The first thing we know about eggs is that they are a source of protein. The egg itself is already a complete dietary dish, which is consumed not only cooked, but also raw. It’s not without reason that supporters of a balanced plate will certainly recommend eggs as a substitute for meat or fish.

The egg white consists almost entirely of albumin, and the yolk, in addition to albumin, additionally contains six more proteins: ovoglobulin, albumin, ovomucoid, ovomucin, lysocin, avidin.

The claim that frequent consumption of eggs leads to increased levels has been refuted. The amount of cholesterol in them is not enough to cause any harm to the body. This is the correct cholesterol needed by the cells of the human body.

Egg yolk contains choline, which is necessary for normal brain function. This substance improves memory and liver function. The yolk of one large egg can provide the body with 30% of the daily requirement for this nutrient, a deficiency of which many feel.

One egg contains 7 grams of protein, 0.5 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fat. With 100 grams of eggs you will eat only 44 calories.

At the same time, egg whites are especially useful for those who want to lose weight. After all, without adequate protein consumption, it is impossible to even talk about proper (due to fat) weight loss. And egg whites provide a whole klondike of building material for muscles. Egg whites are good for vision because they contain substances that help prevent age-related changes in vision and stop cataracts.

How many eggs can you eat?

Among people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, the same number of those who eat six or more eggs a week and those who allow themselves no more than once or twice a week. Eating a couple of eggs a day, even on a daily basis, cannot cause significant harm to health. At the same time, if problems with the heart and blood vessels have already been diagnosed, it is better to discuss the number of eggs that you plan to consume with your doctor.

Eggs are complete components and are based on the consumption of large quantities of foods containing protein.

Many fashionable express diets are designed to produce results in a short time. But nutrition experts urge giving preference to diets, the use of which does not give visible results in the first days or weeks. The result of using nutritious diets that are close to a balanced diet will be extended over time, but will bring less stress to the body. And it’s easier to maintain this result after leaving the diet.

Eggs in weight loss diets

A nutritious diet, including plenty of eggs and other protein-containing foods, can be spread over 4 weeks. The good thing is that during such a diet you will not be tormented by the feeling of hunger. The feeling of fullness will become a constant companion, but the grams and centimeters will quickly melt away. With this diet, weight is reduced by 300-400 grams per day. If you follow the rules, you can count on a comfortable loss of 9-10 kilograms or even a little more in a month.

Such a diet should include:

• Boiled eggs. Chicken or quail;
• Lean meat. Chicken, rabbit, turkey or beef. You should not eat pork because it is fatty meat.
• Low-fat cottage cheese and low-fat varieties;
• also low fat;
• Vegetables. The exception is potatoes; their use is limited because they contain many simple carbohydrates;
• Fruits. High-calorie foods and grapes should be excluded.

You will have to give up baked goods. The only exception is dietary bread made from whole grain flour, and not much.

1. For breakfast, a couple of eggs and some types of fruit, such as citrus fruits. You can boil the eggs and steam them into an omelette.
2. Lunch should be meat or fish with vegetables. Meat and fish can be boiled, baked or steamed. It is recommended to avoid fried foods since the food and the amount of fat are higher when processed this way. It is useful to steam, boil or stew vegetables. It is good to prepare a salad from raw vegetables and season with natural low-fat yogurt.
3. For dinner you can cook eggs, vegetables, cottage cheese and fruits. It is recommended to boil vegetables or eat a salad from them. You should not eat baked goods in the evening.

There are a huge number of ways to prepare eggs: omelettes, poached, fried eggs and, of course, boiled eggs. In addition, they are components and additions to hundreds of dishes. However, with prolonged heat treatment, some beneficial properties of eggs are lost. The yolk of a hard-boiled egg takes about three hours to digest, while a liquid one takes half as long.

One of the healthiest ways to prepare eggs is to soft-boil them. So absorption in the stomach lasts about an hour and a half and the beneficial substances are absorbed almost one hundred percent.

