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Evil eggs. Fat and cholesterol phobics have demonized the innocent, perfectly nutritious egg to the black list of 'bad' foods. It's hard for me to understand how a majority of people cannot conceive some of the basic tenants of nutrition, which are:

Less is more; that is, the more processed the food, the more nutrient diminished it becomes

Natural fats (essential fatty acids) are essential for robust health; altered fats are the basis of most degenerative diseases

If people followed just these two points, there would be a lot less cancer, diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and surprisingly to most, hyperactive ADD children and depressed adults. Which brings us back to the lowly egg.

As a child I not only loved eggs, I craved them. By age nine I was frying two eggs for myself every morning because sugary cold extruded cereal in pasteurized milk was not appealing. Strange I know. Thirty years later it's easy to see my heavily processed diet of white bread, soda, hot dogs, Little Debbie snack etc. robbed my body of basic vitamins and minerals it needed. Eggs are virtually free of transfat and this good! Thanks to the FDA for finally making it official as of January 2006. Of course, most truly health knowledgeable people have known this since the 60's. As for cholesterol, its also been know for decades that truly high levels are mostly due to high altered fat in diet (transfats, margarine, vegetable oils ie a highly processed food diet) and that cholesterol is essential to your cells, liver, brain, skin, and hormone production. Did you know without cholesterol your body does not produce the right amounts sex hormones and without these a cascade of endocrine disorders begin. That is just one example. Eggs are also high in lutein and zeaxanthin (carotenoids) which are protective against eye diseases. Have you seen the cancer and vitamin D deficiency coverage in the media the last few years? Seems the majority of us are deficient in vitamin D, including myself (confirmed through blood testing). The good news is egg yolks are one of the few food sources of vitamin D. Egg's virtues are almost endless - packed with nutrients you need, satisfying, economical, and easy to prepare.

There must be something bad about them right? Yes, actually nutrient content depends on how the chickens laying them were fed and cared for. Ideally eggs direct from a farmer who uses organic feed and lets the chickens eat grass and bugs provide optimal balance of fats, vitamins, and minerals. Second best would be free-range eggs with no anti-biotics given eggs from your grocer. Last choice, while not optimal but better than nothing, and of course the cheapest, are the regular battery eggs mass produced, but remember these chickens are usually crammed together in pens, anything but humanely cared for. So dig out and season that old cast iron skillet thats been rusting in your cupboard and enjoy some eggs. Sunny side up anyone?

Learn more about this author, Cindy Henrion.
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