A View About Eggs Healthy or Not?
Apr 28, 2006 13:08:08 GMT -8
Post by barbogold on Apr 28, 2006 13:08:08 GMT -8
Making the Most of Cheap Eggs by Dana Carpender
It's egg season! We tend to forget, because of battery egg farming
techniques, that eggs really are a seasonal food - kept in natural
lighting conditions, hens lay far fewer eggs in the winter, and more in
the spring and summer. That's why eggs are associated with Easter:
They've been a symbol of spring since - well, forever.
Between the increased egg yield, and grocery stores running specials for
folks planning to dye eggs, eggs are dirt-cheap these days. Right this
very minute, a dozen large eggs are on sale at my local Kroger for 66c.
(A month or so back, Marsh had medium eggs - common in the early spring
- 3 cartons for a buck! I bought 18 cartons!)
With prices like this, it's a great time to eat eggs, not just for
breakfast, but lunch, dinner, and even for snacks. Eggs are endlessly
versatile, not only lending themselves to a wide variety of flavors, but
letting you create a number of different textures, too. For these
reasons, I never get tired of eggs. (As I write this, I have a cheese
omelet sitting happily in my tum.)
Yet years of anti-egg propaganda have left many people afraid of eggs.
Indeed, unlimited egg consumption is one of the things that the
anti-low-carb forces brandish as a weapon against us - "All those eggs!
You'll give yourself high cholesterol! You'll get heart disease!"
It's important that you know that the whole cholesterol theory of heart
disease causation is in question. A number of other factors appear to be
far more important, with systemic inflammation being at the top of the
list. (It's also important for you to know that low cholesterol is
dangerous. Total cholesterol under 170 is associated with increased
mortality, especially from cancer, stroke, and - believe it or not -
violence and suicide. After all, your brain is very rich in cholesterol.)
We need cholesterol. It's essential for every cell in our bodies.
Cholesterol insulates nerve fibers, maintains cell walls, produces
vitamin D, various hormones, and digestive juices. If we eat less
cholesterol, we make it in our liver. If we eat more, we make less. It's
a clever natural balance.
Too, in most of the world, cholesterol as high as 225-240 is considered
normal. Maybe I'm a whack-job conspiracy nut, but I suspect that
American standards for cholesterol keep getting adjusted downward to
create a market for cholesterol-lowering drugs. That's just me, though.
But do eggs jack up your blood cholesterol levels? No doubt eggs contain
cholesterol - about 200 mgs apiece. But there's little evidence that
eating cholesterol increases coronary risk. A 1994 study in the Journal
of Internal Medicine looked at 12 men and 12 women, each eating 2 eggs
per day for 6 weeks. Their total cholesterol did rise by 4% - but their
HDL (good) cholesterol rose by 10% - meaning that their coronary risk
had decreased. In an article in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, researchers looked at the Framingham study - the biggest,
longest lasting study of heart disease to date. They found no
relationship between egg consumption and coronary disease. And The
Journal of Nutrition ran an article a couple of years back showing that
even men who had an abnormally strong response to dietary cholesterol
stayed within National Cholesterol Education Program Guidelines when
adding 640 mgs of egg cholesterol per day to their diets. That's three
eggs a day - coincidentally, the number I eat most days. If three eggs a
day doesn't negatively affect even those who have an abnormally strong
response to dietary cholesterol, what the heck is anyone worrying about?
But what do eggs contain aside from cholesterol? All sorts of fabulous
things. Eggs are a terrific source of protein, of course, with 6 or 7
grams each, depending on their size. Indeed, egg protein is of such good
quality that it's the standard against which all other proteins are
measured. Eggs do contain a little carbohydrate; about a half a gram
apiece. You'll get somewhere between 65 and 75 calories.
Just one egg will give you 19% of your iodine, 13% of your riboflavin,
10% of the antioxidant mineral selenium, and 8% of your vitamin A (and
that's preformed A, which is much more easily absorbed and used than the
provitamin A in vegetables.) You'll get 7% of your B12, 5% of your
folacin, 4% of your iron, 3% of your B6, copper, and zinc, 2% of your
calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Eggs are a terrific source of sulphur, which makes your nails and hair
strong and healthy (and grow faster!) Sulphur also makes your connective
tissue strong and flexible, and is used by your liver in the process of
removing toxins from your body.
