So, you think by buying a Beyond Meat Burger, you’re doing yourself and the environment a favor? Think twice. I took a look at the ingredients and here’s my honest review!
You may have heard about that new Beyond Meat Burger.
This new plant-based burger that tastes and even bleeds like a real burger. If that isn’t enough to weird you out, I don’t know what is.
Weird as it seems to me, I’m much more concerned with the actual ingredients of this beyond meat burger. Especially when the product touts itself as not just healthy, but sustainable.
Is Beyond Meat actually healthy? Is it actually sustainable?
After taking a look at the ingredients, the answer is hell no. Not even close.
Let’s examine.
The original Beyond Meat burger:
The Beast Burger:
There are many ingredients in these products that are both unhealthy and unsustainable.
Soy Protein Isolate
Processed soy is particularly bad. Whereas fermented, organic soy in small amounts (like natto) does not pose serious health risks, eating soy protein isolate will definitely take its toll on the body.
Some effects of soy include decreased libido, mood swings, depression, and several others.
This study from Harvard found that men consuming the equivalent of one cup of soy milk per day had 50% lower sperm count than men who did not consume soy. That includes even counting other factors like age, caffeine and alcohol intake, etc.
Just wait. There’s more.
This study found that soy stimulated the growth of estrogen-dependent tumors found in breast cancer. And this one found the same thing.
This study found that,
“…this pilot study indicates that prolonged consumption of soy protein isolate has a stimulatory effect on the premenopausal female breast, characterized by increased secretion of breast fluid, the appearance of hyperplastic epithelial cells, and elevated levels of plasma estradiol. These findings are suggestive of an estrogenic stimulus from the isoflavones genistein and daidzein contained in soy protein isolate.“
Soy is high in phytic acid, also known as phytates. These phytates prevent the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium (among others). This can be particularly harmful, especially for children.
Additionally, soy is high in phytoestrogen (source). This can block normal estrogen, wich leads not just to hormonal imbalance, but even breast cancer.
Note: this is why my periods were so heavy, painful and irregular when I was a vegetarian as a teen.
The processing that soy protein isolate undergoes is also a huge cause for concern.
Dr. Mercola describes the process,
“Soy protein isolate is not something you can make in your own kitchen. Production takes place in industrial factories where a slurry of soy beans is first mixed with an alkaline solution to remove fiber, then precipitated and separated using an acid wash and, finally, neutralized in an alkaline solution.
Acid washing in aluminum tanks leaches high levels of aluminum into the final product. The resultant curds are spray- dried at high temperatures to produce a high-protein powder.”
Canola Oil
Watch this video:
To sum up the video:
The rapeseeds are first highly pressurized, forcing out the oil. To extract the last of the oil, the canola cakes undergo a 70-minute wash with a “chemical solvent.” This chemical solvent, my friends, is hexane. A neurotoxin.
Then the oil enters the refining phase, in which the oil is washed with sodium hydroxide, a.k.a. lye. After this, the oil is clearer but still contains waxes.
In addition, the oil is cooled to 41 degrees to filter out the wax. After this, the oil is bleached to remove the color. Then comes “a steam injection heating process to remove the odor.”
One tablespoon of canola oil contains 2,610 mg of omega-6 fatty acids and 1,279 mg omega-3 fatty acids. That’s a lot of omega-6, which causes inflammation.
While it’s true that our bodies need omega-6, it’s in everything.
Fans of canola oil love to tout the omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, but it’s still a lot of omega-6. Plus, the omega-3 found in canola oil isn’t even beneficial (as opposed to omega-3s found in foods like fish).
The omega-3s found in canola oil are ALA, alpha lipoic acid. ALA does not convert well to EPA or DHA, which are the beneficial omega-3s that protect the brain, heart, and heart health.
So promoting the omega-3 content in canola oil is redundant – the omega-3s in canola oil do not contain the beneficial EPA and DHA.
Caramel Color
Don’t confuse this with actual caramel (made of cream and sugar). This substance contains ammonia and sulfites.
You can find caramel color in soft drinks like Coke or Pepsi. Johns Hopkins did a study on the caramel color found in these drinks and determined that it is indeed a carcinogen.
“Soft drink consumers are being exposed to an avoidable and unnecessary cancer risk from an ingredient that is being added to these beverages simply for aesthetic purposes,” says Keeve Nachman, PhD, senior author of the study and director of the Food Production and Public Health Program at the CLF and an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health “This unnecessary exposure poses a threat to public health and raises questions about the continued use of caramel coloring in soda.” Source
Yeast Extract aka Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
MSG hides under many names and yeast extract is one of them. MSG is an excitotoxin, i.e. it overstimulates the nervous system.
From The University of Toyama in Japan,
“We previously reported that injection of monosodium glutamate (MSG) in ICR mice leads to the development of significant inflammation, central obesity, and type 2 diabetes. To directly address the long-term consequences of MSG on inflammation, we have performed serial analysis of MSG-injected mice and focused in particular on liver pathology.
By 6 and 12 months of age, all MSG-treated mice developed NAFLD and NASH-like histology, respectively. In particular, the murine steatohepatitis at 12 months was virtually indistinguishable from human NASH. Further, dysplastic nodular lesions were detected in some cases within the fibrotic liver parenchyma.
We submit that MSG treatment of mice induces obesity and diabetes with steatosis and steatohepatitis resembling human NAFLD and NASH with pre-neoplastic lesions. These results take on considerable significance in light of the widespread use of dietary MSG and we suggest that MSG should have its safety profile re-examined and be potentially withdrawn from the food chain.” Source
This study linked MSG with headaches and increased blood pressure.
Carrageenan
Carrageenan is a harmful additive that all but says it’s going to f*ck you up. From The College of Medicine at University of Iowa,
“Although the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1982 identified sufficient evidence for the carcinogenicity of degraded carrageenan in animals to regard it as posing a carcinogenic risk to humans, carrageenan is still used widely as a thickener, stabilizer, and texturizer in a variety of processed foods prevalent in the Western diet…
Review of these data demonstrated that exposure to undegraded as well as to degraded carrageenan was associated with the occurrence of intestinal ulcerations and neoplasms
…Because of the acknowledged carcinogenic properties of degraded carrageenan in animal models and the cancer-promoting effects of undegraded carrageenan in experimental models, the widespread use of carrageenan in the Western diet should be reconsidered.”
And from the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago,
“This is the first report of the impact of carrageenan on glucose tolerance and indicates that carrageenan impairs glucose tolerance, increases insulin resistance and inhibits insulin signaling in vivo in mouse liver and human HepG2 cells. These effects may result from carrageenan-induced inflammation. The results demonstrate extra-colonic manifestations of ingested carrageenan and suggest that carrageenan in the human diet may contribute to the development of diabetes.”
From yet another study,
“…carrageenan was supplied in the drinking fluid at 1.2 and 3% concentrations over two weeks to young adult guinea-pigs. Ulceration of the large bowel was produced in 100% of animals, the severity and extent of damage probably being dose-related.” Source
Titanium Dioxide
Yet another carcinogen.
French researchers performed a study in which they gave rats an oral dose of titanium dioxide for 100 days:
“Their results determined that chronic oral exposure led to a non-malignant stage of carcinogenesis, the process of normal cells becoming cancer cells, in 40 percent of exposed animals.” Source
In addition, other studies have linked inhalation of titanium dioxide to cancer. Why would someone inhale an ingredient in these plant-based burgers? It’s also in paint.
A word on sustainability.
How did we get to this point? To the point where people think that eating a “beyond meat burger” created in a lab, with of toxic ingredients – is sustainable?
You know what’s sustainable?
Supporting your local farmers. GRASS-FED MEAT IS SUSTAINABLE. There is a relationship between land and animals. They need each other to thrive. Animals feed the land. They nourish it.
When this happens, farmers can grow plenty of nutrient-rich produce.
Furthermore, this process literally builds topsoil, which is necessary for a healthy environment.
Supporting your local farmers ensures that your food isn’t traveling thousands of miles to reach you. Consider the gas, the emissions, the resources used for this Los Angeles based fake meat product to reach someone in Michigan, Louisiana or Washington, DC.
Soy and canola are two of America’s largest scale mono-crops. Farmers grow them on thousands of acres of land doused with pesticides. There are no animals. Soy is not sustainable.
To sum up this Beyond Meat Burger Review: Here is true sustainability:
Buy your food locally, from farmers. Buy food that is in season. Grow a garden in your backyard. Raise chickens. Buy meat and seafood grown responsibly.
Go to the farmers market. Join a buying club. Do not buy man-made food-like products like Beyond Meat. Cook from scratch. Know where your food comes from.
633 Comments
Well have u actually tasted it? Seems to me like u throw away any plant based alternatives right out of the window. It might have some flaws but it just might be the thing for the future. One thing for sure that is not sustainable is still growing meat consumption.
WHY does the author keep stating how bad soy is when it isn’t one of the ingredients!?
I am vegan and I watch my soy intake. THERE IS NO SOY IN BEYOND MEAT BURGERS!
There is soy in their other products, which I clearly provided proof of.
To Jan Rose here’s why:
“SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE” is Indeed an ingredient. Not sure what you’re reading but you’re wrong.
Soy is listed as the second ingredient under the chicken strips.
That’s it ? Ignore all the information about processing and toxins she presented and just taste it anyway ? You go ahead, and I’ll stay healthy. Good article, but way too many unqualified indoctrinated lemmings out there chiming in. Do yourselves a favor and watch the documentary Beyond Impossible, with an open mind. Do some real research, and stop going by your feelings.
“some flaws”? Ha! They’re not “flaws” it’s freaking poison! Not food. Unless you’re ok with getting cancer or any number of ailments and diseases. Realize you’re brainwashed. Me? No thank you! I’m all set with eating fake food…a concoction of chemicals rather than meat. And “Still growing meat consumption” is very sustainable….you don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re simply parroting what you heard. It’s not true. Stop buying into the propaganda (brainwashing) and start thinking for yourself.
Just so we are clear…the author is recommending that eating grass-fed beef is a healthier than the Beyond Meat alternative ?
Scientific evidence has been accumulating for decades that cancer is more common among people who eat red meat and processed meat.
This article contradicts both scientific evidence and logic. I agree that the ingredients contained within the Beyond Meat patties are harmful as well, however compared to consuming actual meats, the risk of contracting a number of diseases is dramatically reduced by maintaining a plant based diet.
Your argument against sustainability is absurd on an encyclopedic level. A overwhelmingly large percentage of the corn and soy grown in this country is used as feed for livestock industry.
I willing to bet Ancestral-Nutrition.com is funded by the processed meats industry.
It’s abundantly clear that I’m recommending that eating grass-fed beed is healthier than Beyond Meat. While I agree that eating processed meat is unhealthy and problematic, there is no legitimate study that proves that eating grass-fed meat in addition to plant based foods (veggies in particular) is even slightly unhealthy. It literally does not exist.
Re: corn and soy grown for livestock – I addressed that, you’re ignoring this I suppose? I clearly recommend avoiding this meat in favor of local, grass-fed meat. Let’s not ignore the fact that millions of plant based eaters are eating this same corn and soy that they complain about being fed to livestock. It’s hypocritical and ignorant.
Also I’d be a lot richer is I were funded by the processed meat industry, but considering how regularly I bash them, it’s idiot to even suggest this.
There’s not enough space in the world to feed everyone with grass-fed beef. For the US alone, you’d need the whole US, parts of Canada and Mexico to feed the US with grass fed beef, so that doesn’t fit at all. That’s why factory farming is a necessity if you want to feed people meat –> 80% or sth from the worlds soy and corn. Emissions from cows especially are crazy in terms of methane and CO2 and water use. How is that sustainable again? 1 kilo of cow protein amounts to 1,000 kg of CO2 emitted (NY Times or the Economist); for chicken and pork these numbers are far far lower. That means that 13.1 kg of beef equals flying to Thailand from the Netherlands. The NY Times states that eating veggies from Argentina totals less emission than eating local meat. So please, please do research on the actual numbers before you state that something is sustainable. Oh, and by the way, red meat is a recognized carcinogen so there should be research on that it is unhealthy, and there’s countless studies that do not find any harmful side effects of soy. And maybe the beyond burger isn’t healthy, but a regular hamburger isn’t either, and it’s definitely not sustainable.
Hi Emma, it’s hard to comprehend this incoherent rambling – some B12 (from grass-fed meat) would improve your concentration.
But let’s break try to break this down. I understand that you’ve watched Cowspiracy and now fancy yourself and expert.
There’s more than enough land for grass-fed beef. There’s 2.3 billion acres of unused land in the US alone. You can put 80 cows to acre per day (fact, from actual farmers who do it: http://rethinkrural.raydientplaces.com/blog/how-many-acres-do-you-need-to-raise-cattle). There are about 94 million cows in the US. You do the math.
Re: grass-fed beef and CO2 emissions, you’re wrong again. Educate yourself, it’s actually really interesting: https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/ruminants-and-methane-not-fault-animals
To say that red meat is a carcinogen and soy isn’t is completely false. There is no single study EVER done on grass-fed meat proving it to be cancerous. It LITERALLY does not exist. Whereas hundreds, if not thousands, exist proving soy can be carcinogenic.
See here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11431339
https://ancestral-nutrition.com/why-i-have-beef-with-soy/
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/68/6/1431S.long
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/content/5/10/785.short
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11694625
Literally all of the studies I just provided link soy to cancer.
Not to mention that pasture based farms are AMAZING for the environment. They sequester CO2, they nourish the soil, they prevent and reverse desertification.
You are not an expert. You literally have no idea what you’re talking about. Please do not tell me to do more research when you’ve done none.
Nice government studies & one from this site, lol, credible
I linked to various studies performed by a plethora of organizations so your comment makes absolutely no sense. Glad to see you’re ignoring all of that.
Just thought this was an interesting piece form the World Health Organization that touches on this point:
“…there is no single study EVER done on grass-fed meat proving it to be cancerous. It LITERALLY does not exist.”
The study says all red meats (which includes grass-fed beef) can be carcinogenic; granted this is contingent on moderation, cooking style, etc. I’d like to know your thoughts after you get a chance to read and digest the findings.
Link http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/
Thanks!
that’s funny, are you calling yourself an expert? probably pride yourself on being a grammar nazi too, to feel “smart”. also, idiot, that is not the only way to get B12. this is too funny. Also, nice attempt to be snarky to someone who is much more intelligent than you. You’re the only incoherent one on this page, my dog would’ve understood get a life. speaking as someone who has graduated from Harvard with a 4.0 and honors as a nutritionist (now on salary making probably more than you’ll ever see in your life in the span of a year), you are dead wrong. there are so many academic journals written on research conducted by hundreds of panels of scientists who conduct actual experiments (are you familiar as to what those are? they constitute evidence) but seeing as you are too unintelligent to be able to understand data and scientific writing, here I have posted a link to literally the first website among millions out there finding links with red meat and cancer. You’re so credible. (hope you got the sarcasm love). What exactly are your credentials? Have you conducted or read on research from credible academic sources created from compiled, RECENT data from thousands of subjects per study? If you ever get off your likely large derriere and can muster up the strength without too much meat sweat going on then definitely give this a look and maybe learn to browse academic journals in a database. I’d post links from Harvard, MIT, UC schools, other universities but you have to be enrolled to access a true database. oops.
http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2015/10/26/processed-meat-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/
I’m gonna let this comment speak for itself.
Well said. Thanks for the article!
http://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/
When I was curious about the red meat and cancer claims, I went and checked what paleomom had to say. She has a PhD and tends to show a bit of both sides rather than argue for one. I’m going to link to her article on it..it was a while ago but I know I checked in on the research she mentioned and it made sense with what she was saying.
As a final note to anyone who may read this though…the hatred in these comments is shocking. Psyc research is finding that people would rather forgo being given free money than listen to opposing viewpoints….and that things like that are causing extreme separation between people who have different views. Be careful how much you separate because humans only survived due to their ability to socialise and work together. If we lose that over petty internet fights that turn into real life major fights, what kind of world are we leaving for future generations? Every small action has a ripple effect.
https://www.thepaleomom.com/the-link-between-meat-and-cancer/
Wow, how professional of you to be so condescending to someone who – CLEARLY knows more about sustainability than you- disagrees with you. Negativity follows negativity – you won’t keep any cool peeps if you can’t control your need to be “right”. I don’t know where you went to school, but I checked out your Instagram and literally gagged when I saw “heart attack on a plate” over & over again on your feed. A Holistic Nutritionist that promotes ham & bacon? I’m going to help you out here, because I don’t want to see your child become an orphan because the parents can’t control their food cravings: https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/world-health-organization-says-processed-meat-causes-cancer.html
P.S. I’m a Holistic Nutritionist who has watched literally hundreds of documentaries/ read numerous books on health/wellness/nutrition, follow reputable people on Instagram & Youtube, etc. Since graduating 6 yrs ago, I continue to learn & grow. I’m also polite to the people who comment on my food – I’ve never had anyone negative, because I don’t post mis-information.
“Literally all of the studies I just provided link soy to cancer.”
While your statement is factually correct, it is terribly misleading. All of the URL’s link soy to cancer. I believe first and last links (performed by reputable researchers in a University and published in a peer reviewed journal) of the studies provided actually link soy to a REDUCTION in cancer.
Hi Dani, I think your bad attitude is unsustainable. 🙂
Hey Dani,
I’m a little late to the game here. Scrolled through the comments and it gets ugly pretty quickly here. I’m not looking to take sides – you’ve presented some arguments I agree with and some I disagree with. However, I read through that cows per acre link you provided and I think your summary of it is a bit misleading. 80 cows per acre for only 1 day. Or, as they write in the article, 1 cow on 1 acre for 80 days. The farmer being discussed, Joel Salatin, is raising 40 cows on 50 acres. Not 80 cows on 1 acre. Just thought that was an important clarification.
You can put one cow on one acre for 80 days and then take it off that acre and let the grass grow back. Or, you can put 80 cows on one acre with high grass for one day and then take them off for 80 days for the grass to grow back, and let nature digest all that cow shit they deposited in that one day.
The implication that you can keep 80 cows on that acre day after day, is misleading bullshit.
1) It doesn’t take grass 80 days to grow. Even if it did, there’s still enough land for grass-fed animals.
2) That “cow shit” feeds the soil, builds topsoil, sequesters carbon, imparts nutrients into the soil, creates a healthy microbiome, etc.
I found this study interesting, about how beef consumption reduction is just as important as grass fed. I agree about the toxic ingredients but also feel strongly that beef is not a solution to feeding the world. But fake meat may not be a solution either. Thanks for sharing and hope you find this interestingly as well.
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aad401
Critiquing people for grammar rather than their arguments makes you look silly, ableist, and does nothing to serve your cause.
You absolutely lost me with the way you handled yourself in replying to every single comment you found a problem with. You’re a child.
Ran across this post the Vege warriors are strong in here.. Do they remember we killed off 30 million buffalo 100 yrs ago to make way for our little farms across the grasslands? Being carnivore now for awhile i’m simply amazed at my health being 51. Don’t even think about food most days. Eat a steak… Pretty easy diet.
IF MEAT IS SO BAD- WHY THE DEMAND FOR FAKE MEAT?
Its in our DNA to eat meat obviously since big fake food is working so hard to re create it in a factory…
Notice we have wild pig and wild deer over population’s? They literally multiply and cause chaos unless they are hunted to control populations… Controlled hunts are part of management.. Why do they over populate, HMM?
PS And go for a hike- Look for a plant to that eat that grows naturally in any abundance. Never ran across a carrot in the forest… Vegetables don’t exist naturally without humans dreaming them up… (Naked and Afraid show also comes to mind)
Not only does the tone of your article come across as self-righteous and indignant, the way you respond to counter arguments in comment replies shows your absurd level of immaturity; the defensive nature of your stances seem to imply insecurity of your choices.
I’ll be pretty honest with you, there isn’t anything ancestral about your nutrition advice – my ancestors that are a actually from this land roll in in their grave.
Nothing must die in order for humans to sustain. As technology evolves further, we won’t have to kill anything to enjoy optimal nutrition levels.
Most of everyone, including meat eaters, vegetarians, and vegans all lack critical nutrients. As long as you are supplementing all critical vitamins and nutrients, you will be fine regardless of what you eat. However, spiritually it is poisonous to the soul to kill and eat animals unless absolutely necessary, even then, our ancestors would kill and bless the animal, EACH animal, that they would eat. I highly doubt you kill your own food, you just happily pay someone to do it and feel good about it cause you call it “grass fed”.
Animal meat has linked to heart disease and cancer, the science just hasn’t caught up yet. In 50 years from now, future generations will see us as barbarians, blindly contributing to the holocaust of animals, 3.2 trillion animals being killed every year.
I will do you one favor, however, and it’s called youngevity 90 for life. This is a simple thing, very simple. If you would do some inner work and connect with spirit, you would be able to find these answers. The body naturally heals itself, repairs itself if it is given the right materials and environment. The endocannabinoid system, essential vitamins and nutrients, sun, water and avoiding dead foods, specifically the dead, decaying animal carcasses which rot your soul from the inside out.
Good luck, you will need it.
Dani – very good article. But I’ve never seen so many mis-led and manipulated idiots on one board before. Emma above takes that cake. Talk about being a moron to the media and believing in their propaganda. (you’re actually quoting the NY Times and Economist??) Wow! And it doesn’t stop. Many here are accusing you of condoning eating red meat when all you wanted to do to get through their thick skulls-the difference between real meat and plant based bullshit.
I’m sorry but let these puppets believe what they are told by the same corporations and advertisers that promote plant-based toxins. I do like your point about the vegans being hypocrites as they are against animals eating corn and soy, but they will eat it! Brilliant!
Plus. all humans and animals and plants need CO2 to live. Keep believing the shills who tell you it’s poisonous.
Clearly, Dani is an asshat, clownshoe shill for the meat industry or, just wildly ignorant and stupid. Sure, Beyond Burgers and some other plant-based ‘meats’ aren’t super healthy to ingest. HOWEVER, neither is most meat, ESPECIALLY red meat, grass-fed or not. Dani is LYING to us. Just one example of a VERY balanced take on red meat consumption (of thousands that are ridiculously easily found) that backs this up: https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-red-meat#1
Further, Grass-fed Meat-Industry shill and author of this crap Dani is SO ignorant and so disingenuous as to miss, or just flat out lie to us. As bad as some ‘conventional’ crop farming is on the environment (and thus, OUR BODIES, from an external angle inward, just not via the mouth as food), raising animals, especially cows, buffalo, etc is TERRIBLE. Cow methane produces 23 TIMES more pollutant than the world’s autos in use today. And, soy and corn are still plants, still actually perform some small task in cleaning our air while they are growing, at their leaves act as filters.
Further, Dani, you completely ignore the pain, suffering and death of all of the animals you advocate we unleash on every square inch of Earth to feed greedy slob humans who can’t get hip to organic tofu, mushrooms, beans and other much better alternatives.
It’s too bad we have dickheads writing crap articles to prop up a fading industry with lies. This COULD have been a great article to critique what in plant-based land still needs work. It’s true that we need to health-up a lot of the offerings. However, taken holistically (look it up, Dani), plant-based wins almost every time. That’s why the UN just implored everyone to get off animal-based foods to save us and our environment on this planet. Wake up, Dani. Be more responsible and honest. Geesh.
Your anger is a thin veil over your insecurities surrounding a plant based diet. I used to get mad at people when I was vegan too. Granted I was 16 and had better arguments (that didn’t resort to name calling).
Dani you are amazing. Best comment ever. Brilliant.
Please follow this link to discuss with actual ethical Omnivores https://www.facebook.com/beyondmeat/posts/1583728571684357
If you are the author, you’re an idiot who needs to do her homework. Meat of any kind is the #1 source of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancer…. shall I go on. Places in the world that don’t eat meat at all don’t even know what these diseases are because they don’t exist, but you go ahead and eat your grass fed dead mutilated cow and we shall see in 10 years how your health is. Time for you to go do some research.
This argument is fairly irrelevant. All food choices should be local. I have plenty of options for local sustainable meat to feed myself while I have no clue how far the ingredients in my beyond meat burger have come from. And if it was so sustainable why is it 2x the cost of beef?
Great point! We should all be buying local!
CO2 is not harmful to man or the environment! It is in fact necessary for all life on earth!!! No CO2, no photosynthesis!!!! CO2 helps facilitate photosynthesis. What is causing warming is the sun! Good luck on trying to turn the sun down! Also, of the greenhouse gases which keep the earth from becoming a cold lifeless rock like Mars, the largest amount of such gas is water vapor!!!!!!! I hear noone calling for the dying up of the major sources of water vapor-the oceans and the rainforests!!!!!
After a couple of hours of eating beyond meat I would experience a headache,gas and I could not consume enough water,my mouth was so dry.
This is the most thorough review I’ve read about Beyond meat. What most people don’t realize is that in summary, highly processed foods are bad for the body and bad for the environment. They take lots of energy and resources to make and don’t break down in a healthy way. Foods taken directly from the land and minimally processed or eaten raw are beneficial for body and the soil.
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS HUMANE MEAT. You’re killing an innocent being for your own vanity. You’re theory. Their theory. This article. That article. You could literally argue and back just about any perspective with enough google links. The undeniable truth, echoed throughout history and in nearly every culture is the concept that violence is wrong. You choose a violent diet. It’s not a “nutritional choice”, it’s a lifestyle.
I bet you have a family pet that you love as well. Just see the hypocrisy! Feed one and eat the other. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is number one in google because the SEO backers are meat industry lobbyists.
You want to help people? Then quite being a tool and step out of your own arrogant mind for a millisecond and really come face to face with what you’re doing to another createure for your “diet”.
Dani we at Facebook group “Ethical Omnivore Consumer/Producer Alliance” just posted your great article .. thank you for writing it. We have been on “Beyond Beef’s” Facebook page saying just what you are trying here against the uninformed vegan onslaught. Please come here and I will invite your “fans” to as well. We are very well versed in this particular argument. You are not alone.
Sorry the link is https://www.facebook.com/beyondmeat/posts/1583728571684357
Lets just take a breather for a second. Just one moment is all we need…
There, is that better?
Now that our minds have cleared, lets start from the beginning.
This opinion piece has been written with a abundantly clear purpose. To inform about the potential risks a singular brand of beef patty alternative might have. Not every beef patty alternative, not even soy in general. This is just a article of writting expressing one’s feelings towards a single way to avoid the consumption of meat. Although jam packed with numerous links, websites, and videos intended to swaying us to a certain opinion (most definitely the author’s) whether it be right or wrong, it’s our view upon it that is the real culprit here. It’s through our own experiences that we understand thoughts as one way or another. And without our own experiences and thoughts, it would be impossible to come to conclusions, and form new ideas. It is essential for every human to create, to establish, to express their own thoughts and ways, because without it we would lack everything that makes us what we are. Now, that is not to say we can use extreme ways to establish our opinions, because that was never my point, nor should that be what you have gathered from this message. No, what I am saying is the exact opposite. We have been given a great gift. A gift that we take for granted much too often. Our gift allows us to spread our message, our thoughts, our feelings, throughout the world. We can talk to whomever we want to talk to, be as loud as we want to be, discuss whatever we want to discuss. We have been (more or less) given the power to change. Change what we hate in this world. Change all the hate, greed, evil. And this post is not to serve as a naïve out-cry from a optimist. This post is a awakening. Just to tell you that arguing whether to eat meat or a meat alternative (and I’m speaking generally here) is absurd. Yes, absurd. Because all that time you just took to type out a quick and witty response, all that time you took to copy and paste a link to prove someone how wrong they are, how they should be sorry they even challenged your words in the first place, over 200 children have starved. Yes, they’ve starved. Too bad they don’t have the luxury of choosing whether or not it would boost their iron if they had grass-fed beef for dinner, or if they should go with a nice, light salad. Too bad they don’t have enough energy to chew, let alone throw insults at each other over their preferences. Too bad right? While your blood was boiling over how many people didn’t believe what you were saying, over 200 men and women have been brutally raped. Most likely murdered soon after. When was the last good meal they had? By the time you finally send your edgy response, corrupted governments hijack our world, our people, and our natural resources.
I’m not here to make you feel guilty about your strong opinions. I’m here to make you feel guilty about how quick we are to bash each other. How differences in opinion can so, so quickly make us feel such a strong hate to someone on the Internet. Someone who you’ve never met before, never had a face-to-face conversation with, never met their family, and never heard their story. This is what makes us weak. This is what makes us prone to crime, ignorance, and corruption. This might not be the only mistake in our world, but we can most certainly make it our last.
So the next time you feel the need to express your opinions by bashing someone, by making them feel lower then you, think about those children, those men and women, think about them, take a breath, and make a change.
“Like”…no “love”.
Thanks for this article. They are not being transparent about their product.
