Ruining the Impossible Burger
lauragreenbaum
Posts: 1,017 Member
I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
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Replies
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Everything in moderation... But for what it's worth calorie wise I would rather eat a Whopper.14
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If you like it then keep on enjoying it.
I don't see any food as bad, calories are what counts and if that burger fits in yours then why not?8 -
Soy isn't horrible though it is a xenoestrogen, so it will interact with certain medications. I have to pay attention to soy because I'm on a thyroid replacement hormone and my body can't modulate thyroid output levels on it's own. So I can eat soy, but I have to be *consistent* in whatever level of soy I'm ingesting, so that my consistent dose of thyroid will produce consistent results.
If you don't have an allergy or a medical reason to avoid or monitor soy, it's just food.
Soy is added to a lot of products to increase protein content, so it may be getting a bad rap from annoyed people who need to monitor or control soy intake, only to find it EVERYWHERE. Like gluten or added sugars. I imagine that could be frustrating, but again - this isn't something most people really even need to worry about.21 -
It's not "bad" for you. Yes, it's person-made from these ingredients: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin <--I am assuming that's the stuff that makes it look "bloody", Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.
Its nutrition profile (4 oz)
240 calories
14 g fat (8 g saturated)
370 mg sodium
19 g protein
9 g carbohydrates
3 g fiber
Less than 1 g sugar
It might have less negative environmental impact than a 4 oz beef burger although I don't know that for a fact, and of course no bovines were harmed in its production which is important to people who have decided not to eat animals on purpose.
Don't sweat it, OP.
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Soy is not bad for you. Some people claim it is, but I've never seen any evidence. It's been widely eaten for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Yes, the impossible burger is processed, but so is any fast food.3 -
lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
Listening to other people and their particular food biases is what is bad for you. Your pilates instructor has likely no more food nutrition training than your auto mechanic. If you listen to enough people you will be left with next to nothing to eat.
Anything can be bad for you if you eat or drink too much of it including water. Food is only good or bad if it causes a specific and measurable negative reaction for you. That doesn't even mean it is bad for someone else it just means it is bad for you. I have a negative and reproducible reaction to eating salads from McD or at least I did a few years ago. It is not fatal but within 20 minutes of eating one if there is no restroom around (hopefully 20 feet or less) it will be quite embarrassing.27 -
Anything you eat twice a month is fine, excluding poisons. Anything you eat twice a week is pretty much fine, too. It's when you get to the "eating X everyday" level that maybe it's time to take stock. Worrying about something you eat every couple of weeks is really overthinking the nutrition thing, imho.13
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lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
If engineered things are bad, why be on a website made with software engineering principles?
If you mean the soy is geneticallyengineered, again, so what? There's nothing wrong with genetically engineering agriculture. Whenever I ask anyone what's bad about it, I get hand waivy talk of certain company names, or unnatural in scare quotes, but no scientific evidence of something harmful. Heck, I've rarely seen someone understand biology above high school level talk about genetic engineering as unsafe.19 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
If engineered things are bad, why be on a website made with software engineering principles?
If you mean the soy is geneticallyengineered, again, so what? There's nothing wrong with genetically engineering agriculture. Whenever I ask anyone what's bad about it, I get hand waivy talk of certain company names, or unnatural in scare quotes, but no scientific evidence of something harmful. Heck, I've rarely seen someone understand biology above high school level talk about genetic engineering as unsafe.
If it was not for food engineering our fresh produce sections would be very very different and sparse including a fair amount of the things marked organic.15 -
lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
To be blunt, your instructor doesn't really know what they are talking about. There are a lot of scare buzzwords associated with the impossible burger, like "soy" "GMO" and "processed", but they don't really mean anything. There is nothing wrong with eating any of those things. People love to virtue signal about "natural" foods, but there's no real research behind it to back it up.
The impossible burger is not a low calorie food. Their whopper has almost as many calories as the regular whopper, as well as fat. It's a big part of what makes it taste good. So if you are looking at an impossible burger as a low cal option, it is not always the best choice, but as long as it fits within your calories, go for it.
