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Thoughts on Beyond Burger and other fake meat

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Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,023 Member
    sal10851 wrote: »
    Avidkeo wrote: »
    Sigh.

    You do you. Like the taste, eat it. Don't like the taste, don't.

    Processed, unprocessed. Its all food. Calories in, calories out.

    What's the fear about processing?

    Processed food are designed to be highly palatable which triggers over consumption. Being mindful about food is not working or else the average person wouldn't be overweight or obese. It's not simply calories in and calories out but quality calories in and quality calories out.

    Being mindful doesn't typically work because the serving sizes and calorie loads of foods can be deceiving. I couldn't lose weight while mindfully eating processed foods AND not logging because I didn't realize how many calories I was consuming (and how little I was burning). Now that I weigh and log my food, I am perfectly capable of eating an appropriate amount of food, processed or not, and fit them in my calorie goal.

    In fact, I went through a period of time where I was mindfully eating whole foods and managed to not lose weight then either. Because I'm equally capable of overeating roasted chicken and potatoes :smile:
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 8,926 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    sal10851 wrote: »
    Avidkeo wrote: »
    Sigh.

    You do you. Like the taste, eat it. Don't like the taste, don't.

    Processed, unprocessed. Its all food. Calories in, calories out.

    What's the fear about processing?

    Processed food are designed to be highly palatable which triggers over consumption. Being mindful about food is not working or else the average person wouldn't be overweight or obese. It's not simply calories in and calories out but quality calories in and quality calories out.

    And yet I managed to become overweight then obese (and stay that way for decades, even a decade of active training and athletic competition), while eating vegetarian, whole grain, virtually no fast food or soda pop or other things people call "junk food", lots of cooked-from-whole-ingredients dishes, plenty of fruits/veg, and that sort of thing.

    The things most people refer to as "hyperpalatable" generally are not even good or appealing, to me . . . and that's been true for many decades now. It's also why I don't generally eat fake meat: I think it tastes ucky.

    Too many of any calories, high quality or low, result in becoming overweight or obese. Food is tasty. People enjoy eating it. Different people enjoy different types. Any of the types can make a person fat, if there are excess calories.


    and conversely I managed to lose weight and keep it off whilst eating quite a bit of processed food - and quite a bit of fresh ,whole foods too, it isnt all or nothing.

    I didnt really change my diet (as in the foods I eat) to lose weight - just swapped some things for lower calorie alternatives - regualar soda for diet version, for example - and cut out some 'unneccesary extras' like bread with dinner - (nothing agaisnt bread, just didnt need bread and dinner at same time) some mindless snacking (nothing agaisnt snacking either but some was source of over consumption with out real enjoyment) and reduced portion amounts and frequency of some high calorie foods.

    What is the common denominator between our 2 weight loss stories?? - it isnt vegetarianism (since I am not one) , it isnt type of foods since your version is lot 'cleaner' than mine, it isnt activity level since you do more than me, it isnt processed foods or lack thereof - It is eating appropriate calorie level.

    Everything else is variable and individual - CICO is not.

    and none of this really relates to Beyond Burger, since both of us, for different reasons, do not eat them.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,453 Member
    sal10851 wrote: »
    Avidkeo wrote: »
    Sigh.

    You do you. Like the taste, eat it. Don't like the taste, don't.

    Processed, unprocessed. Its all food. Calories in, calories out.

    What's the fear about processing?

    Processed food are designed to be highly palatable which triggers over consumption. Being mindful about food is not working or else the average person wouldn't be overweight or obese. It's not simply calories in and calories out but quality calories in and quality calories out.
    Uh no, it's calories in and out. Go to a prison. How many of the population is obese? And the food quality isn't good quality (it only costs $4 a day to feed an inmate in CA 3 meals a day). And they aren't dying either. In fact many come out of prison in pretty good shape physically.
    Go to 3rd world Asian countries and they have canned processed goods that taste good. Problem is they can't AFFORD to eat too much. Hence they don't have the same obesity issues.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    9285851.png
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    sal10851 wrote: »
    Avidkeo wrote: »
    Sigh.

