The "Backlash" to Plant-Based Meat Has a Sneaky, if Not Surprising, Explanation

I think we should go harder into mycoculture and Insectivory. We can grow mushrooms or other fungus on our plant waste like wood, paper, and food scraps. We can also feed soldier flies, grubs, ants, termites or grasshoppers on farm and food waste.

Insects and fungi are also WAY more efficient than mammals like cows, or reptiles like birds. And they can both use waste material from agriculture without using up resources that we ourselves could use for ourselves.

with chicken meat since it has a smaller impact on the environment.

I had assumed that a plant-based burger would be better for the environment than a meat based burger (including chicken) - or am I entirely wrong here? (I guess there is complexity depending on the type of "plant-based" burger and the type of meat and where it was sourced from etc)

I've never had an actual meat burger so I can't really say how this compares, but you can have pretty tasty meat-free burgers with plant based ingredients. For instance, a potato based patty, corn fritters, mushrooms all make for tasty meat-patty replacements. What I personally dislike though is those fake meat burgers, like the "Impossible Beef" one. A burger joint here recently got rid of their portobello mushroom burger and replaced it with an Impossible Beef one, so I gave it a try - and it was disgusting. The portobello mushroom one used to be absolutely delish, and I couldn't believe they replaced something so tasty, with fake beef. In saying that, my meat eating buddy tried the patty and he said it tasted just fine, almost identical to real beef. So it was my vego taste buds that rejected it, and there was nothing wrong with the fake beef apparently...

Anyways, I digress, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you can definitely have a tasty burger with plant based ingredients.

Most things you don't even need a certain amount every day, only a certain daily average. As long as you get that average in a week or so, you'll be fine.

Fake meat isn't even a cheap knock off, it is a more expensive knock off.

But like, not very conscious animals. I wouldn't have much of an issue with some cow tumoral cells growing uncontrollably in a vat.

Variety and balance is part of any good nutrition plan!

Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control.

Compared to what though? If you only eat properly selected (fat to protein ratio) meat products (fatty meat, eggs, hard naturally maturing cheese) with a proper selection of vegetables, so that they contain all the micronutrients you need in good quantities, fiber and are low on carbs, the amounts of carbohydrates you 'll be getting will definitely be low enough to have perfect serum glucose -most of your energy will be coming from ketone bodies. You can't have elevated serum glucose if you don't rely on carbs for energy. It's pretty tough to mess up the metabolic pathways related to carbohydrates too with that approach. Which is pretty easy to do if your focus is to just eliminate animal products, since most plant foods are loaded with carbohydrates. When the objective is health, the focus should be proper selection of foods for the body first and then everything else.

Of course vegetables (fiber), fruits (water & fiber), whole grains (fiber), legumes (fiber), soy products (debatable, tofu, tofu skins, tempeh all have low to zero amount of carbs), nuts/seeds (fiber) are handled better as far as their carbohydrate content goes since they are metabolized at a slower pace than white rice or flour products. But it's not the meat in the burger that messes up your glucose levels, its the potatoes and the bread. And if you don't match your activity levels with the quantities of -easier-for-your-body- carbohydrate sources from plant foods, you will start having issues too, quantity matters as much as quality in this aspect of nutrition.

This is not a comment to support animal products, just to point out that what messes up serum glucose is improper selection of plant based foods, not saturated fat or meat products in general (probably with the exception of many dairy products).

You can also just as easily find widespread deficiencies in important things mainly or only found in plant-based foods like fiber

There are other deficiencies too if you don't eat proper plant based foods (again like the ones mentioned in the first quote of my comment), which can be equally important. Easiest example is magnesium. All the greatest sources of it are plant based foods. This metal is also a good reason why legumes/beans are important (apart from the obvious abundance of potassium). Seeds and nuts are a great source too, but cost more (not just to buy them, they take up much more resources from the environment to produce them).

People who rely heavily on meat, thinking this is easy access to full of essential amino-acids protein (which it is, muscle tissue is something of a protein storage for most of animal bodies), won't be getting magnesium in good quantities unless they start eating proper plants or buying supplements (created from plant matter), since most of magnesium (and many other micronutrients like it) is stored in the bones of the animals (which we don't eat, and bone broths don't do much either). It's pretty funny that many people think they can't get proper protein from plants, which is untrue, but in fact it's the other way around, as far as deficiencies go, once you start looking at micronutrients.

This Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position was adopted by the House of Delegates Leadership Team on October 18, 1987, and reaffirmed on September 12, 1992; September 6, 1996; June 22, 2000; June 11, 2006; and March 19, 2012. This position is in effect until December 31, 2018.

This Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics position was adopted by the House of Delegates Leadership Team on October 18, 1987 and reaffirmed on September 12, 1992; September 6, 1996; June 22, 2000; June 11, 2006; and March 19, 2012. This position is in effect until December 31, 2021.

I've had baked crickets before, and they were okay. If I ate them more, I might get a palette for them, but I wouldn't personally say that I liked them. But, I'd suck it up for the, you know, sake of the continuation of pleasant life on Earth.

I like to say that I'll try anything once. But, I've sort of sworn off McDonalds for the most part for a few reasons. But, if they did make this sort of jump, I might try to encourage it with my buck.

I think there's an idea that no one will eat them, so there isn't a large investment into it. I know I for sure would though. I'm sure a lot of people would be grossed out at first, but I bet after seeing the cost difference they'd change their mind and at least try it.