The role of protein in dietary nutrition or weight loss is difficult to overestimate, but such a diet also has pitfalls. Protein keeps the body full for a long time. Therefore, it is often tempting to skip lunch or dinner, but you should never do this. The intake of food into the body must be regular. At least three full meals a day: breakfast, lunch, dinner. If you skip a meal, hunger suddenly arises, and you feel the urge to snack on something, but you can’t do that. If, despite everything, hunger still strikes, it is recommended to snack on such a diet only with a small amount of raw vegetables.

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Egg differences

They are in any home refrigerator. They tell tales and jokes about them, make up sayings and are certainly mentioned in the so-called “basic consumer basket.” This is both the most common ingredient and a simple and quick dish to make. Chicken eggs - what could be simpler? But do we know everything about them?

Decryption

The hen laid an egg, and a stamp was immediately placed on its side. As a rule, every egg produced at a poultry farm is marked. The first sign in the labeling means the shelf life, read – the age of the egg; the second is the category, that is, its size. The beginning of our cipher can be the letter “d” or “s”, which means “dietary” or “table”, respectively. A dietary egg is one that will not be stored at sub-zero temperatures and must be sold within 7 days. The day of his “birth” is not counted. That is, “dietary” is not some special variety, but simply a very fresh egg.

The yolk in it is motionless, the white is dense, and the height of the space occupied by air is no more than 4 mm. The marking on a dietary egg is usually applied in red ink and usually includes the date - the day and month of its “birth” - as confirmation of its “dietary content”. Time passes, the white in the egg dries out somewhat, the yolk shrinks, becomes mobile, and after a week the void increases to 7–9 mm.

And the dietary egg goes into the category of table eggs. Quite edible, but living by different rules. You should know that the shelf life of table eggs at room temperature does not exceed 25 days from the date of laying, in the refrigerator - no more than 90 days. The shell of an egg that is initially destined to become table eggs is usually marked with a blue stamp indicating only the category.

A competent consumer always pays attention to the expiration date and date of manufacture of a product, including eggs. If you want to purchase a truly dietary egg, then this is simply necessary: ​​a “red” egg according to your passport may turn out to be “blue” according to age.

The eggs themselves may not be marked if they are packaged in a container with a label containing the necessary information. But the label must be placed in such a way that we have to tear it off when opening the container. Now let's look at the categories - the second part of our code. She talks about the mass of the egg. Let's start with the smallest ones - from 35 to 44.9 grams - this is the third category, the second - from 45 to 54.9 grams, large eggs weighing from 55 to 64.9 grams - the first category. The largest ones – weighing from 65 to 74.9 grams – fall into the “select” category, designated by the letter “o”. Rarely, eggs weighing more than 75 grams are found - such giants are awarded the highest giant category, they are given the honorary letter “v”.

When purchasing imported eggs, you should pay attention to the fact that the packaging must indicate: the class of the product and its weight category, the number of eggs in the package; the name and address of the company that packed the eggs or for whose order they were packed; conditional number of the package; best before date; instructions for storage or use.

S – less than 53 g

M – 53–63 g

L – 63–73 g

XL – 73 g and more

The first digit of the number on the package indicates in which EU country the eggs were packed. Most often this is Belgium (number 1), Germany (2), France (3) or Holland (6). If you buy eggs individually and not in packaging, the same data should be indicated on the price tag.

In recipes, the weight of one egg is usually considered to be 40 grams, that is, a small egg of the third category is meant.

Bearing moment

A person who is accustomed to thinking about the meaning of words and concepts will face a difficult test in a modern supermarket. For example, what does the word “organic” mean on an egg package? Has a new method of artificially producing eggs without the participation of a laying hen already been discovered?

And is this not what the manufacturer is hinting at us, emphasizing that his product has such a distinctive feature - this egg was laid directly by a living bird? What about the prefixes “bio” and “eco”? How should we treat them? Do they contain any information about the contents of the shell or is it just a tribute to the fashion for everything natural?

