Category: Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Good Egg, Bad Egg? 🍳

A recent study suggested that eating eggs (specifically yolks) was linked to a 14% increase in early death (due to raised cholesterol primarily). High levels of LDL cholesterol long term are the strongest risk factor from a blood lipid point of view for cardiovascular disease (whilst HDL cholesterol is considered “good” cholesterol so high levels are not such a problem).

Although increasing dietary cholesterol can impact LDL levels, it’s worth noting that the overall impact is minimal. You would need to have extremely high levels in your diet, doubling the typical “western” diet levels to have even a minor effect. In comparison the effect of high levels of saturated fats is much more significant. And in fact it’s really the ratio of saturated to polyunsaturated fatty acids in the diets that are more important.

So what does this mean? Saturated fats are more closely linked to increased risk of disease and death than dietary cholesterol itself. Try to swap out some saturated fats (e.g. butter, chocolate, cakes, pastries, deep fried foods and fatty cuts of meat) whilst increasing polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats like extra virgin olive oils, almonds, walnuts, macadamia nuts and oily fish.

It’s also wise to increase fibre levels which helps decrease cholesterol levels via essentially grabbing onto bile in your digestive tract, preventing it being reabsorbed and recycled into cholesterol in your liver.

So what about eggs? Eggs get targeted due to their cholesterol content. However they are low in saturated fat and therefore their impact is clinically insignificant. They are instead an excellent source of protein, omega-3’s, vits A,B,E, D and zinc, phosphorus and potassium. This means we can safely consume eggs without risk of cardiovascular disease or death increasing.

Happy Tuesday 🤗xx

Tuesday tip: celebrate the small successes 🏆

We’re past ‘blue’ Monday – supposedly the most depressing day of the year and into Feb now. This is the time when many people give up on their New Year’s exercise and diet resolutions. It’s easy to get despondent if you’re not seeing the scale shift but just because you’re not losing weight it doesn’t mean your weightloss journey isn’t a success. It’s all about creating sustainable, long lasting habits that help you to live a healthier lifestyle, so we need to celebrate those too!

So today’s tip is all about celebrating the small successes! Here are a few examples:

– Often maintaining your weight is a victory itself. It’s just as hard to maintain as it is to lose so if you’ve maintained then give yourself a high five!

– Doing your belt up a notch tighter, choosing a smaller clothes size, finding the clothes you have are a little looser in certain areas… are all massive successes!

– Maybe you’ve just completed your first run! Or your first online workout, or long walk! That’s amazing!

– You’ve managed to fit exercise regularly in to your weekly schedule – that’s awesome!

– Perhaps you’ve avoided the extra snacks, or said no to the dessert you’d usually have, or passed up on that glass of wine with dinner – huge successes! Be proud!

– Maybe you’ve seen improvements in things like blood pressure or cholesterol etc or you’ve been able to reduce your medication as a result of lifestyle changes you’ve made.

– Getting through that workout without having to stop, managing those burpees or push ups , hitting a higher step goal each day, completing full push ups – these are all things to be proud of.

– Choosing healthier options without even thinking about it. Have your choices changed? Sometimes these changes happen without us even realising it.

– maybe you’ve had a stressful day or week but managed not to turn to chocolate , crisps, cake, wine – whatever your favourite comfort food/drink is. That’s a massive achievement!

So here’s to all those successes that the scales don’t measure! Do you have some to celebrate? (we all do!) – share yours below! 🤗💜

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx