beginning can make the rest of the meal feel more satisfying.
Drink plenty of water throughout the day and with meals. Dehydration is one of the factors that cuases your body feel hungry, so drinking a glass while you eat will make you feel fuller than otherwise. The action of drinking will also cause you to eat your meal more slowly.
