Eggs

[svarupa]

Namaste,
 I know that in yoga it is said that you should avoid eating eggs.
 Does anyone know why?
 I know Swami Sivananda wrote in his brahmacharya book to avoid eggs and Swami Satyananda Saraswati wrote something about eggs being bad for liver or kidney (dont remember which exactly), but does anyone know anything else?
 The reason I am asking is because in the The Fountain of Youth (the book which brought out the 5 Tibetan rites to the world), the Tibetan Lamas told the author to eat one egg yoke a day, since an egg yoke has most of the substances that make the brain function correctly. I started doing this and did notice I could think better and clearer. After a week or so I stopped eating eggs because I got scared they might be slowing down my sadhana "progress". This was done out of fear and not because I noticed any changes in my sadhana.
 Now I am thinking about starting to eat the raw egg yoke once a day again.
 
 I would appreciate any information anyone can provide as to what the scriptures or your experience suggest.

 Take care,
 svarupa

[Victor]

I eat eggs, Its a matter of personal preference. Not good to be toooo fussy about diet imo

[machart]

I eat eggs almost every day.

Victor is correct ... Eat what makes your body happy.

I also like the concept of eating eggs...eggs are the beginning of life...

Unless you believe the chicken came before the egg...which seems illogical to me.

[yogesh]

Eggs are considered as a Tamasic type food in Indian scriptures,

In Egypt Eggs were referred to as liquid flesh

I myself have no problem staying away from them as I find they smell obnoxious when cooking them and smell up your house, my daughter loves them though

[yogesh]

Eggs actually contain 8 times more cholesterol than meat! Traditionally, in scientific studies on humans, eggs have been used as the source to demonstrate the adverse effects of cholesterol on our health & our heart arteries. Eggs provide 6-20 times more protein than we need which is BAD news for our liver & kidneys.

[Etherfish]

Protein is only bad for the liver and kidneys if your entire diet is high in protein. So the diets for losing weight by eating almost all protein work, but are bad for you. Just balance it out with veggies.

Cholesterol is a complicated and widely misunderstood subject. There is good and bad cholesterol, and new research is indicating that even those divisions are not correct. Every cell in our bodies use cholesterol, it accumulates on the surface of our skin, and when the sun hits it, vitamin D is produced. People who take cholesterol lowering drugs get a vitamin D shortage.
We would die without it. Eggs have cholesterol, but also lecithin, which helps in digesting cholesterol.

So as usual, moderation is the key. It is best to keep the amount of all animal products low compared to the vegetable products we eat.

[yogesh]

I don't eat animal products at all, I have been vegetarian since I was 16 (now 57 vegan) I have tried going back several times in the past and I basically get sick, a dead animal decomposing in my stomach does not set right with me or any spiritual practices I do.

I personally do not believe humans are carnivores or we all cavemen in the past,

[svarupa]

Namaste all,
   Thanks everyone for responding.
   I wonder if the tamastic part of the egg is actually the protein since it gives the kidney some work to do. I was going to skip the whites and just eat the yoke.
   Yogesh do you by any chance remember which scripture this is from? Not that I do not believe you, but wondering if there is more information in that scripture I could use.

Take care,
svarupa

[Etherfish]

No, humans are not carnivores, we are omnivores. If you can be healthy without meat, it is good. Some people like me, need at least some meat to be healthy. Different people need different diets. You are right Yogesh, meat decomposing in your system is not good. That's why we need a lot of veggies, especially raw ones to keep our systems cleared out.

[yogesh]

quote:Originally posted by svarupa

Namaste all,
   Thanks everyone for responding.
   I wonder if the tamastic part of the egg is actually the protein since it gives the kidney some work to do. I was going to skip the whites and just eat the yoke.
   Yogesh do you by any chance remember which scripture this is from? Not that I do not believe you, but wondering if there is more information in that scripture I could use.

Take care,
svarupa

You will find mention in Hatha Yoga Pradipika in Chapter 2 verses 60,61. for starters

[machart]

quote:Originally posted by svarupa

 I was going to skip the whites and just eat the yoke.
 

I actually do just the opposite because the yolk is where a lot of the cholesterol is.

[Etherfish]

The yolk is also where the lecithin is. I was wrong about it helping digestion; just the opposite, it restricts the absorption of the cholesterol. You will still get some, but not most of the cholestrol from eating a yolk. here's the story:

http://www.unisci.com/stories/20014/1029013.htm

[vijikr]

All I would say is eat in moderation and dont try to avoid them completely unless you are fine with it(i meant the forced dieting)

[HathaTeacher]

Self-pacing is wise.
If you skip eggs totally, remember to eat omega fat acids from algae and lecitin from organic buckwheat (soy lecitin is increasingly argued upon, especially when made of convetionally grown soy, but even the organic brands to some extent - it's just an extract, omitting some other important ingredients).

[Etherfish]

Here's an article about how vegans usually have a vitamin B12 deficiency, and why eating plant based B12 sometimes makes it worse:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/15/how-to-avoid-the-most-dangerous-side-effect-of-veganism.aspx?e_cid=20120215_DNL_art_1