The Incredible Edible Egg!

Hard boiled eggs are a favorite around our house. It's a good thing too, considering the number of eggs we have. Have you ever tried making hard boiled eggs from farm fresh eggs? It's not pretty! The fresher the egg the more difficult it is to peel. I am not sure exactly why that is. Adding vinegar to the water before boiling them helps. But tucking a couple dozen fresh eggs in the back of the refrigerator for a week or two works also! White eggs always peel the best. They seem to have a thinner shell than the brown and green eggs. Also, white eggs are usually the biggest eggs, at least on our farm. It's no wonder they were chosen for mass production—those poor leghorns!

Over the past several decades the egg has gotten a bad rap. Some would like us to believe they are killing us and should be replaced with some chemical concoction. I don't agree. Quality eggs—from chickens that are pasture raised, eating bugs and worms—are full of good nutrition. They are an excellent source of vitamin A, carotene, thiamin, niacin, vitamin D and iron. Eggs are also considered to be the most complete protein source in a single food.

Here is some more food for thought:

"The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine had a report on eggs and cholesterol. A group of New Guinea natives, whose diet is exceedingly low in cholesterol, were fed eggs to measure the cholesterol-raising effect of eggs. They figured the serum cholesterol levels would be blown off the charts. The eggs had no significant effect on the blood cholesterol. Another study done by the American Cancer Society revealed that non-egg users had a higher death rate from heart attacks and strokes than egg users. This was a very large (and so convincing) study involving over 800,000 people." William Campbell Douglass, MD The Milk Book

"Patients with severe burns are often force-fed huge quantities of whole eggs and egg concentrates as a source of protein to rebuild large areas of lost skin. During this egg therapy, however, there is no significant increase in their serum cholesterol. In one study, volunteers fed 18 eggs per day actually showed reduced levels of cholesterol. Perhaps it is because when you are full of eggs you do not have room for sugar and junk foods-the real culprits in the cholesterol scenario. Eggs are one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They provide protein of the highest quality plus all known vitamins and minerals (except vitamin C)." David W. Rowland Health Naturally

"Since eggs have the highest amount of cholesterol per unit weight of all common foods (liver and brains have more), people began to fear them. Once called nature's most perfect food by nutritionists, eggs fell into disfavor and their consumption began to plummet after 1950. The average number of eggs consumed in the U.S. per person per year dropped from a high of 389 in 1950....to only 234 in 1989. Americans are eating many fewer eggs today than at the turn of the century......Thousands of egg farmers have gone out of business over the last 30 years because of the false dietary cholesterol scare. And millions of Americans have given up or substantially reduced their consumption of one of the best and most economical foods available for no good scientific or common sense reasons." Russell L. Smith, PhD Health Freedom News

I believe it is best to eat a diet of natural foods. By that I mean foods with ingredients you can name, or better yet foods that are not canned or boxed. Over the years, we have gone through different health fetishes. There was a time when we avoided all dairy products-drinking soy and rice milks. There were also times when I had no sugar in my house. But we have observed that our family has been the healthiest when we have consumed a very "normal" diet of organic natural foods, nothing too extreme. So, all that to say, we enjoy our eggs! And we even throw a few pieces of organic, no nitrate bacon on the plate as well!