Switching To An Egg Alternative Provides More Than Just Health Benefits

For far too long, vegans and people with egg allergies were limited to egg alternatives like flax seed eggs, turmeric tofu scrambles, and whipped aquafaba — options that left them without the joy of a morning omelet or breakfast egg bites. But JUST Egg, a vegan egg substitute that mimics the consistency and color of conventional eggs, has changed all of that. From Whole Foods to Costco (via Veg News), the bottles can be found virtually anywhere, containing a golden liquid that's equally beneficial for the egg-intolerant and egg eaters alike.

Nutritionally, JUST Egg is comparable to actual eggs. With five grams of protein and no saturated fats, it's cholesterol free (via JUST Egg). But, that's not the only reason egg eaters could benefit from adding an egg alternative like JUST Egg to their diet. Made from a legume known as mung bean and turmeric (via JUST Egg), alternating Just Egg and regular eggs is an easy way to add plant-protein diversity to your meals (via Eating Well) — not to mention reduce the impact your diet has on the environment.

As Alex Caspero, a registered dietitian in Saint Louis, told Eating Well, "It's becoming harder to look at the nutritional impact of food without examining environmental impact." To be fair, the egg and poultry industry has made a fair shot at reducing their own toll on the environment: using 31% less water, producing 71% greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to soil health by recycling manure, and even increasing the life expectancy of their chickens (via The Sustainability Alliance). However, they're a long way away from matching that of egg alternatives.

Being plant-based, the production of egg alternatives like JUST Egg leaves out one thing that actual eggs could never — that is, unless the cultivated food industry discovers a way to grow eggs. The major outlier would, of course, be the chickens who produce the eggs, which gives alternatives a huge headstart in the race to cut emissions. According to JUST Egg, their product uses 98% less water, 83% less land, and 93% fewer carbon emissions. So, not only could alternating JUST Egg and chicken eggs add plant-protein diversity to your diet, but it'd also offset the carbon emissions of your egg consumption.