I eat eggs every day. I buy 2 or 3 dozen every week. My cholesterol is still below normal. I also eat a lot of saturated fat, probably 25% of calories. By all accounts I should have dropped dead years ago. My kidneys haven't fallen out, either.
The ADA and the AHA base their dietary advice on the USDA pyramid. The USDA is the government department which was formed to advance the interests of the business of agriculture in this country.
Hello David,
I switched to an egg substitute most days and my HDL went down while my LDL cholesterol went up. I will still use it for low carb snacks(omlet with spinach etc.) but I am back to a real egg for breakfast, glad to know it was a good descision. I like half of a small avocado at breakfast sometimes on a homemade low carb cracker (made from wheat bran, partialy ground flax seeds, chia seeds and a little psyillium plus enough water to press out on a cookie sheet) or in an omlet. All organic by the way. I have been getting baby organic arugula from Trader Joes and serve it under my breakfast with a sprey of olive oil. It's and easy way to add greens and flavor one more meal and it looks beautiful and tastes great. Keep up the great posts, I learn so much.
Earlene
Dear Earlene,
I appreciate your warning about egg substitutes. Thanks.
You are lucky to have a Trader Joe's. We don't have any in the whole state of Colorado. I understand that it's because of Colorado liquor laws that prohibit hard liquor to be sold in grocery stores -- something that TJs specializes in. I just came back from Albuquereque where I stocked up not only on baby arugula but especially on their wonderful smoked canned trout and non-fat Greek yogurt (the later made by Voskos, according to a TJs rep).
Since you also mention low-carb crackers, let me suggest what I eat whenever I yearn for that taste. It's the GoRaw Original Flax Snax, which I can only buy online from goraw.com . These bite-size crackers contain only:
Sprouted organic flax seeds
Sprouted organic sesame
Organic tomato powder
Organid garlic powder
Bragg's liquid aminos
and
Organic Lime Juice
They are very low in available carbs. A one-ounce serving has 11 grams of carb of which 8 grams is fiber, for a net of only 3 grams of available carbs. All that I need to add is that they are delicious too!
Best regards,
David
I love eggs too and would never substitute or give them up
for anything! But since you mentioned snacks and chia seeds
may I also suggest fennel or anise bulb. It is about the same
as celery in carbs net 1.5 g per 100g weight.
However the taste is much better than almost anyother
veggie snack- I love it.
Joe
I question the comment regarding the effect of ingested cholesterol on the level of cholesterol in our blood. When I was 1st diagnosed with T2 in 2/2003, my cholesterol level was 267, LDL 144 and HDL 34. My next lipid panel was 5/2003. I had completely changed my diet in the intervening months. The May results were Cholesterol 153, LDL 96 and HDL 47. Diet really did the trick. Just wanted to share my personal experience.
Thanks,
Pam
Eggs do have a lot of cholesterol. But dietary cholesterol doesn't seem to cause high levels in our bodies. I do eat a lot of eggs -- just had a 3-egg omlet for breakfast. I eat red meat sometimes too, but only if it is grass-fed. My cholesterol numbers are great -- my LDL was 74 most recently.
Best regards,
David
I eat approx 15-20 eggs per week and my cholesterol is 141. So much for eggs causing high cholesterol. I do wonder about Dr. Barry Sear's concern about the potential of arachidonic acid in eggs to cause inflammation. However, having had rheumatoid arthritis for the past 10 years, I can tell little difference whether I eat eggs or don't eat them. So I'm not sure where that leaves his theory.
Mark
Somewhere between type 1 and type 2
RA
Hello David,I enjoyed eggs this morning too!(slowly cooked in water as instructed by my Chinese Acupuncturist!)
I am curious about the study out of the University of Connecticut...what level of carbs where the particpants eating? Does anyone know this? Are any of you lo carb tyoes eating more than the recommended 42 grams/day? I would like to communicate with any type 1s who are using this approach. I have been diabetic for 51 years and wearing an insulin pump for the past 10. With all the excellent news for type2 these days I'm feeling a little lonely and jealous. Another other 1s out there who want to talk food and other than glucometers....I have more than enough of those babies and want to talk more about getting them to report excellent numbers.
Thanks again for the work and excellent writing...I enjoy all of your posts and lookf forward to their arrival.
Jane
Kingston,Ontario
CANADA
Dear Jane,
I did provide a link to the University of Connecticut article in my review. It's http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/5/1/6#B16 and I would encourage you to check it out.
