This One Food Can Help You Lose Weight When Eating Low-Carb

When talking about weight loss, there can sometimes be a lot of restriction. There isn't as much talk about adding foods to the diet, only taking foods away.  One recent study looks at older adults and fat loss while eating low-carb and high-fat. The study was published in August in the journal Nutrition and Metabolism and looks at whether or not a very low carbohydrate diet (VLCD) can help older adults lose weight. In a surprising twist, researchers asked the participants to add a specific food to their diet.

This food is somewhat synonymous with high cholesterol. However, the team of scientists at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's Nutrition Obesity Research Center wanted to test that.

Participants aged 60-75 years old with obesity met with registered dietitians each week. But they also were given 24 eggs and told to eat three a day. The eight-week study found those who ate a VLCD plus the three eggs a day lost more weight than those who did not. 

"While eggs were a part of this study, we can't conclude that our findings are a result of daily egg consumption," one of the authors of the study, Amy Goss, PhD, RDN, says, "but I think what we can conclude is that whole eggs can be incorporated into the diet in a healthful way without adversely impacting blood cholesterol in older adults."

Eggs have been a hot topic when discussing heart health because yolks contain cholesterol. When there are high levels of bad LDL cholesterol in the blood, the risk of cardiovascular disease is higher. But, new research says a diet high in saturated fat is something to avoid — not eggs. This is because eating things like pastries, processed meat, butter, and other foods high in grams of saturated fat tells the liver to create cholesterol, according to Harvard Health. Egg cholesterol only amounts to about 1.5 grams.

The new study also revealed a decreased risk of cardiovascular disease in participants. So there's no need to skip out on eggs anytime soon!