An Organic Egg Really Does Do Your Body Good

An Organic Egg Really Does Do Your Body Good

If you've been staying away from eggs because of the fear of high cholesterol, it may be worth your while to get cracking. Cracking organic eggs, that is.

Regarding the cholesterol issue, if you haven't already joined me in realizing that conventional guidelines on cholesterol are inadequate, be sure to read my article on cholesterol.

Organic eggs are power packed with significant quantities of the following healthy nutrients:
• Healthy protein and fat
• Vitamins A, D, B12, B2, Niacin, and Folic Acid
• Lutein and zeaxanthin, which are yellow or orange carotenoids that reduce the risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration
• Choline, which is a nutrient that is essential to normal cell structure and function and proper signaling between regular cells and nerve cells

Here are my personal guidelines on eating eggs for health:
1. Be sure to eat only organic eggs from free range birds.
2. If you fry or scramble eggs, be sure to use virgin coconut oil or organic butter, both high in saturated fats and therefore stable when exposed to medium to high cooking temperatures. Another option is to use olive oil with low to medium temperatures.
3. If you are going to eat cooked eggs, strive to eat them with a generous serving of vegetables. Eggs do not have any fiber, which means that if they are eaten alone or with other foods that have little or no fiber, they can contribute to constipation.
4. Do not eat cooked eggs every day, as it is possible to become allergic to cooked eggs if you eat them daily. Three to five servings per week is fine for most people.
5. Try eating raw eggs. They are clearly superior to cooked eggs for your health. They are so easily assimilated into your blood that they typically don't leave anything in your intestines to contribute to constipation. Check out this delicious recipe for a raw egg and banana shake that I drink regularly.

A note about raw eggs: many people in North America have been conditioned to believe that eating raw eggs is dangerous because of the potential of being infected with salmonella. According to a recent study by the United States Department of Agriculture, only one in every 30,000 eggs is contaminated with salmonella. Although there are no statistics that tell us what the percentage is for organic eggs, you can believe that it is far lower. The healthier the bird and its environment and feed, the less risk there is of salmonella contamination. Personally, I don’t worry about this at all. People all over the world - particularly in Russia, China, and Korea - have been enjoying the health benefits of raw eggs for thousands of years.

If you are concerned about becoming deficient in biotin as a result of the protein, avidin, found in raw egg whites, have your egg yolks raw and cook your egg whites. While avidin does bind onto biotin and prevent its absorption into the blood stream, you will still be getting biotin whenever you eat foods that contain it and don't eat raw egg whites at the same time. If you know of any reliable information that indicates that avidin stays in the intestines for more than 20 hours and can bind onto biotin from subseqent meals, please let me know.

Here are four measures that I use to spot a healthy egg:

1. It should have an intact shell with no cracks.
2. It should have not have a bad smell.
3. The white portion should be gel-like and not watery.
4. The yellow portion should be round and firm.