This Breakfast Staple May Help You Lose Weight (And 4 Delicious Recipes To Try)
There’s so many myths, sayings, and commonly held beliefs about eggs that it’s hard to know the truth. You’ve probably heard most of them: “Eggs are the perfect food.” “Eggs are awful for your health.” “Eggs have all the nutrition you need.” “Eggs have so much cholesterol and are terrible for your heart.” At this point, it seems like the truth about eggs is as hard to come by these days as an at-home COVID test. So, are eggs good for you or not?
For such a simple question, the egg controversy is decades old. In the 70s, The Incredible, Edible Egg marketing slogan — created by ad agency Campbell Mithun for the American Egg Board — took the world by storm, and by surprise. Created in response to a national dip in egg consumption, the campaign revived interest in a fridge staple often thought to be unhealthy due to one (big) culprit: cholesterol. But most bad cholesterol comes from saturated fat, and most of the fat in eggs is unsaturated, or ‘good’ fat.
As so often happens, the answer to this question is layered. The upshot though, based on recent research studies, is that when it comes to eggs, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. This complete source of protein is packed with micronutrients and minerals like omega-3s, vitamin B5 and vitamin D, and a low saturated fat profile.
Our conclusion? The case for eggs is real — and complicated.
Is it OK to eat eggs every day?
Yes. According to Healthline, you can eat one to two eggs a day as long as you’re otherwise in fairly good health. But, it’s important that we consider the ‘extras’ — delicious additions to our eggs like butter, cheese, meat, etc. While eggs themselves might be healthy to eat regularly, these additions can be harmful if we eat them too often. Luckily, there are many healthy ways to cook eggs without using these ingredients: poached, soft-boiled, hard-boiled. There’s even some scramble recipes that don’t call for butter — and they still come out fluffy and scrumptious!
Are eggs good for losing weight?
Yes, and here’s the simple reason why: Eggs are protein, and protein does two things that are crucial factors in achieving weight loss. One, protein helps you stay fuller for longer. And two, protein boosts metabolism because the body is forced to burn more calories while breaking it down than it does when digesting carbs or fats. This is due to what is called thermic effect, which basically means the potential increase in metabolism that happens while digesting certain foods. If you understand how thermic effect works, you will understand how weight loss works, because the first has a powerful effect on the second.
Egg Recipes for Everyone
I know what you’re thinking: Fine, so eggs are great for you. They’re still boring, no matter how you cook them. I’ll tell you something personal: I always hated eggs until last year, when I learned how to cook them properly. While my before eggs were gray, my after egg are fluffy yellow clouds of delight. It’s all about finding the right recipe, and I have a few that turned me into a true egg snob. How to cook an egg? Let us count the ways:
- Fried: Here’s Ina Garten’s (otherwise known as The Barefoot Contessa) recipe for Potato pancakes with fried eggs. It’s a great alternative to your average egg on toast meal. And it takes just a few minutes.
- Poached: I know. For something so easy, a perfectly poached egg is hard! Luckily we have the queen of doing all things right, Martha Stewart, to calmly guide us. Her recipe is simple and straightforward, with suggestions of potential serving suggestions at the end.
- Baked: This one is a healthy, easy, and convenient recipe. All you need are eggs and a muffin tin.
- Deviled: There are probably millions of deviled egg recipes out there that’ve been handed down from generation to generation. If you don’t have one, visit this site to see how one cook chose the best recipe out of nine. Yep, nine.
So there we have it. Eggs are natural miracles — that’s the truth about eggs. Therefore, let’s take advantage of this amazingly versatile staple and get cracking!
