Eggs

Photograph by Jenny 

There are so many amazing ways to properly prepare eggs. You can eat them in sandwiches, poach them, soft boil them, scramble them etc.. Best of all, they contain vitamins and healthy fats and may help you to lose weight and stay fuller longer. One egg contains 70-80 calories, 6 grams of protein and 5-6 grams of fat.

When I have eaten cheerios, pancakes or toast without eggs or protein, I am famished within a few hours. One of my favorite breakfast combinations is 1/2 cup of oatmeal with some cinnamon and two hard boiled eggs.

Eggs have been extensively criticized for being high in cholesterol. Based on numerous correlation (not causation) studies, it was once believed that dietary cholesterol played a significant role in blood cholesterol levels and risk of cardiovascular diseases. For the last several decades, the US government has listed a recommended daily intake of cholesterol to be about 300 mg. However, as research regarding the metabolism and distribution of dietary cholesterol continues to grow and improve, it is becoming more clear that dietary cholesterol is not nearly as dangerous as once thought. In fact, recently the US government has decided to change their stance on cholesterol and will no longer provide a recommended daily intake. This is not to say that cholesterol poses no danger, but research shows that cholesterol is not something to be afraid of necessarily.

Prepare your eggs and lower the calories by eating hard boiled, poached or soft boiled eggs. I love having a few hard boiled eggs around. They are easy and quick to grab if you find yourself hungry at odd times during the day.  I also will always choose to have eggs over any carbohydrate filled breakfast. If making an omelette, fried or scrambled try to use less butter. You do not actually need to use milk or cheese to make perfect scrambled eggs.

Those who start with eggs in the morning may be more likely to eat less. In a Pennington study, 20 overweight participants were evaluated. 20 people were told to eat an egg breakfast every day for a week and then ate from a structured lunch buffet. Others then ate breakfast cereal in place of egg, and people who ate eggs felt fuller before lunch and ate less at the buffet than when given cereal. Those who had the eggs for breakfast also had higher levels of PYY3-36 (hormone) that signals fullness to the brain and lower levels of ghrelin, the hunger stimulating hormone.

Sources:
http://sparkpeople.com