Monday 28 July 2014

SO YOU THINK YOU ARE A FITNESS ENTHUSIAST? FIND OUT.......

So, You Think You are a Fitness Enthusiast?


So, You Think You are a Fitness Enthusiast abi? oya make we find out if you get all the features sha.

You know you are a fitness enthusiast when-
1) You stand in front of the mirror and check out your abs instead of your face. You also squeeze your abs in like I do to get a feel of what your abs should look like.
2) You know what you are going to wear for your workout the next day but you pick up anything random for office. :D
3) When you reach your gym, you just say hello to your trainers and start warming up instead of talking to the gossip group who are talking about- “Man, she must be dieting, how else could she lose so much weight” ! :D
4) When your trainer asks you to do burpees you immediately ask him how many and jump on it instead of others who argue one whole minute saying we did 20 yesterday itself.
5) You know the right way to squat :D So, You Think You are a Fitness Enthusiast?
6) You are bored on rest days and wondering what to do with the extra time.
7) You never blame your trainers for not losing weight. Instead you always check with them if you are doing a particular exercise properly.
8) You do not have many friends in your class/gym. But your trainers totally know your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to workout.
9) Someone at work saying, “you look fab” does not matter so much to you. But if your trainer says a simple “Good” or “keep it up”, you are feeling something like “am the best” :P
10) You are looking up sports bra, sports shoes, gym tees, capris and shorts all the time online.
11) Everyone is checking out the new trending, skimpy tank top and shorts and gossiping “OMG!! How do people wear all this”, you are putting on your training gloves intently.
12) You are back before everyone else after the water break.
13) In a group class, the trainer will ask you to show the demo (of course you know most of the exercises) first. So, You Think You are a Fitness Enthusiast?
14) You dream of working out together with your partner and you don’t mind being seen all sweaty and red. :D
15) You know what could be a pre and post workout meal.
16) You cancel or postpone meeting your friends so that you don’t have to skip your workout.
17) You curse the rain badly when you were just moving out to train outdoors. You grumpily pick up whatever is available at home and start exercising. :D
18) You calculate how many days you will miss working out before going on a vacation. :P
19) You can easily refuse the colleague offering his shaadikimithai saying- “Hey, I just had a very heavy lunch, will eat it in an hour”.
20) When your colleagues are enthusiastically planning a pizza party, you are thinking of some excuse to escape.
21) When you visit a restaurant and order an NIGERIA dish, you always tell the waiter “Less oil in the food please”.
22) You have looked at TOOLZ often during  those TV SHOW and thought- “She is so fit and toned, Hats off!!!”.
23) Working out is your stress buster and not eating junk.
24) You scold your partner all the time for not working out enough more than “We are not spending much time together”.
25) Last but not the least, You love #FitMind and cannot pass a day without checking and commenting on posts. :)
That’s it #Fitminds. So how much did you score?
Score above 10- You are on your way to become a fitness enthusiast. :)
Score above 15- Congratulations, You are definitely a fitness enthusiast. :)
Score above 20- aapkecharankahanhai? :P
Lots of love to everyone!!!

Saturday 26 July 2014

TOP 10 FUNCTIONAL EXERCISES FOR FULL-BODY FITNESS

Top 10 functional exercises for full-body fitness


The focus in fitness these days is functional exercises,exercises that simultaneously use multiple muscles and joints to improve muscular endurance, overall strength, coordination, balance, posture and agility — to get a challenging, effective and fun full-body workout as well as prepare the body for everyday, real-world activities. You'll get a dynamite and functional workout with these 10 full-body exercises.

1

Medicine ball squat with overhead lift

Functionality: Even though you lift your kids and groceries with your arms, your legs and back are also key players. This exercise strengthens your legs, glutes, lower back, arms and shoulders.
Exercise: Stand with your feet wide, holding a light medicine ball in front of you in both hands. Squat down, moving your rear back and keeping your knees over your ankles, and lower the medicine ball to the floor, keeping your head up and back straight (don't hunch). Return to a start position and lift the medicine ball over your head. Repeat the squat and lower ball to the ground. Perform three sets of 10 repetitions. Increase the weight of the ball as you get stronger.
2

