Do Eggs Give You High Cholesterol?

Contrary to popular belief: Eggs do not give you high cholesterol.

Eggs have cholesterol in them, and so do you- naturally.

We need adequate levels of cholesterol for our hormones to work correctly and for them to flow, since cholesterol essentially carries our hormones and hormones are everything when it comes to our health. We need it to make vitamin D too, in fact, every cell in the body needs vitamin D to function properly. Cholesterol is a very natural occurring thing in our bodies so it is necessary for homeostasis and for health. There is the good kind, or your HDL, which is earned by a healthy diet and good cardiovascular fitness, and the not so good kind, showing up as LDL and Triglycerides when we don’t make the best decisions and we get some stagnation and/or inflammation happening.

Eggs have cholesterol in their yolk- the yellow center part that carries all of the goodies of the egg, like the fat and the vitamins. The egg whites contain albumin, or the protein in the egg. Eggs are a great source of all 9 essential amino acids, are highly concentrated in vitamins and minerals including one of the best sources to get choline. They also contain the two main antioxidants that protect your eyes, lutein and zeaxanthin.

They get a bad rap because we are afraid of the fat/cholesterol they contain, but it’s only because we don’t actually understand what having “high cholesterol” means, or where it comes from. In fact, the cholesterol in egg yolks actually raise your good HDL cholesterol and change your “bad” LDL from small and dense to larger molecules, which is what you want. 

High “bad” cholesterol comes from internal inflammation, which happens when something isn’t letting your body catch up from its natural healing responses. This could be from improper foods like processed items, high sugar or carbs diets, high trans fats or lots of partially hydrogenated things, stress, underlying infections and so forth. When your body is inflamed internally, your own cholesterol will rise to protect you and your arteries. This is in theory a good thing; remember that nothing happens in the body on its own, things happen as a reaction to something else. This healthy response from the body to even out some of the damage your choices are doing to it is ironic because high cholesterol creates “unhealthy” circumstances for us. Too much good cholesterol isn’t good either because this also points to inflammation.

The thing to do is to correct what IS elevating your bad LDL cholesterol, or good HDL if it is too high for that matter, but not cut out cholesterol containing foods all together.

Cholesterol is an essential part of your health.

The problem therefore isn’t cholesterol, it’s inflammation.

Good fats actually help the body HEAL inflammation because they’re so nourishing!

Back to eggs:

Eat them. They’re a great source of protein, good fats and tons of nutrients. Plus they’re the perfect breakfast to stabilize your blood sugar, keeping your brain happy and your energy solid.

Look for Omega-3 or pastured eggs that come from happy chicken moms for the most nutrients, and for those gorgeous nutrient rich orange yolks.

Egg circle inspo via the_french_house