How to Cut Your Cholesterol, Fat, and Calories with Organic Egg Whites
Most diets that people undertake are all about giving something up or depriving yourself of those foods that you love to eat. However, diets that prevent you from having a certain food or even whole categories of food (like bread) are rarely successful. Just like a child who is told she cannot do something and as a result only wants to do that thing even more, a dieter who is told they cannot have a certain food is only going to crave that food more.
A better option than deprivation is to use substitution. This means that rather than not eating one kind of food at all, you find a healthier version of it to eat. For example, if you love milkshakes made with ice cream and whole milk, you can substitute smoothies instead. A smoothie made with low fat yogurt, skim milk, and frozen fruit can be just as tasty as a milkshake and a far healthier option.
Another great substitution comes in the egg department. Many people love to eat eggs, whether scrambled, fried, or over easy. However, eggs are not good for a diet because they are high in fat, calories, and cholesterol. Unlike milkshakes, however, there are many nutritional benefits to eggs and you should not do away with them completely. The health benefits of eggs include their high protein content, which is great for dieters because it keeps them full and keeps them going for a long period of time.
A really great way to have all the goodness of eggs, but without the fat, cholesterol, or high calories is to only eat the egg whites, or the non-yolk part. A very common meal for those trying to eat healthier is cooking up some egg whites in a pan, just like you would normally do for scrambled eggs, and serving it up with some fruit and maybe a slice of whole wheat toast. This is a very well-rounded and healthy meal that can be served any time of day. You can also throw in some veggies to up the nutritional content and give yourself a bigger variety of flavors.
For those people who are not cooks, you do not have to worry anymore about the trickiness that comes with trying to separate an egg from its egg whites. You can actually buy small containers of egg whites from the grocery store. All the work of separating has already been done for you. This is a great product for those people who are in a hurry in the morning. In fact, if you are really pressed for time, you can just pour some of the egg whites in a microwavable mug, perhaps along with some low fat cheese, pop it in the microwave, and then a minute or so later have a great meal that you can take on the go!
With the strong movement toward organic food, it is no surprise that you will often see organic egg whites in the market as well. You can, of course, also get organic egg whites by separating organic eggs yourself at home. There are lots of benefits to eating organic egg whites. First, in order to be certified organic, the chickens that lay these eggs have to be given access to the outdoors and cannot be raised in cages. Knowing that these chickens are not confined to a tiny cage and can roam freely will make you feel a bit better about your choice to consume organic eggs. Another great benefit of organic eggs is that the chickens are only fed organic feed and cannot be treated with antibiotics except during an infectious outbreak. The latter point is in contrast to non-organic egg laying chickens that are often preemptively given antibiotics because disease often does occur due to the close quarters that the non-organic chickens are forced to live in.
Obviously in addition to the benefits to the chickens, the feeding of organic food and the lack of antibiotics will be beneficial to your health. Anything that the chicken consumes may be passed into the egg, so you want the chicken only to be consuming the very best food and to only be given medication when absolutely necessary. If you are going to start eating organic egg whites for health reasons, the last thing you want to do is ingest unhealthy, treated eggs.
If you are into baking, you should know that in many recipes you can substitute organic egg whites for eggs in the recipe. It may not come out exactly the same, but with some tweaking, you should be able to perfect the recipe. However, you should know that there are other healthy egg substitutes as well, such as ground flaxseed meal mixed with water. One “flax egg” is made of one tablespoon ground flaxseed meal and three tablespoons water, beaten together like you would beat an egg.
There are lots of substitutions that you can make to your diet, but changing from regular eggs to organic egg whites is not a change that is going to be painful. You likely will not even miss the heavy, fat-laden eggs, and you’ll feel better about yourself knowing that you’ve made a choice that positively benefits both you and the environment.