Stair climb with bicep curl

Functionality: Whether you have stairs at your house or have to climb them elsewhere, using stairs as part of your fitness program will keep your legs conditioned and toned. Partnering stair climbs with bicep curls will strengthen your arms and improve your ability to carry things up the stairs. This exercise will also boost your cardiovascular fitness.
Exercise: Stand at the bottom of a flight of stairs holding a 5- to 8-pound dumbbell in each hand. Climb the stairs while performing bicep curls. Walk or run down the stairs holding the weights but don't do curls. Repeat five to 10 times. Increase the dumbbell weight as your arms get stronger and mix up your climbs by taking two steps at a time for a flight or two.
3

Hip extension with reverse fly

Functionality: This exercise improves your balance and coordination as well as strengthens your upper, mid and lower back, shoulders, glutes and legs.
Exercise: Stand tall, holding a 5-pound dumbbell in each hand. Extend your right leg back and place your toe on the floor, keeping your right leg straight. Lean forward slightly at the hips. Lift your right leg behind you as you bring your chest toward the floor and lift your arms straight out, forming a T at your shoulders, squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your head in line with your neck. Return to start position. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. As you get stronger, increase dumbbell weight and strap 2- to 5-pound weights on your ankles.
4

Diagonal reach with medicine ball

Functionality: When you reach for your boots on the top shelf of your closet, pay attention to how your body moves — one arm reaches up while the opposite leg slightly lifts to the side. This exercise works all the muscles — arms, shoulders, legs — involved in lifting something diagonally overhead as well as lowering it.
Exercise: Stand tall, holding a medicine ball at your chest with both hands. Lift the medicine ball diagonally overhead to the right, straightening your arms, while extending your left leg to the side, making a diagonal line from the medicine ball to your toes. Lower to start position. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. Increase the weight of the medicine ball and strap 2- to 5-pound weights on your ankles as you get stronger.
5

Lunge with back row

Functionality: This exercise will improve your posture by strengthening the muscles in your upper and mid back, shoulders, and arms while also toning and strengthening your legs and improving your hip flexibility.
Exercise: Holding an 8-pound weight in each hand, step your right foot forward and your left foot back, keeping both heels on the floor and feet pointing straight ahead. Bend your right knee until it is over your right ankle. Lower your chest toward your thigh, bringing your arms perpendicular to the floor, keeping your back flat (don't hunch) — this is your start position. Straighten your right leg, row your elbows back and squeeze your shoulder blades together, keeping your torso angled slightly forward. Return to start position. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. Increase the weight of the dumbbells as you get stronger. This exercise can also be done with a resistance band looped underneath the front foot.
6

Knee lift with lateral raise

Functionality: This exercise improves your core strength and balance as well as strengthens and tones your shoulders.
Exercise: Stand tall with a 5-pound weight in each hand, arms to your sides. Lift your right knee until it reaches hip level while lifting your arms straight out to the side to form a T at your shoulders. Hold for two seconds, making sure your belly button is pulled back toward your spine, then lower to start position. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. Increase the weight of the dumbbells as you get stronger.
7

Push-up with hip extension

Functionality: This exercise strengthens your chest, shoulder and arm muscles (primarily triceps) as well as your core muscles and glutes.
Exercise: On your hands and knees, place your hands wider than shoulder-distance apart. Extend your right leg straight back and pull your belly button up towards your spine, tightening your core muscles. Keeping your leg lifted, lower your chest to the ground until each of your elbows is at a 90-degree angle, then push up. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. As you get stronger, increase the angle of your hips, increasing the distance of your knees from your hands. Eventually perform the exercise with straight legs: one leg lifted, the other positioned on your toes.
8

Torso rotation with medicine ball

Functionality: Strong oblique muscles are key to avoiding lower back injuries. This exercise improves the strength and coordination of all of your core muscles and will improve your tone and tighten your waist.
Exercise: Sit on the ground with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, holding a medicine ball at your chest with both hands. Lean your torso away from your thighs, increasing the angle at your hips and pulling your belly button in toward your spine. Maintaining your hip angle, rotate your torso to the right, moving your right elbow toward the floor behind you. Return to center and rotate to the left. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each side. As you get stronger, perform the rotations with straighter arms and/or use a heavier medicine ball. Always keep your belly button pulled in.
9

