For skin and beauty diets, eggs are hard to beat

The whole truth about eggs

Eggs are great additions to your beauty detox diet plan. The Ultra Beauty blog 

shows how healthy eating will get you Ultra Beautiful in no time

Egg white omelettes are a great way to get protein, right? Wrong!  When I lived in New York, everyone was eating egg white omelettes, so I did the same - and was always hungry, had no energy and even put on a stone in weight.  A lot of that was probably to do with my Crumbs cupcake habit, but I also think that I was simply missing out on a load of nutrients, which threw my whole diet off kilter.

Ditching the yolks might seem like the healthy thing to do, but skip the orange stuff and you are missing out on a whole host of skin friendly nutrients, good fats and protein.

Let's get straight to the heart (yolk) of the matter.

1. Whole eggs are a nutrient powerhouse, containing all but one vitamin. One egg contains only 77 calories, with 5 grams of fat and 6 grams of protein with all 9 essential amino acids. It is rich in iron, phosphorous, selenium and vitamins A, B12, B2 and B5 (among others).

2. One egg yolk contains 113 mg of Choline – a very important nutrient for brain functions, among other things. A diet rich in choline is also associated with happiness. The chemical breaks down into bethane, which helps produce "happiness" hormones (and neurotransmitters) like serotonin, dopamine and norephinephrine. A technical way of saying you'll feel more upbeat!

3. Whole eggs have immense satiating properties: Eggs score high on a scale called the Satiety Index, which means that eggs are particularly capable of making you feel full and eat fewer overall calories.

I love how Japanese meals often come with a half egg

4. Weight control: Eggs only contain trace amounts of carbohydrate, which means that they will not raise blood glucose levels. In a study of 30 overweight or obese women that ate either a bagel or eggs for breakfast, the egg group ended up eating less during lunch, the rest of the day and for the next 36 hours.

In another study, overweight men and women were calorie-restricted and given either a breakfast of 2 eggs (340 kcal) or a breakfast of bagels. After 8 weeks, the egg eating group had a:

61% greater reduction in BMI.

65% more weight loss.

34% greater reduction in waist circumference.

16% greater reduction in body fat.

…even though both breakfasts contained the same number of calories.

The opposite to what you'd think, all you yolk-skippers!

5. Eggs Are 'Perfect' Protein - Eggs are the "gold standard" when it comes to protein quality. That's because all of the protein found in an egg yolk and white can be absorbed and used by the body.

Calorie for calorie, you need less protein from eggs than you do from other sources to achieve the same muscle-building results. 

The way you cook eggs is important, and the preferred methods are poaching, scrambling or baking. That's because frying in fat creates harmful by-products. 

Poached eggs and smoked salmon are ideal because you get the double-whammy of anti-ageing fats and proteins.

So never throw away the yolks again, and enjoy one or two eggs a day. Cooking Light is a good website for egg recipes: just watch out for the bread and substitute it with wheat-free versions like oatcakes, porridge, pancakes made with buckwheat flour.

Want to find out about the total Ultra Beauty package?  Read about the quest for optimum beauty here!