The Egg

“But Nicci, what about the cholesterol?”

Fear not the dreaded cholesterol scare!

The truth is that blood cholesterol is more closely associated with fat consumption than with dietary cholesterol intake.

Here’s why – when we eat, our food combines with bile from our gall bladder in order to be digested and for the nutrients be absorbed. Fat consumption requires the greatest amount of bile in order to be digested.  Bile is composed of 50% cholesterol which gets absorbed along with the fat you ate, increasing your blood cholesterol. Even if you ate zero dietary cholesterol you could still have high blood cholesterol based on the fat content of your diet.

You should not use this information to give all fat a bad rap. There is good fat, and it’s essential for you! The point here is that it’s time to trade in those mozzarella sticks and french fries for an egg or two!

Now that we have that cleared up, let’s dig in.  Eggs are a nutritionally dense food. That means they give you nutritional bang for their caloric buck.  To get the most out of your egg, you need to eat the yolk too. It’s time to ditch the egg white fad and support your strong body. Here are just a few of the egg’s star qualities:

• There are 6g of protein in one large whole egg! That’s amazing!

• They are a great source of vitamin B12. Over 90% of the B12 content comes from the yolk! B12 is responsible for the formation of red blood cells which is important in maintaining your oxygen capacity.  It’s also responsible for the preservation of a healthy nervous system; we definitely need that as athletes.

• Eggs are a good source of retinol, the active form of vitamin A, which is very important for a healthy immune system and healthy bones.

I already have the next question covered. “Nicci, where do I get a high quality egg?” Lucky for you I know about this handy Organic Egg Scorecard.

Hopefully you are already concocting your next egg-cellent meal. Please share your favorites recipes in the comments section of our blog.

Until next time!

Feel good, do what you love,
Nicci