Egg Yolks & Cholesterol

[Cajunboy47]

Yesterday, I had blood work done. My Doctor asked if I eat eggs and I said, yes, of course, perhaps an average of two each morning.

My Doctor said that I should continue eating eggs, but not the yolks, just the white of the egg. The yolks make the dietary cholesterol stick rather than release through the body is what I was told.

Now, I've done a little searching around and I can't find anything to back up what I was told. Is there anyone who knows any of the science of this???

Truth or fiction is what I would like to know.....

[pennink]

fiction.

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2006.00543.x


and just google around and you'll see.

[Daryl]

Fiction, or a load of poo, as I like to say, CB.

[Cajunboy47]

I enjoyed a breakfast of two scrambled eggs (yolk included) with sausage. That's a fact! :)

My Doctor challenged me to try eating just egg whites for the next 90 days and see what my next blood tests would show... hmmmm...

From searching around, if I cut out the egg yolks and did everything else the same, I might lower my cholesterol by 4% over 90 days; let's see at 230, that means it would drop down to about 221 and I would be giving up the nutrition of about 180 egg yolks. Doesn't sound logical to give up that many egg yolks to drop my cholesterol 9 points, when I'm sure it will eventually come down as I lose more weight and continue to exercise...

[Daryl]

Check this out:

Yes, ingestion of several eggs a day does tend to increase blood concentrations of cholesterol, particularly the amount circulating in low-density lipoproteins (LDLs)—the so-called bad cholesterol. However, the new study showed, eating eggs can also increase the amount of cholesterol in high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)—the good cholesterol.

Moreover, the new study showed that when people ate three or more eggs per day their bodies made bigger LDL- and HDL-lipoprotein particles than when they ate no eggs. That's important because other recent studies have suggested that larger LDLs are less likely than small ones to enter artery walls and contribute their cholesterol load to artery-clogging plaque. Similarly, larger HDLs are more robust than smaller ones at hauling cholesterol out of the bloodstream and, ultimately, out of the body, notes the lead researcher for the new study, Christine M. Greene.

In fact, she notes, her team's accumulating data indicate that most people's bodies handle the cholesterol from eggs in a way that is least likely to harm the heart.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060506/food.asp

[Nancy LC]

Cholesterol tests don't show anything meaningful for the most part. Sure your number might go down but that number is irrelevant for the most part anyway.

[eddiemcm]

Cajun
It seems that dietary cholesterol has different
effects on different people.It's a big deal for
me.Cutting my weekly egg count down from 14 to 5 dropped my total cholesterol mainly ldl) by
35 points in 2 months.Many self proclaimed experts claim that cholesterol doesn't make any difference but I prefer to take the safe path and try to keep my TC number around 180.Most VLC'ers have great HDL and triglycerides and
high LDL and TC.I am not a VLC'er.
Eddie

[Nancy LC]

A few cardiologists (http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com) believe that too. Quite a few belong to THINCS, The International Network of Cholesterol Skeptics (http://www.thincs.org/members.htm).

[jaiden]

i eat 36 eggs a day and feel good. like i got rid of my chronic nose ear throat infection and the everlasting acidic feeling in my mouth is gone....but i don`t touch carbs...NO CARBS! because if i eat, say, a baked potato and only 5 eggs i feel sick, terribly so.

and the carbs in the eggs are the "innocent" ones that don`t count. cheers.

[mermaiden9]

Wow, that's a lot of eggs jaiden. Is that all you eat?

Just curious.

[Cajunboy47]

36 eggs a day... 3 dozen eggs a day...

At 75 calories per egg times 36 eggs equals 2700 calories.

There is a whole lot of information missing from your post for anyone with reasonable thinking to make sense of it.

Your profile states your starting weight was 175, current weight is 155 and your goal weight is 180, so from a progress towards your own posted goal, where's your progress?

Also, I've read some of your other posts... You say you love omelets. What ingredients do you use to make omelets, since you don't like cheese and any vegetables?

I agree with NancyLC that you might have an eating disorder. Too much of anything cannot be healthy for anyone. One indication is your aversion to other foods that you mentioned in some of your posts.

If you're truly 5'11" and your starting weight was 175 and you only wanted to gain 5 pounds, what on earth difference is 5 pounds of difference going to make on a man of your size and stature.

I don't only hold the opinion that eating 36 eggs a days is an eating disorder, but that your claim to that is pure make-believe.

