Huevos

This topic seems to have come up a lot lately in my conversations with friends.  In the last few weeks, two people have asked me...

"What do you think about eggs?"

In one case, it came with the pretext of the person telling me that she thinks her friend's cholesterol is sky high because they often eat eggs for breakfast.  And well, eggs have cholesterol, therefore that must be the cause.

Let's talk.

Eggs have had a bad reputation for decades, but it seems that more recent research and education have started to reveal the many benefits of eggs, and changing our understanding of cholesterol in the body.  To understand what the deal is with eggs, let's first talk about cholesterol.

What is cholesterol?
Cholesterol is produced in the body to perform many functions, including building and maintaining cell membranes in the body, transporting lipids around the body, and producing various sterol hormones (e.g. cortisol, aldosterone, and sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone).  Cholesterol is also required for humans to convert sunlight to Vitamin D.  It is also used to produce bile, the yellow-greenish fluid secreted by the liver and stored in the gall bladder, used to help digest fats from the diet. You do need to have some cholesterol in your body to perform these, and other, functions.  You obtain blood cholesterol in two ways: dietary sources, and  production from the liver.

HDL?  LDL?  WTF?
Not all cholesterol is created equal.  You've probably heard the terms "good" and "bad" cholesterol, or "healthy HDL" and "lousy LDL" cholesterol.  Sort of.

When cholesterol leaves the liver, it is in the form of VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), which floats around the bloodstream and delivers triglycerides to tissues.  As the triglycerides get picked off, the density of the lipoprotein gets higher, becoming IDL (indermediate density), LDL (low density) and eventually HDL (high density).  While having more HDL is, indeed, a better place to be in than having lots of LDL (people with higher levels of HDL than LDL tend to have lower incidence of cardiovascular disease) they are still both cholesterol.  A high level of total cholesterol, whether HDL or LDL, is still a bad thing.

When does cholesterol become a problem?
As I mentioned, we need some cholesterol floating around the body to perform functions we need to live.  But, having high total blood cholesterol is a problem because it can become trapped in the lining of arteries.  If damage occurs in the arteries (e.g. because of high blood pressure, or just due to normal breakdown with age), cholesterol can enter the lining of the artery and cause an inflammatory response, leading to the buildup of plaques.  Having a high level of cholesterol in the blood increases the chance of this happening and, therefore, increases your risk of vessel blockage.

So how does cholesterol end up in my blood?
The liver is responsible for making about 75% of your blood cholesterol, which is made from saturated and trans-fatty acids from your diet (note - not the cholesterol in your diet, but from the types of fats).  These types of fats are typically found in animal sources of protein, such as meats and milk, in processed foods, and in some plant sources such as coconut and palm oils.  The liver packages up the triglycerides from these compounds and creates lipoproteins, which go out into the blood.  The type of fat may have some influence on the type of lipoprotein created - saturated fats in general tend to increase both HDL and LDL, while omega 3 and medium chain fatty acids tend to increase HDL production.  Removing trans fats from the diet also tends to increase HDL production.
Dietary cholesterol alone, such as that found in eggs, accounts for only about 25% of your blood cholesterol level.  Many studies have suggested that reducing dietary cholesterol alone, without also reducing saturated fat or (especially) trans fat intake, has little effect on total cholesterol.  Dietary cholesterol is also not very well absorbed if consumed with other nutrients, like soluble fibre.  In fact, soluble fibre helps to soak up cholesterol from bile and excrete it in your poop so that it doesn't get reabsorbed into the blood.  Now that's good to know!

How come eggs make my cholesterol go up then?
They don't.  It's true that eggs contain dietary cholesterol, about 200mg, but not enough that it would actually make your blood cholesterol increase all that much.  Since most of your blood cholesterol comes from your intake of saturated and trans fats, it's far more likely that the other stuff you're eating with your eggs at breakfast are at least partly responsible.  Often morning eggs are accompanied by sausage or bacon, buttered toast, maybe some fried hash browns, and cream in your coffee.  That's spelled S-A-T-U-R-A-T-E-D   F-A-T

You mean, eggs aren't the devil after all?
Eggs-actly (HA!!!!!!!!!!!)!  Eggs are an excellent source of protein, and are amazingly inexpensive.  They are versatile, as they can be prepared in so many interesting ways, and they hold a load of nutritional qualities that far outweigh the cholesterol content.  How about 50% of the B12 you need in a day, and 10-15% of your daily Vitamin A, D and E (fat soluble vitamins)?  Eggs are also a great source of lutein, needed for eye health.

