Eggs - Almost a Complete Food
"Eggspert" advice on this almost complete food
Egg yolk is a nutritious food source primarily designed for the unborn baby chick
Egg Carton Terminology
Free-range hens. In the U.S., the term "Free-range"
allows hens to walk around inside barns and
simply have access to the outside, but not necessarily to any grass, or
even any decent space, when and if they go outside .
i.e. there may be a door at the end of
the shed, but why would a chicken leave its food source inside the shed? The
eggs of non-pastured chickens have high
omega-6
and low
omega-3
content (although
omega-3
enriched eggs can be obtained by feeding hens flaxseed), and yellow ingredients
(e.g. marigold flowers) added to chickens' diets can make their egg yolks a
richer color.
Cage-Free hens. Allows chickens to walk around inside manure-laden barns.
Vegetarian-fed hens. Some producers
tout eggs from vegetarian-fed hens - this is to let you know that the hens have
not been fed animal by-products. Just for the record,
chickens are not
vegetarians !
Pasture-raised hens. Hens actually go outside and eat their
natural diet
Attributes of Eggs from
Pastured Hens
High Omega-3 (gives a naturally bright orange
yolk)
Quality lecithin
Not watery
USDA Certified Organic. Fed vegetarian, organic
feed (i.e. not GM food, free of antibiotics and pesticides). Ethically, the
"USDA Certified Organic" label also means that the laying birds have a life
outdoors on pasture. However, the watch-dog organization, the Cornucopia
Institute, has released a report exposing the distorted definition of "organic" by primarily the larger organic farms, who are taking financial advantage of the
trend towards buyers purchasing organic products, whilst their laying chickens
are still confined inside by the hundreds of thousands and not actually going
outside. To see this
report and their scorecard identifying the good and bad egg producers in the U.S.:
The
Cornucopia Institute's report
Eat at least 1 egg / Day
Preferably from
"Pasture-raised"
hens fed organic grain
So many ways to cook an egg
he less cooked the better
Raw, lightly boiled or
poached, and over-easy eggs protect their cholesterol content - more than
scrambled or in an omelet. An egg's cholesterol is more prone to oxidation when
an egg is chopped up or cooked due to the greater exposure to light, heat and
air. Oxidized cholesterol is an artery-irritant - a forerunner to heart
disease. Avoid liquid eggs, powdered
eggs, or egg substitutes, for the same reason.
Cooking damages
valuable, vision enhancing, bioflavanoid nutrients. E,g, lutein and
zeaxanthin present in egg yolks.
Biotin
The yolk contains the highest concentration of
biotin.
A B vitamin necessary for healthy skin,
hair and nerves, and essential for digestion of fat and protein.
The egg white and yolk
were meant to stay together. w
egg whites without the yolk, you are setting yourself up for a biotin
deficiency.
Lecithin
Lecithin is a mixture of fats essential for human
cells. egg yolks and soybeans
MAIN dietary source of choline.
Lecithin is converted to acetylcholine - essential for nerve transmission.
Much of egg's cholesterol unavailable for absorption
Lecithin in the egg yolk helps the body process fats, and in
particular, interferes with the absorption of egg cholesterol, markedly lowering
its uptake by the intestine.
Sung I. Koo et al, 2001
Brown or White?
There is no difference
nutritionally or in flavor. Hens with white
feathers lay white eggs; hens with reddish brown feathers lay reddish-brown eggs.
Eggs and bacteria
Eggs have a natural barrier to bacteria
A protective layer coats eggs referred to as the "bloom"
(more technically the cuticle). This seals the pores to reduce moisture loss
and prevent bacterial development. This protection is lost when the egg is
washed. In the U.S. eggs that are washed must be kept refrigerated. Unwashed eggs
from small farming operations do not have USDA-grading certification, but can be kept
unrefrigerated for some time without detriment. In fact, most countries,
including the UK and EU, do not wash their eggs.
Refrigerated eggs should stay refrigerated
Cold eggs placed at room temperature begin to sweat.
This facilitates bacterial growth and its movement through shell to the inside
egg. Eggs should not be left outside of the fridge for more than 2 hours.
Washed or not ,
eggs keep longer when refrigerated.
USDA-graded eggs must be washed and sanitized to reduce bacteria
The USDA requires that commercial USDA-graded American eggs are
washed and sanitized before they reach the consumer. "the
USDA requires producers to wash eggs with warm water {...} then dried to remove
excess moisture. The last step is crucial because bacteria cannot penetrate a
thoroughly dry shell. " - Nadia Arumigam, Forbes
Sanitization must used USDA approved chemicals.
E.g Diluted chlorine water.
Note:
How to check eggs are fresh and not infected with bacteria
Eggs should be kept outside the fridge for at
least an hour prior to checking them (BTW - most of the world actually stores
their eggs outside of a fridge):
(1) Don't eat
an egg if its shell is cracked
(2) Egg
shouldn't smell
(3) An egg
rolled across a flat surface should roll "wobbly"
(4) Eggs
should have a gel-like (not watery) white, and a firm, round yolk that doesn't
easily burst;
(5) Fresher
eggs will rest on the bottom of a bowl of water - whereas old eggs will float.
It is estimated that 1 in 20,000 eggs produced in the U.S.are infected with salmonella enteritidis. At the
typical consumption rate of 250 per person per year, you would run into one
every 80 years!
Eat raw eggs to build you up
There is no better way
to "build you up" than consuming eggs raw - Some people chug them straight down
from a glass, others add them to shakes.
The yolk has a taste similar to vanilla.
Powerful daily tool to
resurrect a "broken body", or just maintain a strong, healthy body:
Consume up to 3 or 4
raw eggs per day
(1) From pastured hens
fed organic feed
Or (2) Pasteurized eggs.
To alleviate the
contaminant danger of eating raw eggs (E.g.
Salmonella), eggs can be pasteurized in the shell by a patented
process --- Heating them in warm water at tightly controlled temperatures for
about an hour. Pasteurized eggs taste and cook the same as a
quality farm-fresh egg. Sold in parts of the U.S. under the brand name Davidson's® Eggs.
Shake Recipe: Blend 2 raw eggs, 1 C fruit juice, ½ banana, ½ tsp. ascorbic acid
powder(Before cracking the eggs, wash the shells with soapy
water or spray with 3% hydrogen peroxide, then rinse and dry).
Are there eggs in there? You won't see or taste them!
