I don't know where to put this so I am posting it here. I hope the readers don't mind too much.
Thanks for the information - enjoy your eggs (I enjoy mine) - and good luck to you! Anny.
Lee, While each of us IS different, I do not advocate anything for anyone else, either, but I have cholesterol that is always okay, but never worried about eggs anyway. Since childhood breakfast has usually meant eggs (and the full English Breakfast is my kind of start for the day--for a good many years!!!--including tea.) However, I do believe in eating my vitamins in food instead of pill, and consider my bantam egg (sometimes 2) each morning, as my multiple vitamin--and do not take that pill! Eggs have all the essentials for a new life--and life is life--it is the "phenotypes" that are different! Well, that is not very scientific, but it says what I mean! It is logic for me, but I won't argue about it with my doctor or for anyone else's breakfast! CJR
Hi Lee, was glad to read your story. I have always been thin, averaged 118 to 123 lbs all through my 20's. Hit 30, quit smoking, and started gaining weight. I'm 5'4" and got up to a high of about 136 lbs. That may not sound like much, but it was really about 10 to 15 lbs more than my normal weight, and I could really tell. My face was getting rounder and my Levi's were getting wider in the waist.
Hi Lee, you posted a while ago so I don't know if you will check and see this, but anyway-I am new to raising chooks, but I have some firm opinions about eggs and food in general. My mother and I have researched and tried everything. My belief is that eggs are excellent for you. Dietary cholesteral is not the same as serum(blood) cholesteral. AND, if you have yard eggs, those are the best thing you can eat. They have lecithin and omega 3 fatty acids which are fabulous for blood fats and everything else. While I feel that a strict Atkins is not balanced enough for good health on a very long term, I know that all the carbs, especially refined ones, are what causes elevated triglycerides, and ultimately it is the triglyerides that raise bad blood fats. Even something seemingly healthy like juice, if consumed in excess, can raise triglycerides. I have found that Dr. Barry Sears (the Zone) Atkins, Sugar Busters, etc etc all vary somewhat but the basic message is, we should eat about 30 percent fat (healthy fat like olive oil or omegas) 30 percent protein, and 40 percent carbs, mostly vegetables and some fruit, and really watch the grains. Chickens are not the only ones who get fat from grains! Bread, rice, pasta, all can make you fat and raise cholesteral. This is not what we've been told for the past 10 years, and this country has gotten so fat so fast since we've all been on this pyramid nonsense of all grain and no fat, it's a nightmare. Anyway, congrats on your success and anyone else out there, just enjoy your eggies, they are so good for you!
Robint---Keep saying that my egg for breakfast (two, often, as they are all bantams eggs and small) is my multiple vitimin for the day!
CJR, your mama was wise. Our moms and grandmas knew that bread and starches were to be taken in moderation. And portion control - the average restaraunt serving in America could easily feed two people. My theory is that if a food can be eaten with minimum change from it's natural state - just chopping, seasoning and heating - it is wholesome and nutritious. The more we have to do to a food to make it palatable, the more likely we were never intended to eat it. Grains had to be genetically engineered, thousands of years ago, in order to be feasible to eat, and it has to be ground and mixed with yeast and all kinds of stuff - not like just roasting an animal and boiling some veggies. I adore bread, but only people who really burn calories can eat much of it. (I also think an occasional chocolate truffle is good for the soul. :^ ) )
There's a lot of heart disease in my family and when I found out that my serum triglyceride levels were 5 times normal values and my total cholesterol was high, I asked my primary care physician to help me manage my risk for heart disease. I don't have heart disease and I don't want it! Better to prevent it than treat it!
For the last year my blood chemistry has been measured every 4-6 weeks. Triglycerides always too high by 5 times normal values, cholesterol in the mid 200s. Zocor didn't help any.
I love eggs and dairy products.
I went on the low carbohydrate diet (high protein / fat) about a month ago to lose some weight. After two weeks it was time for my blood chemistry tests again. I thought my triglycerides (which is an oily substance) and cholesterol would be through the roof because of the fats in the Atkins diet. (Triglycerides are synthesized in the human liver from carbohydrates.)
The opposite was the case. For the first time since I have been 'keeping score' all my blood chemistry numbers are normal. Triglycerides down to 1/5 of the previous levels, cholesterol in the normal range (190, down from 250), my cardiac risk ratio in the low range... and I eat 3 or 4 eggs a day now. Sometimes more. Bacon and eggs for breakfast (like we had when I was a kid on the (dairy) farm)... other low carb foods the rest of the day.
