PETER_PAN:
The problem is that while it is possible to eat a healthy vegetarian diet (with care and vitamin B12 supplementation) many plant-based meat substitutes or analogues, as they are known in the industry, are not healthy at all. They fall into the category of ultra-processed foods, first identified by Brazilian academics as part of the NOVA classification. UPFs are now widely accepted by food experts as unhealthy and possibly addictive, and are blamed for the increased incidence of obesity and poor health worldwide.
NOVA divides all food into four categories. “Unprocessed or minimally processed food” is for raw ingredients such as fruits, vegetables and meat. The second category, cooking ingredients, covers the likes of flour and oil, while the third category, processed foods, includes cheese, for example, tofu, or bread if made with only flour, yeast, salt and water.
The final category is highly processed foods, products that generally come in packages and include ingredients and processes you wouldn’t use at home, and, according to NOVA, “in particular flavors, color sweeteners, emulsifiers, and other additives used to imitate the sensory qualities and preparations of unprocessed or slightly processed foods and their preparations.” culinary or to mask the undesirable qualities of the final product.” In other words, products—I hesitate to call them food—are manipulated to trick us, to make ingredients look more appetizing, last longer, or somehow better than they actually are.
While grilled chicken breast can be considered lightly processed, or perhaps “processed” if you include a little salt and oil, these “roasted chicken breasts” are extremely highly processed, containing over 30 ingredients, including methylcellulose. , maltodextrin, and glucose powdered syrup. It’s not an appetizer, but it’s not just a matter of taste, UPF not only fools our tastes but also confuses our bodies, stimulating hormones that encourage us to overeat.
Yet somehow, the food industry is determined to send the message that plant-based products are intrinsically healthy and beneficial. Even the word vegan has been sidelined, perhaps because it has connotations of abstinence and a dinner that tastes like hair shirts. These days it’s all about “plant”. Tesco has named its plant-based collection Plant Chef, chose M&S for its vegetarian cuisine, Morrisons has Plant Revolution, and Waitrose’s is called PlantLife. Asda chose a plant basis. The other day, I came across some sauce proudly labeled “vegetarian”. Yes, the sauce, as if the sauce was not made exclusively from plants. What then? Vegetable jam? A vegetarian apple?
But please, don’t kid yourself that this is a healthy food. It is junk. While health experts urge us to eat more vegetables, that’s not what they mean. It means real vegetables, you know, cabbage, carrots, broccoli. vegetable type.
Why vegan meat substitutes are the worst junk food of all - Duche The Dectorhttps://duchetridao.com/why-vegan-meat-substitutes-are-the-worst-junk-food-of-all/