Are Eggs Healthy? Unscrambling the Facts

There are many negative terms associated with eggs. When dealing with an easily upset person, we “walk on eggshells.” Your favorite character experiences a hard hit to the head? He got his “eggs scrambled.” Embarrassed? You have “egg on your face.”

But just because we call one style of eggs “deviled” doesn’t mean our breakfast lurks around with horns and a pitchfork waiting to cause us heart problems. So, let’s crack open the debate about eggs.

Sure, past studies have made us wary of eggs. That’s because the logic was that eating cholesterol must raise your cholesterol levels. Well, this may have been an egg-saggeration.

While it’s true that one egg has 186 mg of cholesterol, mostly in the yolk, it’s the HDL or “good cholesterol.” In fact, the American Heart Association (AHA) reports that eating an egg daily doesn’t significantly increase heart disease risk, even for people with high cholesterol or diabetes. The AHA also calls these egg-stravagant breakfast staples an inexpensive protein that provides nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D and B12.

More than eggs themselves, which only contain about 1.5 g of saturated fat, we really have to consider what we’re pairing with eggs at breakfast time. Side dishes like bacon are high in salt, saturated fat and other additives. In addition, it’s important to consider how we prepare our eggs. In other words, it may not be the egg itself that’s bad, but the amount of butter or salt we use to cook it.

So, for a more heart-healthy breakfast, consider only eating egg whites or poaching, boiling, baking or scrambling your eggs to avoid extra calories and fat. However, if the thought of eating your morning meal any way but fried doesn’t egg-cite you, cook with olive oil or avocado oil rather than butter or bacon fat.

No matter how you like your eggs, remember moderation is key—so, don’t bet anyone you can eat 50 hard-boiled eggs like Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke.

And if your doctor tells you to avoid this breakfast food, be a good egg and follow their advice.

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