The Truth About Vegan Meat Substitutes
By Dr. Justin Marchegiani
The number of meat-alternatives has grown exponentially in recent years, all you have to do is walk into your local grocery store to see for yourself. But are these faux meats healthier and more environmentally conscious than eating the real thing?
Vegan vs. Vegetarian
Who is buying meat alternatives? These are targeted towards vegans and vegetarians, who also call their diet “plant-based”.
- Vegetarians avoid eating meat; though some eat fish (those in the fish-eating subgroup are called “pescitarians”)
- Vegans avoid all animal products, including meat, honey, eggs, milk, etc.
Some popular reasons for switching to a plant-based diet include:
- Animal welfare/anti-factory farming
- Environmental reasons
- Personal health reasons (disease, obesity, other illnesses)
Meat Alternatives: Nutrition
Let’s look at burgers. A typical beef burger contains:
- BEEF
Now, here are just some of the ingredients in one of the most popular veggie burgers:
- SOY FLOUR, WHEAT GLUTEN, VEGETABLE OIL (CORN, CANOLA, AND/OR SUNFLOWER OIL), SOY SAUCE POWDER (SOY SAUCE [SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT]), SUGAR
Are you struggling on a plant-based diet? Click here for help feeling your best, whatever your diet!
Many meat alternatives, like veggie burgers and sausages, are ultra-processed foods that contain soy, gluten, canola oil, artificial flavors, and chemical binders. Let’s take a closer look at the impact of some of these common ingredients:
- Soy: Most people who have heard negative things about soy have heard of its estrogen-mimicking effects, and how it has caused men to grow breasts. Studies have also shown soy reduces sperm count, and harms thyroid function.
A common concern for those on a meatless diet are nutritional deficiencies. Sadly, soy is commonly eaten by vegetarians and vegans, either as an ingredient in meat alternatives, and also as tofu. Soy is high in th antinutrient phytic acid, which inhibits nutrient absorption. This means that any meal containing soy is going to automatically have lower nutritional value. Iron, zinc, calcium, manganese, and magnesium are some of the nutrients that are prevented from being fully absorbed and utilized when you eat soy.
Soy is also high in lectins, which are linked to leaky gut, inflammation and autoimmune reactions. Additionally, over 80% of soy is genetically modified, which is a huge health issue, as well as massive environmental problem we will discuss later in this article.
- Wheat/Gluten: Gluten is a protein found in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye. While some people have Celiac disease (a true allergy to gluten), a large portion of the population is estimated to have gluten intolerance. Covering all things gluten is much bigger than the scope of this article, but if you suffer from digestive issues, brain fog, headaches, mood swings, chronic fatigue, muscle and joint pain, infertility, or skin problems- you may want to consider getting rid of gluten.
In fact, gluten (like soy) is considered an antinutrient, and whether or not you have a diagnosed gluten sensitivity you’re probably going to be better off getting it out of your diet.
As an antinutrient, gluten blocks the absorption of essential vitamins and nutrients, can cause digestive issues like bloating, gas, and irregular bowel movements, and is linked to leaky gut. These effects can lead to more serious and chronic issues.
- Vegetable Oil: Los Angeles Lakers nutritionist Dr. Cate Shanahan calls vegetable oils “liquid death” because they are chemically unstable and cause free radical damage.
Additionally, vegetable oils tend to be low in beneficial saturated fat, and high in inflammatory omega-6. Soy, corn, canola, and other vegetable oils are correlated with obesity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and heart disease.
- Sugar: Sugar has been linked to an increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases and illnesses including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cognitive decline and some forms of cancer. Sugar depletes the body of critical electrolytes, antioxidants, and minerals, which leads to cell death, muscle spasms, insulin resistance, and other health defects. Its effects on the immune system leave you prone to getting sick more often and more severely. There is no rational reason for sugar to be added into meat substitutes.
All of these ingredients are linked to weight gain, inflammation, brain fog, and other negative health issues that are unheard of from your standard grass-fed beef burger.
Environmental Impact
There are many vegetarians and vegans who choose this diet for reasons pertaining to the environment and animal rights. In fact, many university dining halls and otherwise meat-eating people around the nation have adopted “Meatless Mondays” to reduce their meat consumption one day a week. The truth is, the environmental and humane impacts of eating meat vs. eating plant-based are complicated.
