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| Forums: January 2010 Kickstart Forum Archive: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? | |||
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| vegmom2two
Joined: 01/03/10 Location: California Posts: 18 |
IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Friday, January 8, 2010 at 11:36 PM I'm just wondering! I mean I know it is processed in some way and I'm not sure if it's actually good for me. I'm talking about Tofu, satain,gardein, and TVP. I'm still new to this whole vegan lifestyle and I'm still learning. So if anyone has a website that they can direct me to that provides info. on "vegan meat" that would be great. I'm waiting for The China Study, Eat To LIve, and Becoming Vegan to come from Amazon so I'm not sure if they will provide the info I'm looking for but until they come does anyone have any advice on it. |
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| serenevannoy
Location: Oakland, CA Posts: 294 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Friday, January 8, 2010 at 11:52 PM The answer is different depending on the substance. Tofu and tempeh are minimally processed; TVP is highly processed; Seitan is refined. I think how much you eat of these things depends on a lot of factors: how much processed food you want to eat; how much you feel like you need/want meat analogues in your diet; how much you like the foods or dislike them. Here's a good article on soy: http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/soy_health.html Serene Vannoy, Oakland, CA |
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| vegmom2two
Joined: 01/03/10 Location: California Posts: 18 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 12:34 AM Thank you very much!!!! I am becoming a vegan for health reasons and my dislike of meat so I think I would best enjoy the "meats" that don't remind of meat so maybe Tofu would be best for me. |
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| shanna
Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 8:41 AM Yeah, I use tofu and tempeh the most, seitan occasionally (if I make it myself), and never use TVP anymore. There are a couple of commercial ones I will buy: Field Roast sausages (gluten and grains, basically), Gimme Lean or Smart Ground (gluten and soy proteins), and various veggie burgers (usually soy). But I use all those no more than 1 or 2 a week. Seitan, i.e. wheat gluten, is refined, but it seems less worrisome to me than other refined products in that it's wheat flour with everything but the protein removed--and that removal is done simply by washing the whole wheat flour in water. (You can do this yourself--though it's kind of a mess--or buy the "vital wheat gluten" flour.) Most of the fiber is gone, but I always cook it with lots of veggies. Reducing soy flour to just the protein is a more industrial process. So that's good to keep in mind. I mentioned this in another thread, but one of the things I noticed happening for us was that the longer we were vegan (and vegetarian before that), the less we thought of replacements and the idea that a meal was "a protein + 2 sides." This makes fake meat an occasional thing, rather than a staple, and usually it's served in much smaller quantities than meat used to be. And anyway, my favorite meat substitutes are mushrooms (as burgers or in fajitas or sandwiches) and beans (in everything, especially soups and chilis)! Our favorite veggie burgers are homemade--the Chili Bean Burgers from The Moosewood Low-Fat Cookbook--made with beans and oats. We love those with black or pinto beans, or a mixture. One of the things I use gluten flour for is the famous Chickpea Cutlets in Veganomicon. OMG those are delicious. When the gluten is mixed with chickpeas there's plenty of fiber back in the mix. Have fun! |
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Wild4Stars
 Location: Florida Posts: 832 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 8:53 AM I sometimes use fake meats. I like Gardein now and then, and the vegan burgers. There are times that I just need the convenience, plus I like the fact that my meat eating hubby will eat them. I don't care for the fake cheeses, but I never cared for regular cheese before I went vegan. After reading The China Study I started buying fake cheeses for my husband and he seems to like them. As far as being healthy, I think they are still healthier than their real counterparts. I think you would be short changing yourself and your diet if you ate too much of them. Vikki ~ Wild4Stars@gmail.com |
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| shanna
Joined: 12/30/09 Posts: 287 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 9:10 AM I've had a couple of the Gardein things--but I wish they would sell them plain without the sauces. I find them too salty. The texture is great though and my husband loves them as is. In Tal Ronnen's book he mentions plain Gardein cutlets, but my store doesn't have those. Maybe they are new and eventually they'll show up. |
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smday
 Location: Kansas City Posts: 52 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 12:14 PM From a health standpoint, it beats the real thing hands down. There was a single hard-to-find study that showed adding soy protein isolate to an otherwise high protein diet caused a substantial increase in IGF-1. That's a growth hormone that is good for building muscle (good) and promoting cancer (bad). Dairy is another source for boosting IGF-1, especially dairy from hormone treated cows. Many vegans have taken this single study to mean that they should eliminate TVP from their diet entirely as unhealthy. However, a follow-on study by the same researchers showed that REPLACING animal protein in a diet with soy protein had no effect on IGF-1. That study is never cited by the anti-TVP crowd. So the jury is still out on whether adding some TVP to a vegan diet that contains no animal protein will affect IGF-1 since that study has not been conducted (that I could find). My theory (perhaps better to just call it a hunch) is that any diet that contains a very high level of protein will raise IGF-1 regardless of the source (although some sources, like dairy, may be "better" than others). That would be consistent with the results that body builders think they see from adding protein shakes to their diet (although they think it is because they need the extra protein to build muscle and I suspect that the extra muscle is coming from an elevated IGF-1). Just my untested theory. |
