How often do you think about having an egg on toast for a late dinner or having a poached egg for brekkie? Did you think that eggs were fattening and bad for cholesterol?
The egg is another one of natures superfoods. Eggs contain an amino acid pattern that humans require to grow and maintain health. The nutritional heart of the egg is the yolk containing fat, iron, vitamin A, thiamine and calcium and about ½ of the protein and riboflavin of the whole egg. Eggs also contain vitamin D which is essential to bone development and seems to be important in the management of people with chronic illness.
There seem to be many diets out there encouraging women to eat egg white omlettes but they are just missing out on the essential nutrients they really need to maintain their body. You can have between 4 and 6 eggs safely per week.
The downside of eggs is that some farms use additives to improve the colour of the yolk, if you find an egg that has a blotchy look about it then chances are the hen it came from has been fed some hormones or chemicals to control disease.
To make sure you have a nice fresh egg and that the hen has not been fed any chemicals then buy organic and free range. These hens have been fed on greens and grains and have not been cooped up in a small cage but roaming free and happy.
When you crack an egg open look at the yolk, if it is flat then it could be an old egg so do use your eggs within the use by date just to be sure. Don’t ever use an egg with a cracked shell as you won’t know what bacteria has settled in there and could make you very ill.
So go ahead, eat eggs, they are easily digested and full of nutrients. But make sure you buy free range and organic, we need to keep these farms producing eggs!