Wednesday, 2 July 2014

Eggs - Friend or foe?

      How many eggs do Malaysians consume every day? This is the exact sentence which I googled searched and the result was this link: http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2011%2f10%2f15%2fnation%2f9700711.

       Based on this report in 2011, Malaysians consume around 20 million eggs perday. With a rough count population of 29 million in 2011, this number is alarming. And besides, how many times have our elders warned you about eating too many eggs. We'll get a heart attack, or our cholesterol might go up. Hmm, in some ways, that is true, in others, still speculative. I'm not here to tell you whether it is good or bad, but I am going to just share some cool things about eggs, then you make your own judgement. Deal? :)

     

     

That picture must have got you a rough answer, I believe? ..Yup, that's true folks. Eggs help us build muscles. Now that does not mean you can be a couch potato and expect your bicep to look like that.! With the right workouts, and including eggs in your meals, it can be a very good source of protein. Do note, one egg has about 6-8 grams of protein.! So for those vegetarians out there, who think eating eggs is alright with you, I would say, indulge. We have seen many bodybuilders and athletes who include eggs into at least one of their meals. Two very good example are: Sylvester Stallone and Kollywood actor Surya Sivakumar. Both these actors have said that they have included a diet high in egg whites to get lean. And had it worked for them? You be the judge.

                           
                                                                          Before
                                                       
                                                                        After

     Are those really before and after photos? Well, not a 100 %. The first photo, of course, Rocky fans would know its from the movie, before he goes out and trains. And the second photo is actually a real photo taken after his hardcore dieting. Part of how he managed to lose so much fat was to replace his normal meals with egg whites. Now, this is not something I would recommend, and even Sly himself mentioned during an interview, that this can be quite dangerous. Not the egg whites of course, but cutting weight to much in very short time.
   Eggs are also so good because eggs are sometimes called Natures Multivitamin. This is because there's so many vitamins and minerals within an egg. For obvious reasons, as that is all there to give life a chick. The below are what I found by a mere google search on vitamins in eggs:

One large egg contains :
  • Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin): 9% of the RDA.
  • Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): 15% of the RDA.
  • Vitamin A: 6% of the RDA.
  • Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid): 7% of the RDA.
  • Selenium: 22% of the RDA.
  • Eggs also contain small amounts of almost every vitamin and mineral required by the human body… including calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, manganese, Vitamin E, Folate and many more.
A large egg contains 77 calories, with 6 grams of quality protein, 5 grams of fat and trace amounts of carbohydrates.
It’s very important to realize that almost all the nutrients are contained in the yolk, the white contains only protein.
Bottom Line: Whole eggs are incredibly nutritious, containing a very large amount of nutrients compared to the calorie load. The nutrients are found in the yolks, while the whites are mostly protein.
** All credit goes to  http://authoritynutrition.com/6-reasons-why-eggs-are-the-healthiest-food-on-the-planet/.

   What I do is, I usually buy a 30 eggs carton from Giant once about 2 to 3 weeks once. Every other day, I'd make scrambled eggs consisting of 1 whole egg and 3 egg whites, and sometimes for supper, If I'm hungry. Its a good way to keep your carbohydrate down when you have eaten too much over the weekend.

   Now, this doesn't really mean that eggs has all positives and no negatives. Eggs, as you know, are renowned for their high cholesterol levels, and this is all in the yolk.
   Based on http://www.mayoclinic.org, a clinical study shows that 1 egg yolk contains about 186 milligrams of cholesterol, and the recommended intake for normal healthy individuals is 300 mg. I would personally advice not to exceed 2 whole eggs a day, and enjoy egg whites, as many as you want.

                 
















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