The BEYOND Debate

The vegan meat market is heating up with new products hitting the shelves every day including the super popular Beyond products. With this influx of vegan products hitting the shelves, there is a constant debate as to whether these products are healthy or good for us. In fact, one of the biggest arguments from meat eaters who are skeptical of the vegan meat movement is that the products themselves contain a lengthy ingredients list and also contain high amounts of fat / saturated fats, specifically the Beyond products.

So what's the deal? Are these Beyond meat products good for us or should we be avoiding them? 

The Beyond line is constantly growing and bringing out new and exciting products but it all began with the burgers. Meaty, juicy, and incredibly reminiscent of real beef burgers, the debate as to whether these burgers is healthy or not is one that I think is quite steeped in hypocrisy. First of all, for a meat eater to argue that a vegan meat product is less healthy than a meat version is utterly ridiculous in itself because there's more than enough information out there to speak to that being untrue. Let's just look at the Beyond products themselves to answer this question.

The Beyond Meat burgers contains 250 calories, 18 grams of fat, 6 grams saturated fat, and about 16% of your daily sodium per patty. Knowing this, it's obvious that the burgers are not necessarily the healthiest foods available to us, but when comparing to a beef based burger of the same size, the numbers are pretty similar except the meat versions contain dead animals and cholesterol. These burgers are not marketed as health food nor are they marketed as a healthy alternative to anything else, they are simply marketed as plant based alternatives to meat burgers without the animal products. Are they healthy? Not really, but are they supposed to be?

My point here is, for how often we would be consuming these products, should we even care that they are not necessarily healthy? How often are we eating sausages or burgers? They're meant to be a treat we enjoy once and a while but not something we should be eating every day. That old adage, "Everything in moderation" comes to mind when discussing these products because such is the case with anything that's not necessarily healthy. Is anyone arguing that pizza is a healthy food or not? No, because once again, it's a once and a while treat that we engage in amidst otherwise trying to enjoy a varied and healthy diet. 

At the end of the day, the Beyond line is a treat, one that should be enjoyed occasionally without worrying about whether it's a healthy choice. It's not supposed to be, so let's stop arguing over whether it's healthy or not because honestly, they're so damned good that I think we need to let it go!

Have you tried products from the BEYOND line? Which ones are your favourite? 
Visit their website for a list of their products and locations where you can locate them!
https://www.beyondmeat.com/

HAPPY VEG