EGGS

 I have had a complicated relationship with eggs since childhood.

I remember having texture issues with scrambled eggs as a youngster but I think I could usually tolerate other styles like soft-boiled and fried eggs.  In general, I did not eat them that much.  But I was a fussy eater with a lot of stomachaches so my food choices were all over the place.

Later in life ----around the time I committed to eating a good, hearty breakfast every morning----- I began to eat eggs on a regular basis.  So eggs became part of a repertoire that provided a nice source of protein.  Which worked out great for stabilizing blood sugar levels.

Until the eggs didn’t work out great.  About seven years or so of eating eggs on a regular basis, I developed stomach issues in the spring.  I thought maybe it was related to spring pollen allergies. It ramped up and got worse (never as bad as pepto bismol stomach: reference first post).  But then it would stop by August or September.

A couple of years into this kind of stomach pain, the lightbulb went off and I realized it was eggs.  I finally made the direct correlation between eating eggs and the pain happening.  It started up every spring, lasted through summer and then the rest of the year I could eat my eggs.

So around March when the pain kicked in I would stop eating eggs. My suspect is that there is some cross reactivity for me between seasonal pollen allergies and eggs.  In other words, when I have the pollen allergies, an egg allergy kicks in whereas the rest of the year the egg allergy is not present.

A year and a half ago, we got backyard chickens.  We bought them as pullets in March.  By June, they decided to lay eggs. While I was in a non-egg eating mode, I threw caution to the wind and decided the stomachache would be worth it.  I wanted to try our hens’ eggs.

 

So I did.  But I did not get a stomachache.  I continued to eat our hens’ eggs.  Somehow I rid myself of the egg problem---even when the pollen allergies have been their most extreme, I can eat eggs.  Not only our hens’ eggs but store-bought also.  (Although once you’ve had your own farm fresh eggs it’s so hard to go back….)

(Quick Public Service Announcement:  you can’t go wrong with getting backyard hens.  They are tons of fun, educational and give presents (the eggs).  Our hens are free range part of the time, eat bugs and get fresh air.  We control what their food kibble is.  So we have a food source that we can verify being pretty close to all natural.  Their egg yolks are almost neon yellow in color---which is the way it’s supposed to be.   Plus, they teach me new things every week.  For example, this week I learned that they cackle so loudly because they are bragging to the other ladies about laying an egg.  Sometimes a little bragging is a good thing…...)