(I have to credit my wife’s cousin Allan for this one. Not what he expected, though.)
I don’t intend to address the philosophical question. Instead, I will address the nutrition question. The short answer: the chicken and the egg.
Protein is important. It is very important. After all, we need it to build and maintain skeletal muscle—as well as countless other structures and functions in the body. It is the first of the macros I prefer to calculate. While we can maintain structure and function with as little as 0.6 g per kilogram of body weight, 0.8-1.0 g/kg BW is considered more ideal. Much more than 1.2 g/kg BW is considered excessive—albeit safe provided the kidneys are functioning properly.
Chicken and eggs are both rather lean and inexpensive sources of protein. Despite the bad reputation that eggs received during the low fat-low cholesterol era, the cholesterol in eggs is essential for many hormones (e.g., testosterone). Whole eggs, therefore, are good for muscle growth—hypertrophy. In a hypercaloric massing diet, whole eggs can be eaten in abundance (provided you don’t have high cholesterol and are getting carbohydrates and eating other healthy fats—e.g., olive oil, avocado, etc.). For those of use limited to a more eucaloric or hypocaloric diet, egg whites are a great source of protein. By themselves, egg white are entirely too boring for most tastes, but mixed with vegetables, seasoning, and maybe some chicken, they can be quite good.
Egg whites are nearly only protein, so that are great to fill the holes in your macros. For example, when why kids whine that they are bored with chicken, and my wife buys steak for dinner, I will often cook up the necessary egg whites to make up the difference (the fat to protein ratio in beef is often not congruent with my prescribed protein and fat). This often happens on burger night.
We buy egg whites in the carton. They are much easier to store and to measure—and what is one to do with the leftover yolks?
In my household, we don’t bother to ask which came first. (Of course, the kids will ask: “Chicken, again??”) We also eat tons of veggies, so there is almost always leftover chicken and vegetables to scramble up with egg whites in the morning. If you can’t bear to eat egg whites, try the liquid egg substitutes (but watch for too many added ingredients). The look and taste more like whole eggs. Be aware, though, that there are nutrients lost from not eating the whole egg.
By themselves, eggs and chicken meal-after-meal can be boring, but that’s where the healthy carbs and creative meal planning come in. Of course, if you are like me the simplicity of the same meal day after day isn’t that hard to bear and makes healthy meal-planning pretty mindless.
So, don’t ask which came first. Ask: “What are my proper portion sizes?”
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!