Supine bridge with arm extension

Functionality: This exercise tones and strengthens your arms, shoulders, back, glutes and legs, as well as targets your core muscles. It also opens up your chest and the front of your hips (muscles that get tight with long hours of sitting and using the computer).
Exercise: Sit on the floor with your hands underneath your shoulders, knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Keeping your arms straight, use your legs to push your hips up to the ceiling until your torso is flat like a table top. Lift your right arm straight up towards the ceiling, rotating your upper body so that it is supported by your left arm, keeping your hips lifted. Lower your right arm to start position and just slightly lower your hips but don't let them return to the floor. Repeat with your left arm. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each side. As you get stronger, hold your arm and hips up for two seconds before slightly lowering. You can also lay a weighted ankle strap across your hips to increase the weight your legs must lift.
10

Dynamic prone plank

Functionality: This dynamic exercise tones, lengthens and strengthens just about every muscle in your body. Though it is challenging, it's a perfect exercise to end with.
Exercise: Get on your hands and toes, facing the floor, keeping your head, back and legs in a straight line and your arms straight underneath your shoulders. Lift your rear to the ceiling, pulling your belly button into your spine, forming a pike or downward dog yoga position, lengthening your arms and legs. Return to plank position and bend your elbows against your sides, lowering your torso and legs to the floor. Keeping your lower body flat on the floor, use your arms to push your chest and head up towards the ceiling, similar to the cobra pose in yoga, stretching out the front of your body. Lower down and push your body back into plank position. Repeat five to 10 times. As you get stronger, increase the number of repetitions.

Thursday 24 July 2014

THE BEST FULL-BODY WORKOUT STRATEGIES

The Full-Body Workout For Extreme Fitness!


If you find it simply too hard to stick to a workout plan, why not try a full-body workout program? Yes you will still have to work hard but in less time. Curious? Then read on right here

Building muscles is all about spending hours at the gym, right? The only true way to build a chiseled, muscular physique is hours upon hours of slaving away over rusty iron, day after day, year after year.
Well, maybe not.
Yes, hard work is still needed. Like anything in life, you get out of your workouts what you put in. However, you don't have to train on a split system four or more days each week to see gains. The full-body workout can help you progress and is easy to fit into your schedule.
If you're finding it simply too hard to stick to a workout plan, why not try a full-body workout program? The idea of working your whole body in one training session has gotten stereotyped.
Many people picture a lightweight circuit workout designed so that the trainee is hopping from machine to machine, while in between workouts, he's reading up on the latest celebrity gossip.
A real full-body workout performed by an athlete with a goal in mind induces maximal muscle contraction with heavy weights, allows for full recovery so you can grow and still train hard, and prevents the inevitable burnout caused by overtraining.
Let's find out what full-body workouts are all about.

Benefits Of A Full-Body Workout

Saves Time

Probably the biggest positive about training your entire body at once is that your gym frequency decreases to around two to three times every seven days.
Plus, you'll only be spending an hour in the gym for each session. Build muscle with only 3-4 hours of gym time during a week?
You betcha. It's all about the quality of your sessions, not the quantity.

Boosts Your Cardiovascular System

Squeezing a solid 2-4 sets per body part into a 60-minute workout session gets your cardiovascular system up to speed in a hurry!

Rules For Full-Body Workouts

Train Once Every 2-3 Days

Easy enough, right?
The beauty of only training with weights every few days is that the days in between full-body workouts can be used to add a few cardio sessions instead of relying on ineffective cardio tacked on at the end of a workout.
Lift Heavy
Many athletes who try full-body workouts get trapped into training lighter than they usually would in order to conserve energy for body parts that come later in their routine. The truth is, if you're not training heavy, you're not going to make optimal progress, no matter what program you're on.
Keep your weights as heavy as you can. The conserving of energy for the body parts you train at the end of your workout is addressed in point number six.
Perform One Exercise Per Muscle Group
This one is pretty easy to follow, but is still very important.
Using basic, heavy exercises that enable you to lift the most weight means that you don't have to do more than one exercise per body part. For chest, do the bench press or incline bench press.
For back, choose bent-over rows or chin-ups. For legs, nothing beats the squat.
All of these movements allow you to move heavy weights and overload the muscles without performing endless exercises. Once you choose your exercises, plan your routines so you do 2-to-4 sets of each exercise for 10-to-12 repetitions.

Keep Your Workout To An Hour Or Less

When you're planning your workouts, remember that resistance training affects your natural musclebuilding hormones and adjust accordingly.
Lots of big compound exercises will help boost your natural testosterone levels; however, long workouts also boost levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol.
Keeping your workouts fairly brief but still intense is ideal for getting the best of both worlds. Sticking to 60 minutes or less is a good rule of thumb.