Interesting that you write about the "recommended 42 grams of carbohydrate. Personally, I do stay below that level. The recommendation is, however, only that of one person, right?
David
Dear David,
Thank you,I will check that location.How far below that carbohydrate level do you stay..care to tell me what you eat in a day? Know of any type 1s that I might contact who are also eating low carbohydrate?
After a very discouraging and frustrating couple of weeks,I am relieved to hear from a fellow voyageur.Thanks for your response.
Jane
Dear Jane,
While I don't carefully measure and weigh everything that I eat every day, I do follow a very low-carb diet, even by Dr. Bernstein's standards. I do it for two reasons: to reduce my A1C and my hunger. It's working for both. My most recent A1C was 4.9. And my low-carb diet means that I have been able to keep my weight off without being hungry and I am down to a BMI of just under 20.
What do I eat? As I said in this article, I usually have bacon and eggs for breakfast. Sometimes, a can of fish (like Trader Joe's smoked trout, when I can get it) and some yogurt. For lunch it's almost always a big salad. For dinner it will vary a lot more: steamed greens, fish, yogurt, miso soup, boiled chicken, raw sauerkraut, and tofu are some of my favorites.
Best regards,
David
Dear David,
I recently read the Washington Post article "Egg Consumption Poses Risks for Diabetic Men: Study". (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041001524.html)
One week I'm happy to eat 2 gently scrambled eggs for breakfast and then it sounds scary again. What's a diabetic to do - UGH! Any thoughts?
Beth
PS - Thanks for all your hard work over the years - I certainly appreciate it!!
Dear Beth,
Why am I not surprised to get this question? Thanks for asking. I have been mulling it over in my mind. Now it seems to me that we really don't know what the other variables are. Like typically when people eat a lot of eggs do they eat a lot of toast too? A lot of hash browns? Are they heavier than other people? These correlation studies can seem to prove the wierdest stuff!
David
WOW THOSE NUMBERS ARE GREAT..A1C AND BMI..ARE YOU DOING A LOT OF EXCERCISE ..AND I MEAN ALOT TO ATTAIN THOSE WONDERFUL NUMBERS. I LOVE EGGS ANYWAY BUT THOUGHT THEY WERE SO BAD FOR US DIABETICS..MY A1C IS AT 6.5 AND ONE OF THE DOCTORS SAID..YOU WONT GET MUCH LOWER.. I DID HEAR OF ONE GAL THAT GOT 5.2 BUT NEVER LIKE YOUR NUMBERS..MAYBE ITS AGE..I AM 74 YRS OLD AND HAD THE BIG D. FOR 12 YEARS..TYPE 2 AND 30 PDS OVER WT. 20 YRS AGO I LOST 103 PDS..DID A VEGGIE DIET AND THAT WORKED..WILL WAIT FOR YOUR ANS OK..THANKS..JOAN
David,
I have a suggestion for why people who eat more eggs have a higher rate of diabetes. Self-medication. People who are diabetic, crave the comfort they get when eating a food that does not aggravate their diabetes. Eggs are a perfect food for diabetics...a combination of the two food groups that don't aggravate their condition: Protein and fat. The problem with listening to doctors is that they seldom bother to test out their theories before trying to impose them on their patients.
I had fallen prey to the conventional wisdom as well, always separating the yolk and eating just the white. Unfortunately, my cholesterol soared to 312 anyway. It wasn't until I changed my carbohydrate consumption that things started to improve. I tried The South Beach Diet expecting to just lose weight but, as it turns out, this diet is evern more helpful for those with heart health issues and insulin resistance issues. My wife, who was on the diet with me, has PCOS and it helped to lower her cholesterol, blood pressure, and even reduce some of the more obvious androgen-related symptoms of pcos.
<a href="http://www.arteryblocker.com/eggs-cholesterol.aspx">Eggs and cholesterol</a>
try that link again http://www.arteryblocker.com/eggs-cholesterol.aspx
try that link again http://www.arteryblocker.com/eggs-cholesterol.aspx
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Hi David:
Hope the bacon you enjoyed for breakfast was nitrate-free , otherwise bacon, as you know, is cured with sodium nitrite and sodium chloride When the proteins in meat break down to give rise to amines ,these amines combine with sodium nitrite to form nitrosamines. Nitrosamines are known to be slightly carcinogenic.
With so much in the news about consuming processed meats and the increased risk of pancreatic cancer , I have tried to eliminate these from my diet.
Joan M
Dear Joan,
That's an excellent point that I should have made in my article. I always use uncured bacon -- no nitrates.
Best regards,
David