Why Eggs Fit Perfectly In Your Family's Heart-Healthy Diet

Every parent knows that feeding your family can be a little overwhelming — or even downright stressful. You’re constantly planning ahead, gathering ingredients, and trying to meet your family’s nutrient needs with meals that actually taste good.

Thankfully, there’s one versatile refrigerator staple that delivers high-quality protein and other key nutrients to support body and brain health for the whole fam — eggs! With nutritional benefits for kids, parents, and grandparents alike, eggs are a great food to include in a heart-healthy diet. Here’s why.

Benefits Of Eggs For Kids

From the moment your baby begins solid foods, you quickly learn how important nutrition and a baby’s first foods are. Introducing a variety of healthy and safe solid foods helps set your child up for nutritional success. In fact, early introduction of eggs may help reduce the risk of developing an egg allergy, which is one of the reasons the Dietary Guidelines recommends eggs as a fundamental first food for babies.

Eggs are also a complete protein and have several other key vitamins and minerals recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics for little ones’ growing brains and bodies, including vitamin B-12 and iodine.

Try scrambling up some eggs as finger foods for your littlest ones or get creative in the kitchen for the toddler and big kid crowds. With so many ways to customize simple recipes like omelets or veggie-packed egg muffins, you can easily whip up that appeases even the pickiest palette without sacrificing nutritional value.

Why Eggs Are Great For Parents Too

Parenting is hard! You’re busy, you’re tired, and it’s all too easy to forget to take care of yourself. But being mindful of your own health and nutrition is doubly important when you have little ones to take care of.

By doing something as simple as incorporating nutrient-dense eggs into your family’s meal rotation, you can feel good knowing they deliver key nutrients like choline, which promotes lifelong brain health and the majority of Americans don’t get enough of. And even better, according to the American Heart Association, eggs can be included as part of a heart-healthy diet for healthy adults.

So next time you’re in the kitchen, hard boil some eggs as part of your meal-prep routine to ensure you have a nutrient-rich snack that’s ready to grab on your way out the door.

And Yes, Eggs Are Also Good For Grandparents

Let’s set the record straight here. Extensive research has shown that eggs do not increase heart disease risk. This includes a recent Harvard study examining up to 32 years of data. In fact, according to the American Heart Association, for older healthy individuals, given the nutritional benefits and convenience of eggs, consumption of up to 2 eggs per day is acceptable within a heart-healthy dietary pattern.

In addition, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines hasn't restricted the cholesterol in the food you eat for many years and also recommends eggs as part of a healthy diet. So yes, the seniors in your life can happily and healthily enjoy eggs, too.

Whether you’re scrambling up a family breakfast, baking a tasty quiche, or using them in some of your favorite dinner recipes, you can rest assured that eggs fit perfectly alongside the various fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and other lean proteins in your entire family’s heart-healthy diet.