Consume A Post-Workout Shake Immediately After Training
During full-body workouts, large amounts of glycogen are used to fuel your exertions, so it's important that you replenish your glycogen stores as soon as possible after training.
Replenishing your glycogen right after training jump-starts the recovery process. Conversely, not taking advantage of this crucial time can slow your results significantly. Think of it as filling up the gas tank on your car after a long drive.

Change The Order Of Your Workouts

Training chest first for every full-body workout is doing a disservice to the rest of your physique's symmetry.What seems to work better for ensuring your three major body parts get equal attention is alternating between doing chest, back, and legs first in your three workouts a week. Don't always leave abs or calves for last, though!

Exercises

Below is a list of exercises to help get you started. They're split into two sections: one for large body parts, the other for small ones.The exercises are listed in order of effectiveness for each body part.
Exercises To Start With
Large Body Part
Exercises
Small Body Part
Exercises
BackBent-over barbell rows
Pull-ups
Seated cable rows
BicepsStanding barbell curls
Alternate dumbbell curls
Preacher curls
ChestBench presses
Incline barbell presses
Dumbbell presses
TricepsParallel-bar dips
Lying dumbbell Extensions
Push downs
ShouldersDumbbell presses
Behind Neck presses
Upright rows
CalvesStanding calf raises
Seated calf raises
Donkey calf raises
LegsSquats
Leg presses
Hack squats
AbsHanging leg raises
Decline-bench crunches
Rope crunches
Sample One Week Full-Body Workout
Day 1:Full body (Chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps, abs, legs, calves)
Day 2:Rest
Day 3:Full body (Legs, calves, back, abs, shoulders, chest, biceps, triceps)
Day 4:Rest
Day 5:Full body (Back, chest, legs, triceps, biceps, calves, shoulders, abs)
Day 6:Rest
Day 7:Rest

Sample Workout

Day 1: Full-Body Workout

Choose 1 exercise per body part. Below is a sample of on Day 1:
Once you've chosen your exercises, plan your routines so that you're doing 2-to-4 sets of each exercise for 10-to-12 repetitions. to Create your own workout. hit me up lets plan together. all for FREE.

The Power of Inefficiency

The Power of Inefficiency

In addition to biochemical benefits, a progressive strength-training program also keeps you operating at maximalinefficiency. And that’s better than it sounds.
The problem with many repetitive exercise programs is that they require progressively less energy the more you do them. That’s partly because repetition of any activity makes you more efficient: Your body gets better at performing that task. This is especially true if you’ve lost a significant amount of weight. Your body will naturally use less energy to move your new, lower weight. You’ll also expend less energy during low- to moderate-intensity exercise. This enhanced efficiency can be a major impediment if you’re trying to lose weight.
Your best bet, then, is to find ways to make your exercise program more inefficient. With aerobic exercise, you can mix it up: Alternate longer runs, rides or swims with some intermittent training — intervals in which you go hard for a short burst (30 to 60 seconds), then slow down to an easy pace for a minute or two. But it’s even simpler with strength training: Slap some extra weight on the bar, or take some off. Do sets for time instead of stopping at a predetermined number of reps. Adjust your rest time between sets, do your exercises in a different order, or do different exercises altogether, and you have a new set of challenges to which your body has to adapt. Tweak your program regularly, and you can continue improving for as long as you keep up your strength-training efforts.
“Changing things up guarantees inefficiency,” says Lou Schuler, CSCS, coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting for Life(Avery, 2012). “And that’s what you want when you’re trying to create a metabolic stimulus for fat loss.”
Many people find that the variety and progression inherent in strength training keeps the activity engaging, which is an advantage in itself. But Cosgrove believes that higher-intensity activities may actually burn large amounts of fat in part because they require so much focus and attention, and don’t allow you to simply go through the motions. After all, it’s pretty tough to zone out when you’re holding a loaded barbell over your head. “There may be a cognitive element to effective fat-loss programming that we don’t yet fully understand,” he says.
At some point, says Cosgrove, health and fitness professionals may find out exactly what’s going on cognitively and metabolically, allowing them to devise programs that burn fat even faster. But for now, they aren’t sweating the details — and neither should you. “We’ve been wrong in the past about the mechanism behind it,” he admits. “For all I know, strength training simply summons the gods of fat loss. But we’re not wrong about the fact that it works

