{"id":18306,"date":"2021-11-15T09:00:33","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T14:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=18306"},"modified":"2021-11-01T11:12:30","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T15:12:30","slug":"plant-based-alternative-meats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/11\/15\/plant-based-alternative-meats\/","title":{"rendered":"Plant-based Alternative \u201cMeats\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a professional\nassociation for dietitians. At their recent virtual meeting (Food and Nutrition\nConference and Expo), one presentation\u2019s focus was on plant-based alternative\n\u201cmeats.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found the remarks of one speaker, Christopher Gardner, PhD\nof Stanford University, especially interesting. He suggested that instead of\nasking if plant-based \u201cmeats\u201d are good (or bad) we should consider if the\nquestion of goodness or badness is being asked in terms of personal health,\nenvironmental sustainability, and\/or personal beliefs and values related to\nanimal rights. In addition, instead of trying to assess goodness or badness, we\nshould consider what these plant-based \u201cmeats\u201d are replacing. Are they being\nused instead of animal products or plant-based whole foods?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This way of framing the question is helpful when, for\nexample, a reporter asks, \u201cAre you concerned about children eating faux meats?\u201d\nit\u2019s impossible to make a simple \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d response. Am I concerned if a\nchild eats an occasional veggie burger or unchicken nuggets? No, not at all. Am\nI concerned if that\u2019s pretty much all they eat for long periods of time? Yes,\nbut my concern is with what\u2019s missing and the lack of variety, just as I\u2019d be\nconcerned if a child only ate bread or eggs or hamburgers.  If the veggie burgers and unchicken nuggets\nare being used to replace hamburgers and chicken nuggets, I\u2019d consider that to\nbe a positive switch for health, environmental, and ethical reasons as well as\nfrom a food safety standpoint. If the veggie burgers and unchicken nuggets are\nreplacing bean burritos or tofu and vegetable stir-fries most days, that would\nnot be a positive move, in my opinion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next time someone asks if plant-based \u201cmeats\u201d are good\nor bad, think about the many ways that this question can be answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To read more about plant-based \u201cmeats\u201d see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vegan\nProcessed Foods: Embrace Them? Shun Them?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Do the Newer Meat-Like, Plant-Based\nBurgers Compare Nutritionally?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RD The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is a professional association for dietitians. At their recent virtual meeting (Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo), one presentation\u2019s focus was on plant-based alternative \u201cmeats.\u201d I found the remarks of one speaker, Christopher Gardner, PhD of Stanford University, especially interesting. He suggested that instead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18308,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18306\/revisions\/18308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}