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Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

bbc.com

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Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#11

Post by bjoli »

lucidguppy wrote: post #5

Its almost 100% certain - if your vegan diet looks exactly like a standard American diet (using substitutes) - you will gain weight unless you're meticulous about counting calories. If you want to be healthy on a vegan - do not eat vegan junk food. Being healthy on a vegan diet means eating whole foods - minimally processed. The food you eat should be high in fiber, low in fat, and high in water content. Most of your…

The incomplete protein comes from one thing: grains are generally.low in lysine and legumes are generally low in metsomethingine (metionine?). Both are essential. Eating enough for both during a day will even out (the liver stores them) unless you are doing a shitload of exercise.

Anyway, you will have to eat really shit food to not get enough protein. I live in a country with among the world's highest recommended protein intake (Sweden, 15%E - but anything between 10 and 20 is within recommendations) which I reach without even trying.

The WHO and American lower limits are impossible to come down to unless you live on oil and rice or eat ultrashit food.

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#12

Post by Tade0 »

randomchars wrote: post #9
blunte wrote: post #4

Any manufactured food will be less healthy than natural foods. I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece. Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.

> Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes "Meat replacements" are rising in popularity, and I'd consider those one of the worst things you can put in your body, just look at the ingredient list[1] - Soy-protein concentrate - Coconut oil - Sunflower oil - Natural flavors - Potato protein - Methylcellulose - Yeast extract - Cultured dextrose - Food starch, modified - Soy leghemoglobin…

I'm looking at the list and see nothing out of the ordinary. Which one of those are unhealthy?

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#13

Post by jamil7 »

randomchars wrote: post #9
blunte wrote: post #4

Any manufactured food will be less healthy than natural foods. I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece. Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.

> Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes "Meat replacements" are rising in popularity, and I'd consider those one of the worst things you can put in your body, just look at the ingredient list[1] - Soy-protein concentrate - Coconut oil - Sunflower oil - Natural flavors - Potato protein - Methylcellulose - Yeast extract - Cultured dextrose - Food starch, modified - Soy leghemoglobin…

I think your point here is about processed vs whole foods? The same argument applies to any diet, it’s not specific to a vegan diet. Whether or not one type of junk food is marginally better than the other doesn’t matter. If you want to eat healthily then avoid all this crap, vegan or not.

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#14

Post by bjoli »

blunte wrote: post #4

Any manufactured food will be less healthy than natural foods. I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece. Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.

You should probably not rely on foods that contains a lot of iron-absorbtion-ingmhibiting things (spinach, parsley) to get enough iron. Beans are better in just about every way.

Parsley would have been a wonder food if not for all the oxalic acid (is that the correct english name?) and other anti-nutrients. Spinach is better, but not by that much. Beans and whole-grain grains are where it's at!

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#15

Post by randomchars »

Tade0 wrote: post #12
randomchars wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes "Meat replacements" are rising in popularity, and I'd consider those one of the worst things you can put in your body, just look at the ingredient list[1] - Soy-protein concentrate - Coconut oil - Sunflower oil - Natural flavors - Potato protein - Methylcellulose - Yeast extract - Cultured dextrose - Food starch, modified - Soy leghemoglobin…

I'm looking at the list and see nothing out of the ordinary. Which one of those are unhealthy?

I'd like to reverse the question; which one of those are healthy, especially compared to the real version?

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#16

Post by russholmes »

lucidguppy wrote: post #5

Its almost 100% certain - if your vegan diet looks exactly like a standard American diet (using substitutes) - you will gain weight unless you're meticulous about counting calories. If you want to be healthy on a vegan - do not eat vegan junk food. Being healthy on a vegan diet means eating whole foods - minimally processed. The food you eat should be high in fiber, low in fat, and high in water content. Most of your…

Ageed. When the quoted dietician is repeating the old canard regarding protein and amino acids, it calls into question the rest of her statements.

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#17

Post by [deleted] »

randomchars wrote: post #9
blunte wrote: post #4

Any manufactured food will be less healthy than natural foods. I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece. Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.

> Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes "Meat replacements" are rising in popularity, and I'd consider those one of the worst things you can put in your body, just look at the ingredient list[1] - Soy-protein concentrate - Coconut oil - Sunflower oil - Natural flavors - Potato protein - Methylcellulose - Yeast extract - Cultured dextrose - Food starch, modified - Soy leghemoglobin…

[deleted]

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#18

Post by randomchars »

jamil7 wrote: post #13
randomchars wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes "Meat replacements" are rising in popularity, and I'd consider those one of the worst things you can put in your body, just look at the ingredient list[1] - Soy-protein concentrate - Coconut oil - Sunflower oil - Natural flavors - Potato protein - Methylcellulose - Yeast extract - Cultured dextrose - Food starch, modified - Soy leghemoglobin…

I think your point here is about processed vs whole foods? The same argument applies to any diet, it’s not specific to a vegan diet. Whether or not one type of junk food is marginally better than the other doesn’t matter. If you want to eat healthily then avoid all this crap, vegan or not.

Yes, that's my point. If you want to go vegan, go ahead, it's probably healthier than a standard american/european diet.

I think the problem starts when people can't let go the idea of certain food, ie. burgers, and try to engineer alternatives that fit their diet. This is what brings is stuff like the GMO meat replacements, which are marketed as a healthy alternative...

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#19

Post by cageface »

I know we interpret very broadly what topics are considered “hacker” news here. But I, for one, think the topic of nutrition and particularly vegan nutrition seems to generate a lot more heat than light on HN.

There are plenty of other places online people can go to discuss this. I wouldn’t mind seeing this site stick a little closer to its hacker roots.

Re: Why vegan junk food may be even worse for your health

#20

Post by jamil7 »

bjoli wrote: post #14
blunte wrote: post #4

Any manufactured food will be less healthy than natural foods. I'm rather suspicious of this article. It smells a bit like a meat industry funded piece. Vegans I know are not trying to replace meat with manufactured substitutes. They eat while foods instead, including spinach and kale, which has a lot of iron.

You should probably not rely on foods that contains a lot of iron-absorbtion-ingmhibiting things (spinach, parsley) to get enough iron. Beans are better in just about every way. Parsley would have been a wonder food if not for all the oxalic acid (is that the correct english name?) and other anti-nutrients. Spinach is better, but not by that much. Beans and whole-grain grains are where it's at!

Beans are amazing, especially if you invest in a pressure cooker. You can keep a cheap, healthy protein supply in you cupboard for months. We order black, red kidney and pinto beans and rice in bulk. You can then just buy fresh produce as you need.
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