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Thoughts on Beyond Burger and other fake meat

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Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    ReenieHJ 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-
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    aokoye wrote: »
    YellowD0gs 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.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    From my supermarket trip earlier tonight.



    I love that Beyond Sausage.
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
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    Nope
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Sylphadora wrote: »
    Nope

    Care to share what your specific concern is?
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
    Sylphadora wrote: »
    Nope

    Care to share what your specific concern is?

    Sure. The 21 reasons in the ingredient list
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    jm_1234 wrote: »
    Sidebar: From a fast food perspective I feel like there is a double standard when it comes to plant based burgers/sausages/etc. It seems like plant based is judged more harshly than meat based products.

    Yes, I'm definitely seeing that on this thread somewhat.
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
    edited February 2020
    Sylphadora 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?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    jm_1234 wrote: »
    Sidebar: From a fast food perspective I feel like there is a double standard when it comes to plant based burgers/sausages/etc. It seems like plant based is judged more harshly than meat based products.

    Yes, I'm definitely seeing that on this thread somewhat.

    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.

  • sharonlemay1
    sharonlemay1 Posts: 1 Member
    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.
  • Sylphadora
    Sylphadora Posts: 75 Member
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    Sylphadora wrote: »
    Sylphadora 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