Are eggs bad for me? How many can I eat per day? How many per week?
These are questions I regularly get from clients because eggs have had so much bad publicity over the last few years… I am going to explain the truth about eggs and encourage you to EAT MORE of them!
Where’s the evidence?
Recent studies show that eggs lower the risk of heart disease because they contain a protein that lowers your blood pressure. There is also evidence that eating eggs everyday can reduce your cholesterol, rather than increase it as previously believed.
The Science
Eggs do contain cholesterol – the “dietary” kind – but we all need cholesterol; it has many jobs and is found in every cell in the body. It definitely isn’t the baddie in the equation. If we eat foods containing cholesterol the body doesn’t have to work as hard to make its own! Clever stuff hey!?
Eggs are an excellent source of PROTEIN and also have heaps of vitamins and minerals that help with eye function, reduce risk of cancer and help with brain function.
If you have genetically high cholesterol (Familial hypercholesterolemia), the rules are a little different… Speak to you doctor or dietitian about this.
The Baddies
TRANS FAT IS THE DEVIL! Avoid this at all costs… Trans fat is NOT found in eggs, it’s found in deep fried and take away foods, and many other processed foods. It will RAISE the BAD cholesterol and LOWER the GOOD cholesterol – THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT WE WANT!
Saturated fat also gets a pretty bad rap, but again WE DO NEED SOME saturated fat for our body to function at its best. There is some saturated fat in eggs but as long as we are not eating eggs at every meal and snack it won’t cause any issues.
REMEMBER VARIETY IS THE KEY!
It’s fine to eat eggs every day, just don’t use any oil to cook with… Boil, scramble or fry them but use a non-stick pan.
How many eggs can I eat?
If you are trying to lose weight, limit your eggs to 2 per day… and only use them as a protein source to replace other protein options in meals and snacks. They still contain calories, but more favourable than calories from processed carbohydrates. I train at high intensity regularly and eat 3-4 eggs every morning at breakfast. But I’d encourage you to mix it up a bit… If you’re having eggs at breakfast, lunch and dinner and a snack or two you’ll be missing out on other important nutrients and overdoing it on the eggs. For example, have some smoked salmon or tinned tuna instead of a boiled egg at snack times.
Can I eat the yolk? I’ve heard that’s where the bad stuff is…
YES! You can eat the whole egg 
) the yolk is where the majority of the nutrients are… So there’s no need to avoid it.
The Bottom Line
So, in short – eggs are GOOD for us, and there is no limit to how many we can eat … unless you’re watching your weight, then have no more than 2 per day.
For more info, check out:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/eggs/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/03/10/the-sunny-side-of-eggs.aspx
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