Wednesday 1 September 2010

I have moved this blog to:



http://nicolemaftoum.wordpress.com/

Monday 5 April 2010

~'*You are so Egg-ceptional*'~


Eggs came to life before human beings did and they first started being incorporated in different recipes with the Chinese populations and the ancient Egyptians and Romains, that upon several trials have discovered the main function of eggs stated as an emulsifier or a binding agent. Throughout centuries, eggs held different symbolizations and connotations before they gained their place in your plate!

Eggs Symbolization

In ancient times, an egg was mainly compared to the sun and since the sun has always been compared to a source of life, the egg has been associated to both, birth and fertility. This is the reason for which, Christianity, used eggs during Easter, as a symbol of re-birth that connotes the Christ’s resurrection. In France, during the 17th century, the bride used to break an egg when she first enters her new home as a ritual to keep her house alive and to be able to give birth to lots of new souls.In Iran, the bride and groom exchange eggs as a symbol of exchanging an entry to a new life. Whereas, in the German territories, people used to smear their hoes with eggs, with the hope of bringing them back to life.In many Chinese and Asian tribes, the eggs were used to predict the future.The first technique consisted of painting the eggs, boiling them and then reading the patterns in their cracks and the second one was known as Oomancy and consisted of dropping the egg whites in hot water and to base divination on shapes assumed by the rapidly cooked egg whites.

Nutrition facts

Nowadays, the egg only connotes a fattening food item that increases the cholesterol levels in the blood and that should be avoided in all its forms. Contrary to people’s beliefs, the egg is a very nutritious food.It has 13 essential vitamins and minerals.A medium size egg has 75 calories of which 60 are provided by the yolk and only 15 by the whites.
The egg yolk has all the fat soluble vitamins(A,D,E) in addition to all the fat and a little proteins. In fact, it encloses 230mg of Cholesterol which is the 2/3 of the daily recommended intake of Cholesterol(300mg/day).It also contains, ½ the the daily requirement of Choline which is an essential substance needed for the fetal growth in pregnant women and for a proper brain development and functioning in normal individuals.
Eating an egg per day has long been a controversial issue.However, a recent study conducted by scientists at Harvard, didn’t find a relevant link between eating an egg per day and developing cardiovascular diseases. On the contrary, it has been proven that the egg yolk encloses a substance called Lukine that protects against heart diseases. Therefore, healthy adults can enjoy eating an egg everyday.

Ditch the Yolk

A low fat version of an omelette would comprise one whole egg mixed to three to four egg whites.
Egg whites are fat free and contain most of the proteins whereas egg yolks contain all the fat and cholesterol!
1 Egg white = 17 calories
1 Egg yolk = 60 Calories

Storage facts


Eggs should always be stored in their original closed egg carton in the lower shelf of the fridge, in order to prevent them from absorbing odors and flavors of the foods through tiny pores in the shell.
Eggs should never be washed before storing them, because by washing them the chances of bacteria to be drawn into the egg through the pores in the shell would be increasing.

Eggs should never be kept out of the refrigerator for more than two hours.
If an egg is ever dropped on the floor, it should be simply sprinkled with enough salt to cover it and ease its cleaning!

Freshness facts


Blood spots don’t indicate a fertilized egg.They are occasionally found on an egg yolk and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel during the formation of the egg.
In order to determine the freshness degree of an egg you can use one of the following methods:
1-A fresh egg will sink in water while an old one will float since an egg has an air cell that separates the whites from the shell. The older the egg ages, the bigger the size of the air cell gets leading the egg to float.
2-When you break the egg, the degree of spreadability is a great indicator of freshness: the more it spreads the older it is and if it doesn’t spread it means that the egg is very fresh.
The difference between a raw egg and a hard cooked one is that the cooked one spins longer than a raw egg.

Tips to cook eggs

The perfect hard-boiled egg: requires to be pierced on top with a needle in order to perforate the air cell and to avoid the shell to break upon boiling.The boiling water should either contain salt or a drop of white vinegar to help the egg white cook faster so that it doesn’t come out of the egg.
The perfect sunny side-up: the whites that surround the yolk are thicker than the whites that surround them and require more time to cook because they contain more proteins.In order to help them cook at the same time of the second white layer, just sprinkle salt on them.Salt helps denature the proteins and thus, increases the cooking time.

The most expensive omelette can be found in Norma’s restaurant in New York’s Le Parker Meridien’s hotel.For a charge of 1000$ on your bill, you can get absurdly expensive breakfast item consists of a mixture of eggs, lobster and 10 ounces of sevruga caviar.Some people would find that totally insane while others, would do anything for an egg!

Happy Easter'
Dietitian Nicole Maftoum

Sunday 7 March 2010

~*Fly away with those wings*~


Crispy, tender, flavorful, palatable, juicy and addictive.They are the kind of food you eat with abandonment, licking your fingers clean. A few, are never enough to help you reach your satiety or even fulfill the devilish gourmet desire inside of you.

In real life, they could symbolize defeat and failure, since they simply render broken wings, when in the world of food, they simply are everyone's favorite appetizers known as Chicken Wings.


Chicken Wings are a little bit of chicken and a lot of skin. Skin is mostly fat. Then it’s fried. Finally, it’s coated with sauce and sometimes dipped into blue-cheese dressing.

Two tablespoons of blue-cheese dressing contain 170 calories.

Each wing is about 100 calories without the dipping sauce.
That means a dozen is about 1,200 calories.

1200 Calories, is the recommended daily intake of many persons to maintain their body weights.

Washed down with a few beers, they help you surpass your whole day’s recommended calorie intake.

Sticking feathers up your butt, will never make you a chicken' therefore, think twice before choosing your appetizers and choose the healthy side of your grilled chicken!

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