I always advocate choosing grass-fed meat. It’s better for you, it’s better for the animal. While factory farming and feedlots are obviously horrible for everyone involved, choosing grass-fed, free-range beef is a much better option. In fact, happy cows help fertilize the land and maintain nutrient diversity of the soil. Without them, we would have depend on artificial fertilizers that throw the ecosystem, and our health, out of balance.
Harvesting the crops for the ingredients used in veggie burgers may not always be ecologically sound. Industrial farming practices oftentimes harm bees and other small creatures. While eating beef does sacrifice the life of the cow, it’s worth considering the lives lost to in the industrial practices involved in making meat-alternatives.
Another important note to consider, whether you eat meat or plant-based: As mentioned earlier, over 80% soy is GMO. The use of RoundUp, glyphosate, and other toxic pesticides is increasing. The damage it is doing to our health, the ecosystem, and the quality of food is undeniable. Monsanto, the creator of chemical Agent Orange used in the Vietnam War, is now taking over the world as a leading producer of GMO seeds and herbicides. This is a big topic worthy of its own article, but the takeaway I want you to have is that Monsanto crops are linked to cancer and DNA damage. As a vegetarian, this is especially important to realize, as many of the top GMO/glyphosate-sprayed crops are used excessively in meat alternatives and as vegan sources of protein. These include: soy, canola oil, corn, and sugar.
Takeaway
The choice to go vegan or vegetarian to protect the environment and animals is admirable. This article is meant to be thought-provoking, hopefully providing some food-for-thought for those who already are eating a plant-based diet make healthier choices, and providing an alternate viewpoint for those considering plant-based vs. meat-eating.
Still have questions about eating meat? Click here to talk to a professional!
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1503071
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1115436/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18558591
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/a-balanced-look-at-gluten-sensitivity/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1868922
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18650557
https://blog.bulletproof.com/dr-cate-shanahan-376/
Should You Go Organic?
By Dr. Justin Marchegiani
Buying organic food has become trendy, but is being a trend all that there is to it? Today we’re going to dive deeper into what organic really means, and if it’s worth converting to.
What does organic mean?
If you’re going to spend extra money for an organic sticker on your produce, you should know what that word really means. Organic food is food grown without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and is GMO free.
“100% Organic” is exactly that; each ingredient as well as all facilities involved are Certified Organic.
“Organic” is at least 95% organic ingredients.
“Made with organic ingredients” must contain at least 70% organic ingredients.
You can also try getting to know local farmers in your area and ask about their farming practices. You might be surprised to find many smaller farmers adhere to organic practices, but don’t pay for the organic certification. Becoming certified organic is both time consuming and expensive, so sometimes smaller farmers won’t have gone through the process of getting the official seal, despite their food being just as good!
What is organic meat?
Organic meat refers to animals that meet the requirements set by the government. These animals haven’t been injected with antibiotics, are fed organic food, and are allowed outdoor access.
As per the USDA, these animals are:
-“Allowed year-round access to the outdoors except under specific conditions (e.g., inclement weather).
-Raised on certified organic land meeting all organic crop production standards.
-Raised per animal health and welfare standards.
-Fed 100% certified organic feed, except for trace minerals and vitamins used to meet the animal’s nutritional requirements.
-Managed without antibiotics, added growth hormones, mammalian or avian byproducts, or other prohibited feed ingredients (e.g., urea, manure, or arsenic compounds).”
However, it is important to note that although these animals are required to be fed organic food, they can still be fed unnatural food (such as chickens being fed soy and flax, and cows being fed grains). It’s important to know what is natural for a given animal’s diet, organic or not. If an animal isn’t designed to consume what its being fed, the animal won’t be as healthy for you to eat as it could have been. For this reason, I recommend buying meat from animals that were fed their natural diet, such as grass-fed beef.
Remember, healthy animals help make a healthy you. It’s virtually impossible to consume sick and toxic animals and plants and expect to create health out of it. Said another way, you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken crap.
The benefits of going organic:
Going organic is definitely worth the small price difference, especially considering how much money you will be saving down the road! Staying healthy will keep you out of the doctor’s office and help you avoid having to buy all sorts of scary medications later in life.
By going organic, you’re saving your body from all the toxins used in conventional farming. That alone is a huge plus! Research also shows a robust increase in nutritional value when comparing organic food to non-organic.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of going organic.
