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Thoughts on Beyond Burger and other fake meat
Replies
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I do eat "highly processed" plant foods (peanut butter powder, tofu, others) when they fit well into my nutritional goals, and taste good to me.
Which brings us back to the question -- does "highly processed" = "should be avoided if one cares about health."
I would say no, and that foods like this (among many others) illustrate why that's a problematic standard.
Is a specific "fake meat" product highly processed? I would expect so (depending on how we define fake meat -- I'll define it as "food intended to taste like meat"). Does it fit into a healthy diet? I can't answer that without knowing more about the specific product (although most foods do fit well into a healthy diet if the dosage makes sense).
What I disagree with is the claim that anything that qualifies as "highly processed" must be avoided if one cares about one's health.
(I also would agree with you, Ann, in disagreeing with any claim that 100% plant-based is the only healthy way to eat, although I would agree that eating more veg and fruit and more whole foods containing fiber than, say, the average American is a good idea, and that the average American also has a variety of other issues with their diet that a largely (and well-formulated) WFPB diet would improve upon. But so would a well-formulated Med diet, and a number of other sensible ways of eating.)2 -
It's my bad if this has already been pointed out (my excuse is that I'm getting over a nasty virus), but the Impossible Whopper was compared to the regular Whopper in the post you repI lied to was it not?
I did point out earlier that there was a small (100 mg) difference between the Whopper (no cheese) and the ImpossibleWhopper (which is a pretty tiny difference). I'm not sure why the numbers claimed by the PP for the ImpossibleWhopper were wrong, although I pointed out that they were.
The original point that the same poster made was the supposedly significant difference between a plain beef burger and a patty from the BeyondBeef product (or some other similar product). Those do have a difference of about 315 mg (which is still less than an average pinch of salt). The poster insisted that of course one would never add salt if concerned about sodium (sure, I assume one would also not add pickles and be careful in the choice of mustard), but the point was initially raised -- at least as it seemed to me -- to suggest that there was something inherently unhealthful about the level of sodium in the fake meat product, and the initial reference by that same poster to the sodium in the ImpossibleWhopper was to support that point (vs. the plain meat) in a way that didn't seem like a fair argument.
Most people who make a burger at home (not people who are super concerned about sodium and compliant to restrictions on it) likely aren't going to end up with a big difference (if any) between the burger and the BeyondBeef, and who knows which would have more sodium?
Most people aren't going to see the difference in sodium between a Whopper and Impossible Whopper as significant.
If someone is really, really concerned about avoiding sodium, they will have a burger, no salt or sodium containing condiments or pickles, etc., and might think the BeyondBeef's 390 mg sodium is too much for them, great, but that's hardly some kind of argument for the statement cited by the OP, as it was presented.
(ImpossibleWhopper also has soy if one wants to avoid it, as do some other meat substitutes that some here consider to be within the realm of what is being discussed and some do not. The BeyondBeef product does not have soy. As I eat tofu and tempeh, I don't personally find soy a disqualifier, but worth noting that "meat substitutes" are not all the same.)
I suspect that at some point the sodium content of the Impossible Whopper was 1,240 mg, given that there are more than a few website that say that mention that it has 1,240 mg of sodium. I only posted to point out that yes, the Impossible Whopper was being compared to a regular Whopper. I have no skin in the game as I more or less completely stopped eating fast food in my early teens and now only eat it when I'm in a major bind and there are no other options.4 -
estherdragonbat wrote: »And if the corn syrup and sugar bother you that much, you can dump the contents of the can into a colander and rinse. (Taste suffers a bit, but well, that's why they put the sugar syrup in the can in the first place.)
Or buy the canned fruit in its own no sugars added juice, instead of the one in syrup.
Calories aside, that is my preference on taste anyway.
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I don't buy much canned fruit, tbh. But I do have a hard time finding fruit cocktail that isn't in syrup. Peaches, pears, pineapple, no problem finding it in its own juice. But fruit cocktail, not so much. (Should probably point out that I need it kosher-certified, and in Toronto, I find it difficult to locate. Not that I've tried much recently.)2
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Not a 'healthier' choice - lots of dubious ingredients - I do not eat meat but am not tempted in the least to have one of these things. They are suppose to taste like meat - which is one (there are other reasons too) of the reasons I am a vegetarian. I don't like the taste of it.