In the countries of the European Union, the USA and Japan, buyers have long been free from such speculation, because all these concepts are clearly defined and regulated by law. There are standards systems around the world that regulate the field of organic food production. There are some differences in the definition of the “degree of organicity” of a product in America and Europe, but the general principle is universal.

Only that product has the right to be called organic if all its components are produced and grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, bioengineering and ionizing radiation. In organic livestock farming, the use of growth stimulants and other hormones, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) as feed is prohibited; The use of vitamins, antibiotics and other veterinary drugs is strictly limited. Special requirements are imposed on the conditions of detention and water.

Only with strict adherence to these rules (which is verified by a certification company) does the manufacturer receive a document allowing it to put the “organic” label. Certifying companies, in turn, are regularly inspected by inspection authorities for compliance and compliance with the law.

Thus, in Europe, America and Japan, the inscription “organic” on the packaging of eggs essentially means: these are eggs from chickens that have the opportunity to free-range in natural fields under the sun, which are fed exclusively with natural feed, rich in chlorophyll, and in winter - seaweed .

What do we have? Until mid-summer 2008, in our country, the degree of compliance of “organic” products with any standards was left to manufacturers and sellers. In this situation, consumers could only rely on their conscience. In July, Rospotrebnadzor issued a decree on sanitary and hygienic requirements for organic products. However, the newly born legislative framework in this area is not yet supported by either the certification or inspection systems. In addition, according to the rules, before a field or farm can be called “organic”, it must undergo “purification”, that is, last a certain period of time without chemical fertilizers and other substances prohibited in this system.

So while the inscription “organic” on the packaging of eggs in our supermarkets does not guarantee us anything. True, there are organizations that have developed their own voluntary environmental certification systems.

However, they approve standards for “organic” and “environmentally friendly” products independently, based on their own requirements. Some of the manufacturers send their products for voluntary laboratory research, for example, to the Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. What conclusion can we draw from all this?

Carefully read all the labels on the packaging, try to look for additional information about the manufacturer you are interested in. Be critical. Unfortunately, we also cannot give a recommendation to trust such markings on imported goods, because our country currently does not have a certification check for compliance with the stated standards.

On prescription

Well, okay, in which basket should we put a variety of “smart” eggs with iodine, “country” eggs with carotenoids, “fitness” eggs with selenium, “vitamin” eggs with a high content of acids? Let's try the basket labeled "functional foods."

According to the manufacturers, their place is there. Functional (or fortified) are products that have had their nutritional value increased or restored. In our case, the enrichment of eggs with various additives is carried out by adding appropriate preparations to the feed of laying hens. Manufacturers may call this “creating products with specified properties.”

Nutritionists do not have a common opinion about the effect of such products on the body, and our bodies are different: one benefits from iodine or acid, while another means death. We can only conclude that in this case the egg cannot be both “functional” and “organic”.

What is more important to you - choose. And finally, when we have more or less figured out the “formal characteristics”, we still need to answer the question once and for all: white or dark? Which eggs are better? What does the color of an eggshell indicate? Here experts agree: the color of the shell depends only on the breed of chicken. Giving preference to certain eggs based on shell color is a purely aesthetic choice.

Let all this help you choose the best eggs from the store variety. Because all doctors and nutritionists agree that a chicken egg is a unique and remarkable product in its composition and dietary properties.

Soap protects the safe

Not only do we love eggs, but also the causative agent of a serious infectious disease - the salmonella bacterium. Protecting yourself from this uninvited guest is not so difficult.

Dirt and dried droppings on the shell are not a sign of an “organic” egg; rather, they indicate insufficient hygiene in the poultry farm.

Eggs with damaged shells should not be eaten.

Before use, the egg should be washed under running water and soap. Remember to wash your hands, even if you just touched the egg.

Store eggs in a cool, but not too dry place, away from strong-smelling foods and raw meat; the best temperature is 0–5 °C.

Eggs can be pasteurized. To pasteurize, they are washed and then separated into sterilized containers. After combining the yolks with the whites, they are filtered and heated to +63 ° C for one minute, then quickly cooled.

