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My doctor recommended BeyondMeat as an alternative to my soy-heavy diet because it's based on pea protein. What exactly makes BeyondMeat something that's not nu

My doctor recommended BeyondMeat as an alternative to my soy-heavy diet because it's based on pea protein. What exactly makes BeyondMeat something that's not nutritious?

robcohen 6y ago
I mean, just because one thing is preferable to another doesn’t mean that both are good. Hitting yourself in the head with a smaller rock is preferably to hitting yourself with a larger rock. I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist, but it appears that processed food has a host of negative effects according to recent studies (for example https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-heavily-processed-foods-cause-overeating-weight-gain https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-find...). Now you can pick apart these studies, but ultimately we “know” very little about nutrition for certain, which is why there are so many conflicting studies. What concerns me about fake meat products and why I won’t consume them is that they are heavily processed. In my limited experience, eating whole foods from fresh, organic suppliers is the way to go. I’ll let someone else be the guinea pig for processed foods.
- WillPostForFood 6y ago
  We don't need to pick apart the study, but let's skim it so we know if it applies. This system considers foods “ultra-processed” if they have ingredients predominantly found in industrial food manufacturing, such as hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers. I believe the study, even though small, reasonably shows that ingredients like hydrogenated oils or high-fructose corn syrup are bad for you. That doesn't mean food that has gone through a process is bad, it means industrial scale food production often uses foul ingredients to reduce costs. Processing != bad, But, mass market, massive scale, processed food production correlates with the use of bad ingredients. So just read the ingredient list on Beyond Meat or whatever processed food you want to try and see if there is stuff in it you don't want in you.
liuliu 6y ago
Maybe sodium? It tastes unusually salty.
asdff 6y ago
Careful how much oil you use to cook it, I find it soaks it up like a sponge and I tend to use a lot more than for cooking, say, ground chuck or other meat.

My doctor recommended BeyondMeat as an alternative to my soy-heavy diet because it's based on pea protein. What exactly makes BeyondMeat something that's not nutritious?

robcohen 6y ago

I mean, just because one thing is preferable to another doesn’t mean that both are good. Hitting yourself in the head with a smaller rock is preferably to hitting yourself with a larger rock. I’m not a doctor or a nutritionist, but it appears that processed food has a host of negative effects according to recent studies (for example https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-finds-heavily-processed-foods-cause-overeating-weight-gain https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-find...). Now you can pick apart these studies, but ultimately we “know” very little about nutrition for certain, which is why there are so many conflicting studies. What concerns me about fake meat products and why I won’t consume them is that they are heavily processed. In my limited experience, eating whole foods from fresh, organic suppliers is the way to go. I’ll let someone else be the guinea pig for processed foods.

WillPostForFood 6y ago
We don't need to pick apart the study, but let's skim it so we know if it applies. This system considers foods “ultra-processed” if they have ingredients predominantly found in industrial food manufacturing, such as hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, flavoring agents, and emulsifiers. I believe the study, even though small, reasonably shows that ingredients like hydrogenated oils or high-fructose corn syrup are bad for you. That doesn't mean food that has gone through a process is bad, it means industrial scale food production often uses foul ingredients to reduce costs. Processing != bad, But, mass market, massive scale, processed food production correlates with the use of bad ingredients. So just read the ingredient list on Beyond Meat or whatever processed food you want to try and see if there is stuff in it you don't want in you.

liuliu 6y ago

Maybe sodium? It tastes unusually salty.

asdff 6y ago

Careful how much oil you use to cook it, I find it soaks it up like a sponge and I tend to use a lot more than for cooking, say, ground chuck or other meat.