In the last few decades, the egg, one of nature’s most nourishing and original whole foods (no matter which came first) has been the victim of the anti-fat and anti-cholesterol health craze based on poor theory and unjustified conclusions. The egg is nature’s perfect food. It has the ideal combination of protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. No food really corresponds exactly with the body’s required amino acid pattern, but the amino acids in eggs come closest. All of these nutrients are found in the yolk. In fact, the slew of nutrients in an egg yolk is so comprehensive that a few a day would offer better insurance than a multivitamin. So it baffles me that anyone in their right mind would just want to eat egg whites!  Only eating egg whites is like slapping Mother Nature in the face and spitting on millions of years’ worth of evolution. The reason why the yolk gets a bad rap is because of its content of fat and cholesterol.

“But the yolks contain over five grams of fat!”

Let me be the first one to tell you that the fat in an egg yolk is mostly polyunsaturated and monounsaturated, both of which are healthy fats. In fact, healthy fats should make up 20 percent of your diet! The low fat myth was supposed to have ended in the 90s, so it drives me crazy when people still fear something like egg yolks. The percentage of calories from fat that you eat, whether high or low, isn’t really linked with disease. What really matters is the type of fat you eat. Fat itself isn’t the culprit. The processing of fat is and the less processed and refined a food is, the easier the body can break it down.

“But yolks are fill with cholesterol!”

Another myth is that the cholesterol in the yolk will leave you with gooey, sticky junk in your arteries. The truth is, however, that there isn’t any direct connection between the amount of cholesterol you eat and the concentration of cholesterol in your blood. Let me also tell you that labeling someone with high or low cholesterol isn’t as accurate a risk factor as you may believe. A new national study has shown that nearly 75 percent of patients hospitalized for a heart attack had cholesterol levels that would indicate they weren’t at high risk for a cardiovascular event based on current national cholesterol guidelines.   How can something so right be so wrong? We’ve been told for decades that eggs increase cholesterol, which then increases our risk for heart disease. We have been told that eggs contain too much fat, which will increase our chances of heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. You see, when you toss away the egg yolk, 100 percent of the fat soluble vitamins are lost. That’s a large serving of vitamins A, D, E, K, and carotenoids. These fat soluble vitamins do more things than you could imagine. They boost your immune system; reduce your risk of cancer; keep your bones, teeth, and skin healthy; support the thyroid gland; reduce the damaging effects of diabetes; and promote healthy growth in children to list a few. Now, I’m not telling you to go on an egg splurge like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast to catch up on your years of being a “yolk a phobe.” But please give your body the favor and nourishment of providing it with natures most simple yet most powerful food of all. Don’t forget the yolk!