A Good Egg

June 25, 2010 in Diabetes, Diabetic Menu Item, Mediterranean, Nutrition by Joyce Bunderson

I feel a bit like a somewhat hysterical Chicken Little; running around yelling, “The sky is falling,” after being hit on the noggin by an acorn. We’ve put up our new website, but like many of you know, who have been through this process – Oh my goodness! The loose ends are making me crazy. I don’t even know if you’ve found Dr. Grandma’s Blog. You need to be a cross between a mind reader and an acrobat to find it. It used to be the first listing on Google’s search list for ‘dr. grandma’s blog’, and now, Oh dear – it’s scrambled – where did it go?

So since we’re so scrambled, I thought a post that discussed a little more about eggs would be appropriate. I posted A Scrambled Answer on April 9, 2010, which has lots of information about eggs; but today I wanted to report on a study reported by the National Institute of Health. This study looked at links between egg consumption and type 2 diabetes. The study went deeper and also studied the relationship of dietary cholesterol (that’s the cholesterol that is eaten) with type 2 diabetes. The researchers were trying to learn if there was an association between the amount of eggs eaten (and also the cholesterol—from the yolk) and the number of new cases of diabetes the subjects developed.

The study was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, on June 9, 2010. The Harvard Medical School researchers, led by Dr. Luc Djousse looked at almost 4,000 men and women, all of who were over 65 years of age.

I think that you may be surprised to learn that the researchers found no association between either the egg consumption or the dietary cholesterol consumption and increased risk of getting type 2 diabetes. If you were surprised, it is because the cholesterol in egg yolks has gotten an undeserved bad rap over the cholesterol years. (Same goes for shrimp). Even when they looked at an egg a day, they found no greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. During the 11 years that the researchers followed the subjects, 313 developed type 2 diabetes.  But what they found out was that those diagnosed with diabetes during the study had other risk factors. They also were overweight, had poor diets or were not exercising much. All of these factors are well known, to be closely linked with developing diabetes.

Remember in the April 9th post I wrote that eggs are essentially a low fat, low calorie protein source? Another important consideration is that eggs are relatively inexpensive, as compared to many other complete protein sources; in addition, they are a great source of nutrients. So my personal advice for eggs is the same as my advice for other low fat animal protein sources – eat moderate amounts. Make the greater portions of your meals fruits, vegetables and whole grains. And take eggs off of your “yikes, cholesterol” list, because the bad rap on cholesterol has been shown to be without basis.

Dr. Grandpa (a good egg) is trying (not completely successfully) to calm me down by telling me that you will find us again. I’m a believer in Anne Sexton’s (1928 – 1974) words:

“Words and eggs must be handled with care. Once broken they are impossible things to repair.”  I hope you’re not having too much trouble finding our words while we’re going through our Humpty Dumpty phase.

O.K., maybe the sky’s not falling ……….. but, really it seemed that way.

Two Ways with Eggs

We don’t eat eggs for breakfast often, but I snapped some pictures of two breakfasts in the last month.

  • The first is nothing more than breaking eggs into a skillet and mixing in fresh-snipped basil. It was served with avocado and salsa.
  • The second egg breakfast was just this morning. I sliced a half of a large red onion and cut the slices into half again; and diced a whole green pepper. Sautéed the onions and peppers in extra virgin olive oil. Broke the eggs over the vegetables and added the snipped basil leaves. Served with whole-wheat toast and avocado.
  • Note that the second method (which is a favorite fast-egg breakfast method) is an easy and tasty way to increase vegetable consumption – filling up on the vegetables, but needing less egg to be satisfied (proportionally less egg/more veggies).  Also, it tastes great.
    Fresh basil leaves, snip with the scissors.

    Fresh basil leaves, snip with the scissors.

    Sprinkle the snipped basil on the eggs.

    Sprinkle the snipped basil on the eggs.

    Serve with avocado and salsa.

    Serve with avocado and salsa.

    Eggs and basil.

    Eggs and basil.

    Another beautiful batch of basil - BBB.

    Another beautiful batch of basil - BBB.

    A little extra virgin olive oil, onions and peppers.

    A little extra virgin olive oil, onions and peppers.

    Saute and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

    Saute and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

    When veggies are tender, drop eggs on top and scramble.

    When veggies are tender, drop eggs on top and scramble.

    Serve with whole wheat toast and avocado.

    Serve with whole wheat toast and avocado.