Eat the (organic) yolk
I hope you got your fill of eggs for Easter because they're a nutritional powerhouse!
Someone somewhere spread the rumor that we should stop eating egg yolks and consume only egg whites as they were said to be the healthiest part. Unfortunately, it stuck and people have been discarding the most nutritional part for fear of fat and high cholesterol. Unless you prefer the taste of egg whites to whole eggs, eat the whole thing! If you read last weeks' post on vitamins and minerals, you know that eggs are full of them. However, by avoiding the yolk, you are depriving yourself of the majority of nutrients. While egg whites contain protein and magnesium, yolks contain a multitude of other nutrients, including vitamins A, D, E, K, B12, folate, thiamine, calcium, essential fatty acids and amino acids.
Did you know: Along with cheese and fatty fish, (whole) eggs are one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D (Schapiro, 2016).
Don't fear the fat! Healthy fats help to suppress appetite and speed up our metabolism. Other examples include avocados, coconut and olive oil, nuts and dark chocolate.
The endless opportunities: Eggs can be eaten alone or transformed into both sweet and savory dishes. They can be cooked over easy/medium/hard, sunny side up, scrambled, soft/hard-boiled, baked, basted, poached or made into an omelet.
Brown vs white eggs: Unlike rice and bread, brown eggs are no more nutritional than white, in fact; the taste and quality are equal (even though they're often more expensive). The difference in color comes from the chicken that lays them; white chickens lay white eggs and brown and red chickens lay brown eggs. So, when debating which eggs to buy during your next grocery run, don't make color a deciding factor.
Choosing your eggs: Instead of purchasing eggs based on color, choose by the way they are raised. Listed below from worst to best:
(Battery) Caged: Chickens have no access to the outdoors and live in extremely cramped, inhumane conditions, unable to even spread their wings! This category makes up the vast majority of eggs sold in grocery stores.
Cage-free: Although these eggs cost more at the store, the term does not specify how much space the chickens are given to roam, whether or not they have access to outdoors, or how they are treated. Unfortunately, cage-free does not mean cruelty-free and they typically live in cramped quarters as well.
Free-range: Chickens are allowed outdoors (if they can find their way out among the crowd of thousands) but with no regulations to the allotted time or quality of land given.
Pasture-raised/organic: Chickens are raised humanely by farmers with access to coverage but also enough land to roam freely. They eat organic feed, plants and insects rather than the processed diets of the rest, and are free of hormones and antibiotics. Not only are pasture-raised chickens treated ethically, the organic eggs they produce are higher in nutrients and antioxidants. If splurging on eggs, be sure to go for pasture-raised, organic.
P.S: Many restaurants use liquid eggs for convenience. If you think that means JUST cracked eggs in a carton, think again. Other ingredients may include artificial butter flavor, modified food starch, milk, soybean oil, triglycerides, lipolyzed butter oil, xanthan gum, food coloring, etc. That's a lot of unwanted ingredients for something that should only be one! Suddenly we're sitting in chemistry class rather than a restaurant. Avoid liquid eggs by requesting them to be cooked over easy/medium/hard, sunny side up or poached. You can't make an over easy egg from a carton. If you prefer scrambled eggs or omelets, politely ask for real, whole eggs to be used.
Not only are eggs delicious, they're packed with nutrients and have countless ways to be enjoyed. Unless you're making meringue, go for the whole egg and stop wasting the yolk!
-Mallory
Sources:
“Cage-Free vs. Battery-Cage Eggs.” The Humane Society of the United States, www.humanesociety.org/issues/confinement_farm/facts/cage-free_vs_battery-cage.html.
Hyman, Mark. Eat Fat Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss and Vibrant Health. Hodder & Stoughton, 2016.
Schapiro, Ilyse. Should I Scoop out My Bagel?: and 99 Other Answers to Your Everyday Diet and Nutrition Questions to Help You Lose Weight, Feel Great, and Live Healthy. Skyhorse Pubishing, 2016.
