Egg is a permanent diet mate

Balanced diet is facing an emergency situation due to epidemic avian influenza (AI). The egg is one of the popular diet foods as it is cheap and has low calories. But the price of a package of 30 eggs rose steeply in recent months due to sudden shortage in supply.

The egg is a food that is helpful for diet as it provides quality protein with low calories. A boiled egg (70 grams) delivers 70~80kcal and a fried egg delivers around 100kcal. As it contains 6~7 grams of protein and all kinds of nutrients except vitamin C, the egg is known as a perfect food. When they want to control weight, many people take egg white only, excluding yolk because yolk contains cholesterol. In reality, however, the cholesterol contained in yolk is HDL cholesterol, beneficial cholesterol that prevents atherosclerosis by removing LDL cholesterol, harmful cholesterol. And yolk adjusts appetite and activates neurons by helping normalization of functions of cranial nerve and secretion of hormones. Moreover, it contains rich vitamins and protein. Eggs are popular because they can be used for diverse purposes ranging from snacks for diet to alternative meals. Particularly, calories of eggs can be controlled by putting water instead of oil when frying eggs. And people can take tasty and high quality protein if they make omelet by adding bean-curd mixed with tomato source and button mushrooms.

But it is burdensome to buy eggs because of their high price. What will be an alternative under this situation? In general, people think of boiled eggs or chicken brisket as protein, but there are many foods containing quality protein. Protein-rich and low-priced foods that can substitute eggs include bean-curd, chicken tenderloin, cuttlefish, webfoot octopus, shrimp, quail’s egg and chub mackerel. Canned tuna or salmon can be helpful for supplementing protein, but grease should be removed before taking them if you are controlling weight. These foods can be used as materials for dietary cuisines, such as roasted foods and salad. Typically, one can cook ‘cuttlefish stuffed with bean-curd’ using protein-rich cuttlefish and bean-curd.

Shin fore shank is helpful for reducing weight while enjoying tasty beef. Shin fore shank is a part of beef that has the highest protein and low fat. Content of fat in beef per 100 grams represents one fifth of that in pork, and fat content in that part of beef is lower than that in poultry. With low content of cholesterol and rich amino acid, such beef is helpful for enhancing immune function, skin care and preventing iron deficiency. But it is advisable to take 100 grams of beef per meal.

“Improper intake of protein while on a diet will sharply increase possibility of developing yo-yo syndrome. If one cannot afford eggs due to high price, one needs to take proper quantity of protein at every meal even with foods other than eggs”, said Kim U-jun, Chairman of 365mc Diet and Nutrition Committee.

Tips on making cuttlefish stuffed with bean-curd

Mash bean-curd and squeeze it to drain, and then mix with chopped green gram sprout, lentinula edodes, green pepper and red pepper

Mix these food materials with eggs evenly and make bun stuffing

Put such bun stuffing into the trunk of cleaned cuttlefish, and steam it in a steamer after stitching its opening with a skewer

Slice the steamed trunk in thickness of 1centimeter each and eat with soy sauce mixed with vinegar