I don’t know why debate generally devolves into mudslinging between the pro meat and no meat eaters (I’m of the latter). Let’s just stick to the subject.
It is abundantly clear by now that beef consumption is bad for us and is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and, yes, cancer. Potential culprits include the trans fat in meat, the saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, advanced glycation end products (glycotoxins) which I admit are also produced by certain processing/cooking methods of plant based foods; animal proteins (especially leucine, carnitine – TMAO formation), zoonotic viruses, and industrial pollutants (perhaps not in pasture fed cows) that accumulate up the food chain.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/cutting-red-meat-for-a-longer-life
https://www.nature.com/news/red-meat-wrong-bacteria-bad-news-for-hearts-1.12746
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3261306/
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-safety-of-heme-vs-non-heme-iron/https://www.bmj.com/content/357/bmj.j1957
etc
This land you want to use to feed even more cows on is the same land that is being taken from our beautiful wild horses. That’s why the BLM is chasing all the wild horses with helicopters to get them into pens (where there is absolutely no protection for them) and then selling them, usually to people who are going to transport them to either Canada or Mexico. They usually don’t get to either Canada or Mexico, where they are sold to be slaughtered as food, all in one piece. The people that are buying them to these 2 countries don’t care at all that the horses are in excruciating pain. They get paid by the pound so they don’t care… it’s not their pain.
In addition to claiming carcinogenic red meats as healthy, you also print the misinformation that grass-fed beef is sustainable. It’s perhaps worse than factory farms, depending on what you look at.
Yes, less methane is produced than cows eating outside of their natural diet. However, where do you imagine all this beef comes from? Free-range cattle need a lot of space. Do you see them frolicking on farms with green pastures? Maybe a few. Most cattle are free-range on public lands.
With a non-native species in forest lands or plains and meadows come into the environment, they displace native prey. When they displace that prey, apex predators eat the cows because there is nothing else to eat.
Where I live one rancher has been responsible for the deaths of three entire wolf packs (including pups). The last pack to be slaughtered by the state had cows on salt licks planted yards away from their den. He does this on purpose because he hates wolves.
He grazes his cattle on our lands to feed his cattle at only $10 an acre. So taxpayers are essentially subsidizing your meat habit. It gets worse. After predation occurs 3 times by the same pack, they are given a death sentence. It costs taxpayers $20,000 per wolf killed on behalf of the rancher who has had his cattle killed. The state also reimburses him for the dead cattle. That endangered species are killed so people can eat their steaks and burgers incenses me.
Not only are people who eat meat responsible for the destruction of beautiful animals like wolves, cougars, bears and other predators, the taxes I pay are subsidizing the irresponsible, gluttonous diet of so-called paleo lifestyle adopters. I eat a plant based diet because it is the only sustainable diet to eat. People who eat meat have to face the fact that their diet is responsible for species becoming extinct or being pushed to the brink of it. I’m so sick of these blogs with pseudo-science proclamations of what’s healthy for human beings to eat with no regard for the impact of eating meat upon the world we live in and the true costs of it. Some say ignorance is bliss. I say ignorance is privilege.
You have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. You could not be more misinformed.
1 – Cattle are free ranged on public lands? I’m guessing you’ve never been to an actual grass-fed farm or even met a farmer. Cows roam on their farmer’s land. Who do you think takes care of these cows? The farmers. The hard working men and women who care about these animals. They’re not grazing next to parking lots owned by the government. That makes no sense at all.
2 – You think cows are grazing in forests? They graze on grasslands. That’s kind of the point. They nourish the land with their manure.
3 – Your wolf story is entirely anecdotal and makes no sense so I really have no idea what you’re talking about.
4 – The taxes you pay subsidize wheat, soy, corn and canola. This is why processed food is so cheap. This is a fact, something your comment lacks. Americans pay $246 billion per year to subsidize these monocrops that are vegan staples: http://www.pcrm.org/health/reports/agriculture-and-health-policies-unhealthful-foods
5 – You want to talk about displacing native species? What do you think plowing and clearing and adding chemical fertilizers to millions upon millions of acres of land to make vegan proteins and staples does? It takes a lot more space to grow these massive monocrops that vegans gobble up, and I assure you that it kills more animals that eating a local diet that includes grass-fed beef.
6 – Millions, if not billions, of animals are killed every year so vegans can eat while ignoring the fact that their food left a trail of blood they can ignore because they have no idea where their food comes from.
7 – Vegans are so disconnected from their food and nature that you forget a few simple facts: for you to live, something must die. Animals nourish the land. Without animals, we are left with chemical fertilizers that cause dead zones in the Gulf Of Mexico the size of Delaware. These chemical fertilizers destroy the soil. Monocrops, the staples of vegan diets, kill millions of and displace animals.
1. Small, family-sized farms only take up 1% of all meat sales in the U.S.
2. Forests are destroyed to create artificial grasslands. You can literally google, “Deforestation and Animal Agriculture”
4. The taxes you pay subsidize the pharmaceutical industry which sells a majority of their antibiotics to the meat and dairy industry which then gets people sick, and then they buy more pharmaceuticals. It is a very basic economic concept.
5. We could feed the entire planet with all the food that 56 billion farmed animals are eating. We would be able to convert land back to the natural state and replant forests if the world went vegan. Just google “world hunger and veganism”
6. 56 billion farmed animals are killed for food. That doesn’t include all of the animals that die when forests are knocked down for yet another CAFO, that doesn’t include all of the animals that are dying due to water contamination from the runoff of CAFOs, and that doesn’t include fish (there are so many that they are measured in tons). If you *believe* that more animals die from harvesting plants than LITERALLY KILLING animals, you are 100% emotional and have not used any form of rational logic to formulate that opinion.
7. Carnists are so disconnected from their food that they are under the impression that walking into a grocery store and purchasing a perfectly wrapped chunk of carcass is more natural than eating plants. Carnists are so disconnected from their food that they think pumping animals with pharmaceuticals is more natural than eating plants. Carnists are so disconnected from their food that they think its more natural to eat a dead animal that another has killed and gutted for them, than actually doing the dirty work.
7.5. Runoff from CAFOs is LITERALLY the main cause of ocean dead zones. There is more cow and pig shit floating around in our ocean than sealife shit. Animal shit literally destroys the soil, leaving entire parts of our country infertile. You cannot grow crops within a certain distance of a CAFO. YOUR MINDSET kills and displaces millions of animals. No matter how hard and how blue in the face you are, you are wrong. There is a reason more and more people are choosing PLANTS.
Not all cows graze on private land. Lots of cows graze on federal land, 155 million acres to be exact. You can look on the Bureau of Land Management website for more info.
You seem to be disconnected from the fact we’re almost 8 billions people on this planet. Not everyone will have access to your bourgeois grass fed beef and milk.
And we would need 3 planets if everybody started living like this.
Actually I do know a few farmers that raise grass fed cattle. They have about 5000 acres that is used as a hunting reserve and a 10,000 acre BLM (public lands) land lease. They’re definitely hard working men and women but they don’t really care about the animals. You’re uneducated about the details and just want to eat the way you want. Their land is flat farm land but they do indeed graze the cattle in the forest.
That said eating a significantly smaller quantity of grass fed beef would likely be significantly more sustainable than we are now. It doesn’t take more land to grow food on farm land than it does to eat meat it actually takes significantly less.
You’re clearly uneducated on the issues and I ask you to please argue on the side of the vegans so they look bad instead of real responsible meat eaters. If you want to promote sustainability quit eating beef and start hunting.
Wow! Cows do roam the forest and they do roam public land. Its called a grazing lease. This guy has no brains and no sense. Also has no idea what it takes to farm any animal. Coming from someone who actually has cow farming friends and also own my own livestock. You should really find out the facts before spouting off buddy!
The amount of cows in forests and public land are minimal. Incredibly minimal. The vast majority are on farms.
Also, I’m a woman. I’m not really sure how it’s possible to visit my website and not make this distinction.
I love intelligent women! Talking Dani of course
Like I’ve said, someone’s gonna give you a well deserved kick to the head, then maybe you’ll be capable of empathizing with the animals we torture and exploit for our pleasure because you’ll know what a fraction of their pain feels like.
I hope you read this and don’t jut have some poor schmuck filter this shit.
I find it funny how all of these comments supporting plant based garbage ignore all of the facts. The nutritionist above went to a government funded school, being taught old school ideas. Our society hasn’t caught up with the data yet. You need to eat way more plants to fill your belly than you do meat. The amount of space you need to cultivate and level off is huge. That is lots of land to be de forested, displacing animals and cause soil erosion over time. (If you knew how your plants were grown, and the implications on the environment, you would probably not eat them). Also, the fact that many many insects and animals are chopped up in your farmers rotitillers, and killed by insecticide every day doesn’t seem to bug you. So long as you can pretend that no death is involved in the practices used, you can rest easy in the dilusion that you and your diet are superior to others.
If you do some research, it doesn’t’ take much digging at all to understand what anti-nutrients are (the ones found in every plant you eat), because we are not supposed to be eating them. Cucumbers were poisonous only a couple hundred years ago, straw berries were inedible, because they were too small, hard and bitter to consume. What else… I mean i could go on about how basically every fruit or vegetable you eat has been genetically modified. To me that clearly shows that plants were never intended to be eaten.
I am very scared for our population and society in the future. Mental and physical health are at threat to diminishing even more.
And can any vegans answer the question “if you don’t believe in eating meat, why do you need to process plants, into something that resembles or tastes like meat…? if meat is so disgusting, why would you ingest something that. Why wouldn’t you stay the farthest away from anything resembling meat… ?
I think we all know the answer here. Because meat is freaking delicious. Because we are supposed to eat it. Because you are lacking the essential nutrients that only meat can provide. (Yes everything has protein and this and that, but none of those plant based sources assimilate or get abosrbed by the body.
Can anyone else tell me why you think a plastic jacket or couch, that falls apart and is basically garbage in 1 year, is better for the environment than a leather couch. A couch that takes way less resources and lasts way longer… that won’t end up in a landfill in 1 year. ??
Also, one more thing i just thought of. Vegans like to blame meat industry for all of the methane. While i dont disagree, factory farming, and feeding cows things they shouldn’t be eating is the main problem, but have you considered that every thing that dies releases methane? Meaning plants. Plants that are laying around rotting. Hell, do you realise that when you eat meat more, you shit less. All the vegans out there shitting out all of the fibre they can’t digest 10 times per day are probably contributing to all of the methane..
I would say just do some research, but you won’t….
This beyond meat garbage is beyond frustrating..
So, so many good points. One of my favorites:
“Also, the fact that many many insects and animals are chopped up in your farmers rotitillers, and killed by insecticide every day doesn’t seem to bug you. So long as you can pretend that no death is involved in the practices used, you can rest easy in the dilusion that you and your diet are superior to others.”
You couldn’t be more spot on. Thank you so much for this comment!
This is for Brittany, Dani and all the flesh consuming bloggers
Brittany you are a moron….and the diarrhea coming out of your mouth is toxic to the planet…..sorry had to get that out of the way! you are full of Shit…..lol
lets get to the facts
The best lifestyle is synergistic, when done together:
1. whole-foods plant-based diet, low in fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. primarily fruits vegetables, whole grains, legumes and soy products in their natural unprocessed forms.
2. Moderate exercise – walking and strength training
3. Stress Management – yoga meditation
4. Love, social support and intimacy
You will reverse and prevent the progression of a wide variety of the most common costly and disabling chronic diseases at any age….You will live life to the fullest and the planet will thank you!
What’s good for you is good for our Planet!
Please read Un Do It! Author Dean and Anne Ornish
For lifestyle changes to be sustainable they have to be pleasurable, meaningful, fun and joyful, and lets not forget tasty in order to be effective.
Most of the flesh eating world consumes processed foods which we all know are not the best for your health. Add flesh to the process and its a toxic cocktail, which causes chronic inflammation which is the base of most of the disease in our world and on top of it destroys the planet due to factory farming. Climate change and health are linked!
Animal agribusiness generate more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation combined. All transportation worldwide generates only about 13.5% of the carbon dioxide that contributes to global warming. Eating meat, on the other hand is responsible for at least 18% of carbon dioxide emission and may count for much more. Livestock also accounts for 37% of methane (which is 23 to 72 times more toxic to the ozone layer than carbon dioxide) and 65% of nitrous oxide (which is 296 times more toxic) The US alone maintains 9 billion head of livestock which consumes about 7 times as much grain as the entire US population. Livestock now uses 30% of all land worldwide and are causing deforestation, particularly in the Amazon, where 70% of the land that used to be forest is now used for grazing.
Besides displacing land that could be used to grow food for humans, more that half of US grain and nearly 40% of world grain is being fed to livestock rather than being consumed by humans…that would feed a lot of hungry people.
Why Beyond Meat? You have to give flesh eating humans something that tastes and feels like meat in order to save the planet…….Its the only way to change the world and we know we must!
Facts…
It takes 10 to 14 times more resources to produce a pound of meat based protein than a pound of plant-based protein. Producing a pound of beef takes almost 2,000 gallons of water.
86% of the $3.3 trillion annual US health care costs goes toward treated chronic diseases which can be prevented and even reversed by eating a plant – based diet at a fraction of the cost…
Eating a plant based diet is more compassionate way to eat. Over 150 million animals are killed for food around the world every day—just on land. That comes out to 56 billion land animals killed per year. Including wild caught and farmed fishes, we get a daily total closer to 3 billion animals killed.
That’s a lot of unnecessary suffering. I believe what goes around comes around-for better and for worse. Take a look at our planet…it scares me.
When we realize that what we choose to put in our mouth each day makes such an important difference in addressing global warming, personal health, compassion, as well as feeding the hungry, it empowers us and gives meaning to each individual life…. Each and everyone of us can make a difference. Choosing to eat a plant based diet frees up a tremendous amounts of recourses that can benefit many “others” as well as ourselves. This is very meaningful and when we can act more compassionately it helps our hearts as well.
Peace and Love to all living.
A lot of vegans don’t try to eat foods that replicate burgers…They eat fruits and veggies. If you eat organic fruits and veggies, pesticides/insecticides are not used. So many on this topic are trying to save face. The Ego is an incredible thing. Meat in general has been scientifically proven to cause many issues with the body and processing it. It is not NATURAL for us to eat flesh. That’s a generatonal lie and programming that goes back to even religious writings. Stop thinking government and university studies are sufficient resources. In many cases, this is where the lie begins. Each of you are bickering like confused slaves fighting over what master told you from the industries master created. MOST of the lifeforms on this planet eat of the land, not the other lifeforms that are on the planet. Notice how often spices and seasoning from the land is required to make the flesh more desirable. There are many who don’t eat much at all because they are not slaves to their tastes buds and chemicals placed in foods to make them addictive. We over consume more than we consume, yet leave others starving that don’t have to. We are WATER based lifeforms. There are technologies and developments occurring outside of your universities, because most of them are funded by those that need you to be confused and bicker as you all are on this forum.
