The Egg Diet is a low carbohydrate weight loss plan that emphasizes consuming the majority of your protein in the form of eggs. While a number of prominent celebrities claim to have lost pounds following one of the several versions of the diet, there are a number of drawbacks associated with this type of severely carbohydrate-restricted eating plan. Reputable health professionals contend that the Egg Diet does not encourage the balanced diet and lifestyle habits required for healthy, sustainable weight loss. Speak to your doctor about the possible side effects and dangers before beginning the Egg Diet.
Background
The Egg Diet is based on the concept that if you eat only a small amount of carbohydrates daily, you will prevent the increase in insulin that occurs during carbohydrate digestion. Insulin stimulates your body to use the carbohydrate-derived simple sugar glucose as its main energy source. Without readily available glucose, proponents of low carbohydrate diets like the Egg Diet argue that you can prevent your insulin levels from rising and force your body into increasing its metabolism of fat, causing you to burn fat stores and lose weight.
Guidelines
There are two main versions of the Egg Diet. While the focus of both is eggs, they have slightly different guidelines. The original version of the diet allows you to consume nothing other than boiled eggs and water or Crystal Light drink mix. It was on this Egg Diet version that Nigella Lawson, British cookbook author and television personality, claims her husband, Charles Saatchi, lost more than 60 lbs. in less than a year. The other, less restrictive version recommends that dieters eat two eggs and grapefruit for breakfast and either skinless chicken, fish or two more eggs accompanied by a green salad or non-starchy vegetables for lunch and dinner. Only two servings of fruit are allowed daily and all types of carbohydrates -- including starchy vegetables like potatoes or corn, bread, pasta and rice -- are heavily restricted.
Benefits and Drawbacks
Eggs are a rich source of protein and vitamins and dieters may initially lose weight on the plan due to feeling fuller longer or a significant loss of water weight. In fact, Azmina Govindji, a member of the British Dietetic Association, told the Daily Mail in 2008 that research studies indicate people who eat eggs for breakfast may be better able to lose weight than people who eat carbohydrate-rich foods like bread. However, the Egg Diet has a number of drawbacks. Eating a drastically low amount of carbohydrates can cause nausea, headaches and fatigue, and the high amount of eggs eaten on the plan may result in bad breath, gas, bloating and constipation. If you attempt to follow the extreme eggs-only version of the diet, you run the risk developing liver or kidney problems or becoming deficient in nutrients like vitamin C. Additionally, the Egg Diet does not emphasize regular exercise as a weight loss strategy.
Expert Insight
According to MayoClinic.com diets like the Egg Diet are not only unbalanced, they ignore the most basic rule of weight loss -- regardless of whether you eat mainly protein, fat or carbohydrates, you'll only drop pounds consistently if you consume fewer calories than you use. Even if you lose weight on the plan, health professionals warn that any success you may experience on extreme fad diets like the Egg Diet might vanish when you go off the diet and return to your normal eating habits. That, as MayoClinic.com warns, is the worst part of extreme weight loss programs: They fail to teach the basic tenets of sustainable, long-term weight loss. Reputable medical institutions continue to contend that the best way to lose weight is to eat a balanced, low-fat, low-calorie diet focusing on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean protein and to incorporate regular daily exercise.
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