My thread is in a forum for people who have cholesterol concerns. From reading most of your posts, you have no concerns, not even reaching your goal weight.

[jaiden]

36 eggs a day... 3 dozen eggs a day...

At 75 calories per egg times 36 eggs equals 2700 calories.

There is a whole lot of information missing from your post for anyone with reasonable thinking to make sense of it.

Your profile states your starting weight was 175, current weight is 155 and your goal weight is 180, so from a progress towards your own posted goal, where's your progress?

Also, I've read some of your other posts... You say you love omelets. What ingredients do you use to make omelets, since you don't like cheese and any vegetables?

I agree with NancyLC that you might have an eating disorder. Too much of anything cannot be healthy for anyone. One indication is your aversion to other foods that you mentioned in some of your posts.

If you're truly 5'11" and your starting weight was 175 and you only wanted to gain 5 pounds, what on earth difference is 5 pounds of difference going to make on a man of your size and stature.

I don't only hold the opinion that eating 36 eggs a days is an eating disorder, but that your claim to that is pure make-believe.

My thread is in a forum for people who have cholesterol concerns. From reading most of your posts, you have no concerns, not even reaching your goal weight.

don`t get excited, please.

i am 5`11. and NOW i am around 160...

when i started out THIS DIET WITH EGGS i was 155, BECAUSE I WAS A VEGAN BEFORE IT...BUT WAY BEFORE I WAS AROUND 175 when i WASN`T A VEGAN. then i went totally carnvores, BUT I HAD ISSUES with MEAT specifically cuz it would accidify my body real bad, so i switched to eggs and i am putting the wieght back currently.

and i make ommletts without ANYTHING but eggs, on TEFLON. and eat it with craploads of butter.

about the cholestrol thing- it`s bad when combined with carbs. first i heard it and experimented which turns out to be true.

this is my first day today when i did not get dead tired in the GYM. and my skin is getting better and better- just you can tell the diff. on top of that i am not tired in the morning i after i wake up- i just jump off the bed literally. and i don`t sleep alot no more...and the morning breath thing is wayyyyyyyyy weaker and is going towards zero...i used to feel bad at night, but now it feels like as if its a broad daylight outside...after all this should i give up my eggs, HELL NO!

and if you think i got an eating disorder and this thought makes you feel better- so be it! i know what i am feeling and i see new positive changes everyday.

i don`t know your food policy, but if you think i am shoving my eating habits down other`s throats - you`re wrong. i am just sharing my experience. everybody decides on their own. i am doing it for my own benefit meaning i am not asking nobody to follow this one- i could care less.

[Cajunboy47]

Posted by: Jaiden

about the cholestrol thing- it`s bad when combined with carbs. first i heard it and experimented which turns out to be true.

I sort of believe that way also, but have never seen anything to support my belief, but let's clarify a few things you stated in your previous posts...

If you really didn't care about others, you shouldn't be here, so at some level, you do care.....

We're not here to absorb information only but to share our experiences and by so doing we learn from each other..... With a guy like me, you'll feel attacked by me if you're not clear in your posts and your beliefs.

Your claim of eating 36 eggs a day sounds unbelievable, sorry, but I'm sure most other posters would feel the same way. If you broke it down for us, how you do it, we might get an understanding.

This is a Cholesterol forum, so how is your cholesterol? What was it when you ate a vegan diet? What is it while consuming 36 eggs a day?

What does a daily diet consist of besides the eggs...???

I'd like to hear about the results of your carb vs cholesterol experiments...

I start my morning with eggs cooked in butter some mornings with nothing else. I'm 5'8" and weigh 175. I feel so full, I can't imagine eating a 4th egg. I eat 3 meals a day. I try to imagine myself on an all eggs diet and I can't see myself being able to consume more than 12 to 15 eggs in a day. How do you manage to eat 36 eggs? It sounds gluttonous, just to think aobut consuming that many eggs, even if nothing else would be eaten... How can that be considered normal? When I said "eating disorder", I was referring to anything that is not normal according to eating habits of most humans... Perhaps, you do not have a disorder, but your eating 36 eggs is abnormal and that I'm sure you can agree with...

One thing I like at this website, is people challenge our thinking. In all due respect to you having your own decisions about what and how you consume foods, I do believe everyone here has a right to offer their opinions and beliefs about what is healthy or unhealthy.

