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Several weeks ago, we detailing how the OG of bodybuilding, Arnold Schwarzenegger, added egg shells into his daily protein shake. The feedback, perhaps inevitably, was polarising to say the least. Some readers backed the benefits of the egg shell and others couldn’t begin to understand the logic.
Regardless of what you made of Arnie’s bulk-up hack, it seems now that there’s even more science backing up the benefits of food waste. We’re not advocating that you start eating banana skins and blending tea bags, though, but instead pointing towards the purported benefits of smaller food groups such as watermelon seeds, egg shells, vegetable leaves and apple cores.
A 2013 study by Argentinian researchers found that egg shells, as demonstrated by Arnie, are exceptionally high in calcium, with one large egg housing your entire RDA of calcium at 700mg a day. Of course, it’s best consumed blended into a shake or — after being boiled or roasted in an oven to avoid salmonella risks — crushed into powder.
The same can be said for apple cores. At this point, however, it’s important to remember that eating apple cores won’t ‘kill you’. The seeds do contain traces of deadly cyanide, but you’d have to eat, chew and ingest over 150 seeds (that’s 20 apples) to notice an effect. On the flipside, researchers at Austria’s Graz University of Technology discovered that apple cores contain up to 10 per cent of an apple’s anti-bacterial benefits, helping boost digestive health and immunity to illness.
You can even get a bump of protein from an ingredient that’s often thrown out: melon seeds. Two tablespoons of watermelon seeds contain 10g of muscle-building protein (that’s more than an egg) and, according to studies published in the Journal Of Agriculture And Food Chemistry, you’ll get a significant hit of vitamin B, which is essential for healthy blood cells. Try roasting the seeds for 10 minutes in the oven for a mid-afternoon brain-boost.
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