Great comment a lot of great points
When you said…
….”If you do some research, it doesn’t’ take much digging at all to understand what anti-nutrients are (the ones found in every plant you eat), because we are not supposed to be eating them. Cucumbers were poisonous only a couple hundred years ago, straw berries were inedible, because they were too small, hard and bitter to consume. What else… I mean i could go on about how basically every fruit or vegetable you eat has been genetically modified. To me that clearly shows that plants were never intended to be eaten.”
Now, I’m no expert on Health and Nutrition, but if we are what we eat…and what we eat[beef], eats plants…then according to what you said in your comment, technically we aren’t supposed to eat meat as well right? If cows eat plants and we eat cows, then aren’t we getting the same nutrients through the beef we eat? I wouldn’t want my food that I’m eating to digest “bad” food either you know? I’m not bashing either side, I’m just trying to make better health choices for my life and trying to get the facts and opinions from others to help me on my journey. Thank you.
While I agree with most of what Brittany says, we are designed (by whoever or whatever or nature) as OMNIVORES. Look at your teeth. We have molars for crushing and shredding plant fiber, incisors for hard nuts and roots, and canines for tearing meat. I also agree with the author about eating locally. This is the key to sustainability. The key to good health is moderation. You should eat a balanced diet based on what is locally available.
Thank you for that information, Jen. You sound like you have done your homework and you present your knowledge in a mature manner. As soon as I hear somebody needing to insult others while trying to make a point. Shows me that they’re really not worth listening to. They most likely are immature and can only mimic other’s opinions because they are not really educated enough to actually make a clear consences of their own.
so eating corpses of abused and sick animals is way better. What a joke!
Grass-fed where and does that make it ok to support the cruel meat industry?? no..it doesn’t
Grass-fed farmers and the meat industry are two completely separate industries.
I applaud you Dani for your stance on grass fed meat and for supplying so much information but I warn you of the following:
Many people in today’s society are so disconnected from their food supply they’ve become super ignorant. With the internet, many people get fed dumb information they interpret as intelligent information. Then their are the people who are completely fake and just want to sound like they know what they’re talking about yet have no clue whatsoever.
This earth was created way before this new form of anti-meat logic came about and the rules were created way before man set foot on earth. Eating meat has always been a part of man’s history and was as natural as breathing. The phrase ‘eating off of the fat of the land’ is how we existed and never caused any harm to us as humans until we entered postmodern times.
Now humans put their trust in man-made chemicals, additives, simulations, etc. It’s all a joke! You can NEVER go wrong when you adhere to the laws of God or nature for you non-believers. Whenever man interjects problems arise along with confusion.
Eat grass-fed meat, organic vegetables, drink lots of water and exercise regularly and you will be just fine.
P.S. Stay away from foods that are laden with ingredients you can’t pronounce and have no clue as to what they are.
End of discussion.
Oh wait so grass-fed animals don’t have to die for us to eat them?
Where are all these grass fed farms that can feed people. It’s a fact that meat causes acidosis in the body which creates an environment for cancer to thrive in. Soy is also bad. I did notice that the original Beyond Burger you made no mention of its ingredients so I would assume that they are relatively safe in your eyes. I don’t advocate consuming any soy nor do I advocate killing animals for food. The part of the meat that you actually enjoy is the vegan part anyway unless you eat unseasoned meat.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study
You may not know about the China Study or Dr. Esselstyn
http://www.dresselstyn.com/revolution.htm
Oils and fats in meats are directly responsible for cardiovascular disease.
https://nutritionstudies.org/2015-dietary-guidelines-commentary/
You talk about cancer but heart disease is a much larger killer
Heart Disease 710,760
Cancer 553,091 (numbers from Dr Esselstyn book The China Study
Some of the findings, published in the most reputable scientific jour- nals, show that:
• Dietary change can enable diabetic patients to go off their medica- tion.
• Heart disease can be reversed with diet alone.
• Breast cancer is related to levels of female hormones in the blood,
which are determined by the food we eat.
• Consuming dairy foods can increase the risk of prostate cancer.
• Antioxidants, found in fruits and vegetables, are linked to better
mental performance in old age.
• Kidney stones can be prevented by a healthy diet.
• Type 1 diabetes, one of the most devastating diseases that can be-
fall a child, is convincingly linked to infant feeding practices.
Dani, just give up. Too many people know red meat is bad for you and you’re going the opposite way. Whoever funds you is gonna die eventually.
I fund me. And I’ll never give up.
“grass fed farmers”.. oh, those farmers wend directly to the field and ate the grass, eliminated completely the intermediary (cows), therefore increasing the efficiency of the feeding process … 😀 And no mercury accumulation either…
I’m a bit sat they eliminated the animals, because I love animals so much…
They are so tasty…
Mark
Here’s what I see, browsing through several years of comments. Quite a bit of sanctimonious hate coming from some folks. I eat meat, but, in deciding that environmental issues need individual buy-in to succeed, I’m exploring options that might assist me in moving toward less meat in my diet. Where I’m, kinda’, landing – after considering the discussion – is that, while Beyond Meat isn’t that good for me, if it means that its’ increased popularity results in a reduction of “factory raised” cattle, then there’s a benefit to the environment.
Really…we should just eat a lot less meat. Seems like a good idea for a lot of reasons.
Haha, best reply yet. Bloggers who wish to speak on nutrition and contents of modern foodstuffs, should do this… go to college, become an MD, and get a PhD in microbiology, a PhD in nutrition, and maybe a PhD in virology. Then you can speak with actual authority and education backing you up. The problem with the internet today? If somebody says something it must be true. This blogger has no actual medical or industry credentials and is just lolled by the reading of her own diatribe.
We’re not eating a damn burger to be healthy. Vegan have a choice to enjoy a burger without MURDER ! That’s the point. So yea fuck it I won’t eat it all the time but at least I’m not eating an animal
This idea shows just how disconnected from nature so many vegans are. It’s a simple fact of life that for you to live and eat, something must die. You don’t consider the amount of animals killed to grow massive monocropping operations, the amount of animals displaced by the sheer volume of land it takes to grow these monocrops, the trillions of organisms killed by the pesticides sprayed on these crops.
I assure you, animals are killed for your meals.
Murder-language aside, the meat industry is inherently cruel. A better author would grant this point and then move on to say that the pros outweigh the cons.
Ignoring the points that drive most vegetarians and having to have each argument benefit your conclusion is Trumpian and undermines your credibility. It’s a shame. You’ve clearly done a lot of work.
PLEASE READ. I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS.
Didn’t know where to post this so ill post this here.
All flesh is putrefaction . The cells are dying or are dead. It is utmost unwise to consume dead cells from any animal, wether it was fed corn, soy, grass or whatever. All what cancer is, is a dead cell or dead cells beyond the point of repair. That’s all what it really is and ever was.
Dead meat is acidic to the human body
,causes excess mucus/mucus buildup in the organs, joints, skin, brain, any body part basically, causing disease
, is carcinogenic
,causes rises in cholesterol making it harder for your heart to pump blood to your organs
, is hardly electrical
,and have incomplete and unnatural molecular structures which should not be introduced to the human body. You are also causing a great disturbance and unease in your toroidal energy heart field. Meat from anywhere should not be consumed by human beings, our teeth, digestive tracts, intestines, lymphatic systems, central nervous systems, and toroidal heart energy fields tell us so. Our body’s almost immediately enter a stage of stress after consuming meat, IF one is so mindful and conscious and aware of his/her body to notice. The BEST diet or lifestyle for humans is an organic raw alkaline vegan one. Consuming organic raw alkaline fortified fruits, vegetables, nuts, and grains (gluten free) that are greatly electrical with completed molecular structures. This being said, beyond burgers ARE NOT healthy, SOY IS NOT HEALTHY (ORGANIC OR NOT IT STILL MAKES THE HUMAN BODY PRODUCE WAY TO MUCH MUCUS) ALL OILS ARE NOT HEALTHY (ENDOTHELIAL CELL FUNCTION)
If you and your husband are deficient in iron, eat more vegetables that contain iron (and take vitamin d3 or get sufficient sunlight for sufficient absorption), if deficient in b12, take b12 supplements, it’s not hard. I would love to hear your response to this. Love you, Thank you, Namaste and stay hydrated 🙂
Dani, thank you, for your post.
I am an Equine massage therapist and one of the most compassionate caring people as far as animal welfare that I have ever met.
Once a vegetarian, vegan and major supporter of ” go vegan”I was proven WRONG and ALMOST DEAD WRONG!
I became ill and after 6 years of fighting as hard as I could to gain muscle and other connective tissues at 83 pounds I was going to die. To rebuild the disc’s in the spine you MUST CONSUME ANIMAL FATS AND PROTEINS/ Collagen. If your eating supplements to attempt to mimic this you will suffer and die.
The ocean and the forest intelligence penetrated my ignorance just before I died and gave me permission to be apart of the animal kingdom again and survive- THANK GOD, I was worthy of this.
I ONLY consume Co-Op non- GMO- ORGANICALLY ( preferably bug fed chickens ( that are CO2 gas put to sleep before they die) an other well managed grass fed animal products. I thank the animal for the healing minerals-frequency and strength I receive and I do good work with my energy. I am NOT A BAD PERSON FOR DOING THIS.
I crack up at this argument because all the people arguing that consuming the animal kingdom is wrong- are alive because their ancestors did, and before 150 years ago, they did it very intelligently. DUH, they DRANK THE MILK/ Yogurts WITH PROBIOTICS IN IT, THEY CONSUMED EGGS. Most people couldn’t eat as much meat as we do because they needed the products the animals gave them more than they needed the flesh and that might be a good tip. Bone broth made from the animals that did die was an incredible nutrient rich healing meal/ drink.
AND if the family didn’t have enough food- they would consider NOT having more babies. So all this abundant modified food is fucking us up, and has us taking life for granted all over the place.
I am 110 pounds today and developing new functional muscle everyday that there is NO DAMN WAY a genetically modified processed ” patty” could help me build.
The argument is not eat meat or not.
It is what kind, how much and did it have a decent life eating nature with sun on it’s back and able to walk around?
THIS is the only argument.
You are quite literally telling ” GOD” or whatever name you give your maker that it’s all been a mistake- creatures aren’t supposed to eat each other, when saying animal consumption is not important.
Processed ” FAKE” foods are making the Pharmaceutical industry trillions
SO- with knowing quite a bit about the subject on many levels.
Fast food is already crap- go ahead and make it so less animals have to suffer- SO less DRUGS are used on these animals.
Ultimately though, agree that the large herbicide sprayed crops are going to harm animals not help them.
CAN we discuss GLYPHOSATES
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/glyphogen.html
So – it’s better for the people and the planet if eat more of this
It’s only better for Mansanto and the DRUGGING INDUSTRY
NEUR- DEGENERATIVE
Means your gut is so destroyed your brain is falling apart- this is happening to children raised on these foods.
Yea we need more people walking around the streets not knowing they don’t have any clothes on looking for more dope to put their non- functioning brains to sleep because it hurts so bad to be alive.
I’m sorry, I JUST HAD TO BACK UP Dani’s VIEW POINT UP A BIT.
BTW- people just don’t pay for animals just because. So when your saying it is not good to consume these animals you are saying we no longer need them and they can vanish of of the face of the planet.
Maybe that is right, but a lot of hunting is going to be going on.
Maybe we need to be eating bugs, more wild animals like squirrels, etc… again?
Because that is whats gonna happen.
Peoples bodies crave meat for the bio- accumulated nutrients from an animal that had a good life.
Until you make us robots ( maybe that is whats happening)
MEN and WOMAN are going to crave meat and other animal FATS and proteins, because they are supposed to.
QUIT making humans feel bad for this. I once did and I was WRONG!
Go live in the jungle for a month and tell me I am not, I dare anyone
Lets figure out a understanding of all truths
not just
“WE need to feed billions of people” more like prisoners
The beyond meat supporters have GREAT points BUT we MUST discuss opening the other points so we can all learn and make good choices for our family’s health and vitality.
I won’t eat it- I would rather eat crickets- but is that bad too?
LOL, you damn birds are fucking up the planet!
GRASS FED
WILD
Or plan on having your blood work come back and scare THE SHIT OUT OF YOU SOMEDAY.
Dani, You’re an idiot. The more I read, the more I dislike you as a person because you’re rude and arrogant to your guests. Go eat your grass fed red meat and prepare to enjoy the same illnesses as your forebearers.
You’re an idiot. Why dont you look and see what is in the beef and meats you eat. I couldnt even read through your idiot bonehead write up. Beyond burgers are still a much better and healthier alternative than any factory grown concentration camp meat product.
What a sound argument.
I am a vegetarian, almost vegan for over 30 years. I am amused by your responses to those on a “soap box” (an expression probably not heard by many) Keep up your dedication to honesty and your sense of humour. It does more to aid digestion than most other things.
Actually, it IS a sound argument. You are uninformed from an education stand-point spouting info you believe is correct. And, just because somebody says something somewhere about how BAD something is doesn’t make it true unless they have the education behind them to give value to their opinions. Your opinions are just based on wild assumptions where cows, live and the lives they lead…..please don’t flatter yourself with you lack of knowledge.
nobody knows what makes up a cow. eve people who have had families raise and breed them for 3 generations
I’m only commenting to add to the numerous voices here calling out your pseudointellectual bollocks. Your method of writing in such certainties about subjects you obviously only partially understand is so counterproductive to any attempt to understand your opinion, it forces readers to dislike everything about your righteous tosh.
Only problem with this is that Beyond Burgers don’t contain any soy whatsoever.
“there is no legitimate study that proves that eating grass-fed meat in addition to plant based foods (veggies in particular) is even slightly unhealthy. It literally does not exist.”
Which study shows that “grass-fed” / “free-range” meats are healthier than conventional meats? Or are you making this assumption because you read about it on a paleo broscience blog somewhere?
This author is a complete idiot!
eating grass fed is not better than eating beyond meat, its the same…
According to “The China Study” (the most expansive medical research document ever to be conducted in the history of modern medicine…ever) consuming animal products are incredibly unhealthy for you and pose many different health risks. I highly recommend the author do more extensive research.
