The Good Egg

The protein is found in the albumen, which is the white of the egg. It’s for this reason that an egg white omelet is now found on most menus. “Albumen is a very accessible protein, meaning that it’s easily absorbed by the body,” explains Gina Sunderland, a Registered Dietician at Winnipeg’s Action Physiotherapy and Wellness Clinic. Many powdered protein supplements use whey protein instead of albumen because it’s more expensive to produce, says Sunderland. But for her money, there’s really no substitute: “It’s the protein that our body can digest most completely.”

Egg Free Eggs? Any good vegan will tell you that there are many ways to fake eggs when baking (powdered substitutes, ground flax seeds). There are even a few tricks to creating some favourite breakfast dishes sans eggs. The key, of course, is tofu. This master mimicker has 10 grams of protein per half cup and can be crumbled for scrambled tofu (add salsa, veggies, spices), or blended for a quiche filling. While tofu could never mimic the nutritional power punch of an egg, it does have iron and omega 3 fatty acids.

Sure an egg white omelet is healthy, but you can’t sop it up with a piece of toast can you? Enter the egg yolk. While oft maligned for its saturated fat and dietary cholesterol, the egg yolk is full of nutrients that are important to the body’s overall health, including our skin and metabolism. “It’s like a capsule of fat soluble vitamins,” says Sunderland. This cocktail includes one of the only natural sources of Vitamin D, as well as significant amounts of Vitamin B12. Recent research has linked egg yolk to brain development, says Sunderland, and is for this reason being recommended for young children and nursing mothers alike.

Although an aesthetic classic, the egg is not immune to designer trends. Witness the organic free-range egg and the egg with omega 3. The latter comes from flax-fed hens, which lay eggs rich in this important fatty acid, which is proven to reduce the risk of heart attacks and heart disease.

With all of this nutritional good press, is there really such a thing as too many eggs? “I don’t believe in going overboard,” says Sunderland. “An egg a day is probably safe and healthy.” That said, you can also store up your eggs (unlike alcohol says Sunderland) and eat a three-egg omelet during soccer Saturday without feeling guilty. “It’s a very unique food,” sums up Sunderland, “both in its nutritional components and its versatility.”

Raw Like Rocky?
Everyone has, at one time, when geared up to begin a new fitness routine, heard Gonna Fly Now pulsing in their ears, imagined taking the stairs at Philly’s Museum of Art two at a time, and considered gulping back five or six raw eggs. But is this raw egg consumption as great a boost as Rocky promised, or as bad an idea as wearing shorts over sweatpants?

“I do not recommend raw egg at all in my practice,” says Gina Sunderland, a Registered Dietician at Winnipeg’s Action Physiotherapy and Wellness Clinic. The problem, she says, used to be that salmonella lurked in the shells of eggs. That slippery bacteria has outsmarted today’s hen, however, and has made its way into the egg itself by infiltrating the ovarian system of the bird. “Often, if someone’s immune system is strong enough, they won’t get sick,” says Sunderland, “but why would you take that chance?”

Still, there are those willing to duke it out with salmonella in pursuit of protein. Check boxing blogs and you’ll see a variety of posts by fighters on both sides of the raw egg ring. Many point to the ease of eating or adding raw eggs. This argument doesn’t hold up for Sunderland, who points out that you can boil an egg quickly (less that four minutes for soft-boiled and less than 15 for hard-boiled), and can store them, once boiled, for four to five days in the refrigerator.

If you have nutrition- related questions about eggs, or any other food, e-mail registered dietician Gina Sunderland at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .