Eggs Can Be Healthy—but Not if You’re Eating Them Like This — Eat This Not That

Whether scrambled, boiled, too easy, or even fried, eggs They contain many nutrients. They provide numerous health benefits as they are a good source of protein and can help things like inflammation, bone health, brain health, and even the pregnancy. eat them for breakfastafter a workout, or even as a snack during the day.

We cannot deny that eating eggs is healthy. However, you have to be careful about what you put in them and what you eat in them. Just because eggs themselves are good for you doesn’t mean you can throw a bunch of unhealthy ingredients at them.

“Eggs are a powerhouse of nutrition,” says lauren managerMS, RDN, LDN, CLEC, CPTauthor of The new mom’s pregnancy cookbook, The 7 Ingredient Cookbook for a Healthy PregnancyY Feeding Male Fertility. “From the high-quality protein they provide to the plethora of B vitamins they harbor, there’s no question that eating eggs can be part of a healthy, balanced diet. Foods with sodium, the lack of health from the other ingredients can overshadow the health of the eggs.

Why it’s unhealthy to eat eggs with processed foods

Manaker shares that if he were to order eggs at a restaurant, many of them would serve them with other sides. This includes salty meats like baconY sausageas well as salted potatoes (such as potato croquettes). Eggs themselves are a great addition to a healthy diet. Taken as a whole, though, the dish can be high in saturated fat, sodium, and other unsavory nutrients.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

Eating breakfast meats like bacon and sausage can be high in fat and sodium. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, the daily value for sodium is 2,300 milligrams. A strip of bacon is 115 milligrams, adding up to 5% of your daily value. Small as it may seem at first, restaurants give two to three (maybe even more) slices of bacon. This can add up to a lot of sodium in a meal. One sausage link equals approximately 790 milligrams of sodiumwhich is a whopping 34% of your daily value.

When it comes to the amount of fat consumed, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limit calories from saturated fat to 10% of your daily intake or the equivalent of 20 grams for a 2,000 calorie diet. A strip of bacon has about 12.6 grams of saturated fat, which is more than half of your daily intake.

How to make sure you get the benefits of eggs

The fact is, as long as you watch what else you put on your plate, you’ll enjoy the full benefits of eggs. If you add foods that you know provide little or no benefit, then the dish may be counterbalanced.

The good news is that you don’t have to eat the eggs alone. If you want a full dish, just be sure to add other foods that provide nutrients.

“When you’re enjoying your eggs, be sure to eat them alongside other good-for-you, nutrient-dense foods like avocado, whole-grain toast, and vegetables,” says Manaker.

Kayla Garritano