I’m a vegetraian because I don’t think an animal smarter than my dog should have to die for me to eat a burger. But I still crave burgers. So I mix in Beyond Meat every once in a while. It’s great.
Your “grass-fed beef is sustainable” riff, even forgetting the ridiculousness of it, fails to address this CENTRAL premise.
Hey Dani!
I completely understand where you are coming from, and I used to feel the same way, till I did some research.
Incase you are interested, here is the water footprint and carbon footprint of raising one cow (local or otherwise) –
https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/
http://www.greeneatz.com/foods-carbon-footprint.html
As you have mentioned, soy and corn is also mostly grown for animal consumption, so to say that ‘soy is unsustainable’ is a misconstrued statement. It’s only unsustainable as we are consuming it now – I agree that we need to shift towards a more sustainable way of consuming, and research shows that plant based consumption is the way forward. Since we will be producing far less soy to feed humans, than we do animals.
Raising cows locally does not decrease the amount of food a cow consumes, and there is very clear research to show that plant based sources of protein are far more sustainable that animal based protein (specifically beef).
I’m happy to change my mind if you have any facts to state otherwise!
Also not looking for an argument, so please do not be offended by what I’m saying, even though I disagree with you.
“Buy meat and seafood grown responsibly.”
Good luck with that. This is seriously nearly impossible. 99% of meat comes from factory farms and a good deal of the other 1% isn’t much better.
And I seriously doubt any meat is healthier than the ingredients in this product.
It’s best to just eat fresh organic fruits and veggies rather than trying to eat meat or meat alternatives.
But I would eat this product over real meat, if simply for the sake of the animals.
Your replies to people critical of your article sound very Trumpian (“you’re an idiot,” “you don’t even know what you’re talking about,” etc.). That is revealing. Who paid you to write this? I am guessing someone in agribusiness.
In any case, I am concerned about this article spreading misinformation to those curious about living a plant-based, ethical (both environmentally and towards animals) lifestyle. Top health institutions—including the World Health Organization and Harvard Medical School—have endorsed a plant-based (read: vegan) diet for optimal human health. Beyond Burgers, while not the healthiest option for daily consumption, are fine as a sporadic treat. They are certainly better than beef, 99%+ of which comes from factory farms, the antithesis of “natural,” and which is often marketed as “grass fed” because USDA regulations are lax and usually not enforced.
“even slightly unhealthy” Oh really, there are literally DOZENS of studies that show meat consumption is the main cause of heart disease and diabetes as well as a significant cause of cancer, stroke, alzheimer’s, auto immune diseases and more. This article is complete BS! Check out the link above from the foremost Doctor in the world on nutrition: Dr. Greger
And yet, you’re unable to provide a single study that demonstrates how grass-fed meat is in any way even slightly unhealthy. Lil’ tip: that study does not exist.
this article is 2 years old and youre still replying to comments with your attitude. this is the saltiest blog of all time. might want to check your sodium.
Forever salty on this topic.
Oh man, the comments on this article. I’m so sorry to the author. These people are insane.
Dani,
I am in total agreement with you regarding beyond meat. If you are a vegan I wouldn’t recommend eating beyond meat products. It’s always better to eat fresh fruit and vegetables than eating this stuff. If you want to eat meat such as beef be sure it is grass fed and grass finished and organic. Many benefits from eating grass fed and grass finished beef.
Yes! I only recommend grass-fed, organic meat from local farmers. Something that a lot of people apparently did not read in the article (I’m lookin’ at you, angry vegans!).
Here’s the thing about fake beef. The vegetables this stuff is made from have been around for centuries. If it were possible to make meat from plants, I’m confident someone would have done so, well before now. So, why now? The kicker is in the chemicals. Any natural mixture of vegetables will taste like vegetables. To have a meat-like taste, there has to be a chemical intervention. If the ingredients in this product don’t scare you, then the process for producing them surely will. At the end of the day, you still can’t weave straw into gold.
DANI Keep up the good work. It is obvious the naysayers don`t truly read what you write. They all seem to miss the fact that you are telling them to eat truly organic meat, not the crap fed animals. They only see and retain what gives them an opening for an argument. I keep reading and hearing (from various sources) that the world produces enough food to feed the entire world and still have lots left over. I imagine that if all the food (vegetation and meat)were grown without all the crap, the earth would be able to feed the entire population using less space because of the land not getting destroyed by various chemicals. What frightens me is the inability for the people who eat all these chemical laden foods to grasp the truth….peoples mental abilities are being `dumbed down`.
Anyway, thanks for your research and caring enough to share. Keep up the good work.
Yes! So many people haven’t read the article at all. It’s incredibly frustrating. There’s a HUGE difference between factory farmed meat and grass-fed, small, organically farmed cows. Thanks for your comment!
I recently watched the documentary on Netflix called, “What the Health”…If you have watched it, what are your thoughts? If you haven’t checked it out…I recommend watching it. Very informative on new information on health and what we eat. 🙂
All right, the first comment besides Dani’s that I have read that speaks truth. I’m going to stop here and not read the rest of the comments, as I’m in total disbelief that people are so uninformed. Wait.. not uninformed as that is something I could handle, what these commenters believe is actually the complete opposite of what is true.
My family will support are local grass fed family farm, I knows the government or most of these zombie commenters won’t.
Keep up the good work Dani.
For Sustainability can anyone tell how many lbs of edible plant material it takes to make 1 lb of beyond Meat? What happens to the waste material? Then the question has to be asked: Are we taking food away from the poor to feed to the elite?
Great points and very thought provoking!
I’m not claiming either one is more healthy, or even sustainable, than the other. My question is why you feel we have the right to breed and raise for slaughter living animals? I would rather one go out and hunt their own wild animal, skin it, and eat it.
NOT QUITE. There is hard scientific evidence that eating slaughtered animals causes cancer in humans. You must be sitting there with a giant GUT from all the cancer causing agents now in your blood from consuming the flesh of animals. There is no soy protein isolate in the beyond meat burger. Also, the innocent animals you slaughter are fed with soy and corn products, plus chemicals and the hormonal responses to them being gutted alive while their children are taken away.
more fake news than CNN in here. plant based ingredients will be better than artery clogging meat. digesting, health wise, weight management wise, the list goes on lol …trash bloggers are hilarious
I love a good burger, but just the diff in ingredients and the way you feel is enough … grass fed meat may be better but is still meat and can cause the same problems for people…it is better than regular beef, not as good as lean elk etc… but you cannot even compare the current beyond burgers ingredients in the stores, no soy no gmo just plant based patties they shouldn’t even be compared to beef…its just a meal option more satisfying than some PB options
Article was great until the recommendation of meat was introduced. All meat causes cancer and is not meant to be put into the human body.. all.. there are no exceptions. Grass fed or not you are taking a life, digesting ligaments, flesh, veins, etc. why do you think cancer rose so much after 1930? Meat. These fake meat products are bogus too . Stick to whole, organic, fruits and veggies for a based diet. Argue how you want… eat your meat.. but the price will be paid, that I can assure you. Tested all foods in my system by themselves for over 5 years, analyzed countless combinations DYOR. Can’t save you.. but I can save myself..
Please come to this link and discuss with some ethical Omnivores https://www.facebook.com/beyondmeat/posts/1583728571684357
Yes! yes! Yes! Eating grass-fed beef is far, far healthier. This is a great and well researched article. You may not agree with the author but she is saying important things. Scientific evidence shows consumption of poor quality meats is worse than consumption of high quality foods. Cancer is caused by chemicals, poor eating habits, ill health and poor mental hygiene. Matthew, I just do not agree. My research points to a hunter gatherer diet as being the healthiest. Wild fruits, vegetables and animals. The livestock “industry” is responsible for environmental degradation. We can do far better than that and many people do raise beef in harmony with the environment. There is so much to be done. Let’s work together to improve the worst of industrial agriculture and return to balanced and wholesome foods
I think she is right there is something in them that is unhealthy. I have 4 stage kidney disease. Every time I ate a burger my blood pressure spiked. The ingredients show 380 mg of sodium which is low enough that I should be able to eat. But something is wrong because my blood pressure is through the roof and I am swollen up. They need to take them off the market.
MSG in the will do that!
I will agree, beyond meat, is vegan junk food. Not healthy at all. But for you to blame it for your condition, is ridiculous. “They need to take them off the market”. Are you serious? In that case, they need to take coke, Pepsi, captain crunch, ritz crackers, Breyers ice cream, top ramen, twinkies, little Debbie, Kraft, Post, Heinz, and I could go on. If you have stage 4 kidney disease, that’s a sign your body has had enough of the abuse from all of the foods and drinks you’ve consumed throughout your life. You can’t damage the body for years, then jump on a product that just hit the market and blame it for your health issues.
With your condition, you don’t need ANY junk food. Go plant base. Any junk food is liable to take your health over the top.
Tina, are you referring to the Beyond Burger which spiked your blood pressure? Can you tell me a little more about this. I became vegan (in diet) a couple of months ago to continue to be a good candidate for a family member who has kidney disease. My last evaluation for match showed my own kidneys not operating at a ideal level for a donor. I changed my diet to vegan and significantly increased my water intake and retook the test with flying colors. So I maintained the diet adding a Keto/low carb aspect (I noticed vegan cuisine having a lot of carb ingredients). I’m exploring various alternative meat products and found beyond burger to taste far better then anything else I’ve had even more then the Impossible Burger and it’s relatively low carb. Reading this article makes me a bit concerned and especially your comment.
Listen, grass fed meat is not necessarily bad for you. I am a vegetarian and I know this as a fact. Most Americans eat meat with/for every meal of the day. If you have meat once a week or a few time in a week then it definitely has beneficial aspects to it. Consider that meat has necessary B-12 vitamins that otherwise would have to be extracted in a lab to be added as a supplement. You can buy sustainable meat products but like the author said, it should be local. Nearly all of the meat sold in stores come from a factory farm thousands of miles away from your home and are given hormones, antibiotics, and preservatives and are processed to be unhealthy. Factory farms also ruin topsoil, emmit methane that is a major cause of global warming, and usually intale very inhumane practices. Look into local farms that slaughter humanly and feed healthy diets to their animals.
Yes!! THIS.
First of all, let’s get something right here. Meat is NOT the only source of B-12. I get my B12 from Bran Flakes and other cereals. So please stop with this ridiculous misconception. Second, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HUMANE SLAUGHTER. Murder is murder is murder.
I DO hope you are joking about getting your B-12 from your bran flakes. B-12 is not naturally occurring in grains. Are you not aware that it is most likely a SYNTHESIZED B-12 “supplement”(Synthetic Vitamin B12 – Cobalt and cyanide are fermented to make cyanocobalamin. That’s correct. Cyanide. It is in miniscule amounts, but it is still cyanide.), unless it is the natural desiccated liver powder B-12(cobalmin) supplement, that is ADDED to your bran flakes(even higher amounts are ADDED to vegan fetish-flakes because vegans are more deficient in B-12 than people with a balanced diet)? Enjoy your cyanide or liver bran flakes. CHEERS!
Hahaha, humanely slaughtered. Really? How about I kill someone you love or that is close to you by putting them to sleep. That’s humane. Taking the life of an animal isn’t humane. It just isn’t. There are arguments for both sides but let’s not be ignorant of facts.
Also the author of this blog responds like a little child being told off. It’s very off-putting…
Steve, what you fail to realize is that whether you eat vegan or you eat meat – something dies. Do you eat tofu? What about wheat, corn or canola? Entire species of animals have gone extinct from the growth of these crops. Millions upon millions of animals have been displaced because of these crops. Entire deadzones in the Gulf have been created because of these crops, killing off billions of sea life.
So yeah, I choose the humanely slaughtered cows. You choose the inhumanely slaughtered species that you don’t see, so you can ignore where your food comes from and assume you’re not participating in the death of animals because you have no connection to nature or where/how your food was raised.
My responses are “off putting?” Clearly you’re not used to a woman standing her ground and fighting for what she believes in.
As a woman myself, quite used to standing my ground and fighting for what I believe in, I’d just like to note that I also find your responses childish and “off-putting.” Also, remarkably rude.
If you have to be this defensive and hostile about your food choices, perhaps you’re not as confident in them as you suppose?
The soy and corn is being grown to feed livestock!!! Not people. The percentage of these crops grown to feed people directly is small. Yes, growing all these crops is damaging the environment, but that is just another argument to eat plants directly, instead of feeding 6×12 as many crops to animals to get meat… Yikes I am sorry I wasted my time reading this blog..
that is why frutarians exist. I would say “eat like a Jain” but they use dairy from cows because of the believe in sacred mother cow
I was holding back from responding, but I just can’t help it at this point.
Look ma’am, if I eat an apple off a tree, the tree does not die; but continues to provide more apples for me to eat. Same goes for the corn and wheat, the stocks don’t die, they just replenish the food. Futhermore, if no one eats the food, it falls off the stock and rots anyway.
By your logic, the corn and wheat stocks commit suicide several times throughout the season and must be stopped, and Autumn kills billions of leaves every year and we should do away with it…
Look, eat your meat! We don’t care, just don’t lie to people to try and get them on your team. Mind your business and we’ll mind ours. I think every person who eats a beyond burger knows good and well they aren’t healthy. Same can be said for an Oreo cookie, they’re vegan too ya know.
I could go on and on about this article and your responses, but I’ll get back to my life. Hopefully some vegans took my response to heart.
@Matthew Pickering Thank you!!! This study is CLEARLY bias, and most likely low key funded by the meat/dairy industries. SMH! While I agree that eating Beyond meats may not be healthy, I’m POSITIVE it’s better than consuming dead, rotting cow ass, whether it’s grass fed, grain fed, rbst or whatever toxic crap they may or may claim to not be injecting into the animals. I don’t buy these burgers often, but if I’m going to indulge, I’d much rather eat this, over defensless, enslaved, tortured, and raped animal flesh.
Exactly!
This is clickbait. The article speaks of the BEYOND MEAT BURGER yet, the ingredients being discussed aren’t in the beyond meat burger. It contains PEA protein isolate, there is no soy in the beyond meat burger. It also doesn’t have the titanium dioxide nor the carrageenan she mentions. Again, clickbait.
The facts of the beyond meat burger from an actual vegan, living a real vegan lifestyle to a high percent:
The bleeding factor is creepy, to a vegan it smells like blood and I don’t like it, to a meat eater it smells like a spice and salt.