If you're still concerned about eating lots of eggs, consider using egg whites, which contain NO fat, only protein.  This, however, also means that you will not be getting all those other awesome fat-soluble benefits of eggs that are found only in the yolks (A, D, E and lutein, among many others).  I often eat one egg and one egg white at breakfast, giving me the extra protein while still getting that load of egg yolky goodness.




How do I eat eggs?
Really?

Well.  Eggs can be boiled (hard, soft), poached, fried, sunny side up, over easy, scrambled, baked, and lots of other options.  If you're concerned about cholesterol, cook your eggs using ingredients lower in saturated fat.  For example, instead of making a fried egg with butter, use canola oil in your pan instead.  Also, check out the other items that you're serving up.  If your eggs appear alongside bacon, sausage, ham, fried potatoes, etc etc etc, rethink it.  Make your accompaniments something with fibre, such as whole wheat toast, veggies, or a piece of fruit.
Among my favourite breakfasts is a veggie-egg scramble.  Take whatever veggies you have - peppers, onions, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, whatever.  Chop it up, sautee, and add scrambled eggs (1 egg + 1 egg white).  Serve topped with salsa, a bit of hot sauce, and with a slice of whole wheat toast, lightly buttered.  Mmmmmm.

The moral of the story:
Don't be afraid!  Eggs can be your friends.  The people who need to be concerned about eggs and avoid them are people who a) are allergic to them, or b) have been advised by their health care provider to limit dietary cholesterol due to existing heart issues.  If your doctor or health care provider has never mentioned such a thing, and you don't have significant heart issues (i.e. you haven't had a heart attack, you aren't on multiple cholesterol meds, etc), then you really have little to worry your pretty little head about.

If you do have heart issues or high cholesterol, or are concerned about your risk, talk to your doc or a dietitian about eggs and your specific situation regarding dietary cholesterol.  Chances are that you can still eat eggs, but might just need to monitor how many you eat in a week.  Cardiac patients can usually still include 1-2 egg yolks per week in their balanced diet.

Want to learn more about eggs?  Egg Farmers of Canada has a lot of great resources, including dietary information, recipes, info for specific groups (e.g. eggs and your baby), research about eggs and cholesterol, and more.  Check out their website at www.eggs.ca/ *

*disclaimer: I have not been asked to support Egg Farmers or been sponsored by them in any way (I wish!).  I just really like eggs, and the Egg Farmers website has easy to read, accessible resources!

30 Day Challenge: Vegetarian Diet and Protein

Hey everyone!

We are now more than halfway through the 30 Day Challenge! Wooooooo!

Being that this is now week 3 of the Challenge, I am still caffeine-free and alcohol-free, and have started adding vegetarian meals to my life. I'm not a very picky vegetarian though - if someone gives me rice that was cooked in chicken broth instead of veggie, I'm not going to freak out over it. I'm still eating eggs and drinking milk, just cutting out meats and fish - basically anything that bled at some point in it's life.

This week's goal was to eat full days of vegetarian meals 3x during the week, but I've already exceeded that :) Sunday, we went to my mom's place for dinner and she served tilapia (mmmm), so there was one day gone. Wednesday night Ed and I went out for sushi (also mmm). But every other day (Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri) have been full on vegetarian dishes. Woooooo!

I've been experimenting with fun sources of protein, trying to gets lots of variety in plant proteins.

Nutrition Lesson!
There are 22 amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. Proteins make things like muscles, enzymes, hormones and other great things your body needs. The body can piece together some proteins on it's own (non-essential), but there are 8 amino acids that the body cannot synthesize (essential amino acids). These amino acids must be obtained through food. It is very important to eat a variety of protein sources to ensure that you're getting an adequate amount of each of these essential amino acids.
Meat eaters typically don't need to worry much about this, as meat products tend to be rich in essential amino acids. For vegetarians and those who don't eat a huge variety of meat products though, you need to explore new protein sources to get the full range of essential amino acids. For example, if you eat no source other than wheat, you will be deficient in some amino acids -- lysine is found in very small quantities in wheat and rice. You need to balance it out with other sources, like legumes, seeds, beans, soy, etc. Chickpeas and beans are fantastic sources of protein, as is quinoa, which contains ALL of the essential amino acids!!!

Neat, huh???

