Eggs vs egg whites
cmdmedia
Posts: 21 Member
Any thoughts? Weight Watchers added eggs to the zero point foods list this year and I'm trying to understand why. When I track calories versus protein, or just calories egg seem to add a lot more with little protein.
Can anyone explain that?
Can anyone explain that?
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Replies
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WW seems to be trying to push people to eat certain things by making them zero points. No idea why.
Egg whites are definitely more protein bang for the buck per calorie than whole eggs. IMHO whole eggs are yummy and worth the extra calories, but there is definitely a difference in calories and nutritional profile, and egg whites are a great way to add some lean low-cal protein if you need it.7 -
Egg yolks are a source of lutein and zeaxanthin, both good for eye health. Zeaxanthin helps to impede the growth of cataracts. Lutein is a type of carotenoid that is beneficial in fighting macular degeneration (which runs in my family). Green leafy veggies like kale and broccoli are also a source of lutein, but cruciferous veggies have goitre-causing phytochemicals and are to be eaten in reasonable moderation if you have hypothyroidism (which I do). The yolk also contains vitamins A, D, E, and K along with omega-3 fats.
But, all the jargon aside, I just prefer the whole egg. Yum.
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i eat whole eggs. but grabbed the egg white (boxes) for high protein snacks (which I haven't done as I eat eggs daily as it is so I need to get a new lunch protein...)0
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I have to admit that I eat the whole egg. A lot of people add egg whites to a whole egg instead of eating the whole egg.2
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I love whole eggs, but have been trying to lower calories while hitting a higher protein goal. I branched into adding egg white to a whole egg, it tastes like watered down whole egg sadness. I can't do plain egg white without some doctoring. I've found that I can use just egg white, if mixed with a bunch of other stuff (cheese, spices, spinach, mushroom, etc.).4
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when I was in a higher deficit, I ate egg whites, actually egg makers. they tasted like scrambled eggs but now a days I eat whole eggs. Love the yolk
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I dunno. A whole large egg is around 70 calories and 6g protein. I figure anything with 10 calories per gram of protein is a fairly efficient protein source (I may be a little liberal because of being vegetarian
). Eggs are only slightly more than 10 cals/protein gram.
Please don't ask us to explain WW, though: Their brain is theirs to explain. I have enough trouble explaining my own. 8 -
This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.8
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From what I've read, they've made tons of foods zero points in hope of pushing people to eat more whole foods while banking on the idea that people won't over do them, given their fat and protein contents are more satiating for many. These are now all on the list: eggs, corn, fish, seafood, skinless chicken breast, skinless turkey breast, non-fat plain yogurt, beans, peas, lentils, and tofu.
While excellent food choices, I cannot imagine eating them without considering their calorie content.5 -
jdubois5351 wrote: »This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.
I buy egg whites in the carton. Easier than separating whole eggs, and I’m not wasting something I paid for.
(I eat both whole eggs and egg whites, depending on what I’m doing with them.)4 -
jdubois5351 wrote: »This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.
I buy egg whites in the carton. Easier than separating whole eggs, and I’m not wasting something I paid for.
(I eat both whole eggs and egg whites, depending on what I’m doing with them.)
Yes, and there is a whole lot of egg whites in a 1 litre carton.2 -
They're both great. If I'm scrambling them, I usually eat whole eggs with a bit of liquid whites added for extra protein while limiting calories. But some recipes need just whites while some are better with the yolk. So, depends on the recipe. Whites have the protein but yolks have the nutrients. Win-win.0
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To answer the original question, there are a few reasons eggs are zero point.
The first is that a company the size of weight watchers is federally regulated and eggs are part of what the NIH/CDC/USDA wants you to eat: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/eat/calories.htm
When they expanded the zero point foods to include eggs and fruit etc. they reduced the points allowance to maintain the calorie level. They are not really free foods, they are foods that have been "pre-purchased" for you calorie wise.
The second reason is because of what is called volumetrics. Studies showed that it is very hard to get people to significantly decrease the quantity of food that they consume when they start a diet. Their solution was to push people to eat foods that are either 1) filling and nutritious or 2) not calorie dense.