It is expensive too.
I guess I can get behind the fact that it might sway a meat eating family/person to go meat-less every once in a while - better for the the environment (Beyond Burger generates 90% less greenhouse gas emissions and requires 46% less energy, 99% less water and 93% less land compared to a quarter pound of U.S. beef. www.cnbc.com.
Not appealing to most non-meat eaters - these are for the meat eaters out there. I like burgers...but ones that don't taste like meat!1 -
From my supermarket trip earlier tonight.
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It's my bad if this has already been pointed out (my excuse is that I'm getting over a nasty virus), but the Impossible Whopper was compared to the regular Whopper in the post you repI lied to was it not?
I did point out earlier that there was a small (100 mg) difference between the Whopper (no cheese) and the ImpossibleWhopper (which is a pretty tiny difference). I'm not sure why the numbers claimed by the PP for the ImpossibleWhopper were wrong, although I pointed out that they were.
The original point that the same poster made was the supposedly significant difference between a plain beef burger and a patty from the BeyondBeef product (or some other similar product). Those do have a difference of about 315 mg (which is still less than an average pinch of salt). The poster insisted that of course one would never add salt if concerned about sodium (sure, I assume one would also not add pickles and be careful in the choice of mustard), but the point was initially raised -- at least as it seemed to me -- to suggest that there was something inherently unhealthful about the level of sodium in the fake meat product, and the initial reference by that same poster to the sodium in the ImpossibleWhopper was to support that point (vs. the plain meat) in a way that didn't seem like a fair argument.
Most people who make a burger at home (not people who are super concerned about sodium and compliant to restrictions on it) likely aren't going to end up with a big difference (if any) between the burger and the BeyondBeef, and who knows which would have more sodium?
Most people aren't going to see the difference in sodium between a Whopper and Impossible Whopper as significant.
If someone is really, really concerned about avoiding sodium, they will have a burger, no salt or sodium containing condiments or pickles, etc., and might think the BeyondBeef's 390 mg sodium is too much for them, great, but that's hardly some kind of argument for the statement cited by the OP, as it was presented.
(ImpossibleWhopper also has soy if one wants to avoid it, as do some other meat substitutes that some here consider to be within the realm of what is being discussed and some do not. The BeyondBeef product does not have soy. As I eat tofu and tempeh, I don't personally find soy a disqualifier, but worth noting that "meat substitutes" are not all the same.)
I suspect that at some point the sodium content of the Impossible Whopper was 1,240 mg, given that there are more than a few website that say that mention that it has 1,240 mg of sodium. I only posted to point out that yes, the Impossible Whopper was being compared to a regular Whopper. I have no skin in the game as I more or less completely stopped eating fast food in my early teens and now only eat it when I'm in a major bind and there are no other options.
Perhaps it was in the past, depending on the source. The PP seemed to be claiming it was from the BK.com site, which it was not, and I was suspicious of the motivation of the post and the sources for it given it inflated the difference (I also wondered if the PP understood what a truly tiny difference the 100 mg was).
I think neither you nor I have any personal investment here, but I wanted to add the prior context, which is why I think jane's post made sense. Someone concerned about not exceeding 1500 mg of sodium to the point of caring about a 100 mg difference (or even a 315 mg difference, which is less than an average pinch of salt) presumably wouldn't think the 980 mg in the Whopper, no cheese, was acceptable either (saying 1080 is outrageous but 980 is okay makes absolutely no sense). So the mere fact that they did give the amount in the Whopper didn't change the argument, IMO.
But reasonable minds can differ!2 -
Not appealing to most non-meat eaters - these are for the meat eaters out there. I like burgers...but ones that don't taste like meat!
Lots of non meat eaters like the taste of meat, though, and might like having an occasional option that tastes like meat.
I dislike most fast food and in particular there's nothing at BK I like, but if I were someone who went vegetarian for ethical reasons (and I know plenty) yet really liked and missed a Whopper, and the ImpossibleWhopper tasted just like it, then I would probably be happy to have it occasionally.
I see the BeyondBeef burger at places like EpicBurger as an effort to give vegetarians more of an option -- some won't be interested, don't like meat or find fake meat too similar for comfort, but plenty likely would. Some meat eaters would likely try it out of curiosity too.
I eat limited meat, and I haven't tried any fake meats since I eat meat occasionally so what's the point, and because I am pretty prissy about what I eat when I make it at home (I tend to have a whole foods bias, although I don't claim that's necessary for health because it is not, it's just how I prefer to eat). But if I gave up meat entirely for ethical reasons (I'm not there yet, maybe never will be), I can see wanting the occasional taste of it (of specific favorites) if something were really a legitimate substitute.
I'll also add that there are an increasing number of vegan restaurants around here, and at least many of them seem to serve a lot of meat substitutes, as well as other options. I think those are mostly for actual vegans, not just the people they bring with them. (I'm also drawing on occasional reading of reviews on places like HappyCow about what's good at those places.)4 -
What about the Impossible Burger being bio-engineered and GMO? I feel like if you eat fast food you have to expect bio/gmo in everything so it's on par there, but for most? people it's a different story when buying at the grocery store and bringing home.
GMO
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023038894-Does-it-contain-genetically-modified-ingredients-
Bio-Engineered
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036138833-Why-does-the-package-have-a-bioengineered-symbol-
What are your concerns with that? I don't have a blanket expectation that foods I buy at the grocery store aren't GMO/bio-engineered.3 -
What about the Impossible Burger being bio-engineered and GMO? I feel like if you eat fast food you have to expect bio/gmo in everything so it's on par there, but for most? people it's a different story when buying at the grocery store and bringing home.
GMO
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360023038894-Does-it-contain-genetically-modified-ingredients-
Bio-Engineered
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360036138833-Why-does-the-package-have-a-bioengineered-symbol-
Well I for one am not scared of science. If people don't want to eat GMO, that's their choice, but it's become just a random scare word that doesn't have any proven scientific concerns behind it.12 -
AmandaOmega wrote: »plant-based is the healthy way to go. BUT avoid fake meat because it's all highly processed.
Opinions? Just curious.
I had the impossible whopper at Burger King. It tasted just like meat, had the same texture, but the sandwich had more calories than the regular meat patty version. Not many, like 30-40, but still. I feel like if I'm eating something plant based, it shouldn't have more calories than meat (otherwise, since I'm not vegan/vegetarian, what's the point?). Not to mention, to get a non-meat patty to taste like meat, I imagine it's highly processed, and I don't like the idea of that. I tried googling the exact ingredients, but they just vaguely list the kinds of things that are in the meat (and so I'm even more suspicious when a company won't give me a direct list).
I prefer my husband's Veggie-Turkey burgers. He does 2/3 ground turkey, 1/3 finely chopped veggies (like broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). It tastes AMAZING. It's nice way to get some extra veggies in your diet.
Why on earth would you expect a plant food to automatically be lower calorie than meat? Coconut has more calories per gram than chicken.
Additionally, Impossible is clear about their ingredients, so maybe focus on your googling ability. This is directly from their website:
Want the details? Here’s the ingredient list:
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, 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.
https://faq.impossiblefoods.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018937494-What-are-the-ingredients-
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janejellyroll wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »YellowD0gs wrote: »As the plant-based meats run about 7x higher in Sodium content over ground beef...pretty much a will-not-touch-unless starving choice for me, and those on Sodium restricted diets should really give a long hard look.
The majority of plant-based meats are designed to be eaten with little additional seasoning, so comparing them to ground beef in sodium content doesn't really make sense, as most people are adding seasoning to ground beef.
It would be more accurate to compare these products to the average hamburger patty, which in many cases has sodium added to it, at least in restaurants.
This post misses the point. People on a sodium restricted diet are limited to 1,500 mg/day Na (at least in the US). They're also likely on that diet because of a diagnosed medical issue (hypertension, heart disease, stroke, etc), so it's not really something they're doing by choice. Comparing raw material to raw material is exactly proper and accurate, as those on a sodium restricted diet are most likely NOT ADDING SALT during preparation. It defeats the point. Evaluating only the raw materials, one Beyond Burger 4 oz. patty has 390 mg sodium. That's 26% of the daily limit tied up in one single patty, and doesn't count the additional sodium contained in the ketchup, mustard, special sauce, bacon, cheese, and bun. All told, the Burger King reports the Impossible Burger at 1,240 mg sodium, or 83% of the daily limit. A direct comparison to 85/15 ground beef shows 81 mg sodium in a 4 ounce patty, or 5% daily limit. Burger King also reports 980 mg sodium (65%) for the regular Whopper, even with the assumed "salt added during preparation". The difference between the 2? 18% of the daily sodium limit, which is pretty obviously the result of choosing a high sodium content patty to start with. So, being on a low sodium diet, I'll generally avoid the Beyond Burger things unless absolutely necessary for one simple reason, sodium.
You shouldn't be comparing the Impossible Whopper to plain ground beef. You should be comparing it to the regular Whopper. I'm guessing people on sodium restricted diets aren't eating a lot of those either, are they?
It's my bad if this has already been pointed out (my excuse is that I'm getting over a nasty virus), but the Impossible Whopper was compared to the regular Whopper in the post you replied to was it not?All told, the Burger King reports the Impossible Burger at 1,240 mg sodium, or 83% of the daily limit. A direct comparison to 85/15 ground beef shows 81 mg sodium in a 4 ounce patty, or 5% daily limit. Burger King also reports 980 mg sodium (65%) for the regular Whopper, even with the assumed "salt added during preparation".
Mind you, it appears that recently the Impossible Whopper's sodium content has dropped down to 1080 according to Burger King's US based website.
edit: the impossible Whopper is the only Impossible product on Burger King sells so it's safe to assume that's what was being referred to.
But before that information (and in the previous post), the focus was on the sodium in plain ground beef.
My point is that for someone on a sodium-restricted diet, any kind of Whopper is a poor choice, so focusing specifically on the Impossible version for the sodium content makes zero sense.2 -
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Not appealing to most non-meat eaters - these are for the meat eaters out there. I like burgers...but ones that don't taste like meat!
Lots of non meat eaters like the taste of meat, though, and might like having an occasional option that tastes like meat.
I dislike most fast food and in particular there's nothing at BK I like, but if I were someone who went vegetarian for ethical reasons (and I know plenty) yet really liked and missed a Whopper, and the ImpossibleWhopper tasted just like it, then I would probably be happy to have it occasionally.
I see the BeyondBeef burger at places like EpicBurger as an effort to give vegetarians more of an option -- some won't be interested, don't like meat or find fake meat too similar for comfort, but plenty likely would. Some meat eaters would likely try it out of curiosity too.
I eat limited meat, and I haven't tried any fake meats since I eat meat occasionally so what's the point, and because I am pretty prissy about what I eat when I make it at home (I tend to have a whole foods bias, although I don't claim that's necessary for health because it is not, it's just how I prefer to eat). But if I gave up meat entirely for ethical reasons (I'm not there yet, maybe never will be), I can see wanting the occasional taste of it (of specific favorites) if something were really a legitimate substitute.
I'll also add that there are an increasing number of vegan restaurants around here, and at least many of them seem to serve a lot of meat substitutes, as well as other options. I think those are mostly for actual vegans, not just the people they bring with them. (I'm also drawing on occasional reading of reviews on places like HappyCow about what's good at those places.)
I haven't had meat for about thirteen years now and I love meaty options. If the vegans I personally know are representative, there are many of us who love it and posts on reddit, twitter, and Pinterest further support that foods that replicate familiar meaty dishes are enjoyed by many. When I go to vegan restaurants, there usually plenty of options that evoke or replicate meat and I doubt only non-vegans are ordering them. My neighborhood even has a vegan butcher store and while shopping there I've chatted with several vegan people who made the drive to the city just to check them out.
I didn't go vegan because I didn't *like* the taste of meat. I loved eating it. Quitting it involved a whole different set of reasons.5 -
why does it have to be one or the other, why cant we just enjoy either or when we want, veg based products have a place the same as meat based. why do we have this argument about one replacing the other.
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Nope
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Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?1 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list2 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Not appealing to most non-meat eaters - these are for the meat eaters out there. I like burgers...but ones that don't taste like meat!
Lots of non meat eaters like the taste of meat, though, and might like having an occasional option that tastes like meat.
I dislike most fast food and in particular there's nothing at BK I like, but if I were someone who went vegetarian for ethical reasons (and I know plenty) yet really liked and missed a Whopper, and the ImpossibleWhopper tasted just like it, then I would probably be happy to have it occasionally.
I see the BeyondBeef burger at places like EpicBurger as an effort to give vegetarians more of an option -- some won't be interested, don't like meat or find fake meat too similar for comfort, but plenty likely would. Some meat eaters would likely try it out of curiosity too.
I eat limited meat, and I haven't tried any fake meats since I eat meat occasionally so what's the point, and because I am pretty prissy about what I eat when I make it at home (I tend to have a whole foods bias, although I don't claim that's necessary for health because it is not, it's just how I prefer to eat). But if I gave up meat entirely for ethical reasons (I'm not there yet, maybe never will be), I can see wanting the occasional taste of it (of specific favorites) if something were really a legitimate substitute.
I'll also add that there are an increasing number of vegan restaurants around here, and at least many of them seem to serve a lot of meat substitutes, as well as other options. I think those are mostly for actual vegans, not just the people they bring with them. (I'm also drawing on occasional reading of reviews on places like HappyCow about what's good at those places.)
I haven't had meat for about thirteen years now and I love meaty options. If the vegans I personally know are representative, there are many of us who love it and posts on reddit, twitter, and Pinterest further support that foods that replicate familiar meaty dishes are enjoyed by many. When I go to vegan restaurants, there usually plenty of options that evoke or replicate meat and I doubt only non-vegans are ordering them. My neighborhood even has a vegan butcher store and while shopping there I've chatted with several vegan people who made the drive to the city just to check them out.
I didn't go vegan because I didn't *like* the taste of meat. I loved eating it. Quitting it involved a whole different set of reasons.
Even as a vegetarian who doesn't like meat, and for whom not really caring much about eating it was part of the picture of giving it up, this has been my experience with the full spectrum of vegetarians and vegans, too.
Most of us - in my experience only - have some other reason besides "don't like meat's taste/texture/etc." for stopping eating it. It's usually ethical in some way (not always - some do it for health reasons, which I personally find not very well evidence-based, but of course people can do as they like).
But even among those with ethical reasons, the details of that reasoning are more varied than many non-veg people might imagine: Can include concern for animal welfare (as many non-veg would expect), but also ecological concerns, concerns about human exploitation in factory farming, resource-efficiency concerns, and more. For some, it's multi-factorial. ( <== None of this should be taken to imply that I think other people should stop eating meat, or that I consider them unethical for eating it. Not the case at all.)
Some veg*ans like the way meat tastes, and would want this product. Some omnivores like non-meat pseudo-meats (that don't taste like meat, like those bean burgers). Tastes are not tightly and universally linked to big-picture dietary choices.
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Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?
I hate beet with a passion so yes, I do avoid it, but I'm more worried about all the vegetable seed oils, starches and sugars. Also, anything with more than 5 ingredients is a frankenfood. Have you ever used 21 ingredients in a recipe?2 -
Yes, I've certainly witnessed people objecting to faux meat products on grounds that they curiously don't apply to the foods they eat that aren't marketed as substitutes for animal products.
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Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?
I hate beet with a passion so yes, I do avoid it, but I'm more worried about all the vegetable seed oils, starches and sugars. Also, anything with more than 5 ingredients is a frankenfood. Have you ever used 21 ingredients in a recipe?
There is no beet taste in the burger, it's added for color only.
I've frequently used more than 21 ingredients in a meal, I enjoy cooking food that is complex and highly spiced. If I'm making a Thai-style stir-fry with many different vegetables and a red curry paste from scratch, it wouldn't be at all unusual for me to wind up adding more than 21 components to the meal.
I'm amused to learn that if I offered you a three-bean salad with chopped carrots, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, you'd reject it as a "frankenfood."16 -
I'm here to improve my health, so fake burgers are a no go. I'm looking for real whole foods full of macro and micro nutrients, fiber etc. Those fake burgers will give a person a heart attack as easily as if that person ate beef burgers.
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sharonlemay1 wrote: »I'm here to improve my health, so fake burgers are a no go. I'm looking for real whole foods full of macro and micro nutrients, fiber etc. Those fake burgers will give a person a heart attack as easily as if that person ate beef burgers.
Faux meat products have both macro- and micro-nutrients.
How do they induce heart attacks?7 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?
I hate beet with a passion so yes, I do avoid it, but I'm more worried about all the vegetable seed oils, starches and sugars. Also, anything with more than 5 ingredients is a frankenfood. Have you ever used 21 ingredients in a recipe?
There is no beet taste in the burger, it's added for color only.
I've frequently used more than 21 ingredients in a meal, I enjoy cooking food that is complex and highly spiced. If I'm making a Thai-style stir-fry with many different vegetables and a red curry paste from scratch, it wouldn't be at all unusual for me to wind up adding more than 21 components to the meal.
I'm amused to learn that if I offered you a three-bean salad with chopped carrots, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil, you'd reject it as a "frankenfood."
You know what I mean when I talk about frankenfoods, don't play dumb 🙄 But yes, I would reject your three-bean salad since I don't eat beans. Interesting that you chose the most innocent-sounding ingredient in that list. Why didn't you ask me if I avoid methylcellulose, or succinic acid, or maltodextrin, or expeller-pressed canola oil, or sunflower oil, or vegetalbe glycerin? 🤔 Because I do avoid all of those.5 -
Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?
I hate beet with a passion so yes, I do avoid it, but I'm more worried about all the vegetable seed oils, starches and sugars. Also, anything with more than 5 ingredients is a frankenfood. Have you ever used 21 ingredients in a recipe?
Yes.
I don't see how the ingredient count is a rational criterion for anything, really.
I think you and I might not be terribly far apart in what our actual practice is. I prefer to moderate my consumption of foods that are mainly extracts (or lab-created ingredients) intended to deliver some single nutrient or property; or that have had a lot of the natural components processed out of them.
This is not a religious principal (using "religion" in a metaphorical sense here, BTW). I'll eat those things without fear of poisoning. My reasons have more to do with feeling there are end-cases where food-based nutrients seem to be more readily metabolized than supplements/extractives, plus the recognition that large numbers of essential or beneficial nutrients have been "discovered" in my lifetime, that were in foods all along. I don't think we're done with discoveries.
Because of that, I think eating a pretty major fraction of my diet in the form close to how it came out of the ground (or critter, or whatever) is a reasonable bet-hedge. It's also the reason why I consider "highly processed" traditional foods that have been widely eaten for centuries to be a better bet than novelties.
My personal taste-preference experience is that I usually enjoy these closer-to-origin or traditional foods more than the novel things, too; but I see that as personal idiosyncracy, kind of like some people liking asparagus when others don't.
In giving advice to others here, I still think the biggest deal is that people in general ought to strive for overall good nutrition (macros, known micros, sensible calories), and that however they choose to do that is just fine.
Beyond that, calling other people's food disparaging names doesn't seem to me very likely to be a great tactic for persuading them to avoid those foods. (I'm not at all interested in undertaking that persuasion; I'm just confused by the tactic when it seems to be used in service of advocacy. I'm not sure advocacy is what's intended by the quoted post, however, either.)
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just_Tomek wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Sylphadora wrote: »Nope
Care to share what your specific concern is?
Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
You avoid beet juice?
I hate beet with a passion so yes, I do avoid it, but I'm more worried about all the vegetable seed oils, starches and sugars. Also, anything with more than 5 ingredients is a frankenfood. Have you ever used 21 ingredients in a recipe?
Yeap. Many times.
And have you ever used methylcellulose, succinic acid, maltodextrin or any of the other chemical-sounding ingredients in a recipe? I don't buy anything with ingredients my grandmother wouldn't recognize. I'm strongly anti-processed food. The fact that it's processed vegan food doesn't make it any healthier. It still seems that it came out of a lab instead of a kitchen
2 -
Sylphadora wrote: »
Nope
Considering your profile says you will only eat "Meat. Eggs. Fish. Raw cheese. 100% chocolate" I suspect the fact that you won't eat a Beyond Burger doesn't really set it apart from all sorts of stuff that people interested in vegetarian burgers would be fine with, including pretty much everything they eat.12
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