Vegan Burger? Cool! 

"The Beyond Meat burger is technically a processed food. We know that diets higher in processed foods are linked to the development of disease."
"If you're somebody who's at risk for colorectal cancer, eating more red meat is going to further increase your risk for developing colorectal cancer."
Amanda Lapidus, dietitian

"French fries are plant-based [and notoriously unhealthy]."
"Would I eat it [plant-based burger] every day? No. Would I eat a burger every day? No, I wouldn't." "This is the same thing."
Abby Langer, dietitian

"[Ultra-processed foods are those which] go through multiple processes [extrusion, moulding, milling, etc.], contain many added ingredients and are highly manipulated. [e.g. hotdogs, chicken nuggets, sweetened breakfast cereals, ice cream, chocolate]."
Heart and Stroke Foundation

"For the last million years, we've evolved with a very specific diet that's been based on whole foods. There hasn't been a change in our diets this drastic in all of human evolution with the exception of one event in human history: when the Neanderthals ventured from forests into pastoral land and started agricultural practices [over 12,000 years ago]."
"Where this gets troublesome is consumers now see that this vegan burger has pea protein -- and they associate this vegetarian product, which is formulated from all these refined ingredients, and they think it's the same as eating a plate full of peas."
"We've created a whole new form of malnutrition that, from an evolutionary perspective, didn't exist until a hundred years ago. There is no anthropological evidence to suggest juvenile Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. There's no anthropological evidence that suggests that diseases like metabolic syndrome even existed a hundred years ago. And that is a direct consequence of the ultra processing of our foods."
"These consumers are blindly purchasing foods that they think are healthy because they associate it with a plant. But once that food has been processed, it doesn't matter if it came from a plant, or a piece of cardboard -- whatever -- the whole food has gone."
Michael Rogers, food scientist, University of Guelph

Well, not quite, Dr. Rogers. In point of fact diabetes has been around longer than a century. Recorded history dates awareness of diabetes back several millennia; that's thousands, not merely hundreds of years, as a metabolic disorder. So yes, as a food scientist (not an endocrinologist) Dr. Rogers as a food scientist knows as a professional what constitutes whole, nutritious foods to stoke the furnace of energy in the human body. And that highly processed foods which have proliferated and form a high percentage of most people's diet is an inferior product to stoke that furnace.

The question quite specifically revolves now around the concept of meat alternatives that are meant, through a food manufacturing system, to replace meat, yet taste like meat to please the human palate. For both health and environmental reasons, reducing reliance on meat products in the human diet makes eminently good sense. If it is done sensibly, that is. The Beyond Meat product appears to have satisfied people's craving for meat patties, having passed the taste-test to the extent that it has become widely available and vastly popular.

What dietitians are questioning now, is whether that alternative is indeed the healthy choice its manufacturers claim it to be? According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, when people consume more processed foods, they are also by doing that, consuming more calories and as a natural result, they gain weight. Weight gains out of proportion to what is considered normal lead to complications like kidney disease, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and heart disease, though to be fair some of those conditions can also present with advanced age, not necessarily weight alone.

A vegan burger produced with a Beyond Meat patty alongside a salad will have 990 calories, 63.9 grams of fat, and 1,539 milligrams of sodium. Producers other than Beyond Meat are now developing their own versions of plant-based proteins like that of Beyond Meat which touts its product as one that successfully competes with meat in taste, texture and nutrition. Its runaway success has inspired other food processors to get into the market because it is profitable. As an alternative to tofu and legumes there now is the alternative of Beyond Meat.

Both dietitians quoted above feel that discretion should be used; the occasional consumption of the Beyond Meat product is reasonable; making it a constant choice may not be. A Beyond Meat burger at A&W holds over half one's daily sodium requirement (1,110 mg) and is not a good option for anyone with hypertension. That same chain's teen burger with bacon has 910 mg. of sodium, and that's food for thought. There are 250 calories, 18 grams of fat, 390 milligrams of sodium and 20 grams of protein in a 113-gram Beyond Meat patty.

According to Health Canada, 113 grams of lean ground beef contains 292 calories, 16.5 grams of fat, 105 milligrams of sodium and 33 grams of protein. Compare that to 113 grams of Yves' Veggie burger containing 165 calories, nine grams of fat, 602.4 milligrams of sodium and 18 grams of protein. From the Industrial Revolution forward, points out Dr. Rogers, food companies have focused on formulae to make food more shelf-stable, palatable and functional by extracting, purifying and manipulating proteins, carbohydrates and fats, also added to formulated foods like the Beyond burger.

The original biological structure of an animal or plant-derived cell is transformed, no longer responding the same way in our bodies, when its broken down. Yellow pea protein isolates comprise the Beyond Meat products, where the pea itself is broken down through a number of processes and other ingredients like refined coconut oil and natural flavours are added to produce a cohesive patty with a palate-appealing taste. When people consume refined food products the cell structures meant to slow down digestion have been removed.

The result of eating refined food products is that the energy the food supplies is consumed by the human body more swiftly and easily, resulting in spikes of insulin, that can lead in time to diabetes onset. When the human body digests carbohydrates that have been refined it becomes transformed from a complex to a simple carbohydrate. The take-away to this lesson in human biological processes, is that where processed foods are concerned, moderation is the key, as it is in all things.

Aroma’s Power Burger. Aroma Espresso Bar/Twitter