Most people find eggs filling, they have good nutritional value, are not that high in calories, and are a recommended food from the government so they became zero point.
As you get closer to goal the zero point foods become a higher percentage of your daily calories which is when your group leader (or connect crew) will tell you to stick to the serving size (e.g. eat one egg per meal and use that as the building block of a meal that includes points food as well.)
EDIT- If you are following the WW freestyle program, they are zero points with or without the yolk. I always eat the yolk because I think it tastes better with the yolk.5 -
I mix one egg with three egg whites every single day as part of my breakfast. That way I can get more volume for less calories and still get all the goodness that is in the yolk.6
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I can understand the idea of making fruits and vegetables free. It would be really hard for me to overeat broccoli for example. Some people have success eating unlimited fruits and vegetables while just limiting their portions of starchy carbs, meat, and whatever else they eat. I can't imagine why they would add eggs to the list of free foods. Why do they want people eating eggs? I imagine the more that gets added to their list of "free" foods, the lower the number of points each person is allotted to make up for that. So that would just be forcing people to eat more eggs or be hungry. What if someone doesn't like eggs?1
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jdubois5351 wrote: »This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.
Hollandaise?
Awww, who am I kidding? Actually, I'd probably use the yolks to make the Hollandaise, then need to use up the whites . . . meringues, probably. Mmm, Pavlova! 4 -
jdubois5351 wrote: »This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.
I buy egg whites in the carton. Easier than separating whole eggs, and I’m not wasting something I paid for.
(I eat both whole eggs and egg whites, depending on what I’m doing with them.)
This is exactly my answer as well. I assume that the companies who sell egg whites also sell the yolks for other products: sauces, desserts, and such.1 -
I can understand the idea of making fruits and vegetables free. It would be really hard for me to overeat broccoli for example. Some people have success eating unlimited fruits and vegetables while just limiting their portions of starchy carbs, meat, and whatever else they eat. I can't imagine why they would add eggs to the list of free foods. Why do they want people eating eggs? I imagine the more that gets added to their list of "free" foods, the lower the number of points each person is allotted to make up for that. So that would just be forcing people to eat more eggs or be hungry. What if someone doesn't like eggs?
Eggs, corn, fish, seafood, skinless chicken breast, skinless turkey breast, non-fat plain yogurt, beans, peas, lentils, and tofu have all been added to the list of free foods as I understand it. I think they're trying to not only emphasize veg and fruit, but lean proteins and healthful sources of carbohydrates as well.
I think the idea is that eating like this will crowd out other things...I largely eat this way and I'm pretty satiated and would probably do just fine with WW method (I don't log anyway)...I'm sure mileage is variable.
I don't know that they are giving out less points...I think they're just really inflating the points of things not on the "free" list...so a treat or two would pretty much wipe out your points.
ETA: As to the OP...on it's face it would appear that WW is putting an emphasis on nutrition and the overall nutritional profile of various foods. Egg whites are a great way to get in some "cheap" protein in terms of calories...but the egg white contains most of the nutrition of an egg...lots more actual vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids.
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cwolfman13 wrote: »I can understand the idea of making fruits and vegetables free. It would be really hard for me to overeat broccoli for example. Some people have success eating unlimited fruits and vegetables while just limiting their portions of starchy carbs, meat, and whatever else they eat. I can't imagine why they would add eggs to the list of free foods. Why do they want people eating eggs? I imagine the more that gets added to their list of "free" foods, the lower the number of points each person is allotted to make up for that. So that would just be forcing people to eat more eggs or be hungry. What if someone doesn't like eggs?
Eggs, corn, fish, seafood, skinless chicken breast, skinless turkey breast, non-fat plain yogurt, beans, peas, lentils, and tofu have all been added to the list of free foods as I understand it. I think they're trying to not only emphasize veg and fruit, but lean proteins and healthful sources of carbohydrates as well.
I think the idea is that eating like this will crowd out other things...I largely eat this way and I'm pretty satiated and would probably do just fine with WW method (I don't log anyway)...I'm sure mileage is variable.
