Should You Eat Egg Whites or Whole Eggs?

Not long ago, I was on a mini-break with a few pals, and one of them elected to cook all of us breakfast. I was curious about what he would make, and so went to take a look, and discovered that he was going to prepare eggs.

But to my utter dismay, I saw him breaking the eggs and separating the egg whites from the egg yolks, putting the yolks into a bowl and throwing them away. When I asked him why in heaven's name he would get rid of the egg yolks, his response was...

"All the bad cholesterol and gross fat is in the egg yolks, I was under the impression that they're unhealthy."

To which I responded, what you're throwing away is the healthiest part of the egg!"

In this story, we can see a spot-on illustration of how little people know about some aspects of healthy eating. The truth is, the yolk is better for you than any other part of the egg--a fact that has been completely obscured by bad information, resulting in the common misconception that yolks are bad.

By keeping the white and discarding the yolk, you're getting rid of the part of the egg that's the most jam-packed with antioxidants, minerals, vitamins, and other good stuff. Super nutrients such as A and B vitamins, lutein, omega-3 oils, and important trace minerals are all present in the yolk of the egg... so many, great things, in fact, I don't have to space to tell you each one.

The truth is, egg whites pale in comparison to yolks in the nutritional scale.

While egg whites do contain protein, that protein loses its punch without the amino acids provided by the yolks, which serve to balance the properties of the whites, and make the protein easier to absorb. And that's aside from the fact that yolks in free-range chicken eggs are packed with those essential fatty acids known as omega-3s.

Amounts exceeding ninety percent of phosphorus, thiamin, vitamin B6, folic

When I boldly state that the yolks are far better for you than the whites of the egg, this is what I usually hear...

"I was told that my cholesterol would hit the ceiling if I ate whole eggs"

This couldn't be more untrue!

The first thing to realize is that your body responds to your consumption of foods with high levels of dietary cholesterol by readjusting its cholesterol production to create an internal balance.

Then again, if you consume inadequate amounts of cholesterol, your body makes up for it by making more, since cholesterol is an essential component of normal body functions.

But wait--there's more fascinating stuff to know about whole eggs...

Studies have revealed the likelihood that a diet that includes whole eggs can result in higher rates of "good" HDL cholesterol compared to "bad" LDL cholesterol, resulting improved blood chemistry and cholesterol balance.

And finally... elevated cholesterol does not equal pathology! High cholesterol, unlike heart disease, is not an illness.
 The fact is, cholesterol plays a crucial role in how well your body works throughout your life... The misinformation about "lowering cholesterol" spread by drug companies that want to get every single one of us on the poisonous statin drug bandwagon is utterly false.

If you want the truth about how bad an idea it is to try to eradicate cholesterol, and what the TRUE dangers really are, then read the article below. The Truth About Cholesterol

Even better, the humble egg yolk contains absolutely essential antioxidants (such as lutein) that help guard you against internal inflammation (the TRUE cause of heart disease), which is yet another very good factor in why the egg yolk is certainly your friend, and not your enemy.

Not long ago, I read a report of research done at the University of Connecticut; this study followed a control group of men who consumed three eggs daily for a three-month period while they adhered to a diet that was higher in fats, and lower in carbohydrates; these men experienced a stable level of LDL (aka bad) cholesterol, while their good (HDL) cholesterol actually went up by twenty percent. The control group whose egg consumption excluded the yolk and only included the white, however, had no improvement in levels of HDL cholesterol--which, don't forget, has a correlation with reduced risk of heart disease--than did the study group that ate whole eggs.

Hopefully, the information I've provided is enough to convince you that whole eggs are not, in fact, some horrible poison... rather, egg whites alone are vastly inferior to whole eggs.

There is also a significant difference in nutrition between organic eggs from free-range chickens that are fed a good diet and allowed to wander outside and factory chickens who are given inferior feed and kept locked up inside. The inexpensive eggs you can find at any supermarket have lower levels of omega-3s, higher levels of omega-6s, and nutrient counts that are pretty low. Conversely, chickens that eat well, are kept out of cages, and allowed to range freely according to organic standards lay eggs with truly superior levels of minerals and vitamins as well as an excellent ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s.

Not long ago, I purchased eggs at a the local stand of a farm that has free-range chickens, as well as supermarket eggs, with the intention of comparing one to the other.

The majority of us have never purchased eggs laid by chickens who are in good health, and therefore don't know how different the two types of eggs are. I found that the shells of the supermarket eggs were fragile, and the yolks were a sickly, anemic yellow. The local farm's free range eggs,

however, had the beautiful, firm, yolks of intense orange color that indicate

Now that you know the TRUTH about egg yolks and how whole eggs compare to egg whites alone, you'll be able to let any advice to avoid the yolks roll off your back.

It's high time that we dispense with the nonsensical notion that omelettes with a 4- or 5-to-1 white to yolk ratio are better for us... Eating the whole egg, with the white and yolk together as nature intended, is the best tasting and healthiest option for us.

And one more fascinating fact about our friend the egg...

I just read a study comparing results between one test group that ate grain-based breakfasts and another test group that ate breakfasts with whole eggs. Lo and behold, the grain-based breakfast eaters saw their weight rise, while the whole egg breakfast people either lost weight or maintained a stable, healthy weight.

The idea was put forth that the subjects who ate bagels, cereal, or other bread-based breakfasts were more likely to succumb to cravings and drastic blood sugar fluctuations, while those who ate eggs consumed fewer calories because they already felt more full after breakfast.

So go ahead and chow down on those eggs--your body will thank you!

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