July 2013 - Anita

Why We Should Eat Egg Yolks:

By Anita Joubert

The richest sources of phospholipids in the average diet are choline, abundant in egg yolks. Phospholipids are the intelligent fats in your brain. But since egg phobia set in, amid the unfounded fears that dietary cholesterol was the major cause of heart disease, our intake of phospholipids has gone down dramatically. At the same time the number of people suffering from memory and concentration problems has gone up. It is essential for us to include phospholipids in our diet and one way to do this is to eat more eggs.

But the question is aren’t they high in fat and cholesterol? We have to remember essential fats are good for you. The kind of fat in an egg depends on what you feed the chickens. If you feed them a diet rich in omega 3 fats, for example flaxseed or fishmeal, you get eggs high in omega-3. An egg is as healthy as the chicken that laid it. As long as you don’t fry them, eggs are a great brain food, and the richest dietary source of choline.
As for cholesterol we forget that it is essential for good health. Your brain contains vast amounts of it and it is used to make the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. It is simply a myth that eating eggs high in cholesterol gives you heart disease.

Here’s one of many studies that prove it. Dr Roslyn Alfin Slater from the University of California gave 25 healthy people with normal blood cholesterol levels two eggs per day (in addition to other cholesterol rich foods they were already eating as part of their normal diet) for eight weeks. A further 25 healthy people were given one extra egg per day for 4 weeks, then 2 extra eggs per day for the next 4 weeks. The results showed no change in blood cholesterol. Eating eggs neither significantly raises blood cholesterol nor is proven to increase the risk of heart disease. A free-range, organic, omega-3 rich egg is a super food.
Now you can understand why Foxes favourite meal is the heads of chickens. They are not stupid.

Yours in fitness xxxx

Fit fuel Cafe

Thanks for stopping by & hope that you find my posts both interesting and inspiring in your pursuit of living a healthy, balanced and fun filled lifestyle. Many of my articles are factual based researched studies of the power of whole foods, super foods and natural supplements on which I am a strong proponent of, and how they can affect us both today and tomorrow in achieving a happy, healthy, and balanced lifestyle. Hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for visiting!

Love Always,

Anita

By Anita Joubert
It concerns me when people come up to me in the gym and ask me “what do you use?” not what is your diet like or what exercises am I doing. People always want to lose weight as quickly as possible before a vacation, a wedding or trying to get into that new bikini. What they don’t understand is that there is no magic pill or quick way to lose weight and keep it off.
For me to look fit and healthy all year long and maintain that for over 15 years is a well-balanced diet combined with exercise. Its a lifestyle.
And that brings me to the topic of fat burners. When you check into a supplement store of open a health magazine you are bombarded with various fat burning “magic pills”. It is easy to fall into this trap. Here is why it does not work and also puts your health in danger.
what are fat burners?

Generally a fat burner is prepared by combining caffeine, l-carnitine and green tea extract. These are usually effective but may be accompanied by some complications. Immediate benefits of fat burners include body detoxication, revitalisation increase in stamina and effortless weight reduction. Unfortunately these changes do not hold for long term. These supplements help in increasing metabolic rate resulting in burning of more calories. For weight reduction burned calories should come from fat, carbohydrates and protein. Some of the modern fat burners also trigger fat oxidation process for weight reduction.
Negative effects on the body:
These fat burners with their high doses of caffeine and other stimulants will put unnecessary strain not only on your heart but also your Endocrine and Central nervous system, your body works hard to repair these systems at night and through exercise by flushing them free of toxins so adding the extra stress these stimulants will cause will likely lead to:
Putting your heart at risk: There is an increase in heart rate, overdose of which could be fatal.
Effect on nervous system: Includes hunger suppression often leading to conditions such as deliriums, hyperactivity, increased blood pressure, hot flushes, irritability, edginess and insomnia, also blood clot has been reported in cases using fat burners.
Addiction: Dosage for a prolonged duration sometimes results in addiction.
Stomach problems: Such as constipation and diarrhoea. A decrease in vitamin content in the body increasing dangers of other health hazards.
Affecting normal body movements: Loose control on bowel movements and an increase in flatulence and stool becomes oily.
Others: Headaches, stomach ache, mouth/throat dryness, dizziness and vomiting.
It is really not worth putting your health at risk for something that does not work in the long run!
A well balanced diet and good exercise regime will help you lose weight the healthy way and benefit you in the long run. However if you want to speed up the process consider adding the following natural fat burning supplements that really do work.
Increase your protein intake: 125g protein per day helps retain muscle mass, which requires more energy to sustain fat.
Fish oil: Fatty fish, walnuts and flaxseed are some of the foods that are rich in Omega 3’s.
Green tea: It contains a group of antioxidants called catechins. Researchers have found that catechins help the body burn fat.
Vitamin D: A deficiency in this vitamin can interfere with leptin. Leptin is a hormone that helps promote fullness. Researchers have found that between 70 and 75% of obese people lack vitamin D. Getting adequate amount of Vitamin D can burn fat and reduce the amount of fat that gets sored by the body.
Chromium: Helps reduce hunger pangs, shown to promote weight loss in clinical studies and reduce blood pressure and blood sugar.
CoQ10: Help speed metabolism and helps lower blood pressure and keeps the heart healthy.
Before you take something always think if it will harm your body in anyway, it there is the slightest doubt don’t take it. Look after your body you only get one!!

Yours In Fitness!