Eggs are often labeled as one of the foods that should be avoided when you are trying to lose weight. In fact, you only need to get rid of the yolk considering that the calories in egg whites are very low so they won’t increase your weight significantly.
Egg white is the white, thick liquid that surrounds the egg yolk while it is still in the shell. The egg white structure consists of 90 percent water and 10 percent protein, and functions to protect the chick embryo in a successfully fertilized egg.
In fact, egg whites are famous for their excellent protein content because they contain 9 types of amino acids that the body needs. However, that doesn’t mean that the small number of calories in egg whites is useless for your health.
How many calories are egg whites?
One egg contains different amounts of calories. Small eggs (around 38 grams) contain 54 calories, large eggs (50 grams) have 72 calories, and jumbo eggs (63 grams) contain 90 calories.
However, this number of calories is concentrated in the egg yolk. In a large egg, for example, there are 55 calories in the yolk of the 72 calories it contains.
This means that the egg white calories in a large egg are only 17 calories. This amount is very far from the average maximum calories that a person can consume, namely 2,000 calories (women) to 2,500 calories (men) per day.
Keep in mind that the number of calories in egg whites will change if you add other ingredients, such as oil, butter, or cheese. How you cook eggs will also affect the number of calories in the egg overall.
The small number of calories in egg whites is due to the fact that they contain almost no fat. Therefore, egg whites are also safer to consume for people who have a high risk of increasing cholesterol levels in the blood.
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Consuming egg whites can reduce weight
Apart from the low calories of egg whites so they are good for consumption when dieting, eating egg whites is also believed to help you lose weight. Egg whites also contain leucine, an amino acid that has been proven to help obese sufferers lose some of the fat in their bodies.
When you are on a weight loss program, that’s where the protein content in egg whites plays its role. Through a complex mechanism, protein essentially increases fat burning in the body.
Not only that, consuming egg whites can also suppress your appetite by making you feel full longer. Apart from that, the protein content in egg whites is also very useful for maintaining and building muscle mass, so that weight loss is not accompanied by a decrease in muscle mass.
Limit consumption of egg whites
Even though the calorie content of egg whites is very low, that doesn’t mean there are no health risks lurking if you consume too much of it. The high protein content in egg whites can trigger allergic reactions in some people, characterized by nausea, vomiting, rashes, swelling, and serious allergic reactions (anaphylaxis).
Egg whites contain avidin, a protein that can bind biotin and reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients from other food sources. In the long term, the body can suffer from a biotin deficiency so that it will be difficult to form new cells, break down carbohydrates and fats, and synthesize amino acids.
It is also important not to consume raw egg whites because they may contain salmonella bacteria. Salmonella can cause serious illnesses in the body, such as poisoning and other diseases in the digestive tract.