The pesticides and other chemicals that are used in conventional farming have a terrible effect on the microbiota and minerals that are present in the soil. Plants can only be as healthy as the soil, so healthy soil=healthy plants that taste good and are nutritionally dense.
There is a great deal of misinformation put out there by huge multi-billion dollar corporations, which don’t have any problem putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into advertising and propaganda to push their agenda. They want us to believe that conventional food and even genetically modified food is just as good as organic, which is just plain false. Numerous studies have proven otherwise. Pay attention to who pays for a study to be conducted- you might notice that any studies promoting GMOs and pesticides are funded by someone with an agenda to push…
Cool Story… Did you know that researchers at the University of Florida found that in the Everglades, female alligators weren’t reproducing at a normal rate due to the severe reduction in size of their male alligators’ genitalia? All the males reading this post, I hope I have your attention by now!
When the male alligators’ blood was drawn, their estrogen levels were nearly the same as the female alligators’ levels. Researchers have attributed the pesticide runoff to the insane spike in estrogen because of its xeno-estrogens (estrogen-like effects). These synthetic estrogens play a major role in infertility, decreased libido and muscle mass in men and women alike.
You may have heard of men growing breasts from drinking soy milk- that would be due to the xenoestrogens.
PS: These same estrogen’s are also found in plastics too. If you are drinking or eating out of plastic containers, you may want to switch to glass or stainless steel containers.
:
Eat organic, even non-certified from a local farmer. If money is an issue, at the very least eat from foods with a lower pesticide residue. Check out this list from the EWG which categorizes foods by the lowest and highest level of pesticide residue. Avoid the high residue plants and consume the low residue ones.
Need help going organic? Click here!
References:
The Disappearing Male (Documentary)
https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Organic%20Livestock%20Requirements.pdf
Why Should You Go Organic?
By Dr. Justin Marchegiani
Today eating organic has been the trendy thing of late. Add gluten free and paleo to the mix and it just makes it even more confusing. Alright so let’s break it down… What is organic actually?
Organic Food: Is food that isn’t grown with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and is GMO free. Depending on the organic certification some are stricter than others. Certain certifications require farm fields to have not used pesticides for at least 3 years and others are much looser in regards to their regulations. Your best bet is to get to know some local farmers in your area and figure out what standards they adhere to. You may even find many farmers don’t bother paying for an organic certification even though their crops are just as good as organic ones.
Check out www.eatwild.com or www.eatwiththeseasons.com to figure out where you can access local organic food and farms in your area. Many towns have local farmers markets that meet weekly in downtown areas and sell their goods directly to consumers.
In regards to animals, organic refers to animals that haven’t been injected or fed various medications including hormones, antibiotics or foods that were produced with pesticides or other chemical agents.
Again animals can still be fed an unnatural diet, I.E. chickens being fed soy and flax and cows being fed grains. It’s important to know what is natural for a given animal’s diet, organic or not, if an animal isn’t designed to consume it, the animal won’t be as healthy for you to eat as it could have been.
Remember, healthy animals help make a healthy you. It’s virtually impossible to consume sick and toxic animals and plants and expect to create health out of it. Said another way, you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken crap.
The Benefits: So eating organic does provide many benefits. The first is that you are not providing additional toxins to your body from all of the above mentioned toxins that are abundant in conventional farming. That alone is a huge plus! Research also shows a robust increase in nutritional value when comparing organic food to non-organic.
Click here to know more about the benefits of going organic.
The pesticides and other chemicals that are used in conventional farming have a terrible effect on the microbiota and minerals that are present in the soil. Plants can only be as healthy as the soil, so healthy soil=healthy plants that taste good and are nutritionally dense.
There is a great deal of misinformation put out there by multi-national corporation like general mills or Kellogg’s to name a few that say, organic and conventional food have the same nutritional value.
These huge corporations have created their own organic labels, and have thus downgraded the overall meaning of what organic represents and stands for. When you compare organic food from a local farmer who practices organic farming methods, you will see these conventional foods don’t hold a candle to it.
Again even if the nutritional value doesn’t sell you on going organic, just the fact that you aren’t consuming know carcinogenic hormone disrupting toxins should be enough of a benefit by itself.
Cool Story… Did you know that researchers at the University of Florida found that in the everglades female alligators weren’t reproducing at a normal rate due to the severe reduction in size of their male alligators’ genitalia! All the males reading this post, I hope I have your attention by now!
