Shedding Pounds - The Reality of Whole Egg Consumption

Here we have a perfect example of how certain food products get labeled unhealthy, when all the while they are extremely healthy.  Many people mistakenly think that the egg yolk is bad for you and usually discard them.  Wrong.  The egg yolk is the healthiest part of the egg with huge nutritional value and properties that help with shedding pounds.

The Egg Yolk Nutritional qualities include:

1.  Antioxidant-rich

2.  Vitamin and mineral loaded

3.  B-Vitamins

4.  Trace minerals

5. Vitamin A

6. Folate

7.  Choline

8.  Lutein

9.  Yolks from free range chickens are loaded with Omega 3 fatty acids.

10.  Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg.

11. Yolks contain all of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, as well as all the essential fatty acids

Aside from the above mentioned, the egg yolk houses many more powerful nutrients the body thrives on, with one of them being the ability to assist in shedding pounds, which we will get to shortly.

So at this point most of you must be thinking, "But I thought eggs were not healthy because they send cholesterol levels sky high."  Once again, a common misconception.  

Let's clear this misconception up right now once and for all.  When high amounts of dietary cholesterol are taken in the body will naturally down regulate in order to balance things out.  If a person does not take in enough cholesterol the body will produce more because cholesterol has many important functions within the body.

First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates it's internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.

On the other hand, if you don't eat enough cholesterol, your body simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of crucial functions in the body.

Facts of Interest

1.  Lately there have been studies released that show the consumption of whole eggs raises the good HDL cholesterol to a higher status than LDL cholesterol thus improving the overall cholesterol proportion and blood chemistry. 

2.  High cholesterol is not a disease.  Heart disease is but high cholesterol is not.  Once again the wrong information is partially due to drug companies propaganda to promote their drugs.  According to health  and fitness professionals, trying to lower ones cholesterol levels is not the right thing to do because cholesterol holds serious and vitally important functions in the body.  

3.  The real culprit in heart disease is  inflammation within the body, not dietary cholesterol.  The antioxidant lutein is most helpful for this problem as it helps protect the body from inflammation.  Lutein and other antioxidants are plentiful in egg yolks.

4.  For more proof that whole eggs are better for you than just egg whites, a study at the University of Connecticut demonstrated a group of men that consumed three eggs per day for twelve weeks while on a reduced carb, higher fat diet, showed HDL good cholesterol levels increased by twenty percent.  The LDL bad cholesterol remained the same.  Another group, eating egg supplements, or egg whites, showed no change and did not see an improvement in good cholesterol levels.

How about the calories in egg yolks?

Egg yolks do have more calories than egg whites however, they also have a high micro-nutrient density in those calories and this helps to regulate your appetite for the day, so you end up consuming less calories.  Plus, the healthy fats in the yolk help sustain levels of fat burning hormones in the body.  Yes we like those don't we!  In a nutshell, egg yolks assist in the fat burning process helping you in shedding pounds.

Recently I came upon a study of a group of people that ate egg breakfasts vs a group of people that ate cereal or bagel-based breakfasts.  The results of the study: egg eaters lost or maintained a healthier body weight, while the cereal or bagel eaters gained weight. 

I personally love eggs and have never really paid much attention to the high cholesterol talk.  I didn't pay attention because with my eating 4-5 eggs a day, for the passed I don't how many years, I have never had high cholesterol, and I maintain my weight as well as a low body fat content.  I have also noticed that when I have eggs for breakfast I am still not feeling so hungry at lunch time, meaning I am completely satisfied with a lovely, light and healthy lunch that is substantial enough to hold me til dinner time. When I have started my day with eggs I also don't feel the need to snack,  and as some may know snacking is one of the biggest culprits in preventing one from shedding pounds.  It is also one of the hardest areas of dieting to control.  Keep whole eggs in your diet along with a healthy but tasty eating plan and you will be shedding pounds by the mounds.