As most of you know, the egg supply here in New Zealand at the moment can be hit (with sometimes increased prices) or miss. 

Given that an egg is basically a food-based multivitamin containing vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, vitamin E, vitamin K2, folate, iodine, iron, selenium, essential fatty acids, cholesterol, zinc, protein and choline, I wanted to share what to do if you find yourself eggsactly where you don’t want to be - outta eggs.

While most of these nutrients can be found in a well-rounded and balanced diet that includes both animal and plant foods, there is one exception and that is choline. Given the fact that it’s estimated 90% of women are already not meeting their needs for choline WITH access to eggs, I can only imagine what the impact of this limited egg supply will be.

Choline plays a critical role throughout life, especially for pregnant and lactating women, and it directly affects a baby’s brain development. According to Lily Nichols in her fabulous book, Real Food For Pregnancy, choline is required for fetal brain development, placental function, neural tube defect prevention and shares many of the same nutritional benefits as folate. And that’s in pregnancy! What isn’t well known is that needs for choline are actually higher during breastfeeding than any other time in a woman’s life.

In pregnancy, the daily requirement is 450 mg/day and eggs are the richest source of this nutrient with 2 large cooked eggs serving up 294 mg. The next major food source of choline (which won’t be a surprise to any of my clients or community) is one of my favourites, liver. In 70 grams of liver there is 245 mg of choline, with the next food source being cooked salmon with only 85 mg, so you can see that eggs and choline are our top foods to focus on here.

Liver, especially when served as chicken liver pate (you can find my recipe here) is one of my favourite foods to offer to mothers and young children for the incredible nutrients this organ boasts. Similarly to eggs, liver is like a food-based multivitamin, with vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin K, folate, iron, copper, zinc. In fact, Lily Nichols goes on to say that liver happens to be rich in almost every other vitamin and mineral that modern nutrition science has identified so far.

When including liver in your diet, I recommend small amounts 1-2 times a week, but each individual is unique and has different needs so always check in with your healthcare professional for your own nutrition. To read more about the safety of consuming vitamin A in pregnancy, click here.

Many of us enjoy eggs in some shape or form for breakfast at the beginning of the day, so I wanted to share my top three egg-free breakfast options if you are unable to source eggs or unable to currently tolerate them:

• Sausages (additive-free) with sauerkraut and roast vegetables

• Chicken liver pate spread on vegetable fritters with guacamole

• Any leftover protein with vegetables (breakfast food is a completely made up thing you know?)

There is nothing I love more than supporting mothers to include more traditional nutrient-dense foods, like liver (and eggs when we can get ‘em!) into their diets and their families too.