If you offer up some proof that eating 36, 50 or whatever number of eggs a day is healthy, I'll gladly read it... but from the bits of information you've posted before, it is difficult to know what to make of what you've said....

Good luck to you...

[jaiden]

Your claim of eating 36 eggs a day sounds unbelievable, sorry, but I'm sure most other posters would feel the same way. If you broke it down for us, how you do it, we might get an understanding.

right..i mean if you choose not to believe i am not preventing you from it. :lol:

This is a Cholesterol forum, so how is your cholesterol? What was it when you ate a vegan diet? What is it while consuming 36 eggs a day?

i did not do no readings, but i`d feel tottaly bad if i combined carbs with proteins and fats, but on only eggs- i am thriving...

does it have anything to do with cholesterol? i don`t know...at this point i don`t even care if my chlosterol levels are sky high...i feel great an even better and it gets gooder and better day by day...and that`s what counts

What does a daily diet consist of besides the eggs...???

eggs+sups...but before when i was on other diets i needed more sups than now...i reduced the amont of types of supplements...i can afford it now.

I start my morning with eggs cooked in butter some mornings with nothing else. I'm 5'8" and weigh 175. I feel so full, I can't imagine eating a 4th egg. I eat 3 meals a day. I try to imagine myself on an all eggs diet and I can't see myself being able to consume more than 12 to 15 eggs in a day. How do you manage to eat 36 eggs? It sounds gluttonous, just to think aobut consuming that many eggs, even if nothing else would be eaten... How can that be considered normal? When I said "eating disorder", I was referring to anything that is not normal according to eating habits of most humans... Perhaps, you do not have a disorder, but your eating 36 eggs is abnormal and that I'm sure you can agree with...


hehe, i don`t know may be i am a glutton, i eat 36 and sometimes more eggs and planning to eat even more, cuz sometimes i wanna eat...i never get tired of it...feels as if i am eating it first time everytime i eat ommlets...probably i am mentally sick :lol: as long as i am satisfied with my health(i am a health freak- i get easily freaked if i am not feeling good) i don`t give a ff.

on M&E forum somewhere on this board i read from the carnivores veterans that you don`t have to worry about the diversity and that eggs` carbs don`t carb- that`s all i needed...it works for me...i don`t feel i have to prove it- cuz i am not selling the idea or the by-products :lol:

If you offer up some proof that eating 36, 50 or whatever number of eggs a day is healthy, I'll gladly read it... but from the bits of information you've posted before, it is difficult to know what to make of what you've said....

what kinda proof are you talking about :D please go ahead and think that i eat only 5 eggs a day. i won`t be offended.

ALL THE BEST!
[/QUOTE]

[black57]

What doctors do not expect is that their patients just might ask for proof of "scientific" opinions.

[eddiemcm]

I agree with Cajun that 36 eggs a day sounds absurd but.................
Eddie

[mimianvy]

That sounds like alot of eggs. Just curious, how has your blood work been?

[ChicknLady]

Maybe it was PP, or maybe it was Atkins somewhere, about some man that was imprisoned and was given only hard-boiled eggs to eat. . . . . apparently he thrived. And the story about the old man in the nursing home who also ate practically only eggs. . . . again, another thriving individual. Weird, maybe, but a diet far from being harmful, and quite possibly very healthful. Occasionally I have an eggs-only day, just to catch up with the hens, and feel quite wonderful.

[8forlife]

Wow! 36 Eggs a day?! Holy Chick...ens!!!

And I was impressed with the M&E gang who can eat up to 12 eggs/day...

Well, I have doubts about the long term health impact but it doesn't really matter what I think. Some of my coworkers have really hassled me about some of my meal/snack choices.. especially since I'm not eating fruit anymore. They enjoy telling me how I need to eat fruit to be healthy... I just smile and say that I will add limited quantities of berries and melon in the summer... once I'm closer to my goal weight.

I actually don't like eggs very much - childhood trauma with a bad egg salad sandwich. I have problems with tuna (from the can) as well.. Too bad since both eggs and tuna can be very useful for LC'ers.

Well - Good Luck Mr. Eggs! I genuinely mean that too.

[Serena11]

Check this out:

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20060506/food.asp

>>>>>However, the new study showed, eating eggs can also increase the amount of cholesterol in high-density lipoproteins (HDLs)—the good cholesterol.<<<<<

I've always wondered about this! Why have they been so sure it's only a negative effect on elevated cholesterol?