Muscles and Metabolism

Aerobic activity is great for your heart and lungs. For many, it can be a meditative way to clear the mind, blow off stress and get in touch with nature. For others, it’s a challenging and invigorating competitive sport. But as a tool for getting leaner, aerobic exercise by itself is a mediocre strategy.
Here’s the problem: To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. Stay in a calorie-deprived state long enough, and your body begins to burn through its own tissues for fuel. Presto! The number on the scale goes down. You can make that number drop through aerobic exercise and calorie restriction. But what most bathroom scales won’ttell you is how much of the weight you lose is in the form of fat, and how much of it is muscle. And losing muscle mass can sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
Muscle contraction is a primary engine of fat loss, explains Stella: The more muscle mass you have to contract, the more calories you can burn. In addition, strength-training workouts that take large muscle groups to a state of burn will increase the release of hormones that aid in reducing body fat. So anyone who wants to lose fat should make every effort to hang on to, and even gain, as much lean muscle mass as possible.
The best way to do that is resistance training, which will help you hold on to your muscle tissue while you lose fat. You might even gain some muscle while you’re restricting your calories, as long as you’re getting enough protein. (Stella recommends a gram of protein per pound of lean body weight per day, which requires an individual to know his or her body fat percentage.) In turn, this extra muscle keeps your metabolism humming, even as restricted food intake threatens to slow it down.

The Fat-Burning Machine

Numerous studies have demonstrated conclusively that strength training, in conjunction with good nutrition, burns fat much more effectively than dieting alone and dieting in conjunction with aerobic exercise. What no study has shown yet is exactly how.
This much is known: Aerobic activity burns fat while you’re exercising, but anaerobic (meaning without oxygen) activity burns fat in the minutes, hours and days following exercise, as your body recovers from your workout. Compare the energy costs of the two activities during a workout session, as many studies have done in the past, and aerobic activity appears to burn more fat, which may explain why many health and fitness professionals still recommend it.
But if you add up the fat burned by the two activities during and after exercise — including what’s burned between sets during the workout itself — anaerobic activity comes out ahead. Way ahead.
Several factors contribute to this. An exerciser consumes additional oxygen in the hours and days following a strength-training session (a phenomenon known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC), and that accounts for some of the difference. Simply put, you burn more calories and keep your metabolism elevated when you use more oxygen. The muscles of a strength-trained athlete also remain slightly contracted (meaning they’re still firing) for several hours after working out, which adds fuel to the metabolic furnace. And it’s likely that the fat-burning effect of an anaerobic workout is cumulative, so that with each successive set, you burn incrementally more fat, leading to a kind of fat-burning jackpot at the end of your workout.
But, as with many questions in the relatively young field of exercise science, a complete answer remains elusive. “The truth,” says Christopher Scott, PhD, associate professor at the University of Southern Maine and an expert in metabolism, “is that we don’t have a valid way of measuring anaerobic energy expenditure.”
Absent a full explanation, experts like Alwyn Cosgrove, MS, CSCS, posit that intense anaerobic exercise causes an unusual amount of metabolic perturbation — breakdown in muscle and other tissues — from which the body must scramble to recover.
Cosgrove, co-owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, Calif., and coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting for Life (Avery, 2012), explains that this systemwide disturbance results in a temporary but significant spike in resting metabolic rate. This spike, combined with the large amounts of fat and calories burned by the activity itself, probably accounts for the remarkably high energy expenditure of these types of activity.

Muscles and Metabolism

Muscles and Metabolism


Aerobic activity is great for your heart and lungs. For many, it can be a meditative way to clear the mind, blow off stress and get in touch with nature. For others, it’s a challenging and invigorating competitive sport. But as a tool for getting leaner, aerobic exercise by itself is a mediocre strategy.
Here’s the problem: To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you eat. Stay in a calorie-deprived state long enough, and your body begins to burn through its own tissues for fuel. Presto! The number on the scale goes down. You can make that number drop through aerobic exercise and calorie restriction. But what most bathroom scales won’t tell you is how much of the weight you lose is in the form of fat, and how much of it is muscle. And losing muscle mass can sabotage your weight-loss efforts.
Muscle contraction is a primary engine of fat loss, explains Stella: The more muscle mass you have to contract, the more calories you can burn. In addition, strength-training workouts that take large muscle groups to a state of burn will increase the release of hormones that aid in reducing body fat. So anyone who wants to lose fat should make every effort to hang on to, and even gain, as much lean muscle mass as possible.
The best way to do that is resistance training, which will help you hold on to your muscle tissue while you lose fat. You might even gain some muscle while you’re restricting your calories, as long as you’re getting enough protein. (Stella recommends a gram of protein per pound of lean body weight per day, which requires an individual to know his or her body fat percentage.) In turn, this extra muscle keeps your metabolism humming, even as restricted food intake threatens to slow it down.

