Contents
Egg Diet Plan: What Is It and Is It Effective?
The egg diet is a diet low in carbohydrates, low in calories, but rich in protein. It is designed to help help you lose weight without sacrificing the protein needed to build muscles. As its name suggests, it emphasizes the consumption of eggs as a main source of protein.
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The egg diet has several versions, but in each one you can only drink water or drinks without calories. Foods rich in carbohydrates and natural sugars, like most fruits and all breads, pasta and rice, are eliminated from the diet, which usually lasts 14 days. Only breakfast, lunch and dinner. There are no snacks, other than water or other non-caloric drinks.
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You have to take care and monitor your advance, because this diet is not recommended, as it is extremely unbalanced and can cause malnutrition.
Ingredients
- Egg diet meal plan
- While there are several different versions of the egg diet, they all work mainly in the same way. You will start each day with eggs and continue eating small portions of lean protein throughout the day.
- Lean protein includes:
- eggs
- chicken
- Turkey
- fish
- Fruits and vegetables that you can eat include:
- grapefruit
- broccoli
- asparagus
- zucchini
- mushrooms
- Spinach
Instructions
- In the traditional version of the egg diet, you will eat eggs or another source of lean protein such as chicken or fish at each meal. Vegetables low in carbohydrates or grapefruits are included in breakfast and dinner. A sample meal plan would include:
- Breakfast: 2 hard-boiled eggs and 1 grapefruit, or a 2-egg omelet with spinach and mushrooms
- Lunch: 1/2 roasted chicken breast and broccoli.
- Dinner: 1 serving of fish and a green salad.
- Another version of the egg diet is the egg and grapefruit diet, where you will eat half a grapefruit with each meal (instead of being optional twice a day). A meal plan of this version of the diet would include:
- Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and 1/2 grapefruit.
- Lunch: 1/2 roasted chicken breast, broccoli and 1/2 grapefruit
- Dinner: 1 serving of fish and 1/2 grapefruit.
- The final version of the egg diet, which is less common, is the “extreme” egg diet. In this version, people only eat boiled eggs and drink water for 14 days.
Side effects of the egg diet.
The most common unwanted side effect of the egg diet is the lack of energy that many people will feel from the depletion of carbohydrates. This makes the exercise difficult.
The sudden change to a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates can also be difficult to adapt for the digestive system. As a result, you may experience nausea, constipation, flatulence and bad breath.
Eggs are also very high in cholesterol at 186 grams, or 63 percent of the recommended daily value. However, research has shown that it is not cholesterol in foods that worry about heart health, but saturated and trans fats.
A 2015 study reported that men who consumed more than six eggs per week had a 30 percent greater risk of heart failure. They also had an increased risk of ischemic stroke. Eating six eggs or less per week in men or women had no impact on hemorrhagic stroke, myocardial infarction or heart failure.
Because eggs do not have fiber, you should be careful to include other foods that have sufficient amounts. In this way, it will not temporarily affect intestinal function or starve healthy intestinal bacteria.
Because this type of diet is not sustainable, many people return to old eating habits as soon as it is finished. They are likely to regain the weight, if not even more. This can lead to a yo-yo diet, which is not healthy.
Related: Is the egg diet effective? lose weigh safely
Is this diet safe?
The general consensus in medical communities is that egg diet is not the safest way to lose weight.
If you are following any version of the egg diet, your calories will reach less than 1,000 calories per day. According to Harvard Medical School, it is not safe for women to consume less than 1,200 calories a day and for men to consume less than 1,500 unless supervised by a medical professional.
Eating up to seven eggs a week, or more in some studies, seems to be safe for the general population, with no apparent effect on cardiovascular risk. Doing so can really reduce the risks of stroke. A 2015 study confirmed that even some people with diabetes can eat eggs more liberally than previously thought, about 12 per week, without worsening cholesterol levels or controlling blood sugar.
That said, a diet high in protein and low in carbohydrates may be associated with higher risks of cardiovascular disease, according to a study. The disadvantage of this particular study is that it did not control or emphasize the types of carbohydrate or protein sources, which could significantly influence the outcome of the study.
Eating enough fiber every day is crucial to nourish intestinal bacteria. Americans are already well below the recommended daily fiber intake. Since fiber is mainly found in legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and whole grains, the egg diet could complicate an already low fiber intake.
To take away
Any type of extreme crash diet designed to help with sudden weight loss could work if it can be maintained. However, such diets usually come with compensation for unhealthy consequences. The egg diet is not sustainable, and most people who follow it will regain their weight almost as soon as they resume a normal diet. It is more effective to increase exercise and choose well-balanced meals that limit calories, foods with high sugar content and processed foods.
And if you are very serious about losing weight, you must start now, nothing to lose, and all the world to gain.
