Guest Blogger Katy Sinha details her first day at
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
Your Beach Body Boot Camp.
I made it to the first of 16 boot camp days this morning! It's very exciting to be in my first 'boot camp' and realized that it's as much a mental game as it is physical in GETTING there for 7am!
Looking around the group of 12+ fellow bootcampers, we each have a reason for being there and have expectations for the outcome. I like the group. Everyone seems really supportive of each other.
As far as how i feel 6 hours after my first session, BRING IT ON!!!!
More talk after my muscles start to hurt...
Katy
Whole Eggs vs. Egg Whites
I overheard a conversation at the grocery store the other day between two women, who were discussing whether to buy eggs, or egg whites only. One woman said she preferred to crack the
eggs and dump the yolks down the drain, citing it as costing less than buying just egg whites, while the other woman said she'd rather pay for the convenience of not having to crack the eggs and separate the white from the rest of the "artery clogging garbage in the yolk".
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Right then and there I knew this would be the topic for my next blog post.
This is a perfect example of how confused people are about nutrition. About ten to fifteen years ago, the link between high cholesterol and heart disease was established. You don't have to search hard to find plenty of studies that clearly link a high blood cholesterol level with heart disease.
The problem is that this information was taken and debased and publicized as "Dietary cholesterol intake" being linked to heart disease.
First, understand that having high cholesterol levels is not a diseased state. Heart Disease is as disease, but high cholesterol isn't. In fact, the human body has such a big requirement for cholesterol--as it is involved in the function and formation of so many hormones in the body--that any shortage of dietary cholesterol simply cranks up the body's own production of cholesterol to bridge the gap.
Studies have also shown that it is not whether you have higher cholesterol levels in the bloodstream that causes heart disease, but whether there exists a state of inflammation in the body. A state of inflammation stimulates cholesterol to stick to the walls of the arteries in the body as a protective mechanism. Cholesterol is a healing in nature, and is a key building block for natural sex-hormone production in the body.
Testing for cholesterol levels is fine, as optimal health actually requires that you have a high HDL cholesterol level. A better predictive test as to whether you are developing heart disease would be to measure both c-reactive protein (crp) and homocysteine levels. Both tests when high indicate high levels of inflammation in the body.
What causes high inflammation in the body?
1. High carb, low fat diets
2. Diets low in vitamins, minerals, and fiber (usually from a lack of vegetables, legumes, and fruit)
3. Diets high in junk food (man made trans-fatty-acids are a leading cause of inflammation)
4. Diets high in burned or charred food (if you're going to BBQ your food, DON'T burn it! And DON'T burn your toast)
So next time your doctor says your cholesterol levels are too high, and wants to put you on possibly dangerous statin drugs to lower your cholesterol, make sure he or she has also tested you for both c-reactive protein and blood homocysteine levels.
If your tests come back positive for high levels, then you're definitely treading on thin ice, but the solution does not involve statin drugs, unless you are in life-threateningly poor health to begin with, in which case these drugs can save lives. The take home message about Statin medications is that they are last minute lifesavers. But they should not be used as part of a heart-disease preventative plan.
For most people, the solution lies in cleaning up their diet, and getting regular exercise, and certainly DOES NOT involve dumping the yolks down the drain.
Here's a few nutrition facts you might be surprised to see.
Egg yolk vs. Egg white
USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 21 (2008) |
I invite you to check carefully the two columns above listed as One Yolk and One White. Note how through all the vitamins and minerals, the egg white is virtually devoid of any nutrients in comparison to the egg yolk. Additionally, when it comes to the fats, there is only 1.6 grams of saturated fat per yolk.
Most health professionals will tell you that your diet should contain about 10% saturated fats. So if you do the basic math, if you require 1800 calories per day, 10% of that is 180 calories, and divided by 9 calories/gram, gives you 20 g of saturated fat. So you're fine to consume 3, 4, or 5 yolks a day or more plus enjoying some steak at dinner.
These numbers are only for an 1800 calorie a day diet. If you're doing any serious physical exercise such as www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com or weight training, or playing any sports, then your calorie requirements may be much higher, resulting in an even higher upper limit for how many yolks per day you can eat safely.
The same doctors and so called nutrition gurus that tell you to eat fewer egg yolks, espouse the benefits of "heart healthy" monounsaturated fats such as oleic acid, which is found in olives and almonds. Yet they fail to notice that each egg yolk delivers nearly a full 2 grams of the same monounsaturated fat.
Finally, the big one, omega-3 fatty acids that have all the current research to back up their health benefits are contained ONLY in the yolks. There is none at all in egg whites.
Clearly, egg yolks are nutritionally superior in every single category.
So next time you're going to make an omelette or scrambled eggs, go for a few whole eggs instead of one whole egg plus 4 or 5 whites. Not only will it taste better, it is far more nutritious, and it's way less of a hassle.
:)
Shane Miller, CPT, CSN
Your Strength and Fat Loss Coach
www.your-strength-and-fat-loss-coach.com
www.your-beach-body-boot-camp.com
