The Good and the Bad (about) Eggs!

Today I am into eggs! Oh, I could be clever and call this post my “eggscellent idea” or the “eggscellence of eating eggs” or “eggscellent dietary facts” but I won’t! However, I love eggs!
I would eat eggs everyday in some form or fashion for at least two meals….well, that might be overkill but I think that would be an “eggscellent menu.” Oops, I apologize for being redundant.

Next Monday morning I will be presenting the short program at the local TOPS meeting. In the scheme of life this is no biggie. I am taking the responsibility seriously, though, and have given in considerable thought. Perhaps this is because I have joined no other organization in Coeur d’Alene and this weekly meeting has been my one commitment. Plus the folks attending, yes, there are three men, are very congenial and eager to support each other in this battle of weight loss.

In Deming I joined the organization and attend each Wednesday a.m. Barbara from Wyoming (the other snowbird like me), presented a sweet program on the cucumber and then she gave everyone a cuke to take home in addition to her hand-out of nutritious facts and recipes.

I was going to piggyback on her idea and give a similar presentation about zuchinni. I bought a couple zuchinnis this past week and looked for zuchinni bar recipes - everyone has their favorite bread recipe already, right?

Then this Thursday morning as I was poaching my jumbo eggs for breakfast I wanted to know more about this wonderful yummy delectable egg. “Hey,” I told myself, “you are into eggs. After all, your deviled eggs are a family tradition and requested at the get-togethers.”

So I believe that I will share my enthusiasm with TOPS, pass around a dish of deviled eggs and present the program on the chicken’s finest product. I googled “skinny on eggs” and “current research on eggs” “are eggs bad for me?” and this is what I found:

Myth or not?
1) Eating three eggs per day is perfectly safe for healthy people who are trying to stay healthy.
2) Eggs yolks are fattening.
3) All the protein is in the egg white.
4) Eating whole eggs actually result in greater muscle protein synthesis than the whites alone.
5) Always toss the yolk!
6) Egg yolks are loaded with cholesterol
7) Poached eggs are especially good for you. (76 calories/poached egg)
                                           
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(2) (3)(5) and (6) are myths.

There is contradictory evidence about how many eggs one should eat - 3/day is high.
Another source says 7/week…..One egg has 187 mg of cholesterol and the recommended limits 300 mg/day (200 mg/day if you have diabetes or risk factors for heart disease) so, do the math, and I conclude 3/day is too many. Then I read that the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans place no daily limit on cholesterol intake.

I am also interest in discussing “decoding egg carton labels.” According to

https://www.eggnutritioncenter.org/blog/eggyolk/#more-4813

Almost all eggs in the U.S. are antibiotic-free and hormone-free.
Cage-free means just that but they may be kept in barns all day with no fresh air.
Free-range hens means “access” to outdoors but the hens’ living situation may vary widely.
Pastured eggs are from hens that live free, roam and eat whatever grass and grubs they find.
Certified organic eggs are nutritionally identical to their non organic brethren.
White and brown eggs are the same! Color refers to the breed of the bird!
Grading refers to the egg’s quality - not its nutritional value. Grade AA eggs have thick and firm whites and pristine yolks and clean shells…..aaahhhh that is a pretty egg!
Grade A eggs are the kind you find in stores with whites that are slightly less firm.
Grade B eggs are thinner whites, imperfect yolks and may have stained shells. Bakeries and food service companies use Grade B eggs.
Size measures the weight of a dozen eggs - not the dimension of each one.

Code of end of the carton? 1143 ISDA assigned # of the packing plant.....for example,
National Food Corporation (the packing plant when researching the ISDA #)
2005 268th Street NW
Stanwood, WA 98292-
Washington Grading Branch Office
The three digit # on the left is the date. For ex., 235 (235th day of the year)

Refrigerated eggs generally stay fresh 3-5 weeks,
Do not store eggs in the refrigerator door. They are susceptible to changes in temperature and with the door opening and closing, your eggs can go rotten more quickly! That is a bad egg!!

One more fun source for egg facts: “Twenty Shocking Secrets About Eggs”
https://www.eatthis.com/egg-facts/

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World Egg Day is Friday, October 12th.
Remember an average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs each year.
To produce one egg it takes a hen 24- 26 hours.
As a hen grows older she produces larger eggs.
http://thinkegg.com/index.php/21-2/


From one good egg to another,
Joan