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Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

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Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#331

Post by cpursley »

bpodgursky wrote: post #30
cpursley wrote: post #14

I never understood these engineered ultra processed meat imitation products, they are not healthy - period. There's already healthy and delicious cuisines that have developed over thousands of years (Indian, Nepalese, I'm sure many others). This desire to just recreate the SAD (standard American diet) with goo is beyond strange...

Low-protein Indian diets are not healthy. The food certainly tastes good, but let's be real, there's a reason heart disease and diabetes in the subcontinent are stratospheric.

You’re getting downvoted but they do seem to have some of these issues, including the skinny fat problem. But their cuisine sure is tastier than the fake meat and other goop that is pushed, which is even worse for health.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#332

Post by FooBarWidget »

lambda wrote: post #132
Grimblewald wrote: post #11

I always wondered who their demographic was. The core early adopters, the ethical vegans, who actually like the taste of plants are never going to make a lab made ultra processed salt bomb their daily driver (never mind issues surrounding industrial agriculture). Health-conscious folks would take one look at the ingredient list and bail because of the heavy processing and industrial fillers. You've got bodybuilders a…

This is such a weird comment. Why do you think that "ethical vegans" like the "taste of plants" any more than anyone else? The whole point of being an ethical vegan/vegetarian is to not consume animals, not because you don't like the taste. Health conscious folks would definitely choose these over hamburgers. Sure, they're not perfect from a health food point of view, but they're lower in sodium and saturated fat tha…

> Health conscious folks would definitely choose these over hamburgers.

I don't know man. I'm a health conscious person and I could just as easily choose normal chicken meat, or a beef steak that's not a hamburger, or fatty fish (omega-3!!). Why would I choose a hamburger substitute? I don't even particularly crave hamburgers.

I took a look at the ingredients list of the Dutch version, and it seems to be okay when it comes to amount of industrial fillers. It seems the preservative (potassium lactate) is the only problem, everything else seems acceptable. So I guess it's not that bad, but I still don't still really have a reason to choose it.

On days when I don't particularly want to eat a lot of meat, I just eat more rice, vegetables and beans. It's not that hard?

I think the OP is right: their niche seemed to be people who crave something like a hamburger or at least real meat while having an ideological opposition against meat and enough money.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#333

Post by deepvibrations »

Intermernet wrote: post #306
carlmr wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>it has way more sodium than ground beef you'd buy at a grocerty store We're not comparing fairly here. A finished hamburger patty is not pure ground beef. Did you ever make a hamburger patty yourself? You add salt and spices at a minimum. A more fair comparison would be looking at store-bought hamburger patties. That's the same category of food. I just compared Beyond (0.75g salt per 100g) and block house American B…

You can make an awesome burger pattie with beef, onion, garlic, a touch of finely chopped jalapeno and some herbs and spices etc. You don't need to add salt.

Yes, and I can make a vegan burger from lentils, onion, garlic and a touch of finely chopped jalapino, herbs etc.

The comparison here is shop-bought burgers or those you would buy in a burger restaurant, which WILL have salt and likely more than a Beyond burger.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#334

Post by level87 »

probably_wrong wrote: post #263
level87 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the insight that most people need but will never have, empathy for other living things seems to be greatly lacking amongst the general population.

I don't think that's a fair framing of the problem because it focuses on empathy towards the animals while forgetting the empathy towards the humans. Going vegan is not a zero-cost choice. It can be difficult, expensive, and in some cases even impossible due to health issues. Some users here complain about the meat subsidies without acknowledging that meat is pretty great when you're in the bottom of the economic pyr…

You make a valid point, but my comment wasn't about resources, it was about empathy. Factory farming isn't sustained by poverty, it's sustained by indifference. The majority of people who could easily choose alternatives simply don't think about it.

I grew up in a poor household and we were vegetarian, because we saw animals as living things with feelings, not commodities whose pain and suffering is meaningless.