Eggs are also one of the few natural dietary sources of vitamin D. I say
"natural" because of course the vitamin D in milk has been added
artificially, not that that's a bad thing. Mostly we're supposed to make
vitamin D in our own bodies, by exposing our skin to the sun. But in
this sun-phobic day and age, many people don't set foot out the door
without slathering on sunscreen. This makes dietary sources of D all the
more important. (Please, if you're a constant sunscreen user, take
vitamin D supplements, too.)
But it doesn't stop there! Eggs supply phosphatidyl choline, which is an
important structural component of brain and nerve tissue. Too, your body
can use phosphatidyl choline to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine,
important for memory. A study published in the journal Brain Research
found, "The administration of phosphatidylcholine to mice with dementia
improved memory..." Interestingly enough, phosphatidyl choline, aka
lecithin (say "less-a-thin") also lowers blood cholesterol levels.
Eggs are also a source of the omega-3 fat DHA, which is the main
structural component of brain tissue. This makes eggs an especially good
bet for women who are pregnant, and for small children who are still
building brain tissue.
You'll also get lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that fight macular
degeneration, the most common cause of blindness. According to a study
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, because of the egg yolk's
fats, the carotenoids in egg yolks are better absorbed than those from
plant sources, such as carrots and spinach.
Which leads us to an interesting fact: Most of the really fabulous
nutritional components of eggs - the DHA, the phosphatidyl choline, much
of the vitamins (including the A and D), the carotenoids - are in the
yolk. Yes, the yolk. The part that you've been told to throw away "for
your health."
Please, please, do not fall for egg white omelets and nasty "99% real
egg" egg replacers. Eat eggs. Real eggs. The whites and the rich,
delicious, nutritious yolks.
"Okay, okay!" you're thinking. "So eggs are good for me. And cheap. And
low carb. But how many fried or scrambled eggs can I eat? Sheesh!" Tons
of ways!
* Plain old hard boiled eggs (we just call 'em "boilies") are one of our
favorite snacks. Just one egg will kill hunger for a few hours.
* Chop up some of those hard boiled eggs, and toss 'em with bagged salad
and bottled dressing for a fast nutritious lunch. Add some cubed
leftover ham, too, if you like. (Hmmm. Now who'd have leftover ham and
boiled eggs around?)
* Two words: Egg salad! I like to wrap mine in lettuce leaves to eat it.
Lower carb than bread, of course, and also more nutritious. Think of the
potassium and folacin!
* Deviled/stuffed eggs are universally popular. You can vary them lots
of ways - I've made them curried, with deviled ham, with mashed smoked
salmon, with avocado, with Cajun seasoning - you name it. You'll be the
most popular person at the party.
* Quiche turns eggs into dinner. You can make yours crustless, if you
like, but I make mine with an almond/Parmesan crust.
* Eggs Florentine make a good fast supper. Just cream some chopped
spinach in your big skillet, then make hollows in it with the back of a
spoon. Break an egg into each hollow, turn the burner to low, cover the
pan, and let simmer till the eggs are set to your liking. (My favorite
creamed spinach recipe: a 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach,
drained; 1 clove garlic, crushed, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup Parmesan
cheese. Combine and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
* Poaching eggs in salsa or tomato sauce works wonderfully well. Eggs
poached in Creole Sauce is one of my very favorite breakfasts.
* Wrap scrambled eggs in a low carb tortilla for a breakfast (or lunch,
or supper) burrito. I'd throw in melted Monterey Jack (just put shredded
cheese on the tortilla and give it 30-45 seconds on 6 or 7 power in your
microwave), sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, and some salsa. Maybe even
sour cream! Yum.
* Surely I've made the point here long since that the omelet is the
ultimate in fresh, tasty, nutritious fast food. Get a good non-stick
pan, and make an omelet any time you want real food, fast!
* Roughly sixty-million different combinations of veggies, meat, and
cheese can be added to scrambled eggs. You've figured out mushrooms,
peppers, tomatoes, ham, sausage, onions, all that stuff. Maybe you've
tried asparagus - asparagus with mushrooms, a scallion or two, plus a
little dill is wonderful in scrambled eggs. But here's a really exotic
combo. This is actually more vegetables than eggs, and very filling, but
feel free to add another egg if you like:
It's egg season! We tend to forget, because of battery egg farming
techniques, that eggs really are a seasonal food - kept in natural
lighting conditions, hens lay far fewer eggs in the winter, and more in
the spring and summer. That's why eggs are associated with Easter:
They've been a symbol of spring since - well, forever.
