Is it Safe to Drink Egg Whites?
This morning was a real struggle for me to get out of bed and into the gym; but I’m glad I went because now my sugar detox diet just got easier. Allow me to explain.
My fellow bodybuilder friend asked me how my detox diet was going. “It tastes like punishment,” I confessed. “What’s the toughest part?” she asked. “Egg whites. Tons and tons and tons of egg whites.”
“The consistency of scrambled egg whites can be pretty gross after awhile. Have you tried drinking them?”
Images of Rocky drinking a raw egg danced before my eyes and I had a natural gag response. “Won’t you get salmonella?” I asked. Images of disgustingness falling from both ends of Rocky appeared before my eyes and thank God she interrupted those mental pictures.
“That’s with raw eggs, but liquid eggs are pasteurized to get rid of all the bacteria, so if you can get past the ickiness of it you’ll get through the meal much faster. Like, when I’m at work I don’t have time to cook up egg whites for my 10 a.m. meal, so I just drink it. Get the carton with the picture of the smoothie on it.”
“I’m so happy you’re a weird bodybuilder too! You can’t really have these conversations with normal people.”
Is it safe to drink egg whites? That would make the whole process much easier. I went home and did a little online research. Google will know. Google knows everything. According to forums.steroids.com:
“You cannot completely or safely digest a raw egg white. You could end up with Salmonella, also there is an enzyme found in raw egg whites that blocks the uptake of Vitamin B6, which is not optimal. You must cook the egg whites to eliminate the threat of Salmonella and to neutralize the Avidin (enzyme) in order to allow your body to safely digest the protein.” Here is the link: Egg Whites?
So Liquid Egg Whites (like what you buy in a carton) are liquid but are not raw. They are pasteurized at a temperature of 134 degrees which kills the salmonella without damaging the protein.
I checked my egg white carton. Is it pasteurized? Check. Ok. Here goes nothing. I am Rocky.
Wait! Have to get a chaser. You really can’t drink egg whites without a chaser, right?
OMG, I just drank egg whites.
Lisa 😉
Lisa Traugott is a Mom’s Choice Award winning writer, fitness blogger, wife and mom of two. Her book, “She’s Losing It!” is available at Amazon.com (and has a 5-star review rating!)
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High Five!! That’s when you know we are hard-core! When you are not going through a sugar detox, you can add a couple of teaspoons of Sugar-free Hazelnut creamer to it and it goes down great! Cheers! https://www.eggwhitesint.com/healthfacts.htm
OK – I was kinda grossed out all day and then got hyper about how cooked my chicken was. But – Easier Egg Whites!!! I’m certified hard core now!
Does anyone really know? I’ve eaten tons of cookie dough in my life 🙂 and I think I’m pretty healthy!
I’ve eaten my fair share of cookie dough too 😉
OMG I could never do that! *gags* are you still alive?! Lol
Still gagging hours later, but at least I got them out of the way so I could focus on fun things like tax preparation.
Dunno if I could do that without heaving… However go Rocky!
Thanks! I drank them again today too. Who knew?
thought about it after you’re blog…. got out the fryingpan
Nice blog here! Also your website loads up very fast! What
host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host?
I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol
Thanks 🙂 I use WordPress – they are awesome.
I made a smoothie with pasteurized egg whites….pureed pumpkin (it’s Fall after all), cinnamon, stevia packet, ice water. Not bad and got my post workout protein! 🙂
That can also be blended into batter and used for pumpkin pancakes. Yummy!
The Journal of Nutrition study (from what you put here) only seems to compare cooked eggs to RAW eggs and yet you already discussed the difference between RAW and PASTEURISED. So I don’t think this study is useful unless it compares standard cooked versus pasteurised OR raw versus pasteurised; because it is the virtues of PASTEURISED liquid eggs that is in question here.
Also, a paragraph before you put: “Drinking pasteurized egg whites is better than cooking them….but the same is not true for raw eggs”. Can you clarify whether this means: a) Drinking pasteurised egg WHITES is better than eating standard cooked eggs? OR b) Drinking pasteurised egg WHITES is better than eating standard cooked eggs but it is NOT better than raw WHOLE eggs? or c) Drinking pasteurised egg WHITES is better than eating standard cooked eggs but drinking RAW UNpasteurised eggs is NOT better than cooked eggs?
I am unsure – partly because I suspect that sometimes it’s not clear whether the mention of “eggs” actually refers to EGG WHITES instead.
This was very interesting this blog because I have long being heating my BEATEN AND MIXED eggs, probably beyond the pasteurised level but well below conventional cooking temperature (instead to the gloopy stage) and then I pour into a cup and drink. This is because I too saw mention a while back] of aforementioned enzyme which block protein absorption. So I am hoping that my method is still O.K. and worthwhile because I don’t have a thermometer.
Cheers!
Sebastien
http://www.personalised-poems.co.uk
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Hi Sebastien,
As you can tell from the post, I was trying to figure the raw vs. pasteurized thing too. The quote, “Drinking pasteurized egg whites is better than cooking them….but the same is not true for raw eggs” is from forums.steroids.com and I think the author is trying to say don’t drink raw eggs (whole or whites.) The quote from the Journal of Nutrition was basically me double checking another source to see if there was agreement about the safety of consuming pasteurized eggs without cooking them.
I think it’s probably a good idea that you are cooking your whole eggs first, ’cause who wants salmonella, right? What I do is buy pasteurized egg whites and drink them and skip the whole eggs entirely to avoid that blocked protein absorption issue entirely.
Thanks for reading my blog and hope that helps!
Lisa
hi i was very slim thats why i started to drink egg white…now i want to know after leave this drink..i will slim again???
Hi there. Egg whites are a great source of protein, which is why bodybuilders eat them to grow lean muscle mass. Whether or not you slim down is really based on ALL the foods you eat and the types of exercises you do. Hope that answers your question and thanks for reading my blog!
You want to eat pasturized liquid eggs without gagging? Just whip the, like you would whip heavy cream. They will get fluffy and firm like whipped cream and if you add some splenda or other sweeteners they’re actually delicious and filling
Great tip – thanks!
Lisa, When Robin had me on a “contest “prep” program last spring, I had 7.5 egg whites every morning along with steel oats. Since I do all my food prep on Sunday, I actually prep all seven days of egg white ahead of time, but baking all 2143 grams in a large ( olive oil gently sprayed) pan for 30 minutes…then slicing it. It looked like cheesecake and tasted fine…. As a teacher without easy access to a microwave and eating every 2.5 hrs on a tight schedule, I’ve trained myself to eat everything cold… it’s all good!
Yes, when you’re doing contest prep you’ll pretty much eat anything! lol
Hey, when are you going to do a show? You’d be great!
drink em or eat em boiled? its the same?
If you drink them, make sure they are pasteurized. If you boil them, no worries.
I mix a carton in with almond milk everyday.
That sounds tasty 🙂
Thanks for the info.
Just made my 1st egg based smoothie. Mostly pasteurized egg whites with some of the whole egg version. Ice, skim milk, Splenda, cinnamon and almond extract. It was delicious, tasted like french toast!
That sounds yummy!
So what’s the verdict on the protein absorption thing? I don’t want to absorb less protein drinking them than eating them – but it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me why it would work that way…
I’ll have to follow up with a RD for the protein absorption answer. I’ve been drinking my egg whites for almost three years now under the theory that protein won’t get absorbed at all unless I eat it! And drinking it makes it easier for me.
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