Raw eggs: whites and yolks.

[livingthelife]

I usually eat the yolk with maybe a teaspoon of the white and discard the rest.

Me too

I eat a lot of raw egg yolks, usually 3 at a time as a "side dish"

My dog cannot digest egg whites easily either, even when I give her the yolks as well; she cannot eat more than 1 egg white without becoming bloated but eats many yolks with no problem

Our eggs are all fertilized, I get them from the Amish, but we still have the problem with the whites

Here's another meal, with yolks:

[cherimoya_kid]

Me too

I eat a lot of raw egg yolks, usually 3 at a time as a "side dish"

My dog cannot digest egg whites easily either, even when I give her the yolks as well; she cannot eat more than 1 egg white without becoming bloated but eats many yolks with no problem

Our eggs are all fertilized, I get them from the Amish, but we still have the problem with the whites

Here's another meal, with yolks:

That looks tasty.  What are the white chunks on the lower right hand quadrant of the plate?

[livingthelife]

That is raw cheese, natural rind - yes! very tasty indeed!

[DeadRamones]

Looks like salami underneath the onion & is that wine?

[livingthelife]

Organ sausage (head cheese from USWellness), olives, dates, cheese, fennel, kimchi, sunflower seeds, egg yolks, cabernet sauvignon

All is raw but the meat in this meal. About half our meats are raw, it was too difficult to be strict about it. We try to stay satisfied and simple in our eating, to be well and happy in life.

[livingthelife]

Once we quit trying to eat the egg whites, eating eggs became pleasant and delicious. Eggs are affordable and easy. Highly recommended! 

[DeadRamones]

Nice work. Seems like it can be a sampler platter from a raw restaurant.

[PaleoPhil]

No, studies done on cooked fish and cooked meat have shown that they are worse digested than the raw equivalent. It's only the raw egg study that is the anomaly.

I wonder what is different about raw, fertilized eggs that would make them harder to digest than raw meats?

[protoject]

Here's an article stating that fertilized eggs have less avidin:-

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/171406.htm

I presume that as the egg becomes a chick, the egg-components simply change into other substances.

Thanks. Yeah I figured that maybe the yolk would be 'using up' the whites at that point and there would be a slight progression towards the yolk being heavier? I'm talkin shit. Anyway, great link!!

[RawZi]

I wonder what is different about raw, fertilized eggs that would make them harder to digest than raw meats?

    I think the white surrounds the yolk and chick to protect it so the next generation can live, similarly to how bean and nut peels  protect the seed so it can sprout.  There are enzyme blockers in both.

    We'd probably be healthier eating chicks than eggs, rather like a sproutarian is usually healthier than a nutarian.

[PaleoPhil]

   I think the white surrounds the yolk and chick to protect it so the next generation can live, similarly to how bean and nut peels  protect the seed so it can sprout.  There are enzyme blockers in both.

    We'd probably be healthier eating chicks than eggs, rather like a sproutarian is usually healthier than a nutarian.

Yes, but the chicks eat the whites, so they're not toxic like bean and nut and seed shells, especially when fertilized. Tyler has explained numerous times that fertilizing the eggs neutralizes the avidin in the whites, and he provided a supporting link, as I recall.

Keep in mind also, that once the chick eats the egg white, it essentially becomes part of the chick again at that point (I doubt it excretes it all).

[RawZi]

Yes, but the chicks eat the whites, so they're not toxic like bean and nut and seed shells, especially when fertilized. Tyler has explained numerous times that fertilizing the eggs neutralizes the avidin in the whites, and he provided a supporting link, as I recall.

Keep in mind also, that once the chick eats the egg white, it essentially becomes part of the chick again at that point (I doubt it excretes it all)

    Chicks, being live omnivorous animals are more nourishing/assimilable to us than sprouts of course, but there's a lot I could say about sprouting that points out how the newly growing sproutlings are healthier for people than most unsprouted seeds.

[livingthelife]

The yolk is the primary food source for the chick embryo.

I don't know that the white provides "food" for the chick - I thought that the white was similar to amniotic fluid in that is provides a physical environment and a chemical "ground" for development. They are used extensively in medicine for culturing vaccines and also as a medium in embryology.

I've seen a few different nature documentaries in which lizards, other birds, and small mammals crack open eggs to eat. They only eat the yolks.

[PaleoPhil]

If one argues that egg whites shouldn't be eaten because they are toxic shells/peels like seed shells, turning around and claiming that seed shells are not a problem when sprouting is done contradicts the original point.


I'm not a chicken farmer, so maybe I'm wrong here, and perhaps "eating" is not the term I should have used--probably more like "absorbing"--but whatever you call it, most of the white ends up in the chick (otherwise the chick would be pretty puny, right?). The yolk is the most important chick food, yes, but...

"Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. It is the cytoplasm of the egg, which until fertilization is a single cell (including the yolk). It consists mainly of about 15% proteins dissolved in water. Its primary natural purpose is to protect the egg yolk and provide additional nutrition for the growth of the embryo, as it is rich in proteins and also of high nutritional value. Unlike the egg yolk, it contains a negligible amount of fat."

So eating a fertilized egg is pretty darn close to eating a chick (except without the feathers and beak! ). Gross for vegetarians, I suppose, but healthy for us, apparently.

