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Let's talk about eggs

n3ophy7e

Bluelight Crew
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
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I'm not sure if this will warrant it's own entire thread but let's see how it pans out...

My story with eggs so far, for whoever is interested and/or bored:
NSFW:
All my life I have absolutely despised eggs. I hate the taste, the smell, the texture, the hassle of the shells, everything. I've only ever occasionally eaten scrambled eggs or an omelette, but only if there's a whole heap of herbs and cheese and stuff in there as well. Even the word EGG gets my skin crawling...


But lately I'm beginning to consider the health benefits (particularly with respect to a good source of protein and weight-loss) that I could get from eating, say, a boiled egg or two for breakfast, instead of just carbs e.g. toast or museli, which is what I eat for breakfast now. Or having a boiled egg for a snack instead of dried fruit or nuts or the occasional biscuit.

My boyfriend absolutely LOVES eggs and when he's on holidays (like he has been for the last few weeks) he has eggs every single day, sometimes twice a day. He left this morning for another 4 weeks (he works away from home) and lo and behold, what is pretty much the only thing left in the fridge when I got home from work?? A half-carton of eggs.

So I called my boyfriend and asked him how to boil an egg. He had to explain the procedure in great detail, because I've never boiled an egg before. I boiled up 4 of them because by this stage I was really hungry. I sat down in front of the TV, de-shelled them, cracked some salt and pepper over them, and nommed my way through FOUR BOILED EGGS!! I've never even eaten ONE boiled egg EVER, let alone FOUR!

I really liked it. Maybe it was just because I was so hungry, or maybe it was the seasoning I put on them, or maybe eggs really are that good and I should've known this all along. I'm thinking this could now be my new healthy snack. I'm going to get a fresh carton of eggs at the shops tomorrow.


tl;dr
I've always hated eggs but I think I've just discovered that I like boiled eggs.

My questions:
If I, say, eat a few boiled eggs per day, could it help me to lose weight? Or could it actually cause me to gain weight? Is it really such a healthy alternative to other snacks or other sources of protein? I know I should be wary of cholesterol, and I plan to discuss that with my doctor when I'm there next. Is there anything else I should know or be concerned about when it comes to eggs?? I am a complete and utter egg noob.
 
I don't think there is a limit of how many eggs you can eat in a week as long as you are balancing your diet out with plenty of other things. eggs are a good source for protein vitamin D vitamin A vitamin B2 and iodine. eggs do contain cholestrol but it is the good kind.

Instead of just trying boiled eggs, make them for your lunch and mash them through with mayonaisse in some wholemeal bread.
make an omlette for dinner with a side salad, scrable eggs with some smoked salmon through it is nice also. Poached eggs are lovely and are healthier than fried eggs (but I still love em)

what about making a quiche, or a breakfast snadwich with boiled egg bacon sausage and black pudding in it. eggy bread I love this but I always make it with cheese in the middle then coat the bread with the egg and shallow fry it, that is lovely, I normally make a tomato and pepper sauce to go with it.
I also use boiled eggs in smoked haddock pate really makes it taste lovely.

Best way to test an egg if there is no date on it is put it in a bowl of water it should sink and stay on the bottom if it bobs or floats it is off and you should bin it.

try www.eggrecipes.co.uk for ideas on what to make with eggs
 
My thing is, if you hate it and have never liked it, don't do it. Unless you force yourself, you'll just end up regretting your decision to try it.

There are many, many other ways to get protein in, without all the extra cholesterol and just the ickiness that you associate with it.

We as human beings do not need eggs. It's not necessary as part of a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, for losing weight, overall calories is what determines weight gain, loss, or neither. Just because you add eggs to your lifestyle doesn't mean it is going to help you lose weight. IMHO I believe the "egg weight loss" studies are played into a little bit. It's not *going* to help you lose weight, but it *can* be part of the overall picture that helps you lose weight. Eggs (nor any other single item, like tea, milk or peanuts) are going to help you lose weight. A diet high in fiberous foods and generous in calories will help you lose weight.

Not that you need to lose weight at all! :) Hope this helps and if you need me to try to explain better, just ask.

As per boiled eggs, just have one every once in a while. I wouldn't eat a few every day. Don't go overboard. :P One a day is fine, but after that, it's a lot of extra cholesterol.
 
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Your post shows that you kinda dont understand weight gain/weight loss at all. If you did you would realize this question:
neo said:
If I, say, eat a few boiled eggs per day, could it help me to lose weight? Or could it actually cause me to gain weight?
is nonsensical. It would be like asking if I fill my car up with 2 gallons of gasoline can I make it to my destination (unknown)? Well, perhaps or perhaps not.

You need to give us a full outline of your daily dietary habits and also track your daily caloric consumption while monitoring your weight. I have no idea what your maintanence is, but perhaps its 2k calories. Eat 2k calories a day for 2 weeks and then determine if you've gained or lost weight. If you've gained then its above maint and if you've lost its below. If you stayed same its maintenance.

If you want to gain or lose a pound a week then add/cut 500 calories from your daily diet. Thats 3500 calories/week or roughly a pound.

Thats 101.

Eggs are great. I love them. They supply hormonal precursors (cholesterol) and vital nutrients/vitamins. A good food choice especially if they are cage free.
 
Eggs are low calorie food and have protein in them which will satiate your appetite more than carbs or fats. This could help with weight watching. They are also high in cholesterol though so if you are mowing the eggs then it can be good to moderate other sources of that. I like my eggs over easy, a cooked yolk just tastes icky to me. Hard boiled and scrambled are good for a change of pace and eggs benedict or deviled eggs on holiday are great. The worst thing about eggs is the clean up! Ugh.
 
