Does the type of eggs matter?

[ltomo]

What I really am trying to find out is when the quality of eggs(or meat, or checken, etc) make a difference, not so much if they are different.

As an example that is somewhat off topic but illustrates the basis of my question is the idea that eating fats doesn't create fat. So in this
case what you ingest, and how your body processes and uses it is different than I would have expected. Fat in doesn't create body fat.

Applying the above to eggs or other foods I am not sure when the "quality" of the food actually matters because if the body doesn't "process" an
organic, free range egg any differently than one from a mass hatchery it doesn't seem to make sense to pay up to $5/dozen when the others are
available for less than $5.00.

So are there foods such as eggs, red meat, chicken, rice and other staples of a training diet where it might be worth paying a premium for organic, non gmo
no hormones, etc.?

thank you

Bob

I've never bought hipster eggs from a grocery store, but a couple at my church gives me eggs from the chickens that walk all over their farm eating grasshoppers and bugs, for which I am incredibly grateful. The taste difference seems to be more a matter of preference than quality. I'm not a picky eater, so YMMV.

From what I've looked at, ounce for ounce there isn't a difference in macronutrients between grass and factory fed chickens. There's about 6g of protein, 5g of fat, and 70 calories in the average egg-sized egg. I don't know enough about micronutrients to say anything.

I have no real knowledge on the organic/gmo/horomone debate. The guys on the dairy farm I used to work at thought it was mostly marketing and that's always been my gut response as well.

Money spent on the farm fresh, organic eggs is more about peace of mind that you might be avoiding chemicals that are harmful to you. The actual macronutrients that affect recovery are the same.

Robert Santana has some excellent articles on macronutrients if you haven't read them before.

Protein and Barbell Training | Robert Santana

Carbohydrates and Barbell Training | Robert Santana

[VNV]

A taste eggsperiment:

Do 'Better' Eggs Really Taste Better? | The Food Lab | Serious Eats

Kenji, of Food Lab fame, learned his chemistry at MIT.

[Yngvi]

I want the "double yoke" eggs.

[Gerald Boggs]

Youre not killing them youre just eating the eggs and once you start thinking about the "quality of life "of a chicken youre probably ready to be a Vegan anyway,lol

In my case, with my chickens, that's true. However, for any chicken farm that does egg production, death at the end of peak egg production is normal. That would be any time after the first year. So no I'm not Vegan, but yes, I believe we as humans have a responsibility of humane treatment to those we eat. And yes, I take in stray cats :-)

As for the question: Is organic better in terms of nutritional quality?, I doubt it. But I also doubt that most of what is sold as organic, really is organic. That opinion is based on years of selling at farmer's markets.

[Matt James]

My dad raises chickens, and I will say that the yolks from their eggs tend to be darker in color, and somehow a little thicker (chewier) when cooked. I assume that has to do with what the hens are fed but I don't know. The shells are quite a bit stronger but that's because with laying hens you have to supplement the feed with calcium and D3 so they don't crack the eggs when they sit on them. In a bigger operation they're set up so the hens don't actually sit on the eggs when they're laid, so they can save money on the feed supplementation.

Regardless, I'll take eggs any way I can get them.

[gadders]

I wouldn't say whether the eggs are organic or not matters, but freshness definitely does. Store eggs can be up to two weeks old, I believe.

Keeping your own hens is pretty easy - about as hard as a pet rabbit or similar. Once you've eaten your own fresh eggs, you can't go back to store ones.

[Fulcrum]

Is there a USDA definition of "Pastured" or is it nothing more then a marketing term?

This. Most companies will just take advantage of the absolute minimum of what you have to do to call it a "pastured" chicken egg.
All it means is they have "x" amount time to access to the "outside" and "Y" amount of space per animal unit something something.

Does not account for diet, etc.
A Pasture Raised _USDA chicken could be just be fed primarily grain, and pick at a few bugs outside.
....nutritional value would be about the same as a chicken kept in a 2' square box. Note I didn't say cage.
If I keep my chicken in a box, or say a shallow hole, are they not Cage Free then?

You could have a box-kept chicken, supplement their grain feed with some flax seed, and their omega 3 content of the eggs would go up quite a bit.
And then show a harmonious picture of a wild prairie chicken in a vast verdant field ... and then print "Omega 3 Eggs" on your carton.
And then triple your price.

That is how it works

[Gerald Boggs]

Store eggs can be up to two weeks old, I believe.

Depending on the information source: Here in the US, as much as two months.

[DanaWhicker]

It's not whether the eggs are "regular" or organic. It's how the chickens live, chickens that spend the day in a field eating greens and bugs, have a stronger taste and thicker yokes. If you're getting the eggs from a store, it's unlikely, whatever the box claims, that the chickens spent the day in the grass. For me, it's less "regular" or organic, but how the chickens live their life, quality of life is more important then being organic. Just because I kill and eat them doesn't mean they shouldn't have happy lives up to that point.

[PizzaDad]

We have an egg lady. She raises chickens and goats on her farm. We buy 5 dozen eggs a week. They are a mix of several different breed of chicken and some duck eggs.
We love them. I prefer the taste to grocery store eggs which I still buy also. We eat a lot of eggs. Four adults right now My breakfast is usually 3-5 eggs. Egg sandwich makes a great snack. And we will do omelette night for dinner, 2-3 nights a month.