July 2008 Newsletter:
Nutrition Matters
Tip of the month: If
you’re in Massachusetts,
you can find your closest farmers' markets on this website:
http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/t-allmarkets.aspx/
Eggs are back in
fashion!
Eggs were
banished from the medically approved American diet a number of decades ago
because they contain dietary cholesterol.
They still contain cholesterol – a large egg has over 200 milligrams –
but now analysis of the longitudinal Physicians Health Study has found that
“over 20 years, there was no link between men who ate up to six eggs a week and
the risk of dying (from any cause) or having a heart attack or stroke.” (Environmental Nutrition, July, 2008, p. 3
reporting on findings published in The
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April, 2008.) Type 2 diabetics, however, were not cleared
for egg eating by the study.
Eggs provide a great deal: they provide
a relatively inexpensive source of protein that keeps well. I usually eat two a day, preferably soft
boiled as the greatest nutritional gain is from well cooked whites and less
cooked yolks. What specifically can you
gain from eggs? Nina Planck, in her
engaging paean to healthy eating Real
Food: What to Eat and Why (Bloomsbuy, 2006, pp.213-214) extols the egg,
especially from pastured chickens, for its choline, which helps our brains, its
lutein and zeaxanthine, which help our eyes, its glutathione, which may ward
off cancer, and several other nutrients.
Where to get your eggs? Most farmers’ markets sell eggs from pastured
chickens. Why is that important?
Chickens are omnivores who will eat grass and insects, as well as grain. When they fend for themselves, their eggs
have a desirable omega-3 to omega-6 ratio of close to 1:1. Grain fed chickens, however, produce eggs
with much higher omega-6 ratios, as much as 20:1. You will remember from the May Newsletter
that suspicion falls on those omega-6 fatty acids as significant contributors
to some of our contemporary epidemics.
For a refresher on that topic, visit my website to see the May
Newsletter or my book review of The
Modern Nutritional Diseases: www.nutrition-matters.info.
Recipe of the month:
eggs….la frittata
This is an
“open-faced” Italian omelet, a very convenient vehicle for left-overs, which is
also delicious plain.
Prep Time:
5-10 minutes
for cooking.
Ingredients:
1 or 2 eggs
per person, depending on how many other ingredients you want to add
Butter, 1
tablespoon per egg used
Left-overs of
your choice: vegetables, pasta, etc.
Salt, pepper,
chopped herbs, if you like.
Directions:
- Beat your eggs in a bowl till
blended.
- Add the other ingredients.
- Melt the butter in the skillet
over a very low flame till liquid, not burnt.
- Add the egg mixture, still over a
low flame, until the bottom is set.
- Turn on your broiler and pass the
skillet under it briefly so the top of the frittata sets also.
- Cut it into wedges for serving.
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