Scam About Cholesterol in Eggs and Reasons to Eat Eggs Daily

Scam About Cholesterol in Eggs and Reasons to Eat Eggs Daily

With all the conflicting articles about healthy/unhealthy foods in the media, how can you figure it all out? Are eggs a superfood, as some claim, or will they raise your cholesterol? The easiest way to make up your own mind about what to eat for good health is to look at the facts. Just because eggs have cholesterol in them, that doesn’t mean they will raise your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol levels aren’t based on how much cholesterol you ingest, but on the types of protein, starch, fiber and essential nutrients you include in your daily diet.

Eggs are Part of a Healthy Diet

There are many good reasons to include eggs as part of a healthy diet, but let’s start with an overview of basic nutrition before we go over them. Eating sugar, white bread, potatoes and white rice is worse for your cholesterol levels than eating healthy fats like avocados and coconut oil. How can this be? There are two reasons.

First, the cholesterol in your body isn’t the same thing as the cholesterol you eat. About 85 percent of the cholesterol in the bloodstream is produced by the liver. Second, the body uses healthy fats for important things, like protecting nerve cells and regulating hormones. Fats satiate the appetite, leading to less binge eating than the quickly metabolized ‘whites,’ sugar, rice and flour.

According to WebMD, saturated fat is a bigger culprit than cholesterol when it comes to heart disease. And genetics plays a bigger role in heart disease than the amount of cholesterol in the diet. Eggs have only 1.5 grams of saturated fat and a whole lot of vitamins and protein.

Nutritional Power of Eggs

Protein is one of the most important building blocks of the body, especially complete proteins like eggs. Eggs contain iron and other trace minerals, and they are also a complete source of vitamins, with the exception of vitamin C. Antioxidants are substances that protect the body from deterioration, and eggs have two important ones for eye health, Lutein and Zeaxanthin. Eggs are also a complete source of protein that includes all nine essential amino acids.

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Health Benefits of Eggs

There are actually two types of cholesterol that can be measured in the bloodstream, the LDL or ‘bad’ cholesterol and the HDL or ‘good’ cholesterol. Eggs have been shown to increase the amount of good cholesterol in the blood. This may be attributable to phospholipids, a type of fat found in eggs.

Eggs can also help you to hold off hunger for a longer period of time because they are made of protein, which takes longer to break down. There is no association between eggs and increased incident of heart disease or stroke, which is why the myth that eggs are bad for your cholesterol levels has been debunked. Eggs are a low-calorie and high-protein food and, in conjunction with a diet low in carbohydrates, they can help you to lose weight.

Breaking Eggs in the Kitchen

In addition to their health properties, eggs are great to cook with. The same eggs that fluff up soufflés and help cakes rise can be used to create healthy dishes that are satisfying and tasty. You can add anything to eggs and cook them on the stove or in the oven.

Try whipping up some eggs with peppers, cheese, mushrooms or whatever makes you say, “Yum!” Instead of cooking them in a pan as an omelet, spray muffin cups with cooking oil and ladle the mixture into the cups. Cook on the middle oven rack at 350 degrees for twenty minutes and you’ll have ‘omelet muffins’ that are high-protein and gluten-free.

The Big Picture

It’s worth stressing again that, in the case of dietary cholesterol, you are not what you eat. Although eggs have about 185 grams of cholesterol each, your overall diet affects your cholesterol levels, not the amount of cholesterol you consume. Eggs are a low-cost complete protein source with all the vitamins you need except for vitamin C. So there’s a reason to have that orange juice with your scrambled eggs! Protein, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, beneficial fats – the list of good reasons to include eggs in your diet is a long one. Some nutritionists call eggs a ‘superfood,’ and with good reason.