One of the slimming diets that is becoming fashionable is hard-boiled eggs. It consists of eating them practically at every meal, up to six a day.
The guru of this slimming regimen is Arielle Chandler, who even dedicated an entire book to it, The Hard-Boiled Egg Diet: A Quick and Easy Way to Lose Weight. The idea is to eat foods low in calories and carbohydrates and high in protein to lose weight without affecting muscle mass.
According to its author, you can lose about 10 kilos in two weeks. In addition to obtaining nutrients that improve blood sugar control, maintain better vision and strengthen bones, hair and nails.
From the point of view of other nutrition experts, it is true that you lose weight due to the few calories it provides, but it has a rebound effect as soon as you stop once the goal of losing weight quickly has been achieved. So it would only be recommended in specific cases.
His proposal consists of combining eggs with a series of foods that includes a list: lean proteins (skinless poultry, fish, beef, lamb and lean pork); low-carb vegetables, such as green leafy vegetables (spinach, kale, chard), broccoli, zucchini and tomato; low-carb fruits (orange, lemon, watermelon, red berries, melon, peach and grapefruit); fats in very small quantities (butter, coconut oil and mayonnaise) and drinks such as sparkling and still water, coffee and sugar-free infusions; aromatic herbs.
The prohibited ones are all those that are not on the list.
And two hard-boiled eggs
You should eat two eggs and a piece of fruit (which could be replaced with vegetables low in carbohydrates or protein) for breakfast. For food, eggs and fat-free protein and low-carb vegetables. And exactly the same for dinner.
Perhaps so much egg is appropriate for an elite athlete before the competition, because it provides proteins and fats in sufficient quantities to replace those lost during intense exercise. But not for someone who wants to lose weight, because they will end up having serious caloric deficiencies, especially in many groups of essential nutrients.
A good-sized hard-boiled egg has 71 calories, 6 grams of complete protein (considered to contain all the essential amino acids), 5 of fat and 0.4 of carbohydrates, but no fiber. Also vitamin D and choline, a nutrient that helps produce neurotransmitters that regulate memory and mood, among others.
It must be added that they are storehouses of nutrients and their proteins repair muscles, control sugar levels, improve the immune system and give strength.
For these reasons it is good to incorporate eggs into your daily food, but it is reasonable according to experts to take at most a couple a day, and better only one when it is hot, because they raise body temperature.
Cholesterol is not the problem
Another danger of eating more eggs than necessary is the saturated fat they contain (1.5 g for a large one, when according to experts they should not exceed 10% of the calories consumed daily).
They also warn about the cholesterol they provide, although there is some confusion on this issue. Studies in recent years indicate that it is not dietary cholesterol (that produced by the body itself) but the saturated fat provided by simple carbohydrates and sugars in food that causes cholesterol and triglyceride levels to rise.
These are the reasons why nutritionists have developed their own version of the hard-boiled egg diet. To ensure that essential nutrients are not lacking.
If they are also taken for breakfast, they make you feel full for much longer and you last better until the next meal. They have a lot of protein and there is nothing better to replace the fat lost by muscles during intense exercise. And being thermogenic, they stimulate metabolism and burn calories.
Eggs to avoid hunger
The National Institute of Health in the United States carried out a study with 30 women between 25 and 60 years old with a BMI of at least 25 and who ate eggs for breakfast. It was found that they reported feeling full for longer and in the period before the meal they consumed much less energy. And also this remained low up to 36 hours after having breakfast.
On the positive side is that eggs help keep bones and muscles strong and healthy, although it is still not advisable to take more than a couple a day, at least if you maintain moderate exercise.
How they are prepared also matters. The cooked ones are the best, because they do not add extra fat like the oil from making them fried or scrambled.
In some versions the dose is two eggs in two meals, that is, four in total, but always combined with vegetables, greens or fruit. These diets are based on the elimination or control of carbohydrates to induce weight loss.
