Eggs are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, but how many of these little protein packed beauties should you be eating?

Because of the high cholesterol contained in the yolk, people have been reluctant to consume too many eggs.  Each medium size egg yolk contains 186mg of cholesterol - 62% of your recommended daily intake.

We were lead to believe that eating cholesterol would elevate cholesterol in the body - leading to greater risk of heart disease.  It turns out that the more cholesterol you consume, the less the body produces.  WE NEED CHOLESTEROL TO LIVE.

It is needed to make steroid hormones like estrogen, testosterone and cortisol.  The liver actually produces cholesterol needed for our body so that we always have enough available.  If we eat lots of colesterol, the liver will slow down production to maintain the correct levels required (clever stuff!).

Studies have shown that eating up to 3 eggs every day resulted in:

- Raised levels of HDL (good cholesterol)

- Total cholesterol and LDL (the bad cholesterol) levels usually don't change

- Blood levels of carotenoid antioxidents increase significantly (can be converted by the body to vitamin A - essential for  

  vision and normal growth development.  They also have immune system benefits and have anti-inflammatory properties)

- Eating omega 3 enriched eggs can lower blood triclycerides, which is also an important risk factor in heart disease.

There are many other health benefits to eggs.  With all the nutrients contained within that shell, eggs seem to be one of the heathiest foods known to man (and woman).  So get cracking and shell out for the good old egg.