When these male alligators’ blood was drawn, they had nearly the same estrogen levels of their female counterparts. Researchers have attributed the pesticide run off as the cause because of its estrogen like effects (xeno-estrogens). These synthetic estrogens play a major role in infertility, decreased libido and muscle mass in men and women alike.
PS: These same estrogen’s are also found in plastics too. If you are drinking or eating out of plastic containers, you may want to switch to glass or stainless steel containers.
Reference: The Disappearing Male (Documentary)
Take Home Message:
- Eat organic, ideally from local farmer that you know.
- If money is an issue, at the very least eat from foods with a lower pesticide residue. Please See “The Clean 15 and Dirty Dozen” below. These foods are categorized by the lowest and highest level of pesticide residue. Avoid the high residue plants and consume the low residue ones.
- Just do it! No arm chair quarterbacks here. Give it a try for a few months, add in some healthy animals products too and see if how you look, feel or perform improves.
Need help in going organic? Click here.
Red Meat Is Linked To Cancer And Heart Disease | Fact or Fiction
By Dr. Justin Marchegiani
According to a new Harvard study, red meat is linked to cancer and cardiovascualar disease.
Every day we see studies saying one thing and then saying the other things a few months later. After a while the public doesn’t know what to believe… Why is this? I will break down the research and show you why this study isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and what to look for to know if a study holds true merit.
Here are some simple items that need to be looked at first. Once observed it is easy view the short coming of this study linking meat to cancer and cardiovascular disease.
1. This study is an observational study. In the study they gave questionnaires to individuals every 4 years and looked back to see who got cancer and heart disease and what they were eating. The problem with this type of study is there can be other confounding variables like, the person ate processed hot dogs as well as the gluten/sugar rich bun, or the person ate sausage and meatballs on top of a pizza that was loaded with gluten/sugar. I think you are seeing a pattern, that when a lot of processed meats are eaten, usually there is a bunch of sugar going down with it.
The variable of gluten/sugar combined with the meats are whats called a confounding variable, it is an important factor in the study that could be causing the factors in question “heart disease and or cancer”.
We need to do specific studies that actually isolate the meat from the bun/sugar to to control for these confounding variables.
2. To actually prove cause and effect, we need to conduct a clinical trial. A clinical trial is where you isolate different groups where you can control for the diet and also have a placebo group to compare. An epidemiological study (like this one) can only conclude correlation. Correlation and causation are two different things. Gray hair is correlated with aging. It doesn’t mean gray hair causes you to age. Just an association. I think you get the picture.
Click here to know more about red meat and its link to cancer
The study I am referring to may look like this:
Group 1: Fed organic pastue fed meats with no process sugar or grains allowed.
Group 2: Fed conventional meet.
Group 3: Fed conventional meat with grains and sugar.
Group 4: Placebo control group, ate what ever they wanted.
Going one step further we can make the study blinded or double blinded where the patients don’t know what group they are in (very difficult), and the scientist don’t know what each patient is eating (easier). This then controls for any pre-existing bias the scientist and or patients might have.
These people would then live in a metabolic ward for lets say a few months or so where they were actually fed the foods in questions. As you can see studies like this are incredibly expensive there fore they aren’t done. So we use less expensive epidemiological studies using surveys and then we extrapolate the information to the public like it’s a matter of truth.
Epidemiological studies like this one only help you to produce a hypothesis i.e. “I think meat causes cancer and cardiovascular disease.” From there we can now conduct a double blind placebo controlled study to test this hypothesis. It’s irresponsible to extrapolate that information and put it in the media and scare everyone (which is done here) before the clinical trial has been completed.
3. These studies never control for the quality of meat as mentioned above. Organic pasture fed vs free change vs anti-biotic vs hormone free vs conventional factory farmed etc. It controls for processed vs non processed, but you can still eat bacon (which is considered processed) and it could be bacon from organic pasture fed sources of pork. The quality of the animal meat matters, but research conveniently ignores this.
Personally I do believe that conventional meat is bad for you and causes the issues sited above. But not because of the meat in general; but because of the quality of the meat and the hormones, antibiotics and the poor quality of food the animals were fed before it ended up on your table. In other words, animals that are treated well and fed well have the potential to provide wellness to the person that consumes them. Animals that are treat badly, fed like crap and injected with drugs don’t have the ability to convey health to the person that consumes them.
I hope the information presented in this article will help you sniff out studies that aren’t quite what they’re cracked up to be.