The Egg Diet has become increasingly popular due to reports that some well-known people and celebrities have successfully lost weight by eating only eggs. Apparently Nigella Lawson’s husband Charles Saatchi, lost over sixty pounds by eating nine eggs a day for ten months.

There is also discussion that Adrian Brody lost 30 pounds in six weeks in preparation for his role in the Pianist by following the Egg Diet. He has since explained that he actually followed a variation of the diet where he ate eggs for breakfast, a small piece of grilled chicken for lunch and a small piece of fish with steamed vegetables for dinner.

Diet Basics

There are several versions of the Egg Diet that are disseminating on the Internet. The most popular version of the diet does not actually consist of eating only eggs but it does involve getting the majority of your protein from egg.

This diet is basically a variation on the Atkins diet where the focus is on restricting carbohydrate intake. In this version of the diet you eat two or more eggs for breakfast along with, grapefruit, low carbohydrate vegetables or lean protein.

Lunch and dinner includes either another serving of eggs or a small portion of lean protein such as fish or chicken. Salads and low carbohydrate vegetables are usually allowed as desired however fruits are generally limited to one to two serves daily. Other carbohydrate foods such as bread, pasta and potatoes are strictly limited.

Another version of the diet is called the ‘Egg and Grapefruit Diet’ and this involves eating half a grapefruit with each meal. The rest of the diet plan is very similar to that outlined above.

The most extreme version of the diet involves eating only hard-boiled eggs and drinking water or crystal light drink mix.

Recommended Foods

Eggs, lean protein, low carbohydrate vegetables, grapefruit, and crystal light.

Sample Diet Plan

Breakfast

2 boiled eggs
½ grapefruit

Lunch

Roast chicken without skin
Green Salad

Dinner

2 egg omelet with spinach and tomato

Exercise Recommendations

Exercise is not a requirement for following this diet plan.

Costs and Expenses

This is a relatively inexpensive diet plan and the only cost may be that the grocery bill is slightly increased due to the need to purchase extra lean proteins and fresh vegetables.

Pros

High protein, low carbohydrate diets help to reduce appetite.
High protein diets increase the rate of calorie burning.
Eggs are a good source of protein and vitamins.
Studies show that eating eggs for breakfast increases weight loss.

Cons

Not a healthy or balanced approach to eating.
Eliminates entire food groups and many vegetables.
Lack of carbohydrates will make it difficult to engage in strenuous physical activity.
Many people experience fatigue and nausea during the first few days of the diet as the body adapts to a reduced intake of carbohydrates.
Eating a lot of eggs can cause constipation, flatulence and bad breath.
Dietary boredom may reduce ability to stick with the program.
Not sustainable as a lifestyle plan for healthy weight management.
Likely that any weight loss will be regained upon a return to normal eating.

Conclusions

The Egg Diet is essentially a crash diet, especially the version that does not allow for nutritional variety. Although rapid weight loss will probably occur it is most likely that all of this weight will be regained upon the completion of the diet.

Obviously eating eggs alone is not a healthy way to lose weight and the extreme version of this diet is very dangerous for health. Dieters risk not only nutritional lack but also severe disruption to their health and well-being.