I am not really advocating the Atkins diet. It is hard for me. I like fruits and veggies and I cheat a little. I can get tired of all that meat. I sneak an orange or grapefruit now and then. But, the 'bad rap' that eggs have gotten for their cholesterol content is just pure nonsense. For the first time in a long time, my heart-disease-risk-ratio (total cholesterol divided by HDL (high density lipids - the 'good' cholesterol)) is in the low range.
I know a lot of dieticians will shake their heads, but getting away from their beloved 'food pyramid' is what works for me. So, I am feeling good and enjoying all the eggs I eat - guilt free!
By anny on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 05:05 pm:
By Cjeanr on Thursday, February 7, 2002 - 06:03 pm:
By HannahH on Friday, February 8, 2002 - 11:49 pm:
I tried eating less, I already exercised pretty well, nothing worked. I was getting bigger and bigger. I also had a heart scare in Jan. 2000, and my cholesterol then was 125 and 75 HDL. I was told this is really good. Don't know what the heart-disease-risk-ratio is. Going by your post it would be 125/75 so I guess that would be 1.66. Don't know what that number means.
Anyway, a friend gave me the Adkins book to read, after I watched her loose a considerable amount of weight over 2 months. I read it, it made sense to me, so I tried it.
All I did was eat more egg salad sandwiches and regular salads (with shredded cheese and boiled eggs and ranch dressing!) and more tuna fish. I also went from drinking 2 or 3 Coca-Colas per day (my weakness!) to the very low carb sodas. I've never been much for water, but I do eat a huge bowl of "Honeycomb" cereal and lots of milk for breakfast. I discovered I like Pepsi "ONE" sodas, (one calorie, NO carbs). Orange juice and cran-grape that I love are chocked FULL of carbs. Stopped drinking them.
After about only 6 weeks (that's right, 6 weeks) my jeans were falling off me. Literally. I had to buy new ones. I'm now back down to 123 and I'm back to my old routine food (yes I'm also a junk food junkie, and a Cool Ranch Dorito addict!)
The only thing I didn't go back to was the regular sodas. I will have one maybe once a month, if then. Once I quit drinking them and eating all the candy (I used to eat alot of that too) I no longer missed it. I still have to have a little bit of chocolate every day. But just a little!
I felt much better after losing the weight, and it really wasn't that hard. Kind of makes sense about all the sugar, man started out as a meat eater.
According to Adkins the US per capita consumption of sugar in 1900 was about 13 lbs. Now it's close to 137 lbs per person per year. Heart Disease was virtually unheard of in 1900. Now it's the leading killer. Must be a connection there, and consumption of sugar and carbs appears to be it.
It would make sense if you eat animal protein, the body immediatly burns the calories for energy. According to Adkins, Insulin makes the decision whether to burn sugar as energy or store it as fat. If you don't eat sugar, no insulin in the blood, nothing to store as fat. Makes sense. Sure worked for me.
Adkins said if you cut the carbs and eat more protein the total cholesterol would plummet. Seems like it would be the opposite. You've proved to yourself it's true. You've convinced me too.
Thanks for telling us about your weight loss success, and enjoy them eggs!!
By Robint on Friday, March 1, 2002 - 02:12 am:
By Cjeanr on Friday, March 1, 2002 - 11:42 am:
You might be interested in that my Mother always put one slice of bread on the table for the dinner meal--for my Father. Although we had a baking powder biscuit at company dinners, we didn't serve rolls. She served our plates at the stove, and brought each to the table. No seconds, as that was lunch for the next day, IF there was anything left over from the servings. Table scraps are a mystery to me, even to this day! You can pig on fresh vegetables with no worry, if you have prepared more than needed for the meal. My mother always said--no bread for little girls at dinner- makes little fat girls! 80 years ago, she knew how to feed the family--no overweight problems. (boys would be different ONLY if they are farm boys who work it off). And if you start the family that way, you never miss the bread or the second helpings! We are bombarded with food ads from every side--as though we should eat everything we see. Not true--RESIST! People even want to feed their birds "treats" every day--well--we are indoctrinated to think food is "love", food is "pleasure" we should take whenever we want it--and we will want it, too many times a day! I endure a chocolate binge now and then--and think of my Mother!!!A proper serving is just as "pleasureable! "RESIST! LOL CJR
By Robint on Friday, March 1, 2002 - 02:23 pm: