The Incredible Edible Pastured Egg

As many of you know, I am a big proponent of pastured eggs. Pastured eggs are eggs (obviously) from hens that are allowed to eat their natural diet. They are allowed to graze in open pasture (hence the name) and eat insects, maggots, grass, etc and get lots of sunshine and exercise. These eggs blow the socks off of anything you can get commercially, even omega-3 eggs, which are a solid grocery store option.

To illustrate the difference between the very solid omega-3 eggs, in which the hens are fed a diet usually rich in flax, providing more healthy omega-3 fats and the even greater eggs from pastured hens, I have taken a few pictures. Fortunately for me the First Lady of CP, Anna Sleeper, brought me some pastured eggs from a farm near her parents home in Brewer, Maine. In the picture below the omega-3 eggs are on the left, and the pastured eggs are on the right.

As you can see, the pastured eggs have much richer looking yolks, they are near orange in color, are larger, and stand up higher than the omega-3 eggs.

I made a 3-egg omelet with each, to show the difference in color and see how much more substantial the pastured eggs omelet is. The omega-3 omelet is on the left, and the pastured egg omelet is on the right. As you can clearly see the pastured egg omelet is much brighter and fuller in color, and blew the socks of the omega-3 eggs in flavor. It was as if they aren’t even the same food.

Below is an illustration of the difference in nutrition in 100 grams of your average pastured egg, and 100 grams of your average conventionally raised egg. It is striking to see the significantly greater nutrient density on paper, it is also just as striking to see and taste the difference in your morning omelet, and truly appreciate real food!

Vitamin A:

Conventional: 487 IU
Pastured avg: 792 IU

Vitamin D:

Conventional: 34 IU
Pastured avg: 136 – 204 IU

Vitamin E:

Conventional: 0.97 mg
Pastured avg: 3.73 mg

Beta-carotene:

Conventional: 10 mcg
Pastured avg: 79 mcg

Omega-3 fatty acids:

Conventional: 0.22 g
Pastured avg: 0.66 g

As you can clearly see, pastured eggs blow conventional eggs out of the water in all measures of awesomeness. They have 4-6 times the vitamin D content, and if you are like me and have 5 whole eggs every morning, that adds up quite nicely. One little caveat though, all those nutrients listed are either fats, or fat soluble nutrients, so you need to eat the yolks to actually take advantage of all the benefits an egg has to offer, so man up and eat the whole thing.

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About Brian St. Pierre 6 Articles

Brian is a Registered Dietitian (RD) and received his Bachelor’s in Human Nutrition and Dietetics from the University of Maine, where he also received his Master’s in Food Science and Human Nutrition. He is a Certified Sports Nutritionist (CISSN) as well as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS).

Brian worked for three years at Cressey Sports Performance as the head Sports Nutritionist and as a Strength and Conditioning Coach, working with hundreds of athletes and recreational exercisers of all types. During this time, he also authored the High Performance Handbook Nutrition Guide, Show and Go Nutrition Guide, Ultimate Hockey Nutrition, Ultimate Hockey Transformation Nutrition, and dozens of articles for publication.

Nowadays, Brian is the Director of Performance Nutrition at Precision Nutrition, working with a host of professional sports teams including the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Browns, and more. He also works closely with Dr. John Berardi as a nutrition educator at Precision Nutrition, writing articles, presenting at seminars, and educating other fitness professionals as part of PN’s Certification courses.

Brian is a regular contributor to the Precision Nutrition blog, and has been featured in Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Q Magazine, STACK, Testosterone Magazine, and more. He is also regularly featured in many fitness and nutrition podcasts. Check out his published articles.

With his contagious passion and enthusiasm Brian is able to communicate with people of all ages, from a multitude of backgrounds, which has allowed him to work with young student athletes, professional athletes, and working professionals alike. With his obvious passion for seeing his clients succeed, Brian is able to use his knowledge, experience, and energy to create highly effective training and nutrition programs for clients of any age and background. Feel free to contact Brian at brian@brianstpierretraining.com.

Brian lives with his beautiful wife Anna and their two children, Kate and Will. He resides in Scarborough, Maine.