Serena

[Cajunboy47]

"Cool Hand Luke"

Does anyone remember that movie?

Luke wins a bet that he could eat 50 hard boiled eggs in an hour..... I guess using that standard, if he can eat 50 in one hour, I suppose its possible to eat 36 in 24 hours. :):) But, then again, that was a movie...

[bsheets]

Maybe it was PP, or maybe it was Atkins somewhere, about some man that was imprisoned and was given only hard-boiled eggs to eat. . . . . apparently he thrived. And the story about the old man in the nursing home who also ate practically only eggs. . . . again, another thriving individual. Weird, maybe, but a diet far from being harmful, and quite possibly very healthful. Occasionally I have an eggs-only day, just to catch up with the hens, and feel quite wonderful.
Does anyone have a link to either or both of these cases? I would LOVE to read them! :D

e

[DianeeM]

im not very "smart" in this area.....is it "ok" to have two a day? I could not fathom having 36....but well is two a day ok? my eggs keep me going....i suppose its time to go the doc....but didnt they just say that "eggs got a bad rap"....whatever....i enjoy my two egg break...this 36 just kinda thru me for a loop?

[Songwriter]

Does anyone have a link to either or both of these cases? I would LOVE to read them! :D

e

I think Dr. Eades, www.proteinpower.com blog, somewhat disputed the old man in the nursing home story. I think he surmised that he had to be eating other food as well as the eggs, else he wouldn't have enough calories for survival and nursing home people confirmed it. But I don't think he disputed that he ate the eggs.

Dr. Eades has written about arachadonic acid as being not so good with heavy egg yolk intake. (For some people.) Cholesterol in eggs, no concern.

[Cajunboy47]

Reviving this thread is a little like beating a dead horse... IMHO:)

I now eat 1 egg for breakfast everyday (faithfully all of this year), with hardly any exceptions. My egg is usually scrambled and cooked with onions and peppers and some type of meat. Often a few other types of vegetables are cooked with my egg.

My breakfast also always consists of a salad of at least 3 to 5 raw mixed vegetables and usually 1 fruit. Almost, but not always I eat a piece of homemade bread along with my breakfast.

I used to eat 2 or 3 eggs for breakfast, but my wife, who is a TCM Doctor convinced me that my protein intake was too high and thus I reduced to one egg sometime back in March....

Now, my last cholesterol test was back in August. My total cholesterol was 135. Whereas, a couple of years ago it was about 300. My triglycerides were 95....

There is more to getting good numbers then what we eat. Exercise is part of the equation. Also part of the equation for me was allowing my TCM Doctor (wife) to get me on an herbal plan.

So, eat a balanced diet and don't subject yourself to the weirdness of eating 36 eggs a day or any such other thing that does nothing toward supplying your body from receiving proper nutrition.

Part of the reason we are all fat in the first place is that while we didn't starve ourselves to get there, we did nutritionally starve ourselves in the process. Finding new ways to nutritionally starve ourselves, such as eating 36 eggs a day will not solve the problem, even if it does cause weight loss temporarily.......

[amandawald]

Reviving this thread is a little like beating a dead horse... IMHO:)

I now eat 1 egg for breakfast everyday (faithfully all of this year), with hardly any exceptions. My egg is usually scrambled and cooked with onions and peppers and some type of meat. Often a few other types of vegetables are cooked with my egg.

My breakfast also always consists of a salad of at least 3 to 5 raw mixed vegetables and usually 1 fruit. Almost, but not always I eat a piece of homemade bread along with my breakfast.

I used to eat 2 or 3 eggs for breakfast, but my wife, who is a TCM Doctor convinced me that my protein intake was too high and thus I reduced to one egg sometime back in March....

Now, my last cholesterol test was back in August. My total cholesterol was 135. Whereas, a couple of years ago it was about 300. My triglycerides were 95....



Hi there Ron,

I like the sound of your breakfast! All I need now is my very own TCM doctor to make it for me...

But seriously, I have a question which I'd like you to pass on to your Chinese wife. I once read (in Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions", I think) that it is a tradition for breast-feeding women in China to eat a lot of eggs, like 12 a day, as this is said to help with producing lots of healthy milk for their babies. (China's a big place, so this could actually translate to "a specific region in China", rather than the whole country). Can you ask her if she's heard of this recommendation? Just out of curiosity?

