Chicken Eggs!

I scramble eggs or make an omelet almost every morning. It got me thinking...

Eggs have had this crazy past with the health industry. Good for you one minute, bad the next. The fact is, they are an easy source of complete protein, as are all animal products. And if you're vegetarian, they should be an important part of your diet.

Yolks? Whites?

While it's true that the yolk is where the vast majority of the cholesterol is contained, that doesn't mean that you should shun them entirely. First, absorption of dietary cholesterol hovers just under 50%. Second, the yolk contains a slew of fat soluble vitamins, such as A, E, D, and DHA ("good" fat).

That said, of the around 200 mg of cholesterol in a yolk, assuming you absorb 100 mg of it, you don't want to over do it. I would recommend using one yolk for every 3-4 eggs you cook, the rest just the whites.

Organic? Free range?

The problem with an "organic" label on animal products is that it usually just means that the animal was fed organic grains, and depending on the type of label used, no antibiotics. There there is the "free range" label, but that just means the chickesn have access to a yard area. Usually chickens aren't put in this "free range" environment until adulthood, where they are already used to the enclosed, cramped quarters of a hutch and rarely go out.

Chickens are supposed to forage for seeds and insects. If you really want the best eggs, you want to look for the label "pasture raised". This means, from the time a chick is born, it is allowed to run around outside and it gets it's nutrients through foraging. Exercise AND nutrition! (This goes for chicken meat as well.)

So crack some eggs and stop skipping breakfast, people!