By Nick Nilsson
Don't throw out your egg shells after cooking your eggs! You can actually make your own high-quality calcium supplement out of them.
Egg shells are an excellent source of bio-available calcium as a host of other trace minerals and nutrients. According to DrAxe.com, the additional calcium, strontium and fluorine provided by eggshells positively affects bone metabolism and can stimulate cartilage growth. They can even help protect tooth enamel!
So don't throw the baby out with the bath water...put your egg shells to good use.
Here's what the end product of the egg shell calcium-producing process I'm going to show you looks like...it's how I make my own egg shell calcium.
Step 1 - Keep Your Used Egg Shells in the Fridge
It's important that you keep them cold, just like regular eggs, until you're ready to process them. This should be pretty straightforward! I usually wait until I get about 18-24 egg shells ready to go before I make a batch. For me, this is about 3-4 days.
Step 2 - Wash Out The Egg Shells and Put Them in a Big Pot
With some water running, clean out any leftover egg whites from the shells, one at a time. You can pull off any stray bits of membrane that are dangling as well, but you don't want to remove everything. I just clean off the obvious stuff.
Step 3 - Boil The Egg Shells For At Least 10 Minutes
Get a good rolling boil going on the shells. The idea here is twofold...to kill any bacteria that may be lingering in the egg shells and to boil off any remaining whites.
You'll want to keep a good eye on the pot while it's coming to a boil. Here's what happens when the egg whites all boil up at the same time...big poofy egg white meringue! And if you don't turn the heat down, it will spill over onto your stovetop.
Once you've turned the heat down and it's on a low boil, use a big spoon to scoop the egg whites out.
I just put them into a small bowl. You'll be just washing this down the sink once the boiling is done.
Keep the boiling going for at least 10 minutes. This is what it will look like once you've scooped most of the egg white stuff out. Stir the shells occasionally to get the water into all the crevices. The shells will have a tendency to "nest" together so you'll want to try and keep them separated as much as you can (it's not easy).
Step 4 - Run Water Over The Egg Shells and Clean Them Again
After 10 minutes of boiling, put the pot in the sink then run cold water over the shells until all the white spills out and down the drain.
Clean the eggs shells one more time. Likely you'll find some that bits of solid egg whites in them now. And you'll find dangly bits of membrane that you can remove. Don't worry - there will be plenty of membrane attached to the shells still so you'll still get the nutritional benefits of the membrane.
As you clean out each shell, set it on a cookie sheet.
Step 5 - Leave Them Out to Air Dry Overnight Then Bake
Leaving them out overnight lets them dry almost completely.
When you come back the next morning, set your oven to 300 degrees then, when ready, bake the egg shells for 10 minutes to dry them out further.
The goal is to get every last bit of moisture out that we can. This will help them keep longer. When done properly, all that's left is dry stuff and no refrigeration is necesssary.
Step 6 - Grind Into Powder
The final step is to grind the dried shells into a fine powder. I'm using a NutriBullet blender for this...you can use a coffee grinder or spice grinder as well.
Pour them into an air-tight container once they're done and voila! You've got your own calcium supplement! I'm using an old gelato container for this.
How to Take Your Egg Shell Calcium
A half a teaspoon of eggshell powder supplies 400–500 milligrams of calcium.
You mix it into a glass of water to take. Fair warning, it doesn't really taste very good and if you're taking it in just water, you'll notice it does come out of the glass very readily...you'll need to swirl it around a lot or you'll be leaving a fair bit on the bottom.
I like to mix it in chia seeds (after they've soaked for 10 minutes). The chia seeds form a gel, which the calcium sticks to, making it easier to take. As well, chia is a decent source of calcium, too. I take this in the morning, right after breakfast...which is, ironically enough, half a dozen eggs...
You can also mix it in protein shakes, baked goods or pretty much anything else you can think of that you'd like to add calcium to, for example yogurt or nut butters.
You can even add it into your dog's food to provide them with some extra calcium for their teeth, nails and coat!
Conclusion
Egg shell calcium is one of the most bio-available forms of calcium you can take. The higher the quality of eggs it's made from, the higher quality of end product you'll get (i.e. organic, free-range eggs will give you a better calcium supplement than bargain basement factory farm eggs).
Bottom line, making your own egg shell calcium supplement is extremely easy and absolutely worth doing.
IMPORTANT!
Increasing your calcium intake is only one side of the nutritional coin.
Most people are actually deficient in MAGNESIUM. If you increase your intake of calcium, you do run the risk of putting your calcium/magnesium ratio out of balance even further.
I HIGHLY recommend you also take a good quality magnesium supplement to ensure you maintain an optimal intake of both nutrients. Magnesium is much harder to get from food sources so a supplement is definitely recommended.
Taking it can make a big difference in your health, sleep, strength and stress levels.
This is my highest-recommended magnesium supplement, called Magnesium Breakthrough.
it contains 7 different forms of magnesium, each of which supports a different function in the body. You need all 7 to get maximum benefit from magnesium supplementation.
Taking 2 capsules before you go to bed at night will help you get to sleep and stay asleep (magnesium is the "relaxing" part of the calcium/magnesium duo).
It's best to take your egg shell calcium supplement in the morning, separate from your magnesium as they share the same absorption pathway. If you take both at the same time (ie..a cal-mag supplement), you won't get the benefits of both.
As well, calcium is the "excitatory" part of the cal-mag duo, so it's better to take that during the day when you're awake.
Learn more about how Magnesium Breakthrough can help you sleep better, be stronger and deal with stress better.
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