I agree you can't live without some level of cruelty, but you can certainly live without contributing to one of its most obvious forms.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#335

Post by ricardobayes »

rcakebread wrote: post #182
lambda wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a weird comment. Why do you think that "ethical vegans" like the "taste of plants" any more than anyone else? The whole point of being an ethical vegan/vegetarian is to not consume animals, not because you don't like the taste. Health conscious folks would definitely choose these over hamburgers. Sure, they're not perfect from a health food point of view, but they're lower in sodium and saturated fat tha…

"they're lower in sodium and saturated fat than your average hamburger patty" If you buy a Beyond patty, it has way more sodium than ground beef you'd buy at a grocerty store. Comparing it with a fast food burger isn't really fair.

"Loaded with sodium" is what the agrolobby wants you to think. If you knew what goes into supermarket burger patties I guarantee you would never want to touch them ever again. Look up nitrates for starter, which is used as a preservative in some meat products: burgers, hotdogs, cold cuts.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#336

Post by amelius »

mhl47 wrote: post #317
amelius wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But soy products contain high amounts of phytoestrogens.

Most beyond products I know don't even contain soy as protein source. Regardless of what you think about phytooestrogens (which has very little evidence to have negative effects in normal quantities)

You're right, they contain yellow peas. But ... these are also rich in phytoestrogens.

(It is also an Asian crop, originally, maybe that has something to do with Western people, especially men, not being very well tolerant to it)

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#337

Post by FooBarWidget »

ricardobayes wrote: post #323
Grimblewald wrote: post #11

I always wondered who their demographic was. The core early adopters, the ethical vegans, who actually like the taste of plants are never going to make a lab made ultra processed salt bomb their daily driver (never mind issues surrounding industrial agriculture). Health-conscious folks would take one look at the ingredient list and bail because of the heavy processing and industrial fillers. You've got bodybuilders a…

The way you say "ultra processed" just shows the agro lobby did it's thing. You have to realize processed in the case of beyond is mechanically separating whole pea to use the protein.

You are right. I assumed it would be full of junk like most meat substitute products. But I took a look at the ingredients list of the Dutch version, it seems the preservative (potassium lactate) is the only problem, everything else seems acceptable. I'm quite surprised by how decent the ingredients are.

Still, I don't really have a reason to buy it. I don't avoid meat. I specifically eat beef for, for example, creatine and iron. But I guess it is good for people who crave beef yet have an ideological resistance against meat, a niche which I'm not sure how big it is.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#338

Post by sarreph »

dcminter wrote: post #257
sarreph wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You did such a good job of listing out reasons why niche demographics would skip a meat-free burger, without listing the actual core demographic who consumes them: Vegans and vegetarians, i.e. people who enjoy eating burgers but don’t eat meat.

Their second paragraph addresses this.

“Health conscious” !== vegan, vegetarian

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#339

Post by cpursley »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #58
cpursley wrote: post #14

I never understood these engineered ultra processed meat imitation products, they are not healthy - period. There's already healthy and delicious cuisines that have developed over thousands of years (Indian, Nepalese, I'm sure many others). This desire to just recreate the SAD (standard American diet) with goo is beyond strange...

Is animal meat healthy? In small amounts (10% less caloric intake) disease correlation does not increase, but higher then 10%, disease rates see a direct correlatory increase. The plant meats are healthier than the animal meats.

There’s so such thing as “plant meats”, and yes, animal meat is healthy when balanced with a good diet. What’s killing everyone is the white carbs and sugar, not the meats and fats. Anyone telling you otherwise is ideologically motivated vs science-based.

Re: Beyond has dropped “meat” from its name and expanded its high-protein drink line

#340

Post by edgyquant »

ricardobayes wrote: post #335
rcakebread wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"they're lower in sodium and saturated fat than your average hamburger patty" If you buy a Beyond patty, it has way more sodium than ground beef you'd buy at a grocerty store. Comparing it with a fast food burger isn't really fair.

"Loaded with sodium" is what the agrolobby wants you to think. If you knew what goes into supermarket burger patties I guarantee you would never want to touch them ever again. Look up nitrates for starter, which is used as a preservative in some meat products: burgers, hotdogs, cold cuts.

Ground beef from the butcher does not have nitrates
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