The Fat-Burning Machine


Numerous studies have demonstrated conclusively that strength training, in conjunction with good nutrition, burns fat much more effectively than dieting alone and dieting in conjunction with aerobic exercise. What no study has shown yet is exactly how.
This much is known: Aerobic activity burns fat while you’re exercising, but anaerobic (meaning without oxygen) activity burns fat in the minutes, hours and days following exercise, as your body recovers from your workout. Compare the energy costs of the two activities during a workout session, as many studies have done in the past, and aerobic activity appears to burn more fat, which may explain why many health and fitness professionals still recommend it.
But if you add up the fat burned by the two activities during and after exercise — including what’s burned between sets during the workout itself — anaerobic activity comes out ahead. Way ahead.
Several factors contribute to this. An exerciser consumes additional oxygen in the hours and days following a strength-training session (a phenomenon known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC), and that accounts for some of the difference. Simply put, you burn more calories and keep your metabolism elevated when you use more oxygen. The muscles of a strength-trained athlete also remain slightly contracted (meaning they’re still firing) for several hours after working out, which adds fuel to the metabolic furnace. And it’s likely that the fat-burning effect of an anaerobic workout is cumulative, so that with each successive set, you burn incrementally more fat, leading to a kind of fat-burning jackpot at the end of your workout.
But, as with many questions in the relatively young field of exercise science, a complete answer remains elusive. “The truth,” says Christopher Scott, PhD, associate professor at the University of Southern Maine and an expert in metabolism, “is that we don’t have a valid way of measuring anaerobic energy expenditure.”
Absent a full explanation, experts like Alwyn Cosgrove, MS, CSCS, posit that intense anaerobic exercise causes an unusual amount of metabolic perturbation — breakdown in muscle and other tissues — from which the body must scramble to recover.
Cosgrove, co-owner of Results Fitness in Newhall, Calif., and coauthor of The New Rules of Lifting for Life (Avery, 2012), explains that this systemwide disturbance results in a temporary but significant spike in resting metabolic rate. This spike, combined with the large amounts of fat and calories burned by the activity itself, probably accounts for the remarkably high energy expenditure of these types of activity.

Wednesday 23 July 2014

9 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT EGGS

9 Things You May Not Know About Eggs

7. The Fat Breakdown

Overview


If your breakfast isn't breakfast without eggs, you’re not alone. Whether scrambled, hard-boiled or worked in to sweet or savory dishes, eggs are becoming increasingly popular. According to the Egg Board, the world is consuming, on average, four additional eggs per year, and for Nigerian honestly we don't know? the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts an average of 255 eggs eaten per person in 2014. for Nigeria am sure its more than that, you know what am talking about right! While they were long touted as an artery-clogging food, eggs are healthier than you may think -- certain varieties in particular. Read on to learn more about this protein-rich powerhouse and what you might gain from it.


1. Size Matters

…Somewhat- 

1. Size Matters…Somewhat
Eggs come in multiple sizes in the world., from medium to extra-large. This is actually based on the weight of the egg, not the volume. While the size doesn’t alter the nutrients contained, the larger the egg, the more nutrients you’ll reap -- along with more calories. Most recipes call for large eggs; using medium or extra-large instead could alter the consistency of certain dishes, such as soufflés and cakes. To be precise when using eggs of a different size than what is called for in baked goods, “Fine Cooking” magazine suggests measuring by the tablespoon. One large egg is equal to three-and-a-quarter tablespoons (two-and-a-quarter tablespoons of egg white and one rounded tablespoon of yolk). Egg size doesn’t matter in skillet dishes like scrambled eggs and frittatas.