Between the increased egg yield, and grocery stores running specials for
folks planning to dye eggs, eggs are dirt-cheap these days. Right this
very minute, a dozen large eggs are on sale at my local Kroger for 66c.
(A month or so back, Marsh had medium eggs - common in the early spring
- 3 cartons for a buck! I bought 18 cartons!)
With prices like this, it's a great time to eat eggs, not just for
breakfast, but lunch, dinner, and even for snacks. Eggs are endlessly
versatile, not only lending themselves to a wide variety of flavors, but
letting you create a number of different textures, too. For these
reasons, I never get tired of eggs. (As I write this, I have a cheese
omelet sitting happily in my tum.)
Yet years of anti-egg propaganda have left many people afraid of eggs.
Indeed, unlimited egg consumption is one of the things that the
anti-low-carb forces brandish as a weapon against us - "All those eggs!
You'll give yourself high cholesterol! You'll get heart disease!"
It's important that you know that the whole cholesterol theory of heart
disease causation is in question. A number of other factors appear to be
far more important, with systemic inflammation being at the top of the
list. (It's also important for you to know that low cholesterol is
dangerous. Total cholesterol under 170 is associated with increased
mortality, especially from cancer, stroke, and - believe it or not -
violence and suicide. After all, your brain is very rich in cholesterol.)
We need cholesterol. It's essential for every cell in our bodies.
Cholesterol insulates nerve fibers, maintains cell walls, produces
vitamin D, various hormones, and digestive juices. If we eat less
cholesterol, we make it in our liver. If we eat more, we make less. It's
a clever natural balance.
Too, in most of the world, cholesterol as high as 225-240 is considered
normal. Maybe I'm a whack-job conspiracy nut, but I suspect that
American standards for cholesterol keep getting adjusted downward to
create a market for cholesterol-lowering drugs. That's just me, though.
But do eggs jack up your blood cholesterol levels? No doubt eggs contain
cholesterol - about 200 mgs apiece. But there's little evidence that
eating cholesterol increases coronary risk. A 1994 study in the Journal
of Internal Medicine looked at 12 men and 12 women, each eating 2 eggs
per day for 6 weeks. Their total cholesterol did rise by 4% - but their
HDL (good) cholesterol rose by 10% - meaning that their coronary risk
had decreased. In an article in the American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition, researchers looked at the Framingham study - the biggest,
longest lasting study of heart disease to date. They found no
relationship between egg consumption and coronary disease. And The
Journal of Nutrition ran an article a couple of years back showing that
even men who had an abnormally strong response to dietary cholesterol
stayed within National Cholesterol Education Program Guidelines when
adding 640 mgs of egg cholesterol per day to their diets. That's three
eggs a day - coincidentally, the number I eat most days. If three eggs a
day doesn't negatively affect even those who have an abnormally strong
response to dietary cholesterol, what the heck is anyone worrying about?
But what do eggs contain aside from cholesterol? All sorts of fabulous
things. Eggs are a terrific source of protein, of course, with 6 or 7
grams each, depending on their size. Indeed, egg protein is of such good
quality that it's the standard against which all other proteins are
measured. Eggs do contain a little carbohydrate; about a half a gram
apiece. You'll get somewhere between 65 and 75 calories.
Just one egg will give you 19% of your iodine, 13% of your riboflavin,
10% of the antioxidant mineral selenium, and 8% of your vitamin A (and
that's preformed A, which is much more easily absorbed and used than the
provitamin A in vegetables.) You'll get 7% of your B12, 5% of your
folacin, 4% of your iron, 3% of your B6, copper, and zinc, 2% of your
calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Eggs are a terrific source of sulphur, which makes your nails and hair
strong and healthy (and grow faster!) Sulphur also makes your connective
tissue strong and flexible, and is used by your liver in the process of
removing toxins from your body.
