Easy recipes: Egg whites omelet

You know, I was overweight for a while. And then one day, I decided to take the bull by the horns, as they say, and do something about it, because running alone was not cutting it. So I found my coach on Fitorbit (still have him, hi Dave!) and one of the first things he taught me was to eat right. So I discovered egg whites and they became my de facto breakfast food, as they are easy to prepare, they are tasty and you can make as many variations with them as you can dream about. Below is one of my favorite combo and I am happy to share the recipe with you because I know a few people who struggle with finding ideas for quick and easy breakfast food. Just as an FYI, I wake up at 7am, by 7:30pm I am ready to have breakfast with the boys and usually by 8:15am I leave the house for work. This literally leaves me 15 minutes to prepare and eat my breakfast, so those who think it takes a lot of time, they couldn't be more wrong.

There we go:

Egg whites, turkey and spinach omelet

• 1/2 cup egg whites (I buy the free run or organic kind)
• 2 thick slices of turkey breast (my favorite is Cuddy Spicy Turkey (low fat), found at Metro/Fortinos/Superstore) 75-100g, sliced in thin stripes (roll the slices and cut them across)
• organic baby spinach - 2-3 handfulls of leaves to fill up the pan - they "melt" right away, so go ahead and put in a lot
• red pepper, diced (1/4th of a pepper)
• mushrooms (1/2 portobello or 4-5 small white mushrooms, sliced)
• low fat shredded cheddar cheese (I use this triple mix from PC in the Blue Menu line)

Put some olive oil in the pan, throw in the turkey, pepper and mushrooms and mix for about 3 minutes. Make sure the spinach is cooked so that no "raw" leaves remain. Pour the egg whites on top, wait for a minute, making sure that they are cooking evenly. Add the cheese and a pinch of salt, wait for another minute for the eggs and cheese to continue cooking nicely, then try to flip half of the omlet over the other half (don't worry if you end up with a messy omlet that looks more like scrambled eggs, the taste is the same). Put in a plate, enjoy with a piece of 12 grain toast (no butter) and a glass of 100% fruit juice (or coffee), no sugar added.

Variants:
Greek omlet (replace cheddar by feta cheese, add diced tomato and olives, the rest stays)
Simple egg and cheese omlet (just the egg whites and the cheese)
Ham and cheese (replace turkey by ham, keep the egg whites and cheddar cheese)
Fancy italiano (use prosciutto instead of turkey, green peppers instead of red, feta instead of cheddar)

... the possibilities are endless! I am usually throwing in what I feel like, or what remains in the fridge.

The whole meal is usually not more than 400cal for a great amount of protein and fiber that will keep you full until your first healthy snack, about 2-3 h later). I have 3 meals and 2 snacks a day religiously, so I never feel hungry. If eggs are not part of your breakfast, you should definitely give them a try. I have significantly lowered my cholesterol in the past year and I have been eating egg whites 3 times a week. Don't be afraid, they are good for you. I may not be a specialist, but I talk from personal experience and results, I lost 30lb in 6 months by learning to eat healthy and balancing the necessary nutrients needed in an athlete's lifestyle. I kept a food diary and even had a cheat day.

It's not easy, but you can do it!! After a little while you will start craving the healthy foods and get turned off by the fast food. I know that I can't even step into a McDonald's anymore, even if I still think that a Big Mac and French fries are the tastiest foods on the planet. Just try going back after 6 months of eating healthy foods and I guarantee that your stomach will NOT like it, that's how you realize how bad these are for you.

Good luck and hope you'll love omelets as much as I do!