I’m not sure there’s been a food that has received more attention over the decades than eggs – especially the yolk.
Eggs have been eaten as far back as 1500 BCE in Southeast Asia but came to heavy criticism in early 1970’s by the American Heart Association after their faulty cholesterol/heart disease studies came out. Remember we learned in 2016 that Harvard scientists were paid by the sugar industry to conduct heart disease research to point the finger at fat instead of sugar, right?! READ HERE!
“HIGH CHOLESTEROL” or “HEART DISEASE”- some of the scariest words to hear – has been the battle cry for getting people to stop eating eggs (and get you on a bunch of poisonous meds).
Yes, eggs are high in dietary cholesterol. As I’ve said in a past blog – conventional medical world has demonized cholesterol and with it eggs. But as a reminder, high cholesterol is not the problem – OXIDIZED or damaged cholesterol is!
As a recap – most of your body’s cholesterol is made in the liver and partially in response to the ebb and flow of toxins that your liver manages – cholesterol is sent out to the body to protect the body, support cell structure, synthesize hormones and deal with toxins – so I see it highest levels in those with a Standard American Diet – high in processed and sugary foods – NOT those that eat a lot of high quality animal protein and no sugar (or artificial sugar).
But back to eggs – another way to demonize eggs is the fear of getting salmonella – a bacterial infection found predominately in raw chicken and eggs. The real problem lies in conventionally raised eggs. A survey conducted back in 2008 saw 23% salmonella risk with conventional eggs vs 4% risk with organic, true free-ranging chickens. So, most of us now realize this is more of a potential in cruddy quality eggs – not beautiful, farm fresh, pastured eggs.
Eggs contain amazing nutrients:
- Protein – mainly in the white
- Fat – mainly in the yolk
- Choline
- Omega 3 fatty acids
- Beta carotene
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin D3
- Iron
- Folate
The best part of the egg is the yolk! All the nutrients listed above are mainly found in the yolk!
Choline is an essential nutrient that many people do not get enough of (especially vegans/vegetarians). The liver makes a small amount but you need to get the rest from your diet.
Four foods rich in choline are quality pastured eggs, beef, liver and salmon. So, what does it do? It makes up cell structures, plays a role in cell metabolism, transports fat, also very important in the nervous system and DNA synthesis, to name a few.
Pastured vs. Free Range vs. Cage-Free vs. Organic
Organic: To classify an egg as organic, the chicken can simply be fed an organic diet but can be caged and never see the light of day. It is also very likely to be fed corn and soy and anything else classified as “organic”. You’re actually better off getting eggs from a local chicken owner who controls the feed and environment than buying from a grocery store.
Free-Range: Required to have 2 sq ft per bird – must have ACCESS to a small patch of space outdoors– which is often cement – and the chickens may not actually use the space. The saddest part of this egg classification is a chicken can be considered “free-range” with only having a “pop-hole” to stick it’s head out of the crate to outside! Shame! You’re being scammed if you buy “Free-range” eggs.
Cage-Free: This classification means very little – they can’t technically be kept in a cage but it isn’t required to let them outside and they may never see the light of day and situations are super crowded with no space to stretch their wings.
Nutrient-enriched: Be careful when a company boasts high level of vitamins/nutrients in their commercial eggs as they are often fed super poor-quality version of those nutrients – an example is Omega 3-rich eggs. They often have oxidized omega 3’s added making the quality of the egg overall very poor.
Pastured: Each bird is required to have at least 108 sq ft of outdoor foraging space (that’s greater than a 10ftx10ft space). If they are confined to this 108 sq ft space, then it must be rotated so that they have a fresh area to forage in. They must be outside for at least 6 hrs/day and have a safe roosting area for nighttime. In other words – chickens get to be chickens.
Pastured Chickens will forage and eat seeds, insects, worms, plants, lizards, frogs, etc.
True story – one day I walked up to one of my chickens in the woods only to find it had the legs of a relatively large frog hanging out of its mouth! She looked at me and quickly gulped down the rest of her meal!
This is Senorita Owlita, my frog-eating culprit😊
But in the last few years, the coolest thing we are now learning about eggs is that antibodies found naturally in egg yolk (Immunoglobulin-Y) are showing a significantly neutralizing effect against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and spike protein mutants.
SAY WHAT?!?!
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22136128/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33191178/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34706134/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36298676/
But isn’t it also “funny” that in the last 3 years access to high quality, pastured eggs has been an issue – whether it’s 10’s of 1000’s of birds being destroyed due to “avian flu” or the price of eggs being jacked up super high. Hmmmm…
And then Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition came out with this truly stupid “Food Compass” in late 2021, early 2022 where they listed recommendations of healthful foods. Lucky Charms, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Cheerios and chocolate covered almonds ranked higher than eggs! Come on – are we that stupid?!?! Oh and I forgot to mention – financial support for the study? Of course, some of the companies whose processed food ranked higher than eggs.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-34195-8
Please don’t fall for this stuff! I hope you’re learning to be a little skeptical these days!
How you cook eggs matters too – high heat oxidizes the cholesterol so scrambled isn’t your best bet. I’ve been known to put 2 raw egg yolks in my coffee at times – it’s delicious!! (No – I’m not suggesting YOU do this but eggs are quite versatile!)
In all honesty I have found eggs MIGHT agitate some autoimmune conditions and psoriasis. Key word is “MIGHT”. And eggs might cause sensitivities in general to some. I always recommend testing many foods to see if they cause YOU problems.
As always quality matters – store bought, conventional eggs are just bad. Simple as that.
I understand that not all can raise their own chickens like I do – I haven’t purchased a store-bought egg in over 6 months. Mine are fed organic, corn-free and soy-free feed, given organic green peas, kelp, probiotics, brewer’s yeast, garlic and cayenne daily as a supplement to their all-day foraging.
