Once Upon a Time An Elderly Man in a Nursing Home Lived on Eggs

 

I once read a true story about an elderly man in a nursing home who would eat almost nothing but eggs.  He ate 24 eggs a day.  Every now and then he would have a pear or some other some other serving amount of food.  This diet was dreadfully upsetting to the staff, who warned him of the dire consequences of his ill conceived diet.  Finally, they ran a whole battery of tests on him to convince him he was headed for extreme health consequences if he kept this up.   All that cholesterol must have sent his cholesterol levels through the roof.  And that was obviously going to have dire effects on his health.  He'd probably have a stroke any day now.  

His tests came back with no arteriosclerosis at all.  His nutrient levels were all great.  His cholesterol and triglycerides were normal.  Mysteriously, all his tests came back normal.  Weight normal.  Why why why?  

The more I know about eggs, the more I am surprised by the wisdom of his choices.  His usual calories:  about 1920 per day.   His carbs:  about 15.   His vitamins and minerals were well supplied by his diet, since the egg has to sustain a chick for its first steps into life, and must furnish a lot of nutrients.  The protein found in an egg is 49% bioavailable.   How bioavailable is the protein in a ribeye steak?  33%.  In whey and legumes?  17%. In fact, the only food that rivals or surpasses eggs in terms of the nutrient values and the bioavailability of the protein, and only by a fraction of a percent, is human breast milk.  Cow milk is not nearly as bioavailable, although I suppose many have jumped to the conclusion that it was "the perfect food."  What say I?  I would say the egg is as close as possible to the perfect food.  

So, would I recommend eating 24 eggs a day?    I think under his particular circumstances this man made a remarkably astute choice of diet.  The nursing home food is notoriously unpleasant and cause for concern.  It's likely to be too low in protein, just when one needs it most.  Besides not being health food or rich in vitamins and minerals, it is likely to be too high in carbs.  Maybe the calories are kept in line.  I think I might do this under similar circumstances.  Maybe more like 15 or 18 eggs a day, an adjustment for being female.   The inevitable question arises, "Where would anyone get so many eggs?"  Well, once I was in the hospital, and they brought me a menu in the evening to select what I would like to eat the following day.  Among other things, when selecting eggs, I requested six hard boiled eggs.  And the next day there they were.  You can order all sorts of things.  My roommate and I looked at the menu and decided to order everything on the menu, and also several Danishes.  We really hit the jackpot the next day.   I don't know how many eggs or Danishes you would have to order to hit the limits of what institutions will bring you tomorrow.  

In more normal situations, I would just say, "Don't overlook the health benefits of eating eggs."

May I just add another thought?  Suppose one had wondered what they would or should do to protect themselves in the event of a food supply disruption?   Don't neglect finding a way of having a supply of eggs.