![]() When I ventured into vegetarianism over a decade ago I only had Ener-G egg replacement powder, which was a special blend of potato starch, corn starch, and other ingredients to help thicken up a recipe. I'm thankful they existed, but as I became more conscious about my food I no longer wanted to use inorganic potato and corn starch as a "healthy" egg replacement. Without any other options, I simply stopped baking all together! Fast forward to last Spring: a friend of ours, and genius baker, Tess Beatrice turned me on to what she called a "flax egg". You simply mix water and flax meal together and use it instead of eggs in any recipe. Unfortunately, you cannot scramble, fry, or make omelettes out of them - YET! You can, however, make moist, delicious, omega-3 rich recipes that come out even better than the old recipe that called for eggs. So, why don't we want to use eggs? Toxins Eggs get all their nutrients from the chicken's body. It's common sense that they also get all the toxins from the chicken's body as well. Stress hormones, GMOs, antibiotics, and pesticides are just a few examples of what one can find in the common egg. All of that is being deposited in your liver and making it harder for your blood to be clean and healthy. Inflammation from Omega-6 Omega-6 fatty acids are the ones in charge for the massive amounts of inflammation that people are experiencing. This comes from vegetable oils and grain fed animal products. Chickens fed corn, soy, and other grains are experiencing a high amount of omega-6 versus omega-3. This only adds to your inflammatory load. Cage-Free Means Nothing Cage-free eggs are good in theory, but most often they mean nothing. The chickens are still housed in filthy conditions, treated poorly, given antibiotics, and fed GMO corn and soy feed. Happy chickens create healthy eggs and the above scenario leads to neither. The ideal egg comes from the ideal chickens, which are free roaming, grub eating, weed pulling, flax fed, chickens. Keep your own chickens and feeding them an organic chicken feed, plenty of organic greens, and having ample space to roam in a beautiful, peaceful setting will produce the best egg. It is nearly impossible to buy organic, "humanely raised" eggs that are mass produced. Call the companies for yourself, or visit the farms as I have. It's shocking how horrible the chickens are treated and how filthy their environments are. Use flax eggs instead. Simply add 1 tbsp. of ground flax meal (brown or golden) to 3 tbsp. of warm water. Mix and let sit for 5 minutes and you have the equivalent of 1 egg for any recipe. Flax eggs are stable, longer lasting, full of fiber, detoxifying, rich in omega-3s, and healthy lignans that can help rid the body of excess estrogen - a precursor of cancer. If you're lucky enough to live in Ulster county, stop in at Lucky's Chocolates in Saugerties, NY where the owner Rae Stang makes a plethora of gluten-free, grain-free, vegan, and organic cookies, scones, and pies from almond flour and flax eggs. If you're not as lucky to live up here, try adding them to your favorite recipe. Enjoy!
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