Joanne Turner's Blog by Joanne_Turner

How long do you boil your eggs for? I was boiling up a batch of eggs yesterday as I love a hardboiled egg for a healthy easy nutritious snack and jumped on to Google to see what everyone else is saying about what is the best time to boil an egg. I just kept with my time and boiled mine for 12 minutes and they came out perfect!

Things I learnt with my Google search.... Boil eggs that are several days old as they are easier to peel the shell. Always start eggs in cold water (which I do) and then boil the water, the eggs will crack if dropped into already boiling water.

I regular question I get from my clients is how many eggs can I have a week. Back in the day we were advising people only to have up to two to three eggs per week, due to dietary cholesterol in egg yolk there was concern. We have now learnt that up to six eggs per week is ok along with a healthy diet, this will not increase cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease risk. The real culprit to increasing risk of cardiovascular disease is saturated fats (fatty meats, skin on chicken, takeaway foods, full fat dairy, butter, biscuits, cakes, chocolate etc).

Eggs are so good they actually have earned themselves the Heart Foundation Tick. Why? Eggs are rich in healthy fats (the important omega 3 fats), low in kilojoules and high in  antioxidants and high quality protein. Eggs are so nutrient dense they have eleven different vitamins and minerals including selenium, zinc, iron, B12, folate, vitamin A, iodine, phosphorus, thiamine, riboflavin and pantothenic acid. Due to their nutritional value they are very important to include in children’s diets as well as older Australians and people following a vegetarian diet.

As well as their nutritional value, eggs are tasty, convenient, cheap and so versatile. Remember the yolk is the nutritious park of the egg so don’t leave this out. Have eggs for breakfast either on toast or have an omelette with vegies such as tomato, mushrooms and shallots in the omelette, have an egg sandwich or toss a hardboiled egg through a salad. An easy quick dinner at night? Have a scrambled egg on toast with vegetables.

Have your eggs scrambled, hard boiled, soft boiled or poached, mix it up. Do be careful with scrambled eggs at cafe’s, they may mix cream into it, so always check first before ordering, it may be a safer option to go for the poached eggs instead.