The texture is extremely realistic, it makes me uncomfortable so I can never finish one anymore. At first, when I was a new vegan, I liked it. But now, It makes it difficult to finish because my mind gets the better of me with images of carcasses, tortured mother cows, and the environment going to waste.
the blood factor is from BEETS. Beets are really good for the human body, and they’re delicious once steamed and sliced. Our society doesnt eat nearly as many beets as it should.
Overall its a good burger, my roomie is making us some right now
any meat is a group 1 carcinogen, so we should eat carcinogens instead carcinogens? seems like you don’t quite have the whole picture, although i do agree these ingredients aren’t great, you also are recommending poison (raise your own chickens)… Its like saying don’t eat sugar its bad for you, hear have this soda. You should educate yourself before you try to attempt to educate somebody else, lest you seem foolish..
Much prefer my Beyond Meat burger. For me its about being ethical and compassionate to animals. Ancestral Nutrition design presents itself as Native American, earthy…but meat is just the opposite. It is destroying our environment and earth which is in opposition to “ancestral” native american.
http://www.pacificcoastcanola.com/expeller-pressed-process/process/
This process doesn’t use the solvent process you describe in your article. Can you confirm that beyond meat uses the process you say they do or do they use this process. I suspect they use this one.
If you read the first lines, then you’ll know this author is bias and just running on his/hers primitive impulses “me want meat, meat is good”…sigh
Could not agree more.
Careful taking any advice here. It is widely biased and based on some highly contentious findings.
I’ll stick to real science. On a side note the authors instinct to attack anyone who disagrees is appalling. Grow up dani.
This article needs to be updated! I love this product and was kind of surprised to read about some of these ingredients so I contacted Beyond Meat and they said:
Thanks for your interest in Beyond Meat. While we certainly stand by our products and their ingredients, we’re always striving to improve upon them. Looking through that article, I noticed several bullet points focusing on ingredients (caramel color and carrageenan among others) that we have removed from our ingredients list. We can’t speak to the motivation of the article or the amount of research done by it’s author but we will always try to be as transparent as possible with all of our products and the ingredients in them. Take a look at our Products page: http://beyondmeat.com/products, and I’d be happy to explain any specific questions you might have about our products or how we make them. I hope this helps!
totally agree with Matthew
You’re both entitled to your wrong opinions.
Arrogance is off putting, yes. Opinions are just that. Neither right, nor wrong. You might learn to disagree without calling someone else wrong, Dani. Maybe you could stand your ground with a little humility and grace.
There is no soy in this product and this article contains so many falsehoods that one can only suspect it was sponsored by the beef industry.
This accusation is so asinine. How exactly would the “beef industry” sponsor me?
ALSO if you even read the article, I do not support or encourage anyone to eat meat from factory farms. I am vehemently against factory farmed, industrialized animal production. Did you not bother to read that part of the article?
I clearly state people should be buying meat from local, organic, grass-fed, family farms. So is it small families who can barely afford to get by that are
“sponsoring” me?
This should go without saying, but please have the mental wherewithal to actually read the article in its entirety prior to commenting.
It is hilarious that you are accusing everyone here who doesn’t eat meat of being ignorant to the effects of monocropping and telling us that we are killing animals too, we just don’t see it. You advocate for local grass-fed beef consumption but have you taken a moment to consider that perhaps most of us who are vegetarian because we care about the environment and the humane treatment of animals are also buying local and organic produce that is sustainably farmed? I grow my own vegetables, no animals are dying to feed me in the summer. In the winter I buy local fruits and vegetables. I don’t believe another animal has to die to sustain my family.
Betsy, I sincerely doubt that you are consuming a diet entirely made up of your backyard veggies in the summer and locally grown fruits and vegetables in the winter. Although I do commend you for growing your own veggies and buying locally in the winter, that’s awesome.
It does indeed have soy.. this is from Beyond meat’s FAQ page “WHAT ARE YOUR PRODUCTS MADE OF?
Our products are made from 100% plant-based inputs such as proteins from peas, faba beans, and soy. They are free of gluten and GMOs.” it’s a MAN made product.. it is the height of processed..as it is a Process to make it.. Hence processed!!.. so in this light its no better than any other man made crap with Added nutrients?? Just a thought.. I think there needs to be a little bit of due dilligence from the people commenting.. This lady posted several links on studies done.. they are RIGHT there within the body of the post!.. she did her due dilligence.. Hmm.. and Sooo many angry people, Near as I can tell this poster that posted this article.. Dani.. are comin off to her as if SHE is the one making this product she just looked into the ingredients each one listed.. and there are a few.. and broke them down and provided studies on each one.. and Just remember.. when the Name calling begins. all intelligent conversation has Left the building it means you have Nothing intelligent to say.. OR you lack the vocabulary to pull off an intelligent coversation.. I just think it’s CHILDISH to attack the poster.. it would seem this is a text book “everyone has opinion’s & Most of them stink”..” or “Opinions are like assholes everyone has one and they ALL stink”.. Either way.. I will NOT be eating Beyond Meat!!
Thank you for your insightful and knowledgeable posts. As a person that grew up on a farm 72 years ago I know you are correct. What I am amazed at- the negative and nasty comments boarding on a type of bullying. We are seeing this like never before in our society. What ever happened to civility? Again thank you.
Thank you Ralph!
because animals and veganism. they are the most bully types, even though they claim meat eating makes one agressive, and claim that is why carnivorous predatory(not scavangers like vulture) animals are “mean”
Everything you said, thank you.
And yet neither you nor Matthew can provide studies demonstrating that a well balanced diet of grass-fed meat, wild seafood, healthy fats and a ton of organic veggies (aka the diet I recommend) causes cancer. There’s a reason for that: they don’t exist.
Of course, they can’t provide you with a study that says “a well balanced diet of grass-fed meat, wild seafood, healthy fats and a ton of organic veggies causes cancer.” This is coming from a vegan. Yes you can eat meat sparingly and live a relatively healthy life. People have done it for centuries. I agree with you. I also agree with you processed foods even “Beyond-Meat” should be eaten sparingly.
That said, is it sustainable for us to support the US population with grass-fed meat? No it is not. Also, just because we have done something for so many years, is it morally justified? No, it is not. Is the production of meat detrimental to the environment? Yes, it is. The American Dietetic Association said that a well-balanced and supplemented Vegan diet is adequate for all stages of life. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19562864.
To present an argument against Beyond-Meat as means to bash Veganism or plant-based living is straw-man argument.
thats because all those studies used a SAD containing both grain fed meats and processed food !!!there has been ZERO study on a whole food, local omnivore diet!!!! EVERY. SINGLE. blue zones group eats animal products- and in large amounts!
Beyond meat ingredients are absolutely terrible, but red meat is cancer causing and is destroying the earth. Neither are good choices for sustainability and neither are healthy so please don’t draw dangerous conclusions like this.
Hahaha, great comment. When I clicked on the article I thought it might be ran by someone that has aboriginal roots but nope just a blonde woman woman with an opinion on a burger that is better for the environment and doesn’t kill animals. So I wasn’t surprised by the article.
Yeah, being a blonde woman means I can’t possibly provide a legitimate argument full of scientific information and ten years worth of experience in nutrition.
According ti everything I read here I won’t live to see forty. I’m eighty and my heart, liver, kidneys and everything else is remarkably healthy. Sorry. I don’t buy any of it.
Dick.
I don’t understand. You lost me when you began to talk about Soy Isolates are bad for you yet I do not see the ingredient mentioned. Do you mean to collapse soy isolates and pea protein isolates as being the same? I am seeking a soy free diet.
I’m confused. Your main argument is about soy protein isolate and how that makes meat substitutes like the “Beyond Burger” bad for our health, but the actual Beyond Burger doesn’t contain soy… I haven’t found anything wrong about eating large amounts of pea protein as long as it’s not genetically modified and sprayed with huge amounts of pesticides. Just not sure why your title is why beyond meat is beyond unhealthy when your main argument regards an unhealthy ingredient that’s not in the primary product discussed. I agree soy not consumed correctly can cause many problems but don’t diss one thing just because of a completely separate non-meat product or products
I will also note that there isn’t any soy in the original Beyond Meat which is the product referred to throughout this post, with Soy being the main focus as a toxic non-sustainable ingredient..
Any who.. this is definitely processed food, I wouldn’t recommend anyone eat this all-day-everyday.
Good day to you all!
Matthew wrote,”Scientific evidence has been accumulating for decades that cancer is more common among people who eat red meat and processed meat. But Correlation is not causation. People have been eating red meat for hundreds of years, yet cancer has been occurring at greater rates than ever before. I don’t know what other foods these red meat eaters are eating, but I think we need to look there instead of what we have been eating for centuries.
Yes! Wonderful point, Ralph!
The cancer is probably coming from wheat as they spray it down with glysophate right before harvest.
GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!!!
One must be extremely ignorant and lack the sense to do thorough research on the issues that are being debated here.
First of all, Beyond Meat products do not contain Soy protein isolates, they do however contain pea protein isolates.
And if you conduct enough research, there is no data stating that eating grass-fed or any other form of beef is healthier. On the contrary!! no plant based meat substitute contains carcinogens such as the ones that beef contains and let’s not get me started on the devastating environmental impact the meat industry creates.
Folk’s delusion about attempting to educate themselves about healthy and not healthy. I for one agree with the author, that processed foods are inherently not as good for you, or the environment, as farm fresh foods from a local farmer. But all of the arguments back and forth miss the biggest point of all – amount of consumption. Red Meat is not going to give you cancer if you eat a properly portioned meal, we consume too much. I take a lot of academia with a grain of salt and look to my elders for clues. Had an aunt that ate eggs, beef, chicken, all the bad veggie recipes, she cooked on a wood fire stove and kept a 5 gallon tub of lard next to her stove. Lived in her house and died at 87. She worked, no toiled, everyday in her garden to sustain herself. She could eat that way because she lived that way. You CANNOT transpose that way of eating to a modern suburban life that ‘works’ at a computer. Exercising an hour a day and resting the rest is not the way we were built. So I try and live the best way I can and sustain my family the best way I can. You want to eat less, be a part of the food chain. Hunt and process your own wild game. Its work, you will not waste anything. Raise your own cow, even if it is for meat, that cows life will be better than any on a feedlot and will taste better. I am a little biased, but I firmly believe that most self proclaimed vegans and vegetarians are bored people with no real purpose in life or they are angry trying to fill a void that modern life has created. If you choose not to eat meat as a personal choice by all means do so, but trying to change culture to reflect your viewpoints, that’s where I lose all respect. Everything in moderation – Be Healthy.
Not all meat eaters eat processed meat. The argument here is for the type of diet we have been farming and eating for tens of thousands of years NOT for modern processed meat. Nor is the argument that you should eat red meat all the time it clearly says to eat a local and seasonal diet.
You have pigs for food waste, chickens for eggs, meat and veg garden pest control. Local game during season, same with fish. Seasonal nuts too. The amount of actual red meat you eat is very limited. Processed meat would be almost non-existant and traditional such as bacon, sausages and salami to use up by product waste or longevity.
Why on earth are so many people not getting this. This is how the Victorians lived and they recycled 99% of everything without producing by products and polluting whilst they did it. The industry was seperate. There is enough space too. Do the actual maths of the number of people and the amount of arable land. Use a traditional 4-8 acre plot per extended family. The land is hidden by the rich, its all public knowledge. In the UK 17% of our country is covered by shooting ranges! DO NOT use industry standards for farming thats not how we should live.
Vegans are lazy and want a quick fix, there isn’t one. We all need to do more and that doesn’t mean spend more on nonsense products that don’t follow sustainable farming models. It means growing and rearing your own food like a natural human being, the same way we have since the stone age. But by all means say that thousands of years of humanity across every continent are wrong and that we are living in some miraculous enlightened period of history and technology.
This is an obvious hit piece by the meat industry. And the contents is highly inaccurate. It was coddled together looking for the absolute most negative context and tried to come off as being written by someone who is am expert. I won’t point out the fallacies because the author will just then correct them to cover up the fact that again this was a cobbled up hit piece. Someone’s feeling threatened to write such a flim flam article. But the idiocy and non scentific and non medical background stand out. For example, I’ll give a hint to one example, omega 3s. Those that know the science will identify immediately this guy is just cobbling together information and doesn’t himself understand it. The errors are egregious and make it clear that this guy is a sham.
Soy boy!
Why is the author commenting on replies calling people idiots.
I believe the take away here is that Beyond Meat, as well as Impossible Burger and other “fake meats” use ingredients that are or require the use of harmful chemicals during processing. This alone degraded that perceived health benefits one would otherwise assume from a non meat food. I will also note that many common foods, be it drinks, deserts, or meat products also use these ingredients, though generally in lower quantities than meat substitutes do. Noting past research that suggests a diet high in red meat may increase your cancer risk, let it be observed that first, eating vegetation is of course safer than eating anything chemically processed, and second, vegetation and meat products, regardless of red meat vs other meat introduce varying risk dependent upon their exposure to harmful chemicals. Sweet Corn, for example, utilizes pesticides that during normal field use are quite safe, yet when sprayed just before harvest (to aid in the drying process, to avoid molds and fungi) introduces undiluted quantities (both from heavier coverage and from the lack or normal dissipation and natural rain and dew rinsing) often more than 80 times the limits federal safety standards allow. Similar contamination is introduced as feed to many of the meats sold as food as well as affecting many fruits and vegetables. Food, especially from the US, is rarely the safest source, though some other countries use some nasty stuff that we don’t allow here. In short, no one is perfect and we need tighter controls on everything used within food raising and processing environments, as it is the more from the compound effect of contamination that harms us, rather than one individual layer, which in itself often passes the existing safety checks.
After reading your article and the comments, I have respect and will come back often. I want to commend you on your patience. So many ‘true believers’ who I doubt will ever learn anything of value, yet will never doubt their ‘virtue’….smh.
ahh so you get to the end and realize that this is one hell of a biased article.
Thank you Matthew. What a ridiculous article that has not shown one fact on why or what causes cancer in Beyond Burgers. And I guarantee 3 yrs later since she blogged this ridiculousness, she still can’t find any real reason. Sounds like a paid opportunist for the Meat Industry that is an actual carcinogen. SMDH.
Beyond Meat doesn’t use msg. Look at their FAQ’s before trying to advocate for eating a living being: a mom, a daughter, a being that has feelings & is slaughtered for your taste buds. Try watching What The Health.
