Don't eat the Beyond Burger because it's too high in sodium? I'll take that advice with a grain of salt. The meat industry is dying, and it's making one last attempt (like cows that go to slaughter) to justify its existence. The arguments against beyond meat are pathetic and predictable:
- Too much salt
- Is processed
- Has too many ingredients
- Is high in fat
These arguments are easily criticized:
North Americans already eat a lot of salt, so it's disturbing that supposedly trustworthy news sources are so eager to inform the public of the dangers of too much salt. Half a box of kraft dinner has about twice the salt content of a beyond patty.
A lot of the meat, such as hot dogs and luncheon meat, is processed, this is well known, but it's not raised as an issue. Besides, regular slabs of meat are also processed, such as defeathering and draining the blood, removing the innards, and treating the meat with ammonia or chlorine.
But processed isn't necessarily a bad thing, we just associate it with other processed foods that we know are bad for us, such as pop tarts. These also have more ingredients than the beyond burger. Does the number of ingredients matter? A lot of the ingredients are vitamins intentionally added for fortification. Compared to President's Choice beef burgers, beyond burgers have more protein and iron and less saturated fat and even SALT!
4.) Harvard says (see 4 above) that the beyond burger has about as much fat as lean ground beef, but regular beef has much more (saturated) fat, and it also contains a lot of cholesterol which the beyond burger does not. Whether beyond burgers have as much or less saturated fat than beef, the saturated fat in beyond burgers comes mostly from coconut oil which is cardioprotective and raises good cholesterol levels.
The wording of the articles is so biased, too, it's obvious that these media are not having an honest critical discussion about the topic. The mainstream belief is already decided and shoved down your throat in a facetious/rhetorical way posing as honest discussion...that just happens to have found the conclusion, problem solved: vegan food is bad, so eat your meat.
The language is obvious - ridiculous adjectives like ultra slapped in front of the word processed or with words like no better or just thrown around that serve no meaning but minimize the importance of vegan products, and finding excuses why it's not more responsible in any way than meat (experts say, or single study finds). If that doesn't work, they'll appeal to your primal urges and normalcy bias ;) 💋