It is one of the staple foods of the population of many countries. But despite the popularity of this product, people quite often face the problem of choosing them. It turns out that chicken eggs come in several categories, each of which has its own shelf life and a lot of other information that is incomprehensible to most. Let's look at what types of eggs there are and how to choose them.

Acceptable storage period

The shelf life of a product is the first thing we usually focus on when purchasing. Chicken eggs are no exception. Depending on the time that has passed since the hen laid eggs, they are usually divided into two types: dietary and table.

Dietary "D"

Dietary specimens include: the shelf life of which does not exceed 7 days, not counting the day the hen laid eggs. However, they should not be at sub-zero temperatures. Moreover, this species must have a compacted white, an equally colored yolk, and a height of the space occupied by air of no more than 4 mm. The shell of such eggs must be clean; a small presence of dots or stripes on it is allowed.
You can recognize this product on the counter by a red stamp on the shell with the letter “D” on it. Thus, this species is not a specific variety or species - it is simply the freshest eggs.

Did you know?A laying hen produces on average 250-300 eggs in 12 months. It takes her a little more than a day to lay one egg.

Dining rooms "C"

It is customary to include specimens that are stored at living room temperature as canteens. no more than 25 days from the date of their sorting, not counting the day of their demolition, or stored in refrigerated chambers for no longer than 90 days. Such a product has a mobile yolk, low protein density and a height of space occupied by air of more than 4 mm, which, as a rule, ranges from 5 to 7 mm.
If dots and stripes are present on the shell, their total number should not occupy more than 12.5% ​​of the total surface. A blue stamp is placed on the shell of each table egg indicating the capital letter “C” and its category.

Categories of chicken eggs and their weight

So, you and I know what types of chicken eggs there are and what is their difference. Now let's try to understand their categories. The key criterion by which eggs are classified into one category or another is their eggs, therefore, according to modern GOSTs, there are 5 main categories.

Highest category (B)

Choice Egg (O)

Products in this category are slightly smaller in size and weight - from 65 to 74.9 g. Indicated on the shell or packaging with a large letter “O”.

First category (C1)

Second category (C2)

Category 2 includes those eggs that have weight from 45 to 54.9 g. Such products are usually designated by the number “2”.

Third category (C3)

Did you know?Every year, about 570 billion chicken eggs are consumed worldwide.

Thus, if you see a chicken egg on the counter with a mark on the shell “C2”, this means that it is a table egg of the second category, and the abbreviation “D1” classifies the product as a dietary product of the first category.

In addition, on store shelves you can often find products labeled "premium", "bio" and "organic control". However, we advise you not to fall for this trick of manufacturers and not to overpay extra money.
The thing is that abroad this designation implies that those who demolished them the chickens are free-range and fed exclusively with natural food. However, our GOSTs do not provide any requirements for these inscriptions, so the above text does not guarantee you anything.

It is worth noting that the manufacturer may not label any of the above types and categories at all, if at the same time he packs the products in containers with a label that shows all the information necessary for the buyer.
But the main condition is that the manufacturer must place the testicles in such packages that cannot be opened without leaving visible damage. This condition guarantees the buyer in the future that the contents of the container cannot be re-sorted or replaced.

Choosing an egg: how to protect yourself from infections

After receiving the above information, choosing eggs of the desired type and category will not be difficult.
However, when purchasing, we still advise you to pay attention to the following:

1. First of all, check the production date, which must be present on each copy or packaging.
2. Pay attention to the manufacturer, which is recommended to be chosen based on the distance from the factory to the counter: the shorter the product was in transit, the better.
3. The next step is to check whether the egg is rotten. To do this, simply bring it to your ear and shake it a little. If at the same time the yolk knocks against the wall of the shell, it is better to put it aside.
4. The storage location of the goods in the store is also important, since the products in question are susceptible to strong absorption of unpleasant odors. It is also worth paying attention to this when purchasing goods in packaging: carefully check that there are no stains or mold on it.
5. Well, the last important argument when choosing is appearance. Make sure that there are no cracks or chips in the shell, as bacteria can penetrate through them.

