Many people ask, “Which brand or product is good for my health?” when starting an optimizing health journey.
From eggs to meat, water to veggies, you can spend an entire life trying to figure out the “right” option for each thing you consume daily. I wish there were an easy black-and-white answer, but the reality is that our world doesn’t even know a fraction of how our body works.
However, from our experience, I gathered tips on which attributes to look for when buying eggs so you can get a head start with clarity to support your health journey best.
3 Questions to ask when you are looking to buy eggs.
- What are the fed?
- How are they raised?
- Are they washed?
1. What are they fed?
What the chickens are fed is a crucial question to ask when optimizing your health. I am sure you have heard this saying, “We eat what we eat eats.” Commercial chickens are usually fed a formulated diet designed to promote rapid growth, high egg production, or both, depending on their purpose (broilers for meat or layers for eggs).
- Grains like Corn, Wheat, Barley, and Sorghum for carbs
- Soybean meal, Canola meal, Fish meal, etc for protein
- Vegetable oils for fats
- Additives/Antibiotics to enhance the color of the yolk or to prevent parasitic disease
They do this because corn and soy are the cheapest and most fattening grains available today.
Consuming chicken eggs that eat the feeds listed above, there is a high chance that you’ll be exposed to GMOs, pesticide residue, antibiotic residue, and more, especially when they’re not organic. Yes, a little bit here and there may be fine, but when those toxins accumulate in our system, many things start to go wrong in our bodies.
- What does corn do to our bodies?: About 90% of the corn grown in the U.S. is GMO, mainly designed to resist pests (by producing an insect-killing toxin) and to tolerate herbicides, which allows them heavy glyphosate spraying. Glyphosate is linked to gut microbiome disruption, potential hormonal effects, and concerns over long-term health risks. Some studies even suggest glyphosate can act as an endocrine disruptor. Read more here to dive deeper into how corn affects our body.
- Soy is not as healthy as they say: Just like corn, over 90% of the soy grown in the U.S. is GMO, mainly for the same reasons. On top of that, soy contains isoflavones, which act like weak estrogens in our body. Isoflavones are phytoestrogens, which cause issues in the body by binding to estrogen receptors, potentially mimicking or blocking estrogen’s effects. This effect can disrupt the delicate balance of hormones in the body, interfere with thyroid function, etc.
“…corn and soybeans… cause the animals’ fat to be chemically equivalent to vegetable oil. In the late 1940s, chemical toxins were used to suppress the thyroid function of pigs, to make them get fatter while consuming less food. When that was found to be carcinogenic, it was then found that corn and soy beans had the same antithyroid effect, causing the animals to be fattened at a low cost. The animals’ fat becomes chemically similar to the fats in their food, causing it to be equally toxic and equally fattening.” – Dr. Ray Peat
- Why avoid vegetable oil: Hydrogenated vegetable oil is widely known to contain trans fats, which promote heart disease, inflammation, and insulin resistance. These oils are highly processed using heat and metal catalysts, destroying nutrients and creating unnatural fat molecules that harm the body. Additionally, they are high in Omega-6 fatty acids, which can contribute to chronic inflammation when consumed in excess.
So basically, most of the food commercial chickens are fed is known to cause harm to our bodies… Yes, things were different 100 years ago. The corn was so much smaller and not so good looking, nor other produce like carrots, strawberries, soy, etc.
In 2025, we need a different approach than “eat what they used to eat.” Thinking we are getting the same quality food as we “used to” a long time ago is no longer accurate.
2. How are they raised?
Conventional egg-laying chickens (layers) are typically raised in industrial-scale farms under intensive conditions designed for maximum egg production at low cost. These conditions include cages, artificial lighting, and beak trimming.
- Battery Cage: Each hen has less space than a sheet of paper, meaning the hens are crammed together. This leads to stressful and unsanitary living conditions and a limitation on natural behaviors like nesting, dustbathing, or foraging.
- Forced laying cycles: When a certain wavelength of light reaches a chicken’s brain, it triggers a chain of events that leads to productive egg laying. Farms use artificial lighting to manipulate the hens’ reproductive cycle to increase egg production. They also practice what is called “forced molting” by withholding food and water for days to shock the hens into another laying cycle.
- Beak trimming: Their beaks are often trimmed at a young age to prevent pecking injuries because confined hens develop aggressive behaviors due to stress. (This is not surprising.) This is done without anesthesia, which causes pain and long-term sensitivity.
By consuming caged eggs, you unknowingly expose yourself to these detrimental elements, jeopardizing your well-being. Those innocent-looking eggs from caged hens can be a ticking time bomb for your health.
3. Are they washed?
When hens lay eggs, they are coated with a cuticle called “bloom.” This natural protective layer seals the eggshell to prevent unwanted bacteria (Salmonella) from entering.
Conventional farms use chlorine-based solutions or synthetic detergents to wash their bloom off to extend shelf life and meet USDA & other regulations. Those solution may be used with a good intention to kill Salmonella and other bacteria, but their residue is known to be linked to hormone disruption and other negative effects on our body. (We talk about how chlorine affects our body here.)
While washing the eggs removes external bacteria, it also makes them more vulnerable to contamination after washing since the bloom is gone. In fact, egg washing is banned in Europe, and eggs are sold unwashed with the bloom intact in Europe. Farms seem to focus on keeping nests clean to prevent contamination in the first place.
For your information, unwashed eggs last around two weeks unrefridgerated and about three months or more in the refrigerator, while washed eggs last two months in the fridge.
So, those are the three things to keep in mine when choosing eggs. Then, the question is…
Which eggs should I get?
I recommend getting Organic Pasture-Raised Eggs without corn or soy. No Grain would be the most ideal, but I haven’t been able to find any in our area.
We used to get Vital Fram’s Organic Pasture-Raised Eggs, but our health drastically improved once we switched to eggs sold at farmer’s markets.
When buying eggs from farmers, make sure to ask them what they feed their chickens. Some of them mean well and sure as heck put a lot of work into taking care of their chickens without a doubt, but that does not mean they share the same perspective on health.
Recommended sources
This is the only brand I have been able to find that ships nationwide:
If you still can’t find high-quality eggs, check out the websites below to see if you can find a good source of eggs, meat, and more.
