Cheryl A. Major is a volunteer contributor to WestfordCAT News. Subscribe to our free, online newsletter for all your local news.
I love eggs…as an adult, that is. As a child, not so much. I liked the white, but the yolk was too heavy and strong tasting for my liking.
With this now several years long journey of changing how I eat, one of the biggest challenges has been what kind of protein to have for breakfast to keep everything balanced. How much smoked salmon can one person eat, and I haven’t eaten meat in almost 30 years.
Dairy is no longer on the menu for me which nixes yogurt, cheese and milk, so for a long time, I had been eating an egg for breakfast nearly every morning.
And now for a side story. About three years ago, I had to have surgery on one of my fingers. That finger can still be a little crankly and painful around the top joint which I guess is not that surprising. Funny thing was, I noticed in the past couple of months that my other finger joints are also stiff and more than a little achy. I’ve also been developing some knots on my knuckles. This struck me as odd, as I’ve never had issues with joint pain before. It did cause me some worry however, as my aunt had rheumatoid arthritis, so I know it’s in the gene pool. I’m not anxious to go down that road.
I thought the joint complaints would pass, but they’ve just been hanging in there with the knots getting even larger! So, I did a little more reading about eggs and joint pain, and there is a definite link between them. I think what I did was push my egg tolerance over the top as they have not bothered me in the past; but I also haven’t eaten eggs almost every single day.
As an experiment, I cut back to one egg a week (yes, I miss them) and have been eating smoked salmon or sardines for breakfast as my protein instead. In just a few weeks, I’ve noticed my finger joints are not bothering me nearly as much, and even more encouraging is the fact that the knots that were developing on my knuckles are getting smaller and are going away!
One of my favorite nutritional gurus, JJ Virgin, has eggs on her list of 7 things to eliminate immediately from your diet. I pooh-poohed it, but I guess she’s right. Her book, The Virgin Diet, is very interesting, and I’ve used a lot of the tips, information and recipes I found there. I recommend it as a great resource to have in your library to support your healthy future.
If you suffer from arthritis, try reducing or stopping your egg consumption to see if it makes a difference. Also, eliminating foods in the nightshade family like eggplant, peppers and tomatoes may help with joint discomfort as well.
Cheryl A Major lives in Westford and is a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Consultant. Her TV show Thin Strong Healthy airs on WestfordCat and is an offshoot of her blog http://ThinStrongHealthy.com Cheryl offers ongoing information and personal health coaching to help you feel better and be healthier. Follow Cheryl on Twitter @CherylAMajor. She is also a full time residential Realtor with Coldwell Banker with more than 25 years experience.
Questions? Email Cheryl at cheryl@thinstronghealthy.com and be sure to put Health Question in the subject line. Your question and its answer will be included in a future article