I would also like to note the false opinion that has developed among people that the larger the egg, the more useful substances it contains. In fact, large specimens are laid by older hens, so they contain much less nutrients than those laid by a young hen. Scientists call eggs of the first category the most optimal option for the human body.
However, even with such careful selection, it is not always possible to avoid infection.

How can you tell if an egg is fresh?

We all often buy chicken eggs; they are needed for preparing most dishes, and especially baking. But how can you tell if an egg is fresh? We will help you with this a little with our advice.

Eggs are always a popular product, but before the bright holiday of Easter their popularity increases even more - after all, they are used both in Easter cakes and for dyeing. To make the holiday a success, we choose only quality ones!

What should you pay attention to when choosing eggs?

First, pay attention to the appearance of the eggs. Cracked or uneven surfaces are rejected immediately. Look through the egg into a bright light - there should be no microcracks on the shell.
Which egg is considered dietary? Diet egg expiration date.

The manufacturer also tells us the degree of freshness of the egg. On the packaging you may notice the markings “D” and “C”. If the letter “D” is indicated, this means that the egg is dietary. This egg is no more than 7 days old, that is, it is the freshest and healthiest, it contains all the vitamins and nutrients.

The egg is considered dietary, which is not stored at subzero temperatures and must be sold within 7 days. That is, a dietary egg is not an egg that has fewer calories, but is simply very fresh. The letter "C" means that the egg is a table egg. And it is from 7 to 25 days old, such an egg is already less healthy.

Other valuable indicators for the buyer:

• packing date
• egg collection date
• best before date

The packing date can be indicated both on the eggs and on the packaging. It carries virtually no information for us. After all, it is unknown how long the eggs lay before they were packaged.

The date of egg collection is a completely different indicator. This is the day the chicken laid an egg. From this date, their expiration date is counted, which cannot be more than 25 days.

Chicken eggs come in different categories

Choosing chicken eggs in a store is not an easy task. Eggs are not only table or dietary, but also divided into categories. To make the right choice, you need to understand this.

Categories of chicken eggs and their weight

Based on size and, accordingly, weight, chicken eggs are divided into 5 categories. The marking is displayed on the shell with numbers from 1 to 3 and the letters “B” and “O”.

1. “3” - eggs of the 3rd category are marked. This includes the smallest ones, which weigh about 40 grams. Buyers don't like this size, but they differ in taste. Eggs of this size are usually obtained from young hens.
2. “2” - eggs of the 2nd category weighing 50 grams (±5 grams). Without the shell they weigh about 40 grams.
3. “1” - 1st category of eggs. On average they weigh 60 grams with weight fluctuations of 5 grams. They are most often found in stores and are considered the most balanced in composition. They are referred to in various recipes as “1 medium egg.”
4. “O” - selected eggs are marked, weighing 70 grams.
5. “B” - this marking is displayed on eggs of the highest category. The lower weight limit for one egg is not less than 75 grams. The upper value limit is not limited. In terms of price, this category of eggs is the most expensive. But their net weight is equal to a pair of category 3 or 2 eggs.

What are the differences between the categories of chicken eggs?

Let's figure out what are the differences between different categories of chicken eggs

Eggs are divided into categories based on weight. No other factors are at play. The shell of any category can be white or brown. Eggs are also enriched with various microelements. But this does not affect the categories.

Which categories of chicken eggs are better?

Diet eggs are usually marked in red. The category (for example, D1) and date of “birth” are indicated.

After 7 days, the egg becomes a table egg. But this does not mean that the egg has spoiled. At room temperature, eggs can be stored for up to 25 days, in the refrigerator - 90.

If eggs are to be stored or transported for a long time, a blue stamp is placed on them to indicate the marking.

When choosing eggs, be sure to look at the date. Dietary ones differ from canteens and have a higher price. The marking may be placed not on the eggs themselves, but on the container. In this case, the label should be positioned in such a way that it breaks when the package is opened.

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