Personal Trainers Forum

[nishpaul]

Egg Yolks Are Not Unhealthy

As a fitness personal trainer, I have noticed that many fitness
enthusiasts are discarding egg yolks and just consume the egg
whites. They think that it is unhealthy to consume egg yolks.
Why is this so?

This is because most, if not all health magazines and books
claim that the humble egg yolk packs a nasty amount of fat and
cholesterol. However they rarely if ever, tell you that the yolk
is the most nutritional part of an egg. Now, before you howl
your protest at me for going against "conventional wisdom" of
not eating egg yolks, let us explore some facts first.

Yes, I reiterate that the egg white is far inferior to the yolk
in terms of providing you with essential nutrition. By throwing
away the yolk and eating only white of an egg, you are in effect
throwing away the most nutritionally dense, antioxidant-rich,
vitamin and mineral rich portion of the egg.

On the contrary, egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition when
compared to the yolk. I know that you are consuming the egg
white for its protein so as to preserve and build your muscles.
But do you know that the protein in egg whites are not as
nutritious without the yolks to balance out the amino acid
profile and thus making the protein more bio-available and
therefore more muscle friendly? You didn't know this didn't you?

Furthermore, not many people know that the egg yolks from free
running chickens (instead of caged chickens in factory chicken
farms) are loaded with chock full of omega-3 fatty acids.

I am going to shock you further. Do you know that the humble
egg yolk is made up of more than 90% of the calcium, iron,
phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, B12 and panthothenic acid
in an egg. Are you still in shock?

In addition, the yolk also contains all of the fat soluble
vitamins such as vitamin A, D, E, and K as well as all of the
essential fatty acids. This means that you are discarding more
than 90% of the nutritional goodness an egg can provide you
with. Isn't that such a pity and a terrible waste?

You say that consuming egg yolks will shoot your cholesterol
level sky high. You know what? That may not be true after all.

Let me explain. Firstly, when you consume food with high
cholesterol such as eggs, your body naturally produces less
cholesterol to balance out the equation. However, if you don't
consume enough cholesterol, your body will produce more
cholesterol because your body needs cholesterol for some
important functions.

Initial studies are showing evidence that eating whole eggs
actually raises your good cholesterol (HDL) and lowers bad
cholesterol (LDL). If these studies can be confirmed, then
consuming egg yolks can be a form of cholesterol control instead
of its causation against what is commonly thought.

So next time your fitness personal trainers tell you that egg
whites are superior to egg yolks or that eating egg yolks is
unhealthy, you can smugly ask them why and see if they can give
you a convincing explanation. Three cheers for the humble egg
yolk!