Nutritional Breakdown of the egg

Many people ask me why they can’t have eggs when doing the AgeLess Weight Management Program in place of Eggbeaters or just egg whites. The answer is pretty simple- they are more calories. For instance, the breakdown of 1/2 cup scrambled eggs ( not factoring any milk or other ingredients ) is:
183 cal., 12.2 g protein, and 13.4 g of fat

Now let’s look at the same amount of egg whites : 63 cal., 13 g protein, and < 1g fat.

So you’re getting the same amount of protein in a 1/2 cup of egg whites, and a fraction of the calories and fat ! Have you ever wondered why ?

Well to find out we have to have a look inside the egg itself.

Okay, that didn’t help much did it ? Let’s try again.

When you look at this picture, you have to remember is that the eggs isn’t intended by Nature to be food for us, but food as well as a life support system for a baby bird.

The yolk of an egg is meant to be not only the place where the embryo germinates but also is a food source for the chick. Just prior to hatching, the chick will draw in the yolk and the nutrition it provides through the umbilicus for the difficult task that is involved in breaking out of the eggshell. Actually, the nutrition provided by the egg yolk can sustain the newly hatched fuzzball for up to 72 hours after hatching. This is how hatcheries are able to ship day old chicks across the country with no food or water.

( Feeling guilty about eating eggs ? Don’t. Eggs you buy in the stores are infertile. )

So think about how much energy would be required to do all that hard work and then still have enough to sustain yourself for a couple days beyond that. That’s how much fat and how many calories the yolk of the egg provides. However for us humans, especially those of us who are trying to lose a few pounds all that fat and calories is unnecessary.

The egg white ( albumen ) however is simply there to protect the yolk and embryo when necessary. Sort of like Nature’s bubble wrap only not as much fun to play with.  It doesn’t need to provide much in the way of nutrition to the baby bird, but for us humans it is a good, low calorie source of protein.

All those other parts of the egg are pretty cool and serve a function as well, but nothing that has to do with dietary uses for eggs, instead all designed for a specific function in the development of a new chicken. Ask me about it sometime if you want to see how big a nerd I am.

Some people don’t care for the taste of egg substitutes or find the egg white to be rather bland or tedious to separate from the yolk. There are ways to liven things up a little bit for your taste buds, mainly through the use of herbs and spices or adding some vegetables to them for a healthy, low cal omelette. A tablespoon of fresh salsa or two could go a long way as well.

So there you have it, a little biology with your breakfast. But part of healthy eating is to be informed about what exactly is it you’re eating; and while we won’t do columns on things like oatmeal ( man, I’d fall asleep writing it ) I think the egg is a pretty interesting piece of evolutionary engineering worth looking into a little more.