If you were a rat, what would you want to look like – Rat Brad Pitt on the left or Rat Charlie Sheen on the right?
It seems pretty obvious that Brad Pitt Rat on the left is frisky, happy, and healthy in a normal, rat sort of way while Charlie Sheen Rat on the right looks rather worse for the wear and does not in any way possess “tiger blood” or “Adonis DNA”.
Hold on a minute. Â Charlie Sheen didn’t really say that, did he??
Oops, sorry. Back to the rats.
Guess what these little guys are eating?
Egg Beaters Better Than Real Eggs? Â Who Are They Kidding?
Brad Pitt Rat is eating eggs.
Charlie Sheen Rat is eating Egg Beaters.
How can this be?  Why, Egg Beaters is a masterpiece of food chemistry, after all!
Developed in the 1970s, Egg Beaters has the same protein, fat, calories, macrominerals, and vitamins as Real Eggs!
Marketed as a “healthy” substitute for eggs, Egg Beaters is routinely served to nursing home residents and is a typical breakfast choice of older Americans seeking to limit cholesterol and saturated fat.
What Happens to Rats Eating Egg Beaters
The problem is when you take out the saturated fat and cholesterol from eggs and substitute vegetable oil, dried nonfat milk, additives, chemicals, and synthetic vitamins and feed it to adolescent rats what do you get?
You get little Charlie Sheen rats that look like the pathetic creature in the picture above. Â These Egg Beater rats do not develop properly and have mangy looking fur. They also develop diarrhea within one week of eating Egg Beaters and die within 3-4 weeks.
What Happens to Rats Eating Real Eggs
The Brad Pitt Rats eating eggs? Â They go on to develop properly and live out normal little rat lives.
Are you or a relative eating Egg Beaters thinking it is a better choice for your health?  Set the marketing mumbo jumbo and misleading doctor-speak about saturated fat and cholesterol aside for a minute and just look at the picture!  Make the call with simple common sense.
Doesn’t it seem downright foolish to eat Egg Beaters if that stuff can make a young rat look like that within one week?
Perhaps it might help you to know that a thorough review of the world’s scientific literature published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine in 2009 concluded that eggs do not in any way, shape or form contribute to heart attacks!
You don’t have to tell that to Charlie Sheen rat. From the looks of him, he would much rather be eating eggs instead of Egg Beaters so that he can get his Brad Pitt on.
References
Eggs Do Not Cause Heart Attacks
Morning Nourishment: Bountiful Benefits and Creative Ideas
More InformationÂ
Five Fats You Must Have in Your Kitchen
Why Organic Store Eggs are a Scam
What Oxidizes the Cholesterol in Eggs
Are Raw Egg Whites Healthy?
Duck Eggs: More Nutritious and Less Allergenic
Leah
I grew up eating egg beaters, skim milk and tub margarine because my mom had high cholesterol and believed everything that the nutritionist told her about what she should eat. The crazy thing? We lived on a farm and had our own farm eggs and raw milk/butter/cream readily available. I still turned out fairly healthy (I think strong genes helped to play a role in that), but I do wonder how much healthier I would be if I had only gotten the right nutrition as a child.
Kate @ Modern Alternative Mama
I saw the word “Eggbeaters” in my inbox and thought “WHAT is that doing in there? I don’t want that!” Then I realized it was your post and it made sense. I’ve never bought it and never would. I only buy pastured eggs from a local farm.
Trader Joe’s sells “egg whites only” in cartons. I really, really want to call them up and ask them if I can have all those extra yolks, because that’s the part I really want. (Not because I want them since I’m sure they’re CAFO, but just to make a point.)
Carolyn
As a child I had an allergy to eggs. We used Eggbeaters instead and I had no reaction to them. Hmmm. Must not be too many eggs in that little yellow carton! Thankfully the allergy is gone and I enjoy pastured eggs almost every day!
Stanley Fishman
Well said, Sarah. I hope someday that people will learn that artificial foods can never replace real food. Thank you for doing so much to spread the truth, time and time again.
Lynne
This is just criminal – to tell people that it’s “good for you” when they KNOW it is not, is beyond insane. Like their continued attacks on raw milk, forcing people to use the processed milk/dairy. We need to start accusing them of deliberately trying to make people sick…and DIE. Because that *is* what is happening. Watch for the word “safe” when they talk about *their* “foods…they always say real food isn’t “safe” but their foods are. It’s not about nutritious. You can nuke manure until it’s “safe” to eat but….SHOULD you eat it? Of course not! The animal ID scheme (which is alive and well and being crammed down our throats) is part of taking away our ability to feed ourselves with whole, nutritious food. It will make owning your own animals impossible. And that’s the whole idea. We are lifetime ranchers/farmers/homesteaders and we’ve been fighting this monster for six years. They are taking complete control of all food in the whole world, not just America. If you are not up to speed on Agenda 21, you need to do it right away…
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
I agree Lynne. I think the folks who adhere to “no bar code” eating are definitely onto something. I’m not quite there yet myself as I still buy good quality packaged foods like coconut milk and the like (though I also make it myself though not all the time), I would like to get there one day.
Erica
Thank you for sharing this. I confess to eating these from time to time, I honestly didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. I always eat at least one pasture egg a day (DELICIOUS, such a difference) but will definitely be cutting eggbeaters from my diet. I love learning about real foods and cooking clean for my family, thank you!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
Great Erica! I am so glad this post helped expose how dangerous egg beaters are to eat .. it is really just a chemistry experiment in a carton, most definitely not really even food!
Johman
Well that’s just great! Now when I’m checking out an order with 6 cartons of Egg Beaters in it (sadly, not freakishly uncommon) I’ll have to bite my tongue so I don’t ask them if they have some rats they’re trying to kill.
I scan so much crapola every day, that I’m lucky my tongue’s not completely severed from restraining myself from saying anything.
However, I did have a nice conversation with a young mother buying the non-homogenized, low temp past. milk last night. She asked if I’d seen King Corn and I told her about The Healthy Home Economist and the post on New Zealand and “Food Safety” bill.
Refreshing to meet someone in person who doesn’t want their head stuck in the sand.
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist
Your comment made me giggle. You are a better person than me .. if I were a grocery store cashier, I wouldn’t last a single day before being booted out for chastising the customers for either their gluttonous habits or misinformed food choices.
paula
Both you and I would get fired within the day. LOL
Ariel
So funny that you said this. Whenever we buy from the grocery store (all we buy there are some organic vegetables, frozen organic berries, and the occasional kerrygold butter.), the casheers all know my mom as the “organic lady with all the kids!” They’re always asking her whether she saw some good coconuts (we alway make coconut milk) over in the produce section, or they’re telling her that they just got a new order of the grassfed raw cheese in from New Zealand. I love our Publix here on FL’s beautiful east coast!
Barb
Thank you for posting this. I shared on my Facebook page
Chris Paulitz (@ChrisPaulitzDC)
Look like Charlie Sheen or Brad Pitt? Egg Beaters: Food for Fools: http://t.co/SkW893qq #organic