Xo
What The Health is the most ridiculous, inane, inaccurate pile of garbage I’ve ever seen.
https://robbwolf.com/2017/07/03/what-the-health-a-wolfs-eye-review/
Also they LITERALLY list autolyzed yeast extract, which is MSG, on their ingredient labels. Are you just choosing to ignore that fact?
Also – a mom, a daughter, a living being was slaughtered for your tastebuds too. Millions of animals are killed a year to create these fake meat products. Entire species have been displaced to grow coy, corn, wheat, legumes. Millions of field mice are murdered every week to plow the fields. There are entire dead zones, one of the size of Rhode Island in the gulf, because of the runoff of fertilizer to grow the soy and corn and wheat and beans you so arrogantly eat, while you look down your nose at people who acknowledge the fact that for us to eat – something must die. We just choose to eat in a way with the most realistic compassion. I’d rather eat an animal raised with respect and love from a local farmer, that was killed honorably and painlessly – than eat a fake meat burger that killed millions of animals in its production.
Try reading The Vegetarian Myth.
This is the most fake answer and pile of garbage I have read about veganism!!!!! Arguing against vegetables growing!!! Which planet are you from?? Who pays you to write this?? You are completely weird!
I am weird, but I’m not arguing against vegetables growing.
This article was listing things that were not on the ingredient label
The ingredient labels are clearly listed above. Everything I discussed was on the Beyond Meat ingredient labels.
childish vegan
I find you a disgusting person. While I dont agree with your views I would at least respect them if you would argue your point of view properly. Instead you are just writing lies upon lies over and over.
Are you seriously using the argument that animals die while we plow the soil as an argument in FAVOR of meat? I understand its hard when you have not opened a single book on biology, but animals have to eat too.
The MAJORITY of soy grown are used to feed the animals that go into your beef. So claiming that veganism/vegetarianism is bad because you have to plow some fields tell me you either dont care about what is true at all, or you are simply too stupid to understand how the world works.
Everything you listed in your post happens to make room for beef production, but somehow you are incapable of honesty, and have you lie and say somehow those choosing NOT to eat meat is reponsible.
You’re really going to use this stale Rob Wolf stuff? common? this really made this a remedial thread of anthropometric BS.
would you kill them yourself if it came down to it? be honest? Ever read the book ‘Sapiens’? might help
https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/blog/whole-story/myths-and-misconceptions-msg
Yeast extract IS NOT MSG!!! And you do realise that these products are made to replace sausages, hotdogs and burgers?? Not grass-finished steak? Processed meat is utter garbage and is listed as a class 1 carcinogen on WHO. You are so so confused…
“..grow the soy and corn and wheat and beans you so arrogantly eat, while you look down your nose at people who acknowledge the fact that for us to eat..” Says Dani, arrogantly. lol, I had to make a joke before writing more.
Have you thought that it’s possible other people are ignorant of the facts you know? Speaking down to someone to let them know they’ve been speaking down to you or others is equal to encouraging the behavior continue.
The real issue isn’t about whether processed vegan food is more healthy than unprocessed or humanely treated animals before they’re slaughtered. That’s going to lead to a big disagreement,to more separation,to more conflict. That’s the kind of spirit that war is created from.
I landed here because a fellow Chef friend of mine sent me the link. I had reposted an article about vegan products going up in sales recently and was excited about it, and to me that served as a slice of proof that people as a whole were moving towards a more healthy diet. I found this article informative (def. biased) but didn’t hold much I didn’t already know.
I personally don’t indulge much in processed foods, sometimes I give myself a little treat of things I crave from when I was a kid. My goal is to one day eat all natural. I hear you with all you wrote. You have some well formed ideas.
Your tone though..
I feel that processed foods in general are not the healthiest option all across the board (veg and animal). Do you purchase every single piece of animal product from a humane source? And what do you consider “humane”, are you referring to the label or are you visiting these farms and seeing for yourself?
Have you ever heard the phrase “food for thought”? Well how about this one.. We take in, not only food, drink and air, we also take in thoughts, words and energy. By the energy you’re putting out in this message, I can tell the kind of energy you’re consuming (whether it be through your food, your water, emotions or your thoughts – or a mix of it all).
Wishing you well.
This is a topic I’m really passionate about and I implore you to ask yourself if you’d have this same response to a man. I think your comment has a lot of great points that I will definitely consider.
Are you seriously playing victim now that someone exposed you? Pulling out the woman card, pathetic.
What the health has even been debunked by vegans lol Head over here to continue this discussion https://www.facebook.com/beyondmeat/posts/1583728571684357
Just the oils and soy they use are toxic altogether trust me I was excited to try but honestly grass fed beef is better since u can control what good oils u use
So your own research and u will see as I have the oils and other ingredients on this article are not better for u. But to each his own. I know it’s tasty but think twice
MSG is in almost 100% of processed foods. It has many names. Do you think that every carnivore on earth who eats another living animal is a monster? Do you also think that the plants herbivores eat are not also alive? Listen, the root of most of the problems on earth are overpopulation. When are we going to address this issue??? There is a lot of truth to the movie “Idiocracy”.
Now this is where I draw the line. Animals have feelings yes, but to view them as mums, daughters is just been silly. Am guessing you are the product raised on Disney, everyone holding hands and skipping along in buttercup fields. Look to your ancestors, no diabetes, very low cancer rate and they ATE MEAT. The answer is moderation, moderation, moderatio. Person A may eat meat but eats meat once a week, does not drink alcohol does not smoke snacks on fruit and nut, works on his/her farm and this is the routine all their lives. Then person B does not eat meat (like yourself) because they have feelings for cowlina and her family. but they drink alcohol (always claim to have had 1 unit or 1glass of wine) smokes, lives in a polluted environment, does a desk job, has other stressors of modern city life, now tell me which would have a better health.
Fyi, ‘grass-fed beef’ is only ‘finished’ by cows eating grass. They’re taken out to eat a few meals of grass before they’re slaughtered, but are fed corn 90% of their lives, and living in squalor immediately prior to that. do some homework on that. Real homework. Not stuff funded by the beef industries themselves. Those cows are unfortunately not roaming freely in pastures for years an years. This is one of those fairytale buzzwords / images we glom onto….’Grass fed beef’. Its all marketing to sell you crap that’s still awful for you, but just sounds better. Trust me. i was an Art director in advertising for 14 years in NYC. I’ve been privy to shit I wish I never saw or heard. Its all the same garbage.
That’s not only wildly inaccurate, it’s idiotic. I’d use the term ignorant, but clearly you have every means to educate yourself on the topic and choose not to.
Grass-fed meat from local farmers, as I discussed in the article, constitutes cows actually fed grass and out on pasture. Being an art director in NYC has literally nothing to do with this topic and shows the depth of your ignorance on it. This comment actually infuriates because it’s so unintelligent and disrespectful to farmers.
I have met so many farmers that have family run businesses, they work their asses off from dawn till dusk taking care of their animals. These animals live on pasture, they’re outside everyday. These farmers occasionally give the animals feed that may include grains (like in winter), but the vast majority of their lives – they’re out on pasture.
These people don’t have money for advertising budgets. They don’t advertise outside of their family run Facebook page, or linking up with other farmers in the community, or farmers markets. They couldn’t tell you what a “buzzword” was – and they don’t care. They’re not the beef industry, which you would know if you had even the slightest idea of what you’re talking about. They are small, family run farms. They’re doing good work. They’re doing hard work that you could never even begin to imagine at your cushy art job, with the audacity to think you have any idea about these people.
You, a woman who has never met these hard working people. Never cared to know them, to find out where your food comes from. Never participated in the process of growing food. It’s arduous. These people work hard. This is their lives, it’s their livelihood, it’s how they take care of their children. And you dare make up this ridiculous narrative that they don’t feed their cattle grass? That they mistreat them? That they’re not actually out on pasture? Go to any farmers market and talk to the mothers and fathers selling their meat to put their kids through college. They’re going to laugh in your face.
I don’t say this lightly, you should be ashamed of yourself.
No one is doubting the integrity of “free range” farmers. It is apparent you have some relation to them, your family assuming, as the cloud of personal bias is looming largely around your words… There are enough non government sponsored replicated studies out there to make it easy to ignore opinion pieces clouted in personal attachment heh..
The only relation I have to farmers is that they FEED ME. Which I think is pretty important. My family are city people.
Unlike most people, and people commenting on this article in particular, I have met the people that grow my food. I’ve seen the process, the animals, the farm, the work. I’ve even seen my previous farmer get shut down by the FDA for selling raw milk. They raided his house in the middle of the night and woke up his eight kids, one of which was just a few weeks old.
It seems like I can’t win with you guys. You want studies so I provide them, then you bash them for being “government sponsored.” Which doesn’t even make sense. I also provided studies from Harvard and other various institutions and showed how canola oil is made – guess you’re all just going to ignore that?
90% of their life in a feed lot? Really? This is the most idiotic comment I’ve ever read on the internet. It takes about 60 seconds of research to realise that even grain-finished cows spend about 80% of their life in the field eating grass, and are only moved to the feedlot in the last few months to fatten them up. Grass-finished is exactly the same (often with better grazing management), except the feedlot is skipped entirely, and they’re left in the field to eat grass for a few extra months until they reach the desired weight (except in colder climates, where alternate grain-free feed is sometimes required for a few months in winter). How do I know this? I hop in my small pickup, drive to the lake to do some fishing, and on the way home I stop at a farm where I fill my cooler, see the cows, and talk to the fucking farmer. How do I know the farmer is telling the truth about what the cows eat? I buy suet once a year, which I then render into tallow, for use in cooking. It renders out to be a rich yellow once hardened. That only comes about when the cow eats a diet of mostly grass, which is rich in beta-carotene. Grains are low in beta-carotene, so fat from grain-finished beef renders out to be pure white when solidified. I know because I’ve also rendered grain-finished tallow when I was in a pinch.
Thanks for the article on The Beyond Meat products. Seems as though you’re caught in a vicious cycle of supporting sustainable farmers who produce high quality meat, while maintaining ethical practices in caring for their cattle versus the vegan community. At no point did I see this article as being against vegetables. But somehow it’s quickly gotten muddied with black and white verbaige debating Grass-Fed versus Vegan Life-Style, as if the two are opposing. I literally read the article to figure out why I developed a major stomach ache with cramping and bloating after consuming The Beyond Meat Burger, which I assumed was healthy. I wanted to know if others had experienced similar symptoms. Thank you for the detailed ingredient list. I now see why I had such a bad reaction to this fake meat. I’ve never had the same physical reaction from grass-fed ground beef, thus I will continue to eat grass-fed, when in the mood for a burger. I rarely have stomach problems when I consume non-processed vegatables as well (broccoli and corn can cause some pain though.)
Furthermore, the fact that I occasionally eat beef does not negate in anyway the importance I place on the consumption of plant based foods. More importantly, NON-PROCESSED FOODS. Let’s focus on what the article initially meant to impart, to shed light on The Beyond Meat products, and what actually goes into them and the process in which they are made, to a degree. To comment on the misrepresentation of the author’s intent seems to be a bullying tactic or merely a distraction. What is the reason for the distraction? To support the continued sales of The Beyond Meat products possibly?? Hmmmmmmmm……
That was supposed to be a thumbs up.
I agree with Dani and not with the author.
So I’m your opinion we should just eat dead rotting flesh?
No, we should eat the fresh flesh of animals grown in a healthy, respectful manner from local farmers. Eating anything rotten isn’t a good idea, obviously.
Animal flesh starts to rot seconds after it’s cut. Grass fed or not. Frozen or not. I’m sure you’re gut really loves that.
Yeah, that’s not how food works.
why do we have to cook it, when other carnivores and omnivores don’t?
Umm where does it say soy protein?
Also you’re dreaming if you think there is enough loca grass fed cattle or land to do so to feed the whole world’s population..
But mostly vegan meat is for not killing animals…
Literally says “soy protein isolate” on the ingredient list for the grilled chicken strips. Glad to see you didn’t actually read the article.
There’s not currently enough local, grass-fed cattle to feed the world but if we switched from a CAFO model to grass-fed model, this is not only possible, but AMAZING for the environment.
Vegan meat kills thousands of animals. Millions, even. Entire herds of wild buffalo have been displaced for your soy, wheat and corn. Field mice are killed when those fields are plowed – millions upon millions of them. Just because you don’t see all the animals killed to get your fake meat, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You’re just arrogantly blind to it.
Okay, I think you need to calm down. You keep coming out with ‘Vegan Meat Kills thousands of animals”.
You do know what most soy, corn and wheat is grown for, right?
You would need an awful lot of vegan-animal slaughtering individuals to even begin to account for about 1% of the crops you are talking about.
I think calling everyone who posits a counter point to you as blindly ignorant is a bit unnecessary.
I have studied extensively food production and am a dear friend of Professor Colin Tudge, who I’m sure you’ve read. And we actually had a chat about your positions on this and they are wildly mixed-up.
There are a lot of possibly unnecessary ingredients in the beyond products, that’s for sure, but to extrapolate that a vegan lifestyle is responsible for the industrial mono-crops that are killing eco-systems is insane. The destruction of the rain forests was initiated by that vegan MONSTER McDonalds back in the day and then continued by Palm Oil growers, Corn mono-crops and soy.
A large majority of this was a mis-guided attempt to come up with replacements for fossil fuels, corn for ethanol and biofuels, Palm for pretty much any soap and cleaning product and soy for animal feed and paints, rubber, plastics glue I think as well. I think about 5-6% of the soy crop is used for human food.
You cloud your other health point by this absurd tack about the vegan destroyers of habitats. And of course you don’t really deal with the ethical issue of breading cattle, which is kind of against nature (cows are in some sense genetically modified to be so) in the first place.
Re: “You do know what most soy, corn and wheat is grown for, right?”
Which is why in the article, and numerous times throughout the comments section, I only recommend and encourage people to purchase grass-fed beef from local farmers. I feel like I’ve made that abundantly clear.
Re: “You would need an awful lot of vegan-animal slaughtering individuals to even begin to account for about 1% of the crops you are talking about.”
Oh yeah? Where’d you come up with that statistic?
Re: “I think calling everyone who posits a counter point to you as blindly ignorant is a bit unnecessary.”
I do not do this. Just some people. The blatantly ignorant commenters.
Re: “…but to extrapolate that a vegan lifestyle is responsible for the industrial mono-crops that are killing eco-systems is insane…You cloud your other health point by this absurd tack about the vegan destroyers of habitats.”
