by Mike Geary, Certified Nutrition Specialist,
Certified Personal Trainer
Author of best-sellers: The Fat Burning Kitchen &
The Top 101 Foods that FIGHT Aging
whole eggs are a perfect foodI was on a weekend trip with some
friends recently and one of my friends was cooking breakfast for
the whole group. I went over to see what he was cooking and saw
he was getting ready to make a big batch of eggs.
Well, to my shock and horror, I noticed that he was cracking the
eggs open and screening the egg whites into a bowl and throwing
out the egg yolks. I asked him why the heck he was throwing out
the egg yolks, and he replied something like this...
"because I thought the egg yolks were terrible for you...that's
where all the nasty fat and cholesterol is".
And I replied something along the lines of... "you mean that's
where all of the nutrition is!"
This is a perfect example of how confused most people are about
nutrition. In a world full of misinformation about nutrition,
somehow most people now mistakenly think that the egg yolk is
the worst part of the egg, when in fact,
the YOLK IS THE HEALTHIEST PART OF THE EGG!
It's a shame at how many restaurants you can walk into these days
and see that the "healthy" breakfast menu always has egg white
items instead of whole eggs.
Are we really still in the "fat-phobic" 80's?
By throwing out the yolk and only eating egg whites, you're
essentially throwing out the most nutrient dense, antioxidant-rich,
vitamin and mineral loaded portion of the egg. The yolks contain so
many B-vitamins, trace minerals, vitamin A, folate, choline, lutein,
and other powerful nutrients... it's not even worth trying to list
them all.
In fact, the egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to
the yolks.
Even the protein in egg whites isn't as powerful without the yolks
to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more
bio-available. Not to even mention that the egg yolks from free
range chickens are loaded with healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
Yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc,
thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg.
In addition, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D,
E, and K in the egg, as well as
ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).
And now the common objection I get all the time when I say that the
yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg...
"But I heard that whole eggs will skyrocket my cholesterol through
the roof"
No, this is FALSE!
First of all, when you eat a food that contains a high amount of
dietary cholesterol such as eggs, your body down-regulates it's
internal production of cholesterol to balance things out.
On the other hand, if you don't eat enough cholesterol, your body
simply produces more since cholesterol has dozens of important vital
functions in the body.
healthy whole eggsAnd here's where it gets even more interesting...
There have been plenty of studies lately that indicate that eating
whole eggs actually raises your good HDL cholesterol to a higher degree
than LDL cholesterol, thereby improving your overall cholesterol ratio
and blood chemistry.
And 3rd... high cholesterol is NOT a disease! Heart disease is a disease...
but high cholesterol is NOT.
Cholesterol is actually a VERY important substance in your body and has
vitally important functions... it is DEAD WRONG to try to
"lower your cholesterol" just because of pharmaceutical companies
propaganda that everyone on the planet should be on statin drugs.
If you're interested in this topic of cholesterol specifically, I have
another article listed at the bottom of this page about why trying to
attack cholesterol is a mistake, and what the REAL deadly risk factors
actually are.
In addition, the yolks contain the antioxidant lutein as well as other
antioxidants which can help protect you from inflammation within your body
(the REAL culprit in heart disease, not dietary cholesterol!), giving yet
another reason why the yolks are actually GOOD for you, and not detrimental.
To help bring even more proof that whole eggs are better for you than egg
whites, I recently read a University of Connecticut study that showed that
a group of men in the study that ate 3 eggs per day for 12 weeks while on
a reduced carb, higher fat diet increased their HDL good cholesterol by 20%,
while their LDL bad cholesterol stayed the same during the study.
However, the group that ate egg substitutes (egg whites) saw no change in
either and did not see the improvement in good cholesterol(remember that
higher HDL levels are associated with lower risk of heart disease) that the
whole egg eaters did.
So I hope we've established that whole eggs are not some evil food that will
wreck your body... instead whole eggs are FAR superior to egg whites.
But what about the extra calories in the yolks?
This is actually a non-issue and here's why... even though egg yolks contain
more calories than just eating the egg whites, the yolks have such a high
micro-nutrient density in those calories, that it increases your overall
nutrient density per calorie you consume. Essentially, what this does is
help to regulate your appetite for the remainder of the day, so you end up
eating less calories overall. In addition, the healthy fats in the egg yolks
help to maintain a good level of fat-burning hormones in your body.
Overall, this means that the extra fats (healthy fats) and calories from the
yolk are so nutrient-dense that they actually HELP you to burn off body fat!
Also, your normal supermarket eggs coming from mass factory farming just don't
compare nutritionally with organic free range eggs from healthy chickens that
are allowed to roam freely and eat a more natural diet. Your typical cheap
grocery store eggs will have lower nutrient levels and a higher omega-6 level
and lower omega-3 level. On the other hand, the cage-free organic eggs from
healthier chickens allowed to eat more natural feed and roam freely will have
much higher vitamin and mineral levels and a more balanced healthier omega-3
to omega-6 fatty acid ratio.
I recently compared eggs I bought at the grocery store with a batch of eggs
I got at a farm stand where the chickens were free roaming and healthy.
Most people don't realize that there's a major difference because they've never
bought real eggs from healthy chickens... The eggs from the grocery store had
pale yellow yolks and thin weak shells. On the other hand, the healthier free
range eggs from the local farm had strong thick shells and deep orange colored
yolks indicating much higher nutrition levels and carotenoids... and just a
healthier egg in general.
This is due to the fact that a free-roaming hen allowed to roam on plenty of
land will eat a variety of greens, insects, worms, etc transferring MUCH higher
levels of nutrients to the eggs compared to an unhealthy hen that is trapped
inside a dark factory farm hen house in horrible conditions and fed nothing but
piles of corn and soy. It's a DRASTIC difference in the nutrition that you get
from the egg.
So next time a health or fitness professional tells you that egg whites are
superior (because of their "fat-phobic" mentality towards dietary fats),
you can quietly ignore their advice knowing that you now understand the REAL
deal about egg yolks.
And can we all please STOP with this sillyness about eating an omelete with
4-5 egg whites and only 1 egg yolk... If you want real taste and real health
benefits, we'd all be better off eating ALL of our eggs with the delicious
nutrient-dense yolks.
After all, do you REALLY think that our ancestors thousands of years ago threw
out the yolks and only ate the egg whites? NOT A CHANCE! They intuitively knew
that all of the nutrition was found in the yolks. But our modern society has been
brainwashed with misinformation about fats and cholesterol.
Another interesting study about eggs...
I read a study recently that compared groups of people that ate egg breakfasts
vs groups of people that ate cereal or bagel-based breakfasts.
The results of the study showed that the egg eaters lost or maintained a
healthier bodyweight, while the cereal/bagel eaters gained weight.
It was hypothesized that the egg eaters actually ate less calories during the
remainder of the day because their appetite was more satisfied compared to the
cereal/bagel eaters who would have been more prone to wild blood sugar swings
and food cravings.
Oh, one last thing I almost forgot... I personally eat 4 whole eggs almost
every day with breakfast, and I maintain single-digit bodyfat most of the year.
Enjoy your eggs and get a leaner body!
Want to learn more foods you thought were "unhealthy" that might actually be
superfoods...
Surprising superfoods that slow aging, lower blood pressure, fight diabetes &
boost your metabolism
(Eat these DAILY to heal your joints, improve your digestion, and help
prevent cancer)
0 comments:
Post a Comment