No eggs? No problem! Live healthier and more compassionately by eating eggsactly egg-free…
Here are 5 reasons why and how to substitute them in your diet:
1. One large (50 gram) egg contains almost 60% of its calories from fat and 187 milligrams of dietary cholesterol. Egg consumption is as bad for your endothelial cells in your arteries and blood cholesterol as a sausage and cheese sandwich (Link, Link). Here is the USDA Nutrient Database on one whole egg.
2. Our gut bacteria can convert the high dose of choline in eggs into TMAO (like carnitine in meat), which promotes atherosclerosis and possibly the progression of certain cancers. Humans do require some choline in our diets, but we can get plenty in legumes (beans, peanuts, peas), bananas, broccoli, oats, oranges, quinoa, and soy products. (Long video, well worth the watch, link). For the Institute of Medicine’s DRI of choline, see here.
3. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an estimated 142,000 illnesses each year are caused by consuming eggs contaminated with Salmonella. (Link)
4. Egg consumption increases your risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. (Link, Link, Link, Link)
5. Egg production in factory farms entails horrific cruelty including male chicks being ground alive or suffocated to death, layer hens having to survive in miserable battery cages without space to open her wings, un-anesthetized debeaking, and being boiled alive. “Free range” practices are not much better and are a euphemism of still hideous, brutal conditions. (Link, Link, Link, Link, Link, Link, Link)
The great news is that you can easily eat and cook egg-free with a variety of different substitutes and alternative methods. There are commercial egg replacements such as Follow Your Heart’s VeganEgg, Ener-G or Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacers. But because eggs have multiple purposes in cooking and baking (leavening, binding, thickening, increasing volume, richness, or tenderness), there are different, healthier plant-based swaps.
To bind in baked goods, try cornstarch, arrowroot, or flaxseeds. To thicken, use chia seeds or silken tofu. For moisture try fruit and vegetable purees. And for a frittata, scramble, mayonnaise, dressings, sauces, or puddings, tofu works wonders.
For more details on eating and cooking egg-free (and completely animal product- and processed food-free) with 66 delicious, Mediterranean-style recipes, pre-order my brand new book, The Vegiterranean Diet.
Further Egg Replacement Info:
Yahoo Food’s Vegan Egg Replacements You Should Try
