I have a simple question. Are eggs something you need to count carbs from? They each have about 1 gram a piece as far as I know, but in the Atkins book it says that they are a "free" food and you can eat them as liberally as you want to. Anyone have some input?

I don't know anyone who would WANT to eat more than 3-4 eggs... me personally I gotta force the suckers down. I can't stand eggs anymore :/

But to answer your question, from my experience, I would say to keep the eggs to a minimum of 3-4 a day... 5 max. They still have a lot of cholesterol in them. But as far as counting them as carbs, you can if you want, but don't really need to. Foods like cheese, butter, eggs, diet pop, lettuce, ect. I never bother counting.

Yeah, I've wondered about eggs too..I never know if I should count them or not. Anyone else have any ideas?

keep the eggs to a minimum of 3-4 a day... 5 max. They still have a lot of cholesterol in them.

my diet is mainly made up of eggs, i eat around 10 a day, i've found that the protien to fat ratio is perfect for this diet and it speeds up the weight loss process. although eggs have alot of cholesterol its good, and actually improves your limph nodes in the blood, cholesterol in eggs is only bad if you mix it with a high calorie high carb diet. i've also found that i don't need to count the carbs in eggs however when i have over 15 carbs from vegies not including the eggs i don't lose but i'm still in kitosis.

sorry if i messed up the quote, i've never done it before

Eggs are a nearly perfect source of easily digestible protein and so useful in cooking, especially low-carb cooking. I eat lots of 'em these days, although yeah, you can get sick of them sometimes. I make my own hollandaise sauce and sometimes my own fresh mayonnaise, though, which use egg yolks.

Some books express concerns about arachidonic acid (the Zone, and Protein Power), which is present in beef and egg yolks. In the Zone, Dr. Sears says that arachidonic acid leads to the creation of "bad" eicosanoids, less favorable precursors to bodily hormones, thus influencing the hormones in a less favorable way. So if that concerns you, you might want to consider reducing beef and egg yolks for a while and see if it helps you out. You can always make scrambled eggs with some extra whites and less yolks. Also, in Protein Power they say that marinating beef in red wine helps remove the acid, and that sounds like a fine idea!

Everyone has different ways of doing the diet. If eating 10 eggs a day for you works, then that's great. I honestly don't know if there is anything wrong with eating that many eggs. However, in my opinion, it's never good to eat too much of anything. As Dr. Atkins says in his book, "everything in moderation". When he said that, he isn't just talking about treats and bacon and stuff, he is talking about everything, including eggs. In my opinion, eating almost entirely eggs, or any other product as the majority of any diet is never a good idea. But anyways, good points by you also, but I fear we are confusing the original poster...

You can eat as many eggs as you can stomach! They are about 0.6 carbs each for a medium egg.

Back when I started Atkins, some days I ate 6-8 eggs a day...lol. Now I eat 2-3 unless I eat if for dinner, too or have hard boiled eggs as a snack. They are wonderful! So full of fat and protein and so low in carbs. I do count the carbs though.


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I do count the carbs...they are very minimal anyhow.

I am a firm believer in counting ALL the carbs. You can easily go way beyond your CCLL by loading up on the carbs in cups of coffee, cheese and eggs and cream which DO have carbs if you don't pay attention. I use Fitday to plan my menus and track my actual eating... it keeps me very aware of my total intake.

As for the eggs ... eat them up. Great food source and usually are self limiting.

Atkins says (on his website) that eggs without the yolk are .4 gram of carbs per, and if you eat the whole egg...it's just .6 gram carb. I count them as 1 gram just to stay safe

The point to the list of induction foods and what you can eat liberaly and what's limited is basicaly so you odn't have to count carbs in the begining. While eggs do have carbs, they ar eminimal and the protien does help to minimize the impact on blood sugar.

If you aren't losing during induction, then you may want to keep a closer eye on the carbs and include every one in the count. Once you enter OWL it is your responsibility to keep track of carbs as you are adding in more foods and then it becomes more important to track the exact carb amounts.

Liberaly is missleading though. Remember you should only eat until satisfied, not stuffed. If you are a real egg lover and have a ton in the morning, why not start by making 1 less and deciding after if you are satisfied or still hungry. If you are still hungry then have more. If you are eating 20 eggs a day, then are you really stopping at satisfied, and are you eating the required amount of veggies?

Yes they do have carbs, I usually count each egg as .5 carbs, so 2 eggs equals l carb.

my understanding of the atkins diet is that in the absence of carbs/sugar/insulin, cholesterol from eggs or otherwise will not raise your bad cholesterol. so this would not be a reason to eat less eggs.
that being said - i cant stand more than a couple every other day. i need to increase my egg repertoire - right now i just fry, scramble or devil. this is good inspiration for me to try one of the mock danish recipes today

- sim

He does say that but he also does say somewhere "within reason" I think. If you ate 100 steaks a day you'd probably gain weight regardless of the zero carb factor. If you eat 20 eggs a day it might add up. Aside from that I don't count them much either.