*claps hands*

I think eggs are great. I eat as many of them as I feel like. I have a 5 month old now and lost the extra weight of pregnancy by limiting sugary things.

I don't know your weight but if you feel like you need to lose weight then you need to lose weight because you are a rational person with good judgment. I am pretty sure you have had a good balanced diet all along but just weren't able to lose the weight you want and weren't even pigging out probably.

And please, for most benefit, eat it alone, without bread and mayo.
 
It is mostly genetics, lifestyle activity and consumption of other things (saturated fats for one) that raises cholesterol buildup but I still wouldn't eat 2 dozen eggs a day.

Don't get me wrong I <3love<3
NSFW:
egg.jpg
 
I am not fond of hard boiled eggs but like eggs any other way.
Stratas, quiches, frittatas, omelettes.

I use Egg Beaters or a brand like it which is mostly egg whites to reduce my cholesterol and fat intake.
The cheese I use makes up for that!
In certain recipes "real eggs" work best.
 
Please be mindful of where you get your eggs. The majority are from living creatures being raised in terrible conditions.

NSFW:
chickens-in-cages.jpg

battery_chickens.gif

Animal_Abuse_Battery_Cage_02.jpg

chickens-4.jpg
 
^ Why not build a chicken coop and get some chickens? My pops was getting like a dozen a day for a couple of years from 15 chickens.
 
^^that is a pretty big space/time/money investment. especially if you are renting and have to deal with predators.

notDeja, my local farmers markets have eggs for sale. I think animal products are being offered at these gathering more often.
 
Yeah. Not really stable enough to take on pets at this time. We might not be in here in a year, we still want to take large amounts of time off work to travel in the next 2-3 years. But once we are more settled, having my own chickens are one of my goals. :)
 
please educate me about the 'bad' kind of cholesterol!?!?

Are you confusing HDL/LDL in our bodies?

low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol is affected by high saturated fats, although there is cholestrol in eggs they are not high in saturated fats, so the serum cholestrol is only slightly raised in both hdl and ldl so it makes it more favourable cholestrol when the hdl is raised.

http://www.nutritionandeggs.co.uk/page/e_cholesterol this might help for anyone who wants to know a bit more about the cholestrol in eggs.
 
Your post shows that you kinda dont understand weight gain/weight loss at all.

Calm down there son, there is more to the world than meets the eye in one sentence of one thread on the internet ;)
I actually have a pretty good grasp of the concepts of weight loss.
Perhaps I should've worded my post better, but essentially I am talking about replacing meals or ingredients of meals with eggs. For example, as I've stated a few times in Healthy Living recently, I currently have toast or museli for breakfast, i.e. just carbs. What if I were to replace that with a couple of boiled eggs? In fact, this is pretty much exactly what I said in the second line of the NSFW'd part of my OP (although I don't blame you if you didn't read the NSFW text...tl;dr).

Matsuo Munefusa said:
Eat 2k calories a day for 2 weeks and then determine if you've gained or lost weight. If you've gained then its above maint and if you've lost its below. If you stayed same its maintenance.

If you want to gain or lose a pound a week then add/cut 500 calories from your daily diet. Thats 3500 calories/week or roughly a pound.
Unfortunately for someone like me with such a vast history of eating disorders, counting calories is dangerous territory. I appreciate the mindset that you're coming from but it's not an option for me to get that serious about calorie monitoring again.

tiggerific said:
Instead of just trying boiled eggs, make them for your lunch and mash them through with mayonaisse in some wholemeal bread.
make an omlette for dinner with a side salad, scrable eggs with some smoked salmon through it is nice also. Poached eggs are lovely and are healthier than fried eggs (but I still love em)

what about making a quiche, or a breakfast snadwich with boiled egg bacon sausage and black pudding in it. eggy bread I love this but I always make it with cheese in the middle then coat the bread with the egg and shallow fry it, that is lovely, I normally make a tomato and pepper sauce to go with it.
I also use boiled eggs in smoked haddock pate really makes it taste lovely.
Thank you for the suggestions hun!! They all sound pretty delicious actually. Although because my purpose is getting a good source of protein without much fat, things like mayonnaise, bacon, cream (quiche), cheese etc will all be totally out of the question! :D Shame, really.

SirTophamHat said:
Eggs are low calorie food and have protein in them which will satiate your appetite more than carbs or fats. This could help with weight watching. They are also high in cholesterol though so if you are mowing the eggs then it can be good to moderate other sources of that. I like my eggs over easy, a cooked yolk just tastes icky to me. Hard boiled and scrambled are good for a change of pace and eggs benedict or deviled eggs on holiday are great.
This is pretty much exactly the information I was after, thank you! :)

Simply_Live said:
As per boiled eggs, just have one every once in a while. I wouldn't eat a few every day. Don't go overboard. :P One a day is fine, but after that, it's a lot of extra cholesterol.
Great tips, thank you! :)


Mehm thank you for the reminder re: cage/battery hens etc. Because I'm so new to eggs, I hate to say that this is honestly something that wouldn't have crossed my mind until later :(

In fact, as Damien suggested, I would LOVE to have some chickens just as pets, because they're cute and quirky, with the added bonus of fresh eggs every day. Hmmmm *ponders* :)


Thank you all for your help! <3
 
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