Eggo waffles

Are Eggo Waffles Bad For You?

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If you have seen Stranger Things on Netflix, you have seen how obsessed Eleven is with Eggo waffles. Not just fictional characters, many Americans are obsessed with the delicious frozen waffles. So, you may have been thinking about trying Eggo waffles for breakfast. But are Eggo waffles bad for you?

Eggo waffles are made of processed ingredients. These frozen waffles contain wheat flour, eggs, vegetable oil, and baking soda. Also, people often have cream, butter, and syrups as topics while eating waffles. Thus, the waffles are not quite healthy. 

In this article, you will find out if it is unhealthy to eat Eggo waffles. So, let us learn more about the ingredients of the delicious waffles and how they can affect your health. 

What Are Eggo Waffles? 

Eggo is a frozen waffle brand owned by Kellogg in the United States. The company claims that they make waffles with lots of eggs. The customers also acknowledge the flavor of the eggs. In 1953, Frank Dorsa and his brothers Anthony and Sam brought “Froffles” into the market. It is a special frozen waffle that does not need a waffle iron to make. 

Hence, the waffles became popular as “Eggos” instead of their original name, “Froffles.” Eventually, in 1955, the inventor Frank Dorsa and his brothers changed the name to “Eggo”. Although Eggo hit the market in the 1950s, it was not popular. 

The Dorsa brothers sold Eggo to a company that was eventually obtained by the giant company Kellogg. With the publicity and attractive commercials, Eggo gained popularity in the 1970s. Since then, waffles have become a common breakfast in American households. 

There are different varieties of Eggo Waffles available in the market. You can get homestyle, blueberry, cherry, strawberry, vanilla bliss, apple cinnamon, brown sugar cinnamon, chocolate chip, buttermilk, oats and berries, whole wheat, and gluten-free. 

These tasty varieties of waffles also come in different sizes and forms. There are large and mini size Eggo Waffles. You can have them in cake, donut, or stick form. 

The various flavors, sizes, and forms made Eggo Waffles one of the most popular frozen waffles in the USA. Moreover, it takes only a few minutes to bake the pre-made waffles. Thus, adults and children alike enjoy eating Eggo. 

What Are Eggo Waffles Made of? 

There are about ten flavors of Eggo Waffles. They have common ingredients but also contain different ingredients for different flavors. All these tasty flavors and the convenience of easy preparation surely tempt people to try them at least once. 

However, if you are a healthy eater, you must want to know what is getting into your body. So, let us check the ingredients of some popular Eggo Waffle flavors: 

Eggo Waffles Flavor Ingredients 
Homestyle WafflesEnriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, vitamin B1 [thiamin mononitrate], vitamin B2 [riboflavin], folic acid), vegetable oil (soybean and palm, canola and/or cottonseed), water, eggs, sugar, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate), salt, dextrose, spice, soy lecithin, whey. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium carbonate, reduced iron, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B12.
Blueberry Waffles Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, vitamin B1 [thiamin mononitrate], vitamin B2 [riboflavin], folic acid), vegetable oil (soybean and palm, canola and/or cottonseed), water, eggs, sugar, dextrose, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), modified corn starch, salt, maltodextrin, natural flavors, blueberries, blueberry juice concentrate for color, black carrot juice concentrate for color, soy lecithin, whey. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium carbonate, reduced iron, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B12.
Chocolate Chips Waffles Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, vitamin B1 [thiamin mononitrate], vitamin B2 [riboflavin], folic acid),  sugar, vegetable oil (soybean, palm, palm kernel, canola and/or cottonseed), water eggs, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate), cocoa, chocolate, salt, molasses, dextrose, natural flavors, nonfat milk, soy lecithin. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium carbonate, reduced iron, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), vitamin B12.

Other flavors contain the same ingredients with some extra ingredients and flavor. You can check the ingredients in the packaging of the products. 

Are Eggo Waffles Bad For You?

As you can see in the ingredient list, the most common ingredient in all flavors is enriched flour. All the Eggo waffles have refined white flour, vegetable oil, egg, sugar, salt, and baking soda. 

Except for glutton-free flavor, all the waffles have enriched flour, not whole grain. Enriched flour is actually white flour, which is high in carbohydrates and low in nutrients. 

So, your stomach may get full after eating Eggo, but you will not get the essential nutrients that you should get from your breakfast. Moreover, your stomach will not even stay full for a long time, you will feel hungry in a short time again. Hence, you may have to eat again, which means more calories get into your body. 

Then, you can see Eggo Waffles contain vegetable oils such as soybean, palm, palm kernel, canola, and cottonseed oils. The highly processed vegetable oil is high in calories that are not good for health. 

Like any other pre-made baked breakfast, Eggo has added sugar to enhance the taste. On top of that, people often have butter, cream, or chocolate syrup as topping on their waffles. Thus, eating them regularly as breakfast can be an unhealthy choice. 

You should not forget Eggo also contains salt and leavening agents like baking soda. While these ingredients containing sodium carbonate enhance the taste of the waffles, consuming too much of them is surely harmful to your health. 

Consuming ingredients like processed flour, vegetable oil, sugar, butter, and baking soda in high amounts is detrimental to health. Unfortunately, many adults and children in the USA eat frozen waffles and pancakes regularly for breakfast. This habit can lead to obesity, which causes heart diseases and diabetes.  

Should You Eat Eggo Waffle?

Now, should you eat Eggo Waffles or any other frozen waffles from the supermarket? Well, the answer depends on a few factors. If you want to eat Eggo waffles as a fun breakfast or a quick breakfast, you can definitely do that. But make sure frozen waffles do not become a breakfast item or snack every day. 

Remember, no matter how tasty the food is, eating excessively will harm you and your family members. Although Eggo waffles contain a good amount of calories, it has comparatively lower calories than most other frozen waffle brands in the current market. Generally, 100 grams of Eggo waffle contains 278 calories. 

Then again, Eggo waffles are better substitutes for other breakfast items such as fried bacon, sausages, or eggs. Eggo waffles do not contain high calories like these items. On top of that, they do not take much time to prepare. 

Besides, Eggo waffles contain many healthy ingredients. It has egg as one of the key ingredients and some vitamins, especially vitamin B2 and vitamin B12. Also, some flavors like Blueberry Eggo and Strawberry Eggo contain actual blueberries and strawberries. 

However, if you are still concerned about the high amount of carbohydrates and calories, you can take some measures to manage that. You can buy the glutton-free Eggo flavor. Instead of enriched wheat flour, this flavor contains whole oats flour and rice flour. In addition, it is rich in vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, and vitamin B12. 

You can manage calories by limiting the topping for the waffles. You can also keep balance by removing other high-calorie foods from the meal and replacing them with nutritious food like vegetables and fruits.  

Eggo waffles are best as a quick breakfast item. You may not have the time to make breakfast every day. So, you can bake frozen Eggo waffles in the oven for three to five minutes. You will get hot, crispy, and tasty waffles in no time. 

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