[tweetmeme] Mention cholesterol and what food jumps to mind? Probably the egg. Since the early 1980’s it has been the much maligned food icon of high cholesterol. True, it is high in cholesterol but it has hardly any saturated fat which, as we now know, is the real culprit that sends our cholesterol levels soaring. A ‘big breakfast’ of eggs with fatty bacon, sausages and toast lathered with butter will certainly send up your cholesterol level. The bacon, sausages and butter will do a pretty good job of that even without the eggs! But egg sandwiches (without butter), poached eggs, nicoise salad (hard boiled eggs, green beans, tuna, potato, tomatoes with a garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing), scrambled eggs or omelette with tomatoes, mushrooms, onions and herbs are all fantastic nutritious meals.

So it was with a collective sigh of relief that we heard the good news – we’re finally allowed to eat more than 3 eggs a week. At least that’s the latest decision made by the Australian Heart Foundation who now allow up to six eggs a week. It follows similar relaxing of egg restrictions by the Irish and British Heart Foundations based on the latest science.

It’s never felt quite right to limit something as nutritious and unadulterated as an egg. And I wonder, during these past 30 or 40 years of minimal eggs, what we have eaten in its place – perhaps a low fibre, sugary cereal for breakfast or maybe chocolate nut spread sandwiches for lunch? Just a few weeks ago a friend asked me if it was OK to give her kids more than three eggs a week. “They really love eggs,” she explained. “And I feel mean saying they can’t have them.” I told her that of course she could give them more – and there it was again, that sigh of relief.

Eggs are high in protein, they have great satiety value which means you won’t feel hungry for ages after eating them, and they have all sorts of antioxidants and other nutrients for good health. The yellow colour of the yolk is from an antioxidant called lutein. It helps protect the rods and cones at the back of your eye so you are less likely to suffer macular degeneration. Even more interesting is a nutrient called choline. It has anti-inflammatory effects and, like folate, is critical for normal development of the brain. That’s a whole story in itself which I’ll write about sometime soon.

See also: my article on 15 eggs a day!

Every autumn the olive tree hanging over our balcony drops its fruit everywhere. And every year I have wondered if they are edible. Finally this year I picked a handful and tried them out. They sat for 40 days in a bowl on the kitchen bench soaking in water which I changed every second day. Finally after 40 days I drained them and covered them with salt for two days. Then I rinsed them and packed them in a sterilised jar with thyme, garlic and lemon, and covered with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Two weeks later we finally had our first tentative tasting. Would they taste OK? And more importantly – would they poison us!

They are definitely edible and we are still alive, but next time I would use less vinegar and stick with the oil. Yes – there will be a next time but it will have to wait until next year. Olive season is well and truly over in NZ.

(Yes, those really are my olives in the photo above)

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Related: Home-made olive recipe at iChef

I love my friend Nanci’s paintings. Here’s one inspired by a photo in an Italian cook-book. It makes me feel warm all over – just as though I’d had a sip or two of that grappa!

The Italians sure know how to eat well – and stay fit and slim. No shovelling mediocre cake and ice-cream for them! This wonderful painting depicts a perfect Italian dessert – a perfectly ripe pear, some crunchy almond biscotti (full of healthy unsaturated fat) and a little sweet, fruity alcohol made from grape skins, stems and seeds. Enjoy!

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There’s nothing better first thing on a cool morning than a nice hot cup of tea and some grainy toast with homemade grapefruit marmalade. Or is there?

The cup of tea gives me a small shot of caffeine and increases peripheral blood circulation – waking up my drowsy body. A brisk walk or jog does the same thing and it’s interesting that on the days I exercise before breakfast I don’t crave that cup of tea half so much.

On the down side, the tannin in tea binds up iron. So the small amount of iron in my wholegrain toast doesn’t get a chance when I swill it down with tea. As for the marmalade, I remember the first time I made it I could hardly bring myself to pour in all the sugar necessary! Sure grapefruit contains vitamin C and antioxidants – particularly a substance called quercetin which has anti-inflammatory effects, but there’s not much on your toast after it’s been boiled with a few bags of sugar!

So how about oats instead? A bowl of warm cooked oats (Kiwi’s call it porridge) has as much or more fibre than two slices of whole grain toast. And it has iron – which is better absorbed because I leave my cup of tea until morning tea time. And I get calcium from the low fat milk I add. And it’s cheaper. A loaf of my favourite grain bread costs around $4 which lasts 8 or 9 breakfasts. A 1.5 kg bag of rolled oats cost about the same but gives me twice as many breakfasts.

But the real nutritional bonus of my plate of porridge is the essential fats in the oats – and the wheat germ that I sprinkle on, along with brown sugar! Essential fats are fats that our body cannot make and we can only get through what we eat. Vegetable oil, fish, oats, nuts and seeds are the best foods for these essential fats. They fight inflammation in our body and are fantastic for healthy skin, hair and nails. I call them the beauty fats.

I was once the research dietitian for a study comparing a low fat diet with a high monounsaturated fat diet. The people on the study ate a low fat diet for 3 weeks, then swapped to a higher fat, but same kilojoule, diet by replacing some of their bread, pasta and rice (the carbohydrate foods) with 50 grams of raw peanuts each day. What was really interesting was the effect the three weeks of peanuts had on a few of the women. One reported that after years of having brittle nails, they had suddenly become strong. Another told me that her hairdresser had asked what she was eating as her hair had suddenly become so much healthier. These women had likely been on low fat diets for years as part of controlling their weight and heart health and, I am sure that those three weeks of peanuts gave their body what it had desperately lacked – some essential fats.

You know, the best thing about writing about healthy eating is that you convince yourself to do it. So even if no-one else is convinced, come tomorrow morning I’m ditching the toaster and pulling out the porridge pot. Let’s hope it lasts!