Ever see a chick hatching? There's mostly the shell left when they finally hatch. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to break out when they get hungry because there's little yolk or albumen left. I don't remember a lot of albumen spilling out on hatching--more like a thin, moist glistening of it on the chick. We need a chicken farmer here to help with these discussions.

Remember, the avidin is neutralized by fertilization, according to Tyler and the report he cited. Has anyone found anything to the contrary? We keep getting lots of anti-egg-white arguments with seemingly little hard evidence to support them.

[livingthelife]

seemingly little hard evidence

They give me indigestion

They give my dog indigestion



So I prefer not to eat them

[PaleoPhil]

I meant in general, not for individuals. EVERY food has bad side effects for someone, so I don't doubt your personal negative experience, but that's not what I'm talking about. There have been many claims that NO ONE should eat eggs or egg whites because of avidin or because the albumen is a toxic layer that protects the chick, etc., but with little or no scientific research to back it--especially considering that fertilized eggs are an option. Each time I investigate the claims they turn out to be mostly urban legend.

[fooodin]

Hi guys!!

I want to have one information regarding whether the white portion of the egg or the yolk is more nutritious?
Some people have the viewpoint that the yolk is rich in proteins.
Can anyone can help me on this issue?
Waiting for the response..

Neha Sood
Food Reviewer
www.foood.in

[majormark]

Egg, yolk, raw: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/113/2
Egg, white, raw: http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/dairy-and-egg-products/112/2

It looks like the yolk has more good stuff.

[PaleoPhil]

Egg yolks are more nutritious than whites because they have more healthy saturated fats, cholesterol and nutrients, especially if the chickens are fed a biologically appropriate diet. A plentiful natural balance of animal fats is far more beneficial to health than protein, though both are essential, because the diets of most moderners are far more deficient and imbalanced in fats than proteins.

[raw]

I eat both white and yolk.
My wife eats only yolk.
My 2 boys eat only yolk.
My little girl eats both white and yolk.
I get fertilized duck eggs every now and then.

you always target the super nutrition. fertile duck egg is like golden deer in usa. even the eggs we buy from whole foods, i wonder, if those are fertile or not. we eat raw beef of course (grass fed), usually those beef don't have their horns on. that is extremely bad for an animal (in Muslim's Quran it says that is bad). so you can imagine what kind of world we are living in!! moreover, everyone in this forum talks about going to farmer to get this or that... the bottom line is, i can't trust anything here. i am a big coconut eaters and spend so much money on it and i found that it is not helping me. all those coconut looks like autistic patents. i'm not saying that i don't have any choice to live this country, and i married a foreigner who will never will go with me in my country to live. so i'm finding hard way to survive here.

[raw]

i always consume egg yolk, and so does my baby. 

[goodsamaritan]

Hi Raw,

We are just lucky my wife works with Shell and is in charge of the Palawan foundation where they educate people at a remote school in farming ways.  We discovered a source of duck fertilized duck eggs with a nice lady who has a herd of 300 ducks.  Whenever there is a shipment to Manila, my wife just requests for some 4 trays of duck eggs to be added to the shipment.

We used to take care of ducks ourselves in the garden and hunt down their eggs.

It took us some time to hunt down many sources of good food.

[RawZi]

fertile duck egg is like golden deer in usa. even the eggs we buy from whole foods, i wonder, if those are fertile or not. ... moreover, everyone in this forum talks about going to farmer to get this or that... the bottom line is, i can't trust anything here. ... i'm not saying that i don't have any choice to live this country, ... so i'm finding hard way to survive here.

    On Fridays in Union Sq at the farmers market you can get fertile eggs every week.  They are more expensive.  On rare occasion you can find them in a health food co-op, but they are refrigerated.  Other places in the city you can get them Thursday nights, the farmer comes in, he can tell you all the details of how he raises the chickens and gathers the eggs.  Do you check realmilk.com?  They list which of their places have good eggs too and usually what the chickens are fed and phone or website so you can contact them and ask.  Most places you have to make a membership and reserve your portion at least.  I know it's inconvenient to not have your ducks right there in your yard, and not gather every day, but if you are willing to drive far for other things, consider your food too. 

[Michael]

Do any of you duck egg eaters know of the nutritional status of duck eggs compared to chicken eggs?  Also, any information on the feed that the ducks receive?

I'm keen to re-introduce some eggs into my diet (and particularly raw egg yolks for my 6 month old son when introducing solids) but am reluctant due to the fact that it seems impossible to find a source of ANY eggs that are not fed an unnatural diet of grains and/or soya.  I long for the day when I have enough acreage in my own home to raise healthy, naturally pasture-fed chickens but this is sometime off.  I'm not convinced that even the eggs of animals raised on grain/soya can be considered paleo food.

Of course, wild game eggs seem like a fine option worthy of consideration but I believe such foods are illegal here in the UK.

Any thoughts?

[RawZi]

duck eggs are supposed to have excellent Omega-3

I've tasted (raw) duck egg, the yolk was very deep golden and rich/thick. I can't get them regularly easily, and to buy them they are expensive here

http://www.giveittomeraw.com/forum/topics/duck-and-goose-egg