eggs, cholesterol and the decline of the roman empire, part XXVII

[Guest guest]

On 14-Jun-05, at 3:10 AM, ayurveda wrote:

 

> Eggs are very rich in cholersterol, calories which may be good but for

> people with heart problems or kidney problems, poor digestion I would

> say that it is not a healthy food, (I have all of these ailments)

> It's the yolk that is the problem, not the white.

 

hmm.... you don't have to live with poor digestion

it could be that your current diet is inappropriate to you, and is in

part the cause of or continuance of your illness - the success or

failure of a dietary therapy should become obvious over time

 

regarding egg whites: humans have been eating eggs for a very long

time, uncooked and cooked, but unfortunately, have been exposed to some

egg proteins (e.g. ovalbumin) through a chronic exposure to the

uncooked whites, e.g. egg white icing, packaged foods, medications,

etc.) - its important to remember that egg whites are essentially

chicken feed, what the developing embryo eats if the egg is fertilized,

and not all that suitable for human consumption if eaten raw - egg

yolks however are different, and should be eaten raw or light cooked in

order to preserve the delicate constituents (e.g. proteins, fats,

vitamins, etc.) - here i suggest soft-boiled, poached or basted, not

hard-boiled which damages the yolks and makes them slightly toxic

 

regarding egg yolks: i have already (hopefully) made it clear that both

dietary and serum cholesterol is NOT an independent risk factor for

cardiovascular disease - what does this mean? it means you could eat

all the cholesterol you want and it would not affect your risk of

having a heart attack. i am posting the Honolulu heart study to the

list, a very large trial that showed that:

 

a) men who ate the _least_ amount of cholesterol, AND

b) had the _lowest_ serum cholesterol levels

c) had the GREATEST risk of dying from cardiovascular disease

 

for more, see: honolulu.pdf

 

this data has been been confirmed in other epidemiological studies,

such as Tecumseh and Framingham - HOWEVER, nobody is suggesting that

everybody should eat ONLY cholesterol, but that it is an important

NUTRIENT in the body that plays a number of key roles including

maintaining gut integrity, vitamin D synthesis, bile synthesis and

hormone production (e.g. testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, mineral

corticoids and cortisol) - can you see that in chronic illness such

osteoporosis, immunodeficiency and autoimmune disease that the levels

of these hormones might be deficient? What these studies say is that

cholesterol is a vital part of a balanced diet, and the obsession with

foods and drugs to lower cholesterol is dangerous and misguided, and

simply serves to create an industry that feeds on the #1 killer of

people.

 

regarding philosophy: in her excellent book, Yoga for the West, tantric

master Sivananda Radha states that it is not up to us to question why

it is that the great Mother provides us with animal foods, which by the

way, are revered in almost every major religion (e.g. ghee-> hinduism,

goat-> islam, fish-> christianity, yoruba-> chicken, cree/ojibway->

buffalo, etc.). Animal foods, which are naturally abundant in

cholesterol, remain an important component of dietary therapy in

Ayurveda. Some of these animal products can be used for all three

doshas (e.g. goat), and like Dr. Venugopal suggested, herbs can be used

to modify the properties of meat (e.g. eggs with freshly grated black

pepper for kapha; goat stew with sauteed garlic for vata, steamed fish

with cilantro for pitta, etc. etc. - in the West, we still have the

remnants of this practice, such as yellow mustard on a hot dog,

although its obviously distorted, or simply a matter of aesthetics).

The claim that animal foods is unhealthy is a direct contradiction of

Ayurveda, and if we are all Ayurvedists here than we all need to admit

that this claim is a logical error (ayukti) - vegetarianism has nothing

to do with Ayurveda - however, one can obviously BE a vegetarian AND

follow the principles of Ayurveda, and I would suggest that this is the

BEST way to be a vegetarian because there is a lot of accumulated

experience in Ayurveda, more so than in some of the rather dangerous

dietary disciplines to crop in the West in the last 50 years (e.g.

fruitarianism)

 

here is an interesting story that is very recent: a business associate

had a problem with herpes-like lesions that would come and go, the

various stages of inflammation and healing plaguing his lips and areas

around his mouth on an almost chronic basis; now this fellow, who has a

very good knowledge of all the latest supplements, had literally tried

_everything_ to get rid of them, vitamins, herbs, minerals,

homeopathics, etc.

 

when i stayed with him recently, and he adopted my typical breakfast of

2-3 farm-fresh eggs cooked in butter with lightly sauteed vegetables

(with black pepper of course), the lesions on his face healed up in a

matter of days, and have not returned 4 weeks later - and it was the

ONLY thing he had done differently

 

 

Todd Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

 

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public

relations, for Nature cannot be fooled."

-Richard P. Feynman

[Guest guest]

>

> regarding egg yolks: i have already (hopefully) made it clear that

> both dietary and serum cholesterol is NOT an independent risk factor

> for cardiovascular disease - what does this mean? it means you could

> eat all the cholesterol you want and it would not affect your risk of

> having a heart attack. i am posting the Honolulu heart study to the

> list, a very large trial that showed that:

>

> a) men who ate the _least_ amount of cholesterol, AND

> b) had the _lowest_ serum cholesterol levels

> c) had the GREATEST risk of dying from cardiovascular disease

 

sorry, only b) and c) are true for this study, for a) we need to refer

to Framingham

 

best... todd caldecott

[Guest guest]

 

Thanks for the info. I will have to get back to you on this.

Though I did not mean to say that cholestoral in eggs makes it static food(for

me at least)

 

The yolk of the egg is like glue,and binds to the intestines.

 

Digestion takes a lot of energy too.

 

So if I have an inbalance in my pitta, then eating a certain food that adds to

the inblance (like egg yolks in my case) because of the taxing of my

digestion,and producing too much heat(of which I can verify they do) then maybe

it is not a panacea for everyone.

 

I do have Candida overgrowth, wich certainly is effecting my

digestion, though I take enzymes,but still try to stay away from yolks.

 

ayurveda, Todd Caldecott <todd@t...>

wrote:

> etc.) - its important to remember that egg whites are essentially

> chicken feed, what the developing embryo eats if the egg is

fertilized,

> and not all that suitable for human consumption if eaten raw - egg

> yolks however are different, and should be eaten raw or light

cooked in

> order to preserve the delicate constituents (e.g. proteins, fats,

> vitamins, etc.) - here i suggest soft-boiled, poached or basted,

not

> hard-boiled which damages the yolks and makes them slightly toxic

>