And don't take nutrition advice from a Pilates instructor.24 -
A lot of people decide certain foods are bad, for nebulous reasons, and then seem like a guru for having this mysterious knowledge.10
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I'm still waiting for impossible french fries.9
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lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
When somebody tells me something I know is wrong, like your Pilates instructor suggesting soy is something nobody should eat, it makes me doubt them not only on the subject that they're wrong about, but also on the subject that they're supposed to know about (like Pilates), because they obviously have no ability to judge their own lack of knowledge. If they don't know when they're just spouting nonsense, how do know when they're right or wrong about Pilates? So I wouldn't take this person's advice about anything.15 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
When somebody tells me something I know is wrong, like your Pilates instructor suggesting soy is something nobody should eat, it makes me doubt them not only on the subject that they're wrong about, but also on the subject that they're supposed to know about (like Pilates), because they obviously have no ability to judge their own lack of knowledge. If they don't know when they're just spouting nonsense, how do know when they're right or wrong about Pilates? So I wouldn't take this person's advice about anything.
She's actually a great instructor- it may be that she's allergic to soy. I'll ask her.2 -
Quite a few people think soy is bad, either because much soy is GMO, or because it's a source of phytoestrogens.
Neither of these has been demonstrated to be a sigificant problem, via actual repeatable science (absent allergies or the like, of course).
Personally, I think fake meat is icky, and the more it tastes like meat, the ickier it is.
IMO, your Pilates instructor's opinion should influence your eating behavior about as much as my ickiness perception: Not at all.12 -
I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I did try the impossible whopper out of curiosity. I highly doubted their claims that you can’t tell it isn’t real meat, but I did actually find it pretty tasty. If you were eating it because you don’t want to eat meat, it’s probably one of the better meat alternatives out there. If you just thought it was “healthier”, the nutrition profile is close enough to the regular burger to make the slightly higher cost not worth it. Or maybe you just liked the burger. Whatever your reason, someone who is not an expert in nutrition (your Pilates instructor) telling you it’s bad shouldn’t deter you at all. Eat what you like.9
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iheartmyyorkie wrote: »I'm still waiting for impossible french fries.
I think Burger King did have some lower calorie fries about 5 years ago. They called them Satisfries. They were crinkle cut instead of their typical style fries. I think their claim on those was that there was a different batter on them that didn’t allow as much oil to be absorbed during frying them. They didn’t last very long...2 -
https://foodinsight.org/sound-science-history-of-soy-and-health/
This article gives info on soy and soy studies. At the bottom is a section on soy misconceptions including breast cancer risk. You will have no luck changing the mind of someone who is convinced soy is bad, though.
I've been pescatarian for over 20 years, eating mostly a vegetarian diet. I haven't yet tried any of these newer higher calorie faux meats. I do use faux meats, but I generally select ones that are lower calorie and, ideally, with a decent nutrition profile. My go to for a quick burger (if I haven't made my own bean burger) is the Boca vegan one (now called Turk'y). It's under 100 calories and is healthy enough for me.
I see no reason you shouldn't enjoy your occasional impossible burger!3 -
I haven't eaten a burger or a pizza for several years but I still love esting my NY strip steaks
Just personal choice but I certainly wouldn't want to eat a veggie burger (regardless of how you label it) if it has essentially the same cals as a regular burger.
What's the point of doing THAT!??5 -
magnusthenerd wrote: »lauragreenbaum wrote: »I love the Impossible burger- yummy plant based "burger". One of my Pilates instructors was talking about it before class yesterday- that it's really not good for you, it's engineered, there's soy in it (is soy horrible??) etc. I'm not eating it a lot- maybe twice a month as a treat. Please let me love it! I mean...how "bad" for me is it?
If engineered things are bad, why be on a website made with software engineering principles?
If you mean the soy is geneticallyengineered, again, so what? There's nothing wrong with genetically engineering agriculture. Whenever I ask anyone what's bad about it, I get hand waivy talk of certain company names, or unnatural in scare quotes, but no scientific evidence of something harmful. Heck, I've rarely seen someone understand biology above high school level talk about genetic engineering as unsafe.
I just have to address this without yet reading the rest of the thread @magnusthenerd
Bad example web site you chose, if looking for one developed with sound engineering principles!!!6
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