2. Packed With Nutrients

Due to the yolks’ cholesterol content, eggs have been singled out as a contributor to heart disease, but more than 40 years of research has shown that eggs can be part of a healthy diet. This is good news because at just 70 calories, eggs offer up high-quality protein, lutein and zeaxanthin (two antioxidants that help with eye health), vitamins A, D, B12, riboflavin, phosphorus and folate. They also provide choline, which helps with brain function in adults and brain development during pregnancy.

3. A Weight-Friendly Choice

-

Incorporating eggs into a balanced diet may help you better manage your weight. “Protein from foods like eggs helps keep us feeling full and satisfied throughout the day,” says Jennifer Christman, a registered dietitian at Medifast Inc. in Baltimore. “It also plays an important role in maintaining lean muscle mass during weight loss,” Christman adds, “and muscle tissue increases your metabolism.” One large egg contains about 70 calories and six grams of protein, making it a relatively low-calorie protein source. This is important because weight loss requires consuming fewer calories than you burn through activity. Replacing a three-ounce serving of sausage with a hard-boiled or poached egg at breakfast saves you about 200 calories

4. A Great Fitness Food

-

Getting sufficient protein is particularly important after workouts, says the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. It helps rebuild and repair your hardworking muscle tissue and makes the right amino acids -- the building blocks of lean tissue -- available to your muscles. “When they’re looking to get in shape, I always encourage clients to include a source of protein in every meal and snack,” i describes eggs as a nutritious and convenient means of doing so. Balanced meals and snacks containing healthy carbohydrate sources and protein help keep your blood sugar and energy levels stable, making burnout and fatigue from exercise less likely. For a nutritious post-exercise snack, have a hard-boiled egg with fresh fruit or whole-grain crackers

5. A Source of Vitamin D

Along with calcium, vitamin D plays a vital role in bone health. Your body absorbs vitamin D through sun exposure and by consuming certain foods, but meeting your daily needs through food alone is difficult, reports the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Dietary Supplements. Because eggs are one of the few natural food sources of vitamin D, incorporating them into your diet routinely could help stave off deficiencies. “If you’re not in the sun a lot or your body doesn’t efficiently absorb vitamin D, then eggs can be a great place to get your daily dose,. One large egg yolk provides 41 international units of vitamin D, fulfilling 10 percent of an adult’s daily needs.

6. Color Doesn't Affect Nutrients

Many people believe brown eggs are healthier than white, but the color of the shell has no influence on eggs’ quality or cooking properties, says the Egg Board. The color of the yolk can vary based on the feed of the hen, but that doesn’t reflect nutritive content greatly, although there might be small variations in vitamin A and lutein. Regardless of color, the yolks are a significant source of vitamins, minerals and fat, while the white provides rich amounts of protein and riboflavin. One large poached egg provides about six grams of protein, nearly five grams of fat and 0.2 milligrams of riboflavin, which is more than 20 percent of a woman’s daily need for the B vitamin.

7. The Fat Breakdown

A large egg contains 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 1.8 grams of monounsaturated fat and one gram of polyunsaturated fat. Some eggs are fortified with omega-3 fats by providing an omega-3-fortified diet to the hens; this will be noted on the carton. A large egg also supplies 185 milligrams of cholesterol. The current guidelines recommend limiting cholesterol to less than 300 milligrams per day, although the 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reported that there is only moderate evidence linking dietary cholesterol to cardiovascular disease and has concluded that eating one egg per day is not associated with risk of coronary heart disease or stroke in healthy adults. More research is being done in this area.

8. Fresh Is Best

You might be throwing out your eggs a bit prematurely. Eggs can be used within three weeks of the “sell-by” date if stored properly in the refrigerator. They age faster at room temperature, so don’t leave them sitting out too long. Store eggs in the main section of your fridge to keep them at their best and discard them after two hours at room temperature or one hour in warmer temperatures. For the highest quality, eat eggs by the best-by or use-by date, and prepare them with clean hands and utensils.

9. Balance Is Key

Like all foods, moderate intake as part of a balanced, healthy diet helps ensure your nutritional wellness. Choose other healthy proteins as well, such as fish and legumes, and pair all protein sources with nutritious carbohydrate and fat sources when possible. Important foods the American diet tends to lack, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines, include whole grains; fruits; vegetables; calcium-rich foods, such as fish and fortified dairy products; and healthy fat sources, such as nuts and seeds.