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| vegmom2two
Joined: 01/03/10 Location: California Posts: 18 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:02 PM shanna wrote: Yeah, I use tofu and tempeh the most, seitan occasionally (if I make it myself), and never use TVP anymore. There are a couple of commercial ones I will buy: Field Roast sausages (gluten and grains, basically), Gimme Lean or Smart Ground (gluten and soy proteins), and various veggie burgers (usually soy). But I use all those no more than 1 or 2 a week. Seitan, i.e. wheat gluten, is refined, but it seems less worrisome to me than other refined products in that it's wheat flour with everything but the protein removed--and that removal is done simply by washing the whole wheat flour in water. (You can do this yourself--though it's kind of a mess--or buy the "vital wheat gluten" flour.) Most of the fiber is gone, but I always cook it with lots of veggies. Reducing soy flour to just the protein is a more industrial process. So that's good to keep in mind. I mentioned this in another thread, but one of the things I noticed happening for us was that the longer we were vegan (and vegetarian before that), the less we thought of replacements and the idea that a meal was "a protein + 2 sides." This makes fake meat an occasional thing, rather than a staple, and usually it's served in much smaller quantities than meat used to be. And anyway, my favorite meat substitutes are mushrooms (as burgers or in fajitas or sandwiches) and beans (in everything, especially soups and chilis)! Our favorite veggie burgers are homemade--the Chili Bean Burgers from The Moosewood Low-Fat Cookbook--made with beans and oats. We love those with black or pinto beans, or a mixture. One of the things I use gluten flour for is the famous Chickpea Cutlets in Veganomicon. OMG those are delicious. When the gluten is mixed with chickpeas there's plenty of fiber back in the mix. Have fun! Thank you so much for all of the tips and I like the idea of thinking of meals as a protien and two sides, that's a great idea!!!!...I was thinking about ordering veganomicon!...Iv'e heard a lot of people say great things about it so I think I just might get it. Once again thank you so much for all of the tips. |
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| vegmom2two
Joined: 01/03/10 Location: California Posts: 18 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:05 PM Wild4Stars wrote: I sometimes use fake meats. I like Gardein now and then, and the vegan burgers. There are times that I just need the convenience, plus I like the fact that my meat eating hubby will eat them. I don't care for the fake cheeses, but I never cared for regular cheese before I went vegan. After reading The China Study I started buying fake cheeses for my husband and he seems to like them. As far as being healthy, I think they are still healthier than their real counterparts. I think you would be short changing yourself and your diet if you ate too much of them. I tried the fake cheese too, I LOVED cheese before I became a vegan so I ate a lot of it while I was a vegetarian, however that fake cheese was NOT good to me!!!!....and thank you for the tip on limiting how much of it I should have. |
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| vegmom2two
Joined: 01/03/10 Location: California Posts: 18 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:12 PM smday wrote: From a health standpoint, it beats the real thing hands down. There was a single hard-to-find study that showed adding soy protein isolate to an otherwise high protein diet caused a substantial increase in IGF-1. That's a growth hormone that is good for building muscle (good) and promoting cancer (bad). Dairy is another source for boosting IGF-1, especially dairy from hormone treated cows. Many vegans have taken this single study to mean that they should eliminate TVP from their diet entirely as unhealthy. However, a follow-on study by the same researchers showed that REPLACING animal protein in a diet with soy protein had no effect on IGF-1. That study is never cited by the anti-TVP crowd. So the jury is still out on whether adding some TVP to a vegan diet that contains no animal protein will affect IGF-1 since that study has not been conducted (that I could find). My theory (perhaps better to just call it a hunch) is that any diet that contains a very high level of protein will raise IGF-1 regardless of the source (although some sources, like dairy, may be "better" than others). That would be consistent with the results that body builders think they see from adding protein shakes to their diet (although they think it is because they need the extra protein to build muscle and I suspect that the extra muscle is coming from an elevated IGF-1). Just my untested theory. I would have to agree with you that is does beat the real thing....and your "theory" seems very interesting! I'm not really familiar with the IFG-1 so I will have to do a little bit of research on that. Thank you so much. |
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| scvegan
Joined: 01/05/10 Posts: 6 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 1:59 PM Thanks, Serene, smday and shanna for great info as always. We, too, have found that the longer we are vegan the less we desire meat replacement items. We are cooking many different dishes now, rather than just replacing chicken nuggets with soy nuggets, etc. Much healthier, I think. |
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sandra41
 Location: California Posts: 43 |
RE: IS FAKE MEAT GOOD FOR YOU????? Posted Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 6:04 PM I have struggled with "whole" and "vegan". There is definably two different worlds out there. I try to stay away from all animal foods, all whites (flour, rice etc) processed, synthetic, refined sugars, and high starches. For health reasons and waist reasons. The closer I get from what grows from the earth the better for me. But there are time that connivence is needed, therefor I need use something pre made. But, this is your journey, and just being aware is a step better than yesterday. Good luck! Your stomach shouldn't be a waist basket. |
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