I don't know that they are giving out less points...I think they're just really inflating the points of things not on the "free" list...so a treat or two would pretty much wipe out your points.
ETA: As to the OP...on it's face it would appear that WW is putting an emphasis on nutrition and the overall nutritional profile of various foods. Egg whites are a great way to get in some "cheap" protein in terms of calories...but the egg white contains most of the nutrition of an egg...lots more actual vitamins and minerals and essential fatty acids.
They definitely reduced the points when they expanded the zero point food list for Freestyle. The previous Points Plus plan had the same smart points system but the minimum daily points for a woman was 30, now it is 23.1 -
jdubois5351 wrote: »This might be a stupid question, but for the people who only eat egg whites ... what do you do with the yolks? Just tossing them seems to be such a horrendous waste of good food.
I used to feed them to the dog but now I just buy egg whites in a carton and mix with whole egg.0 -
The whole egg and nothing but the whole egg. 🍳2
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Thanks for the answers, but that must be an American thing then, because here in Germany, I've never seen egg whites sold separately anywhere. You buy whole eggs or you don't. Egg whites in a carton? Who knew!3
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I live in a country where hunger / bad nutrition is a daily, stark reality and that is the main reason why I just could not contemplate to throw egg yolks away.6
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jdubois5351 wrote: »Thanks for the answers, but that must be an American thing then, because here in Germany, I've never seen egg whites sold separately anywhere. You buy whole eggs or you don't. Egg whites in a carton? Who knew!
I buy eggs and separate them when I need whites - I usually do a combination of whole eggs and whites to get more protein but less fat than if I used all whole eggs.
We get egg whites in cartons, but they're all cage eggs so I refuse to buy them. When I was in the US I was impressed that free range and organic whites were available in cartons too...1 -
jdubois5351 wrote: »Thanks for the answers, but that must be an American thing then, because here in Germany, I've never seen egg whites sold separately anywhere. You buy whole eggs or you don't. Egg whites in a carton? Who knew!
Just to be clear, egg whites in the U.S. are sold in "cartons" like milk cartons (a tall waxed paperboard box), not like an egg carton (designed to hold eggs in the shell).3 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »jdubois5351 wrote: »Thanks for the answers, but that must be an American thing then, because here in Germany, I've never seen egg whites sold separately anywhere. You buy whole eggs or you don't. Egg whites in a carton? Who knew!
Just to be clear, egg whites in the U.S. are sold in "cartons" like milk cartons (a tall waxed paperboard box), not like an egg carton (designed to hold eggs in the shell).
in Canada too. The benefits of living next to the USA. Lots of great food ideas make it north of the border despite our smaller population.
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I recently started doing this too. I can’t do an egg whites only omelette but that one whole egg really does make the difference.melissa6771 wrote: »I mix one egg with three egg whites every single day as part of my breakfast. That way I can get more volume for less calories and still get all the goodness that is in the yolk.
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A recent study found that although egg whites and whole eggs provided the same amount of amino acids for muscle building, in practice for some reason the eggs consumed whole ended up being utilized to build more muscle. The reason why is unknown at the moment. However, this would not be the first instance in which whole foods operate differently from theoretically identical partial foods.
"By using those labeled eggs, we saw that if you ate the whole egg or the egg whites, the same amount of dietary amino acids became available in your blood," Burd said. "In each case, about 60 to 70 percent of the amino acids were available in the blood to build new muscle protein. That would suggest that getting one's protein from whole eggs or just from the whites makes no difference, as the amount of dietary amino acids in the blood after eating generally gives us an indication of how potent a food source is for the muscle-building response."
But when the researchers directly measured protein synthesis in the muscle, they found a very different response.
"We saw that the ingestion of whole eggs immediately after resistance exercise resulted in greater muscle-protein synthesis than the ingestion of egg whites," Burd said.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/12/171220122054.htm2 -
Whole eggs are packed with micronutrients. I'm guessing they are looking to encourage the nutrients in the yolks.0
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jdubois5351 wrote: »Thanks for the answers, but that must be an American thing then, because here in Germany, I've never seen egg whites sold separately anywhere. You buy whole eggs or you don't. Egg whites in a carton? Who knew!
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