Actually, it’s reality. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is caused by runoff from soy, corn, wheat and canola crops. Staples of vegan diets. The nitrogen and phosphorous from the fertilizer used on these monocrops has literally created a dead zone.
https://serc.carleton.edu/microbelife/topics/deadzone/index.html
https://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/areas/gulfofmexico/explore/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone.xml
Your argument against me would potentially be relevant if I were arguing in favor of all meat, which I’ve made abundantly clear that I am not. I support small, local, sustainable grass-fed farmers. Not CAFOs. You really have no argument against me.
‘Re: “You would need an awful lot of vegan-animal slaughtering individuals to even begin to account for about 1% of the crops you are talking about.”
Oh yeah? Where’d you come up with that statistic?’
Okay, just tidying up some of your points. The 1% is a bit of a guess but probably an over-estimate. It is estimated that direct human consumption of soybean production is between 5-6%. That’s all human food that is derived from soy production, tofu, soybean themselves, soy milk, soy sauce etc. 70-75% is animal feed (“BUT I DON’T ADVOCATE THAT I ONLY WANT PEOPLE TO EAT GRASS-FED….”, I know, that’s really not my point). The rest is soybean oil for biofuels, or soy which is used in other industrial processes.
Of that, given the fact that estimates of vegetarian diets across the world is about half a billion (there are many estimates out there, they range from 375 to 600m or so) out of a population of 7.6bn, vegetarians (which includes vegans) are 15%.
So 15% of 6% is about 1%. I did say ‘about 1%’.
So, if you are still with me, to say that it is vegetarians that are responsible for soybean mega production and the associated nitrate etc run off, is blatant lunacy.
It’s profitable and it happens mainly because of the biochemical and livestock industries. So if, everyone started eating the Beyond Meat burger tomorrow (something I am obviously not advocating, the only product of theirs that contains soy is the chicken strips I think) instead of beef these soy crops would disappear.
You keep conflating different strands of your arguments.
Anyway, I just thought I’d answer where I got the 1% from.
“purchase grass-fed beef from local farmers”
Again, why suggest something that is nearly impossible? Such a tiny percent of the population has access to this kind of meat that it’s a ridiculous suggestion.
Your correct that animals die in the harvesting of soy, wheat, corn etc. But the vast majority of all that is feeding the animals that you eat. It would be far more sustainable and economical if that food was used to feed people instead of animals.
Did you even read the article? I don’t eat animals fed soy, corn or wheat. I exclusively eat beef from my local, grass-fed farmer. This is what I encourage others to do as well, which makes your entire argument invalid.
And the lies keep coming. You have already been told multiple times here that there simply isnt enough room that local grass fed animals are even remotely a viable option. But you just keep repeating yourself.
In other words, you are just a dishonest person not interested in truth.
I admit upfront that I am far from an expert, but I think some wires are getting crossed here in the debate within these comments. On one hand we have an author who is encouraging people to eat locally raised, free-range, grass-fed beef. On the other hand we have a majority of responses from people who wish to eat no meat. The author and the responders are at times blurring the line a little between beef, and other forms of animal farming. The author is claiming that the responders are overlooking her disapproval of factory farming, by indicating that corn and soy crops are problematic and primarily fed to livestock. Lets step back one second. Soy enriches the soil with nitrogen, which corn strips the soil of. The soy subsidy is there, but it’s a damage control based measure because the corn subsidy is much higher. This is why Kellogg’s created Morning Star, is it not? The author took at least one cheap shot at a commenter who pointed out that vegetarians are not responsible for the vast majority of corn being grown (let’s set aside soy for one moment), because the commenter used a vague statistic. The point of the commenter was to say that vegetarians are nowhere near the primary reason so much corn and soy is grown in the US. The point of the author was to say that grass-fed free-range locally grown beef is ideal for health. These perspectives are not necessarily opposing. However, the elephant in the room is pig farming. Pigs are horrible for the environment, even wild boars in their natural habitat, and they are the main consumers of all that corn. All this argument boils down to is the question of which is worse for our health and the environment, processed food or meat. The author wants us to see that there is a good-to-bad meat spectrum, if you will, but her breakdown of all these chemical processes has brought about a lot of bad blood and made people question her sources, although it’s more her conclusions which are most questionable, along with her blaming vegetarians for all that hog corn. Now, simmer down…lets continue…
FYI, the chicken strips are discontinued, so the soy point is mute, but at the same time, give them a break! Meatless options are a new concept, that they are developing and re-developing to bring balence to health, taste, sustainability, and environmental impact. That’s more than the meat industry can say, when they have been around WAY longer, yet meat is getting less healthy (all the horrible things they feed/pump into animals these days), it’s not sustainable (uses to many resources and doesn’t can’t even feed everyone), doesn’t always taste good, and is HUGELY hard on the environment…what are they doing to change some of these things, not a heck of a lot, and they have had way more time! So instead of being so critical of a company trying to offer ethical/tasty/sustainable alternatives, maybe be more critical of long term industries who are hard on our health, ethics, and the environment, and are doing little to correct that…
Stop with the bullshit. You idiots are obviously trying to discredit the plant-based/vegan industry with the fluff piece. Please, stop. It’s pathetic.
Sure, legitimate scientific research and years of common sense be damned!
“legitimate scientific research”
BWAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAAAHAAAAA!!!!
Collaborative discourse is educational, anger is fear. Every argument thas a counterpoint, here are the details on MSG or what you believe to be yeast extract.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/yeast-extract/
I was vegan for 12 years. Vegans are so stuck in a certain zealotry mindset. With all these horror snuff documentaries about Industrial meat/dairy farming coming out, you are buying into one sided narratives and are suffering extreme cognitive dissonance when it comes to anything outside your beliefs and what is constantly being rammed into your heads by all this pain and suffering…. Imagine if we made snuff films like these to “tell the truth” about child abuse or domestic violence so we could all be aware of what really goes on? But its ok for us to show snuff films about animals being abused? Speciest much? Maybe ppl should visit some small farms and actually see how well animals are looked after. How they frolick and are kept warm at night, fed and patted. How veternarians come to check and care for pregnant moms. All agriculture is a bit weird I must admit. But at this time in the world its what humans rely on for food. These ruminant friends would die in the wild and or get diseases. They would have their bodies teased and ripped apart by other wild animals. Constantly in survival mode as they are prey…Or barely exist as they do today if we hadn’t bred them over thousands of years from wild ruminants…Being on a healthy farm is a lot more of an easy life. I’m also not for the killing of wild animals to protect farm animals. Not all farmers do. One size will never fit all. Stop using your one sided narratives to plaster all over everything. Allllllll food production comes at a price. Nature is incredibly cruel and also incredibly cooperative. Humans are nature too! We have eaten meat for a recordable 2.6 million years! Suddenly all meat is bad?! Hahahahaha please… get outside your idealism. There is a huge picture to fathom here. Peace
Why are they talking about soy! There is non in thee burger! Wow this has so been sponsored by the meat industry! It has pea protein! Not soy!!!!
I am taking about soy because it’s very clearly in the chicken strips, which you’d know if you bothered to read the article.
Saying this is sponsored by the meat industry is not just ridiculous, it’s straight up dumb. I clearly bash the meat industry and CAFO farms and recommend eating grass-fed meat from local pasture based farms.
This article leaves people at minimum, misinformed and at best, confused.
If you are going to talk about Beyond Meat and begin the first sentence referring to the burger, with a image of the burger packaging, followed by the ingredients of the burger, it makes no sense to then dedicate the post to trashing things that actually aren’t in the burger.
If you are going to trash a food, whether it is canola oil or anything else, you need compose sentence structures that state what it is and why it is bad. Its great you think canola oil is bad. In some was it is. In other ways its not. Context matters and you provide none.
Processed soy – lay it out! You had a great shot here aside from focusing on a product that doesn’t have it. I agree, but not because I found your blog. You make no real case other than to give your own opinion and some anecdotes with casual references. There is great science on this. Quote it.
In closing, I don’t get it. Aren’t you marketing something? I LOVE vegan food that tastes like meat. Why are you judging that as creepy? Its not.
Soy is not terrible for you. Tofu is eaten a lot in Japan than they have a longer life expectancy than most of the us, except for the seventh day Adventist. You have to eat 11 blocks worth of tofu a day for months to show any growth of cancer cells.
Why are you so angry? Insulting anyone with a different opinion than you. If you were afraid of feedback, or couldn’t handle it, just delete your post instead of being nasty.
Also, fyi, soy is grown a lot on the same soil as tomatoes, corn, etc. Because it replenishes the nutrients in the ground. The amish have been doing it for decades. It doesn’t take up extra space at all.
vegans are so blatantly dumb it is insane
Perhaps you should add a description of the pros and cons of pea protein isolate, that’s what the burgers are made of and that’s what’s in the news. It seems cowardly not to do so. I personally won’t touch anything with pea protein as because of detrimental effects on gut health of legumes, also soy. Yes, I full heartedly agree with you on grass fed/grass finished, wild caught, etc.
I hadn’t thought to do the pros/cons of pea protein, that’s a great idea. Not sure how that’s cowardly, maybe you meant to use a different word.
I agree that you should discuss the “Pea” protein isolate. Good? Bad? Neutral? Yes, soy is bad but it was the main ingredient in only 1 of the 4 products you listed (the Chicken strips). Thanks.
The first rule of nutrition probably should be, never speak in absolutes.
To quote the author:
” there is NO LEGITIMATE STUDY that proves that eating grass-fed meat in addition to plant based foods (veggies in particular) is EVEN SLIGHTLY UNHEALTHY. IT LITERALLY DOES NOT EXIST.”
Wow. You are dead wrong.
And while neither you, nor I have or ever could begin to crack the surface of the number of nutritional studies published in a given year, let alone, in all existence, we don’t have to.
There ACTUALLY IS a non-profit organization that does exactly that: https://nutritionfacts.org.
I sincerely, request that you, Dani, spend even ONE HOUR reviewing this website and the information presented on the ACTUAL STUDIES that DO EXIST and refute your sometimes outdated and selectively reviewed, claims.
Before you dive into THE FACTS, though, I want to point out that your blog post began by excoriating, very specifically, the Beyond Burger. And since I love the Beyond Burger, specifically, and since your whole post was aimed directly at the Beyond Burger, I find it interesting that your first “beef” is with, soy.
And while your argument against soy MAY be valid, IT ISN’T EVEN LISTED as an ingredient in the Beyond Burger.
You included the ingredients for the “chicken strips”, to validate your #1 supporting evidence for why the Beyond Burger is beyond unhealthy. Meat advocates probably didn’t notice since meat wasn’t the first ingredient.
You quickly moved on to canola oil. Everything you reference can be corroborated by scientific studies. Yet, the Beyond Burger contains, EXPELLER PRESSED canola oil. EPCO is not processed the same way as the highly refined canola oils found in mainstream grocery stores. Maybe you knew this, maybe not.
Yeast extract. Your argument is a bit misleading and beyond the scope of my lunch hour to debunk.
The very complex debate surrounding glutamates and whether or not yeast extract is Monosodium Glutamate in disguise NOTWITHSTANDING (shall we throw in the highly concentrated glutamates found in meat, mushrooms, cheese, tomatoes, etc.?), millions of people are still clinging like a lifeboat, to one particular study, that was published when Duran Duran was still topping the charts.
See the first rule of nutrition mentioned above. Time marches on.
The great MSG debate has undergone a DECADES long tug-o-war in terms of scientific research.
Check the facts: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/update-on-msg.
While I have eaten a strictly vegan diet for a little more than a year, I do not pretend to have perfect health. I have Celiac disease and suffer from gastrointestinal inflammation on a daily basis. I try to eat whole, unprocessed foods at every meal.
Then again, I don’t write books or blogs denouncing grass-fed beef and how it ravages your body. Why?
Because, while the longevity and nutrition science currently favors veganism, more and more research is pointing to the unhealthy balance of flora in the microbiotic biome of our digestive systems as the catalyst for pretty much everything deadly to humans.
Check out nutritionfacts.org for a non-biased analysis of EVERY nutritional study published annually.
To quote you,
“” there is NO LEGITIMATE STUDY that proves that eating grass-fed meat in addition to plant based foods (veggies in particular) is EVEN SLIGHTLY UNHEALTHY. IT LITERALLY DOES NOT EXIST.”
Wow. You are dead wrong.”
Okay – if I’m dead wrong, provide me with that study. You didn’t because you can’t.
Nutritionfacts.org is a joke. It’s also the opposite of unbiased, it’s run by a vegan doctor who cherry picks his studies and information to fit his agenda – while ignoring a large body of research indicating otherwise. It’s should be renamed veganpropaganda.org because that’s all it is.
Re: MSG – I can’t. You have no idea what you’re talking about concerning glutamate, naturally occurring glutamate, monosodium glutamate, etc. Just so you know – glutamate in tomatoes is fine – monosodium glutamate created in a lab is bad. I can’t have a debate with someone who has no understanding of basic nutritional information.
I mean this in the nicest way possible and I hope you take my advice, if you are suffering from GI inflammation on a daily basis, it’s absolutely because of your diet and you need to change it. Veganism is clearly not working for you AND THAT’S OKAY. You’re not a failure or a bad person if it doesn’t work for you. I am happy to chat with you about ways to improve and reduce your inflammation and heal your GI tract. Seriously. I’m here to help.
You’re such an ignorant person yourself. Everything you said to ‘refute’ his claim she can be said about you. Vegan doctors cherry pick their studies and carnivores cherry pick their studies. This is just human nature. In the end you pick your battle. As far as GI, Ive had problems all my life and I ate a lot of animal products. Since I’ve gone vegan my symptoms lessened. Most of your arguments are not well thought through and I can literally smell your bias. Just think about what you’re saying. If grass fed beef is so sustainable tell me why we have so many factory farms around the world? Oh and in terms of health, why is it that people who suffer from gout are advices by their doctors to abstain from red meats in particular? I guess they’re all dumb right? If meat is so healthy how come other cultures and even tribes who eat very little to no meat don’t have our western problems? Why is it that even the FDA warns for too much meat? I don’t see a warning against too much broccoli and legumes. furthermore there are numerous of studies that stars that phytoestrogens in soy does not interfere with
In soy products do not interfere with human estrogen . That said there’s is actual estrogen in animal products. I bet you didn’t think about this. The said Asian countries have been eating soy for thousands of years. Overall breast and prostate (which are hormone driven cancers) cancer rates are lower compared to western countries. Interesting isn’t it? So soy doesn’t seem to be a problem. Maybe if you eat 2 lbs of soy every day the phytoestrogens might interfere with our human estrogen. Moreover when you heat up meat, which is the only way we humans can tolerate it, it beco