And, one other thing on the egg front. Another disease of civilization which is on the increase is "age-related macular degeneration". You see supplements all over the place containing lutein here in Germany, telling the prospective buyers that this supplement will protect them from getting this form of blindness. If you then look at nutrition tables (which aren't always to be trusted either), then you'll see things like spinach being mentioned as being high in lutein. Then I read somewhere that the most easily absorbed forms of lutein and xaxanthin (or something similar) are in fact in eggs, and, what's more, they are in the yellow part of the eggs (hence the word 'lutein', which practically means 'glowing').

So, once again, due to the demonization of cholesterol, and thus eggs, people have been eating far fewer eggs than is good for them, and some of have even ended up blinded as a result!

Modern medicine does my head in sometimes. I'd trust a TCM doctor any day over a modern western doc.

amanda

[Cajunboy47]

Hi there Ron,

I like the sound of your breakfast! All I need now is my very own TCM doctor to make it for me...

But seriously, I have a question which I'd like you to pass on to your Chinese wife. I once read (in Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions", I think) that it is a tradition for breast-feeding women in China to eat a lot of eggs, like 12 a day, as this is said to help with producing lots of healthy milk for their babies. (China's a big place, so this could actually translate to "a specific region in China", rather than the whole country). Can you ask her if she's heard of this recommendation? Just out of curiosity?

And, one other thing on the egg front. Another disease of civilization which is on the increase is "age-related macular degeneration". You see supplements all over the place containing lutein here in Germany, telling the prospective buyers that this supplement will protect them from getting this form of blindness. If you then look at nutrition tables (which aren't always to be trusted either), then you'll see things like spinach being mentioned as being high in lutein. Then I read somewhere that the most easily absorbed forms of lutein and xaxanthin (or something similar) are in fact in eggs, and, what's more, they are in the yellow part of the eggs (hence the word 'lutein', which practically means 'glowing').

So, once again, due to the demonization of cholesterol, and thus eggs, people have been eating far fewer eggs than is good for them, and some of have even ended up blinded as a result!

Modern medicine does my head in sometimes. I'd trust a TCM doctor any day over a modern western doc.

amanda

My wife says she never heard of this and says it would be very unhealthy. She says that there should be no effort to eat a certain food, but to continue with a habit of eating a diet filled with nutrition. My wife says that a pregnant woman should try to obtain all of the nutrition from foods and not depend on vitamins and restricting calories to avoid weight gain. The best way to pass nutrition to the fetus is to eat a well balanced diet.

Back to beating eggs, I used to eat a lot of omelets made with cheese and other ingredients, but my wife doesn't think that fats in cheese are all that healthy and makes my omelets cheese free, but this morning, I woke up early and remembering we had some left over gourment cheese, I made omelets which included cheese. It was ok, but actually, not any better then the way my wife fixes it. I suppose eating preferences is all a matter of what we're used to and that is probably a factor in our struggles with weight control....

Ron

[cindy_cfid]

When eggs were cheap, I ate an average of 6 eggs a day. I went from extremely high cholesterol pre low carb and no eggs to perfect cholesterol after I had been low carbing for a long time & eating all those eggs. (I miss the eggs, sigh)

[amandawald]

Now, my last cholesterol test was back in August. My total cholesterol was 135. Whereas, a couple of years ago it was about 300. My triglycerides were 95....



Hi Ron,

I'm reading my way through Barry Groves' new book, "Trick and Treat: how 'healthy eating' is making us ill" and he - natch - has a section on cholesterol. According to him, the level you are at now, and at your age, is actually too low. I don't want to freak you out or anything, and, of course, I have no idea how one would go about raising cholesterol levels, (seeing as all anybody talks about is lowering them) but eating more eggs would certainly put more of the stuff into your body. What your body then does with it is anybody's guess, of course.

Some of the stuff he quotes is of the epidemiological sort, where you get a lot of phrases like "strongly associated with", which I'm a bit suspicious of, but, nonetheless, there does seem to be a link between high cholesterol and longevity. Whether a long life as such is desirable, or whether it is better to have a good active life and then drop down dead all of a sudden at 70, rather than malinger till 95, is another matter entirely.

But I just wanted to mention it... On the whole, I can recommend the book, though - at least, up till p. 370!

amanda