Are you only eating egg whites? Marcy asked me this question recently. You remember Marcy; she did a few guest posts about diets and eating healthy for life? I hate to admit it but I had only been eating egg whites until recently. I was following the trend. Let’s look at the diet trends. First it was low fat diets in the 90’s. Can you say processed! Everything that was in this low fat trend was heavily processed.
Then the diet trend exploded to low carb, high protein diets: think Atkin’s. And along the way, we were fed that it is healthier to eat just the egg white? But is it really? Let’s examine what we are missing out on when eating just the egg white.
The Goodness of Eggs
Eggs are whole foods. They are a good source of carbohydrates, protein and fats. An egg has between 70-90 calories depending on the weight of the egg. So two eggs are below 200 calories making for a nice snack.
They are a good source of selenium, iodine, and vitamin B2 as well as a good source of protein, molybdenum, phosphorus, vitamin B5, vitamin B12 and vitamin D. Remember the importance of Vitamin D I wrote about? The source of vitamin D in an egg is in the yolk not the egg white.
The yolk itself is a good source of the following 4 antioxidants: Tryptophan, tyrosine, lutein and xeaxanthin along with being a good source of choline. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin, which we all know keeps us happy and regulates our mood. While choline which 90% of adults are deficient in lowers inflammatory markers linked to a wide range of conditions including heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes.
Other Medical benefits
- Promotes weight loss
- Improves Cholesterol Profile
- Helps Prevent Blood Clots
- Protects against age related Macular degeneration and Cataracts
A note on the cholesterol. While eggs are high in cholesterol, it is the saturated fat in your diet, not dietary cholesterol that influences blood cholesterol levels the most. Studies have NOT found eggs to increase your cholesterol. This is contrary to what I had been saying to my patients in the past!
High in Protein and Nutrient Rich
The reason presumably people started eating just the egg whites was to spare the calories while maximizing the protein. Let’s explore this. Eggs are high in protein 5.5-6.3 grams per egg depending on size. We will use a large egg for this example. It contains 6.3 g of protein. Of which 3.6 g is in the white and 2.7 g is in the yolk. You are throwing out 43 % of an egg’s protein by discarding the yolk.
We already talked about the fat in eggs not influencing the cholesterol. Let’s talk about calories. This same large egg is about 72 calories. 17 calories are in the white and 55 are in the yolk. Ok, so you have me there, the white is lower in calories but not as nutrient rich as the yolk.
A final word on the protein in eggs (and any protein): It is essential in stabilizing your blood sugar. Eat two eggs in the morning if you know you will not eat again until lunch. It will sustain your energy and help you avoid sudden drops in your blood sugar.
A note on cooking eggs
While cooking eggs does decrease the levels of nutrients, there is enough goodness left that I wouldn’t advise not cooking them especially here in the Middle East.
To make a perfect hard-boiled egg, add the eggs to boiling water, set a timer and boil for 10 minutes. After they are done boiling immerse them in cold water if you want the yolk to stay yellow and not turn grey. A tip to tell if an egg is fresh is to put the uncooked egg in cold water. Fresh eggs will sink to the bottom. The rotten eggs will float to the surface Discard the ones that are completely floating!
Discussion
Have you only been eating the egg whites? What are you waiting for? Eat the whole egg, it is good for you!
Great Post Rajka! i loved the visual (like the Chinese Yin-Yang) Happy eating! I fry my eggs on Titanium pan – no oil at all
Thanks Grazyna! I love that tip to use a titanium pan. I used to eat hard boiled eggs but now fry them (with spray) as it is a bit quicker. I am glad you already got it right!
Will totally aggree 100% with you.
But in todays world, chicken eggs are not too good for health dut to fast production. We can not get eggs like our grand mothers use to. 100% original eggs that if keeps in a barn, will hatch.
I had a pt, who just got married, and was told by some friends to eat 2 eggs a day, half boild it increase sperm count to get his wife pregnant. So he was eating it every morning. 3 months later, his wife never got pregnant and both of them came to see me at my clinic. Sperm annalysis was performed and lab results was showing oligospermia. I advice him to stop eating the 2 eggs in the morning, and 2 weeks later, she was pregnant. Today, they have a healthy baby boy.
Chicken to is not good for human consumption.The hormonal feeds that the chicken is given to increase weight gain and growth rate (from chick to chicken in just 24 days- KFC Malaysia) causes breast cancer in woman (IDC). Well, this is just my opinion…..
Thanks Dr Ernest! I appreciate your input! Love when you can relay a relevant patient story.
Dr Mercola has written multiple articles where he recommends organic cage free chicken’s eggs.
What we are exposed to in our food: hormones pesticides etc is frightening. And all of these exposures impact our health negatively. It would be lovely to live in a world where the were regulations which prohibited this… and where we didn’t feel like we had to grown our own food and raise our own chickens!
Happy Eating!
Rajka
Thanks Dr Ernest! I appreciate your input! Love when you can relay a relevant patient story.
Dr Mercola has written multiple articles where he recommends organic cage free chicken’s eggs.
What we are exposed to in our food: hormones pesticides etc is frightening. And all of these exposures impact our health negatively. It would be lovely to live in a world where the were regulations which prohibited this… and where we didn’t feel like we had to grown our own food and raise our own chickens!
Happy Eating!
Rajka
Will totally aggree 100% with you.
But in todays world, chicken eggs are not too good for health dut to fast production. We can not get eggs like our grand mothers use to. 100% original eggs that if keeps in a barn, will hatch.
I had a pt, who just got married, and was told by some friends to eat 2 eggs a day, half boild it increase sperm count to get his wife pregnant. So he was eating it every morning. 3 months later, his wife never got pregnant and both of them came to see me at my clinic. Sperm annalysis was performed and lab results was showing oligospermia. I advice him to stop eating the 2 eggs in the morning, and 2 weeks later, she was pregnant. Today, they have a healthy baby boy.
Chicken to is not good for human consumption.The hormonal feeds that the chicken is given to increase weight gain and growth rate (from chick to chicken in just 24 days- KFC Malaysia) causes breast cancer in woman (IDC). Well, this is just my opinion…..
I thought the yolks were bad because they are high in cholesterol but our nutritionist said otherwise. My kids like to snack on hard boiled eggs but they tend to eatnjust the whites. The nutritionist also said the yolks are satiating.
I missed this comment earlier. My kids only like the whites as I did as a child! At least they are getting protein in the white for now and then later as there palates change, they will hopefully like the yolk as well!
I eat 12 or more eggs a day, I am a super healthy bodybuilder and long distance althete, i have been preaching the whole egg and alot of the them as a stable in everyones diet, my cholesterol levels are WNL’, good information, now go out and share an egg with other, Larry King, RN.
Dear Larry
Thanks for stopping by the site! So happy to hear that you eat the whole egg and that you are fit! Keep it up!
Best,
Rajka
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