    You do you. Like the taste, eat it. Don't like the taste, don't.

    Processed, unprocessed. Its all food. Calories in, calories out.

    What's the fear about processing?

    Processed food are designed to be highly palatable which triggers over consumption. Being mindful about food is not working or else the average person wouldn't be overweight or obese. It's not simply calories in and calories out but quality calories in and quality calories out.

    "Processed foods" are incredibly varied. Tofu is processed, and while I like it well enough in combination with some other foods, I don't find plain tofu particularly "highly palatable." Same with a variety of other processed foods.

    I also agree with the others saying above that many of the most delicious foods are -- to my taste -- relatively unprocessed (like roasted chicken with potatoes plus some veg, or a fresh salad with homemade dressing, or some grilled salmon). By contrast, I've had leftover Halloween candy since last Halloween, since even though that stuff is processed I don't find it very tempting.

    Rather than focusing just on processed vs unprocessed, a more educated approach would be to understand what the food you are eating brings to the table specifically. (Boneless skinless chicken breast is more processed than a whole chicken, and personally I prefer chicken cooked bone-in, skin on, but the boneless, skinless has more protein per cal and less sat fat, if those are concerns, or depending on what else you are eating them with. Being more processed neither makes the one option less good for you or more delicious.)
  • durhammfp
    durhammfp Posts: 493 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    It's coming sooner now that science is figuring it out. But lab grown meat may be the thing of the future.

    Just in time to go with the lab-grown milk:
    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/21/singapores-food-tech-startups-serve-up-lab-grown-milk-fake-shrimp.html

  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    durhammfp wrote: »
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    It's coming sooner now that science is figuring it out. But lab grown meat may be the thing of the future.

    Just in time to go with the lab-grown milk:
    https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/21/singapores-food-tech-startups-serve-up-lab-grown-milk-fake-shrimp.html

    I looked into that a bit recently (see the Vegan Milk thread). At least one startup that I looked into that was trying to grow lab meat went under. My best guess is they weren't as close as what they said on the technology and people have shown they will readily eat a plant based product that tastes similar to meat.

    What I found interesting is that by trying to grow meat in a lab, they got much better at individual cell selection and isolation for desired qualities. The group that was trying to grow lab based meat are all with a new startup using bioselection to grow micronutrients from plant based sources.

    I guess I see this industry moving toward a better understanding of what gives meat the taste it has (heme is one thing that the plant burger makers concentrated on). As they get better and better determining what cells within real meat make it taste like it does, they will get better at making alternatives in a lab, but I think they will be plant based, taking qualities from the real thing and either trying to incorporate that or imitating it better, all while reducing the amount of artificial ingredients. I think super nutrient fake burgers made from nutrients that are plant derived (isolated and grown through fermentation) will be the next steps.

    Most of it's done through fermentation. Fermentation, whether for nutraceuticals, medicine or food is a growing area.
  • Fake meat — I put that in the same category of all highly processed foods.
    For my taste buds, I prefer whole foods that are processed as little as possible.
    I’m an omnivore and eat a variety of foods in moderation.
    Today, we went out for lunch (haven’t done that on a long time); I had a chickpea and quinoa patty, in a tortilla wrap with bacon and Brie cheese. It was delicious.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    edited November 2020
    Good article today on this subject by Forbes. Geared toward investors, but the fact that Tyson is now in the game, that's some telling stuff.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2020/11/02/the-race-for-the-alternative-protein-market-five-investment-areas-to-watch/?sh=2bd3d85d6c6d
  • Maggiesanvicto
    Maggiesanvicto Posts: 70 Member
    edited November 2020
    I personally never expect a plant-based burger to taste like meat. I just want it to be delicious. So a product claiming to taste like meat isn’t really a selling feature for me. I’d rather stick with a plant burger that has clean ingredients and taste great even if that taste is sweet potato or black bean. I couldn’t really see hard-core burger lovers being turned over by fake meat taste either.
  • MikePfirrman
    MikePfirrman Posts: 3,307 Member
    Another article that ties in well with this thread from one of my Linkedin contacts. Very insightful. They point out that families are looking for meat alternatives, will go to a different restaurant if ones not offered, and (this is the big deal to restaurants) people are willing to pay a bit more -- which at this time, when restaurants are striving to recover profits, means you'll be seeing a lot more of this stuff in your favorite restaurants soon.

    https://www.fastcasual.com/blogs/plant-based-meat-options-why-its-a-big-deal-to-customers/
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Another article that ties in well with this thread from one of my Linkedin contacts. Very insightful. They point out that families are looking for meat alternatives, will go to a different restaurant if ones not offered, and (this is the big deal to restaurants) people are willing to pay a bit more -- which at this time, when restaurants are striving to recover profits, means you'll be seeing a lot more of this stuff in your favorite restaurants soon.

    https://www.fastcasual.com/blogs/plant-based-meat-options-why-its-a-big-deal-to-customers/

    Oh, man: I hope this doesn't increase other people's tendency to try to force groups to go to restaurants I don't enjoy, just so I can eat the fake meat!

    (This is a bizarre thing to me, that other people worry more about what I'm going to eat, as a vegetarian in XYZ restaurant, than I do. And sometimes they're pushy about it. WTHeck? 😆)

    I've lost count of how many times I've had to insist "Don't worry about me, I'll find something to eat" when I'm in a group setting (I mean, back when we HAD group outings). It's deeply uncomfortable for me when I feel like the whole group is thinking about what I'm going to eat. I did a couple of work trips with someone who has Celiac Disease and it was a relief to have the focus on HIM when we were deciding on dinner each night (now that I think about it, he probably didn't like it any more than I do).

    I've noticed the pushiness too -- there have been a few times when I've stated that I KNEW what I could eat at a certain place and I was fine going there and someone would still be arguing that we could go someplace "better" for me.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,718 Member
    edited November 2020
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Another article that ties in well with this thread from one of my Linkedin contacts. Very insightful. They point out that families are looking for meat alternatives, will go to a different restaurant if ones not offered, and (this is the big deal to restaurants) people are willing to pay a bit more -- which at this time, when restaurants are striving to recover profits, means you'll be seeing a lot more of this stuff in your favorite restaurants soon.

    https://www.fastcasual.com/blogs/plant-based-meat-options-why-its-a-big-deal-to-customers/

    Oh, man: I hope this doesn't increase other people's tendency to try to force groups to go to restaurants I don't enjoy, just so I can eat the fake meat!

    (This is a bizarre thing to me, that other people worry more about what I'm going to eat, as a vegetarian in XYZ restaurant, than I do. And sometimes they're pushy about it. WTHeck? 😆)

    I've lost count of how many times I've had to insist "Don't worry about me, I'll find something to eat" when I'm in a group setting (I mean, back when we HAD group outings). It's deeply uncomfortable for me when I feel like the whole group is thinking about what I'm going to eat. I did a couple of work trips with someone who has Celiac Disease and it was a relief to have the focus on HIM when we were deciding on dinner each night (now that I think about it, he probably didn't like it any more than I do).

    I've noticed the pushiness too -- there have been a few times when I've stated that I KNEW what I could eat at a certain place and I was fine going there and someone would still be arguing that we could go someplace "better" for me.

    Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's observed this.

    Yeah, I get that it's sort of "intended kindness against my will", but it does seem very odd. (As you might guess from my persona here, I'm more than capable of stating clearly what I want, or don't want, not a shy retiring flower whom one might expect to require support from others to avoid being trampled. I'm flexible in restaurant choice, but not masochistic. 😉)