I love eggs. Seriously, they’re the greatest food in the world. I could eat eggs for every meal of every day, and my mind would be happy. At some point, my body would rebel, so instead I try to eat eggs for breakfast every day. That’s usually between 12pm-2pm, and it’s between 4-6 eggs, always cooked in Kerrygold butter, sometimes with cinnamon or chilli powder added. Usually I add a whole avocado. Sometimes there’s a side of Applegate Farms Organic Bacon. (That eliminates the awkward, “How do you like your eggs?” moment.)
Now, why am I writing about eggs? Is it because I love them? Well, partially, yes. More importantly, it’s because you hate them, and I’m here to defend the incredible edible egg.
Some of my cousins like to play a game called “Harold Says”, and over the Thanksgiving weekend, I was called out for my egg consumption. “I thought you were only supposed to eat two per week?!” I was asked, and so it seems, as most places still vilify fat, and saturated fat, and eggs, as bad-for-you nutrients/foods. Those poor eggs, they have such a bad rap!
Most of the information we hear about nutrition is watered down by press releases, magazines, television interviews, and word of mouth. In an attempt to ‘dumb down’ the information for lay people, the information becomes plain old dumb, akin to a bad game of Telephone.
I’d like to break that cycle of mis-information, and share with you a great video from The Healthy Skeptic, Chris Kresser. The video provides a detailed account of the relationships dietary fat, blood cholesterol, and heart disease. It’s well worth the watch:
This isn’t an invitation to go stuff your face with anything that contains saturated fat, not at all! It should help you open your eyes to exactly what you’re eating, and think about each example of food in your diet.
In a recent article on Examine.com, Sol Orwell and Kurtis Frank answer the age old Ancel Keys old question, “Will eating eggs increase my cholesterol?” The article summary reads:
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Eggs, when consumed by healthy persons in the range of 1-6 a day (higher levels not really studied), usually do not adversely affect blood lipids. Some studies note no increases, some studies note a benign increase of both LDL and HDL; few note adverse changes in lipoprotein status.
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In healthy persons, eggs have never been directly associated with an increase in coronary heart disease risk; merely indirectly assumed via increases in circulating cholesterol.
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Eggs, when consumed by unhealthy persons in the range of 1-4 a day and with a healthy low-grain and low-carb diet, may not negatively affect blood cholesterol and lipoprotein levels and may actually improve them (although the low-grain diet is more likely to be doing this).
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Eggs, when consumed by unhealthy persons and with a generally high carbohydrate and obesogenic diet, might worsen or prevent a bettering of blood cholesterol levels and lipoprotein levels.
So as it appears, When answering the question, “Are Eggs Healthy?“ the answer is Yes, save certain disease states and alongside certain diets:
Contrary to popular opinion, egg consumption has not been shown to cause cardiovascular disease. However, eggs consumption might worsen parameters of cardiovascular disease (cholesterol, lipoproteins) in those with metabolic syndrome or type II diabetes; it seems to be highly dependent on the diet that is eaten alongside the eggs.
If you’re not an egg person, that’s quite okay; you’re not going to die from avoiding eggs. Given the benefits to egg eating, and the scrumdiddlyuptious taste, I’d say that’s your loss. Also, I’m less likely to take you out for food. As far as eating them goes, the only problems seem to arise when when consumed by unhealthy persons and with a generally high carbohydrate and obesogenic diet, might worsen or prevent a bettering of blood cholesterol levels and lipoprotein levels.
While there are those organizations that still vilify the egg, there are many that consider it a superfood. Of the two, I happen to learn more to the left, and I like consider eggs as part of a healthy diet of real food, and overall lifestyle that includes running sprints, listening to Michael Buble on Pandora, going for brisk walks with puppies and friends, and enjoying bursts of laughter throughout your day. Now, celebrate your eggcelence with some scrambled eggs and your favorite veggies. Good health awaits.
Update:
I’m in Newark, Delaware this weekend to enjoy time with brothers in the Xi Mu chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. After our event ended last night, we ventured to IHOP on Main Street to catch up and consume large quantities of food. You should have seen the horror on the waitresses face when I ordered 12 scrambled eggs and 8 pieces of bacon:
They might added a few extra eggs, as I can house twelve at a time if I want to, so I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I was unable to finish them. Although, sharing is caring!
We enjoyed epic elliptical plates of eggs, and eggcellent conversation and despite my gluttonous order, the waitress was a good sport:
I’m pretty sure she hates me. Okay, off to eat more eggs.
Harold Gibbons 
I¡¯m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back down the road. Cheers
Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL and HDL subclasses in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic. For these reasons, dietary recommendations aimed at restricting egg consumption should be taken with caution and not include all individuals. We need to acknowledge that diverse healthy populations experience no risk in developing coronary heart disease by increasing their intake of cholesterol but in contrast, they may have multiple beneficial effects by the inclusion of eggs in their regular diet.