So, here are some examples of the foods I've been gobbling this week in an effort to get lots of good plant proteins:

• Quinoa --- I use it either as an alternative to rice when making stir-fries, or make a quinoa salad by mixing it up with veggies (tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, cucumbers, etc) and herbs (cilantro, parsley, etc).
• Chickpeas, and other beans --- love them!!! I put them on my salads a lot, and make a lot of hummus and black bean dip to dip my veggies. They're also great in vegetarian chili!
• Edamame and tofu --- I bought a huge bag of frozen shelled edamame, and just take a cup out, microwave it for a minute, and poof! Steamed edamame! It's great sprinkled on salads, or just lightly salted (sea salt is best) and eat as a snack. As for tofu, I haven't gotten into it yet as a dessert or in smoothies (silken tofu), but I do make a lot of stir fries. I do try to limit my tofu intake though, as there have been some reports about fermented soy products and links to breast cancer. Whether the rumours are true or not, I'd still like to experiment with other protein sources first than eat nothing but tofu all the time.
• Lentils --- I'm addicted to lentil soup.
• Nuts, seeds and peanut butter --- mmmmm.... nuts are dangerous territory for me. I could scarf down a whole bag of cashews like THAT *snaps fingers dramatically*. But portioned out properly, nuts can be a great protein source. I sprinkle a tablespoon of walnuts on salads, or just eat walnut halves or almonds with dried apricots as a snack. I've gotten big on pumpkin seeds lately as well (because I bought a box thinking that they looked neat, having no idea what to do with them. So I'm experimenting). Peanut butter, again, is a bit of a trigger food for me, but I eat it sparingly. One tablespoon on my toast or in my oatmeal is all I need to feel peanut buttery goodness and satisfy the craving for the day :)

So since we're talking so much about protein, let's talk about recipes that can help you get them in! I've listed here one recipe using eggs (for those of us who eat them), and one with only plant-based protein.

Southwestern Egg Salad

Giving credit where it is due, I got this recipe from the Weight Watchers website. But I made a couple of small alterations to their recipe, so hopefully I won't get sued for it or something.

3 hard boiled eggs (whole eggs - you could use 2 eggs and 2 egg whites to cut some fat/points)1/2 bell pepper, chopped finely
2 whole red bell peppers
2 tbsp onion chopped finely
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp salsa
1/2 jalapeno pepper, chopped finely (don't touch your eyes!!!!!!!)
1/8c reduced calorie or fat-free mayonnaise. I only had reduced-calorie in the house, so unfortunately, my points value is increased. Fat free would cut the points down :)
Salt and pepper to taste

Peel your hard boiled eggs and place in a large bowl. Mash them up with a fork.

Add all your chopped veggies into the bowl, and the mayo, salsa, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix it all together till it's well blended.

You can eat this on it's own, in a sandwich, or my preferred way, inside those 2 whole bell peppers! STUFFED EGG SALAD PEPPERS!!!!!

With my reduced-cal mayo, this worked out to 5 points per serving. You can get about a 1/2 cup per serving, so this recipe makes 2 servings (about 1.5 eggs per serving). Great for lunch!

Roasted Pepper, Feta and Lentil Salad

Giving credit again, this recipe also came from the Weight Watchers site. Except for the making your own peppers part -- that was all me :)

1.5c dry lentils, picked over to remove the gross stuff
6 cups of water
1/4c balsamic vinegar
1/2c roasted red peppers (canned in water) diced, or make your own ***
1/3 fresh chopped basil
salt and pepper to taste
2tsp olive oil
1/4 crumbled feta cheese

Place your lentils in a saucepan and pour in water. Set it over high heat to boil. When it's rolling, reduce the heat to simmer, covered, for about a 1/2 hour till the lentils are tender.

Drain the lentils and transfer to a large bowl. Add the balsamic vinegar and oil, toss it around to mix. Add your roasted peppers and basil, toss again. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve in 4 bowls, each sprinkled with about 1tbsp of feta cheese. This can be served either warm or cold, and gives about 3/4 cup per serving for 5 Points!

*** Making your own roasted red peppers

Brush the entire pepper with vegetable oil. Note, I learned the hard way (i.e. when the security guard came to make sure I hadn't set the apartment on fire) that extra virgin olive oil should be avoided. It has a very low smoke point, and it will BURN. It doesn't make the veggies taste any different, but it makes a lot of smoke, and makes for a very embarassing situation when you have to explain that your cooking set off the fire alarm.

Turn on the broiler. Put your peppers on a cookie sheet and pop 'em in on the top shelf of the oven close to the heat. Keep a close eye on them --- when you see dark splotches show up, take the sheet out, turn your peppers over (use tongs if you value your fingers, they're very hot), and put them back in.

When they start to get brown again, take them out. Put your peppers into a bowl that can stand the heat and cover with plastic wrap. The heat will move around in the bowl and steam your peppers, allowing the skin to loosen. Leave them alone for 15-20 minutes.

When the peppers are cool enough to touch, pull the stems off. Hold the pepper down and peel the skin off (should come off fairly easily). You can then squeeze out the pulp and seeds, cut them open, and voila! Roasted peppers, ready to use in your lentil salad above, or on sandwiches, salads, bruschetta, etc!

What are some of your favourite ways to get protein into your diet?