Test the Age of the Egg You're About to Have!

There are 2 ways in which you can know if the egg you're about to eat is fresh or old!

ONE 

Place the egg in an empty bowl and fill it up with cold/room temperature water such that it covers twice the egg's level.

>> A fresh egg will immediately sink to the bottom of the bowl
>> While an older egg would tend to float
Why? In a fresh egg, the air cells in it are very small, making the egg quite heavy compared to the water holding it. As for old eggs, more air enters the egg's shell as it ages. Therefore you could see that its curved end point touches the bottom of the bowl whereas its body points upwards. If this is the case, then the egg is fine to consume. However, if the egg you're experimenting on floats completely - no tip is touching the bottom of your bowl, well then, it's time to toss it out!

TWO

Bring that egg of yours and crack it on a plate!

>> A fresh egg with have thick cloudy colored whites, compacted firmly and close to a well leveled yolk
>> An older egg will have a less thicker & more transparent color for the whites with flat leveled yolks that could easily break

Why? Carbon dioxide (CO2) which makes egg whites cloudy and firm is present when the egg is freshly laid. As the egg loses its freshness with time, the CO2 escapes the shell thus egg whites become less thick, more transparent in color and tend to break easily from the yolk than fresh eggs would. 

So now you can experiment!

For many more cartoons, please visit Randy's site @ www.glasbergen.com.

Get Yourself Enough Vitamin D

Lack of vitamin D has become quite the issue among the Lebanese community nowadays and I'm hearing lots of concerns of what foods provide you with your daily needs of this vitamin especially that this vitamin is associated with good, strong bone health!

Vitamin D insufficiency can result in thin and brittle bones and thus increasing the risk of rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Together with calcium, vitamin D helps protect from osteoporosis, modulates neuro-muscular function and reduces inflammation.

So where can you provide yourself with enough vitamin D?

Sunlight helps your body to make vitamin D. But because of the skin cancer risk, there are no official "sunlight" recommendations up till now. Therefore, exposing yourself to small amounts of sunlight - 15-20 minutes - could be helpful. Keep in mind that the sun is less likely to provide your daily needs at higher latitudes, in winter, if you're older or dark skinned. So with this scorching sun during summer in Lebanon, it is important to use sunscreen when you're spending the day at the beach! Saying "I'm getting my daily dose of vitamin D" is not actually a wise decision to take!

Fatty fish such as  salmon, trouts, mackarel, tuna, eel and canned tuna & sardines can provide with you with good amounts of vitamin D as well as heart healthy omega 3 fatty acids. 

Fortified milk/yogurt can be fortified with vitamin D >> the key is to read your nutrition facts label. And a good note to keep in mind is that ice creams, labne and cheeses are never fortified with vitamin D! On the other hand, some soy/rice milks can be fortified so yea, keep reading those food labels!

Egg yolks- the yellow part of an egg- is what contains the vitamin D you want. Therefore having boiled eggs can be a part of healthy diet when eaten in moderation, but make sure to adjust your cholesterol intake during your day because the American Heart Association recommends that you consume no more than 300 mg of cholesterol per day, and just one egg contains 200 mg!

Vitamin D can also be found in fortified cereals, fortified orange juices and in beef liver. Though I personally don't recommend that you have your vitamin D from beef liver because it's super high in cholesterol - and no you don't need that much of cholesterol in your diet!

Supplements can provide you with your vitamin needs but it shouldn't be your first option, like most doctors in Lebanon advise you to go for! Supplements are surely needed if you have low levels of vitamin D and best thing about them is that you don't have to split your supplement doses. Just don't go buying supplements, consult your doctors ahead of time because vitamin D can be toxic in large amounts.

References: Health.com

Enjoying a day at the beach photo

Delicious salmon dish photo

Fortified cereals with fortified milk photo

EGGS this Easter!

Easter is a time of family gathering, celebration, and like all lovely occasions: Good Food! So it's pretty known that no Easter weekend would be complete without an Easter egg or two. This is why the Sohi w Sarih team sent us this smart Easter newsletter to increase our awareness about EGGS!

Eggs in moderation are fine. They are a rich source of protein, B vitamins and lutein.

When it comes to hard-boiled eggs, which are eaten during Easter, the United States Department of Agriculture and the American Egg Board advice discarding them after one week! So it's smart to boil a limited amount of eggs and not keep them for weeks and weeks to come. 

  

Cooking eggs in water washes away an egg’s protective coating, and this leaves tiny pores open in the shell through which bacteria can enter and contaminate the egg. Uncooked fresh eggs last longer because they retain their protective coating—either the natural coating produced when the hen lays an egg or a mineral oil that egg producers spray on after the eggs are washed at processing plants. Keep in mind, hardboiled eggs should be refrigerated at 4°C or below within two hours of cooking.

Now that you know how to eat eggs safely, here are more tips from SWS team!

• Shell color is determined by the breed of the chicken. Brown eggs are not more nutritious than white, so don't eat more brown eggs just because they are brown!

• The color of the yolk depends on what the chicken ate:
- Wheat and barley produce a light yolk
- Corn produce a medium-yellow yolk
- Marigold petals produce a deep yellow yolk
Note that darker yellow yolks often have more carotenoids.

• A blood spot indicates that a small blood vessel on the yolk’s surface broke while the egg was forming. It does not mean the egg is fertile. It is harmless, but you can remove it with a tip of a knife.

• Cloudy albumen (egg white) indicates a very fresh egg. It is due to carbon dioxide inside the egg that has not yet escaped. Pasteurized eggs also have cloudier whites.

• Another sign of freshness is the stringy white filaments inside some eggs called chalazae. They keep the yolk centered in the albumen and lessen over time. It is okay to eat them.

• A gray-green trace around a hard-boiled egg yolk is caused by a reaction of iron and sulfur compounds. It is harmless but means the egg was cooked too long or not cooked quickly. Eggs scrambled at too high a temperature or sitting too long on a steam table may also turn a harmless green.

Now for calories! A large egg has only about 75 calories. The only concern is that egg yolks are rich in cholesterol. BUT, the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest that eating one whole egg per day does not result in increased blood cholesterol levels and recommend that individuals consume, on average, less than 300 mg of cholesterol per day.
A single large egg contains 185 mg cholesterol! Therefore, enjoying an egg a day can fall within current cholesterol guidelines! 

Just keep in mind that during these holidays, we tend to consume a large variety of foods that are also rich in cholesterol, saturated fats and refined sugars. So watching your whole day diet is crucial, including your egg intake, chocolate eggs, yes, the unforgettable maamoul intake! And believe it or not, it is healthier to have one hard-boiled egg compared with 1, even healthy maamoul (Easter cookies)!