Eggs are also one of the few natural dietary sources of vitamin D. I say
"natural" because of course the vitamin D in milk has been added
artificially, not that that's a bad thing. Mostly we're supposed to make
vitamin D in our own bodies, by exposing our skin to the sun. But in
this sun-phobic day and age, many people don't set foot out the door
without slathering on sunscreen. This makes dietary sources of D all the
more important. (Please, if you're a constant sunscreen user, take
vitamin D supplements, too.)
But it doesn't stop there! Eggs supply phosphatidyl choline, which is an
important structural component of brain and nerve tissue. Too, your body
can use phosphatidyl choline to make the neurotransmitter acetylcholine,
important for memory. A study published in the journal Brain Research
found, "The administration of phosphatidylcholine to mice with dementia
improved memory..." Interestingly enough, phosphatidyl choline, aka
lecithin (say "less-a-thin") also lowers blood cholesterol levels.
Eggs are also a source of the omega-3 fat DHA, which is the main
structural component of brain tissue. This makes eggs an especially good
bet for women who are pregnant, and for small children who are still
building brain tissue.
You'll also get lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that fight macular
degeneration, the most common cause of blindness. According to a study
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, because of the egg yolk's
fats, the carotenoids in egg yolks are better absorbed than those from
plant sources, such as carrots and spinach.
Which leads us to an interesting fact: Most of the really fabulous
nutritional components of eggs - the DHA, the phosphatidyl choline, much
of the vitamins (including the A and D), the carotenoids - are in the
yolk. Yes, the yolk. The part that you've been told to throw away "for
your health."
Please, please, do not fall for egg white omelets and nasty "99% real
egg" egg replacers. Eat eggs. Real eggs. The whites and the rich,
delicious, nutritious yolks.
"Okay, okay!" you're thinking. "So eggs are good for me. And cheap. And
low carb. But how many fried or scrambled eggs can I eat? Sheesh!" Tons
of ways!
* Plain old hard boiled eggs (we just call 'em "boilies") are one of our
favorite snacks. Just one egg will kill hunger for a few hours.
* Chop up some of those hard boiled eggs, and toss 'em with bagged salad
and bottled dressing for a fast nutritious lunch. Add some cubed
leftover ham, too, if you like. (Hmmm. Now who'd have leftover ham and
boiled eggs around?)
* Two words: Egg salad! I like to wrap mine in lettuce leaves to eat it.
Lower carb than bread, of course, and also more nutritious. Think of the
potassium and folacin!
* Deviled/stuffed eggs are universally popular. You can vary them lots
of ways - I've made them curried, with deviled ham, with mashed smoked
salmon, with avocado, with Cajun seasoning - you name it. You'll be the
most popular person at the party.
* Quiche turns eggs into dinner. You can make yours crustless, if you
like, but I make mine with an almond/Parmesan crust.
* Eggs Florentine make a good fast supper. Just cream some chopped
spinach in your big skillet, then make hollows in it with the back of a
spoon. Break an egg into each hollow, turn the burner to low, cover the
pan, and let simmer till the eggs are set to your liking. (My favorite
creamed spinach recipe: a 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach,
drained; 1 clove garlic, crushed, 1/4 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup Parmesan
cheese. Combine and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes.
* Poaching eggs in salsa or tomato sauce works wonderfully well. Eggs
poached in Creole Sauce is one of my very favorite breakfasts.
* Wrap scrambled eggs in a low carb tortilla for a breakfast (or lunch,
or supper) burrito. I'd throw in melted Monterey Jack (just put shredded
cheese on the tortilla and give it 30-45 seconds on 6 or 7 power in your
microwave), sliced avocado, fresh cilantro, and some salsa. Maybe even
sour cream! Yum.
* Surely I've made the point here long since that the omelet is the
ultimate in fresh, tasty, nutritious fast food. Get a good non-stick
pan, and make an omelet any time you want real food, fast!
* Roughly sixty-million different combinations of veggies, meat, and
cheese can be added to scrambled eggs. You've figured out mushrooms,
peppers, tomatoes, ham, sausage, onions, all that stuff. Maybe you've
tried asparagus - asparagus with mushrooms, a scallion or two, plus a
little dill is wonderful in scrambled eggs. But here's a really exotic
combo. This is actually more vegetables than eggs, and very filling, but
feel free to add another egg if you like:
