Veggie Burgers... Yes or No?

WillLose60

New member
Hi!

I have been some sort of vegetarian for quite some time now, for my own personal reasons. Anyway, lately, I have been into veggie burgers a lot.. I don't know, maybe because it's grilling season and I want to be somewhat like everyone else, and I want to know... do you think they're healthy or not?

Most say something like "85% less fat" on the front, and have high protein claims, so they seem healthy... I don't know, I'm probably wrong and should just stick to salads.

WillLose60 :chillpill:
 
Ok, let me turn this around on you. :) Why do YOU think they might not be healthy? Or why do you think they could be healthy?

(And yes, this is an exercise to help you learn how to judge what's healthy for YOU rather than relying on someone else to tell you why or why not it's healthy.)

And here's a hint for you: Many things are rarely 100% healthy or 100% unhealthy. Most things fall under a sliding scale (with a few exceptions). Healthy or unhealthy has a lot to do with your overall eating plan, your limits for things like sodium, protein, etc., and for whether or not you want to avoid processed foods, chemicals, and the like.
 
I always thought that they were at least somewhat healthy because they are made of veggies and protein. Let's see... the box says one patty contains 110 cals, 3.5 g fat, 350 mg sodium (not sure if that's too high), 9 carbs, and 10g protein. In dietary exchanges, it counts as 1 lean meat, 2 veggies.

So at least I am getting some veggies in by eating this product,I think? But I won't be eating them on a regular basis. I'm trying to eat more raw foods. Nothing that didn't come out of the Earth... but I have to do a little more research on that first before I jump into it, and then do it little by little.

For now, I think a salad for lunch and a fruit for a snack would help me. Anyway, just curious to see if anyone else ate them...

WillLose60
 
Keep in mind not just the nutritional information, but the actual list of ingredients as well. :)

I eat Morningstar Veggie Patties every now and then. I'm comfortable with them because the first 10 or so ingredients are veggies. Way down at the bottom there's a little sugar and some natural preservatives, but it's less than 1% of the total.

Premade veggie patties/veggie burgers are one of those things that I put close to the healthy end of that sliding scale I talked about in my earlier post. But again ... that's about the way I eat, and what I consider healthy. I work really hard to keep processed foods and packaged foods out of my diet and to cut out sugar as much as possible. For me anything with added sugar (especially something that I don't think shoudl have sugar to begin with) starts sliding towards unhealthy - but it's a small enough fraction in the patties, that I'm not terribly bothered by it.

Make sense?

OTOH, I have a couple of really good recipes for homemade veggie burgers/patties using mixed veggies, oats, black beans, and garbanzos. So overall on my sliding scale, my homemade patties are more healthy, but the pre-made ones are ok for now and then.

I wouldn't say that they're something you should have at every meal, however, or eat 4 of them at a sitting. :) And having one crumbled over a salad in lieu of say chicken or whatever is also a reasonable option.
 
i think its healthy..since it is veggies its less oil and salty than the normal hamburger..but dont eat too much veggie burgers i advise you..because if you are trying to lessen your weight you should avoid eating too much..
 
I can't stand veggie burgers but will eat edamame which is what the patties are essentially made out of.
 
If you're a vegetarian, you probably already know this, but if not, you have to make sure you get the right kind of proteins. Animal proteins tend to be "complete" but vegetable proteins are not. Proteins from grains and beans tend to complement one another. I think the veggie burgers are soybeans, so you might want to eat some grains also.

I'm not a vegetarian, so I don't know all the details of it.
 
Kara, can you share some of your veggie patty recipes? I've become a big fan of the taste of the Morningstar Spicy Black Bean patties, but as far as the 'healthy' part goes I'd prefer to just make my own. :D
 
If you're a vegetarian, you probably already know this, but if not, you have to make sure you get the right kind of proteins. Animal proteins tend to be "complete" but vegetable proteins are not. Proteins from grains and beans tend to complement one another. I think the veggie burgers are soybeans, so you might want to eat some grains also.

I'm not a vegetarian, so I don't know all the details of it.

Quinoa, buckwheat aaaand... what was the third one man I can't remember, but quinoa and buckwheat both have complete proteins.

Otherwise legumes and grains together complement eachother, and you don't have to eat them at the same time, you can eat like.. legumes in the morning, grains in the afternoon. There is an old myth about needing to eat them on top of each other or even blended in a food processor together to get ANY proteins from them at all, it is simply quackery, no worries.
 
Yesterday Kiera Butler, associate editor at Mother Jones, posted an article claiming that soy-based veggie burgers and infant formula are "made with the chemical hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin." She based her conclusions on a report put out by The Cornucopia Institute, an organization committed to "ecological principles and economic wisdom underlying sustainable and organic agriculture."

If you've heard about hexane before, it was likely in the context of gasoline--the air pollutant is also a byproduct of gas refining. But in 2007, grain processors were responsible for two-thirds of our national hexane emissions. Hexane is hazardous in the factory, too: Workers who have been exposed to it have developed both skin and nervous system disorders. Troubling, then, that the FDA does not monitor or regulate hexane residue in foods. More worrisome still: According to the report, "Nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted."

I've used hexane before (technically known as n-hexane) in various laboratories I've worked in as a powerful cleaning agent. It's highly toxic and the Department of Health and Human Services states that "Inhaling n-hexane causes nerve damage and paralysis of the arms and legs." Most of my life I've been largely unconcerned about what I eat (we're all going to get cancer one way or another), but since I've become a new parent I try to be conscious of what I'm feeding my baby. So this report naturally caught my eye. But is it true?

The EPA Federal Register from 2001 (pdf here) identifies industrial use of the chemical in vegetable oil extraction with "major sources" of hazardous air pollution (it's also considered a concern for workers exposed to the chemical). Those who choose to be vegetarian often do so for environmental reasons, so for this fact alone it would seem that organic products (that by definition don't use hexane) would be more consistent with their worldview.

The Cornucopia Institute report, entitled "Behind the Bean," states that their research:

exposes a "dirty little secret" in the natural foods business--the widespread use of a toxic and environmentally damaging chemical, hexane, in the manufacturing of "natural" soyfoods such as vegetarian burgers, nutrition bars, and protein shakes.

They base this conclusion on two pieces of evidence:

1. "According to EPA reports, small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) can be present in oil after extraction."
2. "A Swiss team of scientists tested various oils and found hexane residues in some of the tested oils."

Hexane evaporates rapidly in air, but it is possible that some could be retained in the extracted oil. However, in looking up each of these sources I found the first to be correct and the second to be exaggerated. The EPA reports (pdf here) that "Small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) are present in the crude vegetable oil after the solvent is recovered by film evaporators and the distillation stripper." However, the results from the Swiss scientists (pdf here) could only be interpreted as they were in a very loose fashion:

No samples were found to exceed the tolerance value of 1mg/kg for the solvent hexane. The highest concentration was found in a macadamia nut oil, nevertheless, at 0.13mg/kg it was much lower than the tolerance value. No hexane was detected in 88% of the samples. The limit of detection for hexane is about 0.01mg/kg.

The Cornucopia report also claimed that samples of hexane-extracted soy oil, soy meal, and soy grits were sent to an indepentent USDA lab for analysis:

While there was less than 10 ppm hexane residue in the oil, both the soy meal and soy grits contained higher levels of hexane residues. The soy meal contained 21 ppm hexane and the grits contained 14 ppm. These tests raise important questions regarding the presence of hexane residues in everyday foods.

The results of this test were not made available so there's no way to verify the information. However, it is true that the EPA does not monitor consumption of hexane in consumer food products and the process is used, not only for all soy based products, but also for nut, cottonseed, and olive oils. This fact supports the concern stated in their report about infant formula:

We believe that this research is especially important given the fact that most soy-based infant formulas contain ingredients that have been hexane extracted. In fact, nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted. Infants consume much greater quantities of food compared to their body weight than adults, and formula-fed infants consume the same foods day after day, for many months. If hexane residues are present in conventional soy-based infant formula, their effects on infants should be investigated.

With a background in primatology, this is obviously not my primary area of expertise. However, given that it has been shown that trace amounts of hexane remain after the extraction process, and given that the effects on human health are unknown, it would seem that learning more about this and monitoring its presence in our food is an excellent idea. Neurotoxin in our veggie burgers? Hardly. A reason to pay an extra buck for organic infant formula? Probably not a bad idea.
 
Yesterday Kiera Butler, associate editor at Mother Jones, posted an article claiming that soy-based veggie burgers and infant formula are "made with the chemical hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin." She based her conclusions on a report put out by The Cornucopia Institute, an organization committed to "ecological principles and economic wisdom underlying sustainable and organic agriculture."

If you've heard about hexane before, it was likely in the context of gasoline--the air pollutant is also a byproduct of gas refining. But in 2007, grain processors were responsible for two-thirds of our national hexane emissions. Hexane is hazardous in the factory, too: Workers who have been exposed to it have developed both skin and nervous system disorders. Troubling, then, that the FDA does not monitor or regulate hexane residue in foods. More worrisome still: According to the report, "Nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted."

I've used hexane before (technically known as n-hexane) in various laboratories I've worked in as a powerful cleaning agent. It's highly toxic and the Department of Health and Human Services states that "Inhaling n-hexane causes nerve damage and paralysis of the arms and legs." Most of my life I've been largely unconcerned about what I eat (we're all going to get cancer one way or another), but since I've become a new parent I try to be conscious of what I'm feeding my baby. So this report naturally caught my eye. But is it true?

The EPA Federal Register from 2001 (pdf here) identifies industrial use of the chemical in vegetable oil extraction with "major sources" of hazardous air pollution (it's also considered a concern for workers exposed to the chemical). Those who choose to be vegetarian often do so for environmental reasons, so for this fact alone it would seem that organic products (that by definition don't use hexane) would be more consistent with their worldview.

The Cornucopia Institute report, entitled "Behind the Bean," states that their research:

exposes a "dirty little secret" in the natural foods business--the widespread use of a toxic and environmentally damaging chemical, hexane, in the manufacturing of "natural" soyfoods such as vegetarian burgers, nutrition bars, and protein shakes.

They base this conclusion on two pieces of evidence:

1. "According to EPA reports, small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) can be present in oil after extraction."
2. "A Swiss team of scientists tested various oils and found hexane residues in some of the tested oils."

Hexane evaporates rapidly in air, but it is possible that some could be retained in the extracted oil. However, in looking up each of these sources I found the first to be correct and the second to be exaggerated. The EPA reports (pdf here) that "Small quantities of solvent (up to 0.2 percent by volume of oil) are present in the crude vegetable oil after the solvent is recovered by film evaporators and the distillation stripper." However, the results from the Swiss scientists (pdf here) could only be interpreted as they were in a very loose fashion:

No samples were found to exceed the tolerance value of 1mg/kg for the solvent hexane. The highest concentration was found in a macadamia nut oil, nevertheless, at 0.13mg/kg it was much lower than the tolerance value. No hexane was detected in 88% of the samples. The limit of detection for hexane is about 0.01mg/kg.

The Cornucopia report also claimed that samples of hexane-extracted soy oil, soy meal, and soy grits were sent to an indepentent USDA lab for analysis:

While there was less than 10 ppm hexane residue in the oil, both the soy meal and soy grits contained higher levels of hexane residues. The soy meal contained 21 ppm hexane and the grits contained 14 ppm. These tests raise important questions regarding the presence of hexane residues in everyday foods.

The results of this test were not made available so there's no way to verify the information. However, it is true that the EPA does not monitor consumption of hexane in consumer food products and the process is used, not only for all soy based products, but also for nut, cottonseed, and olive oils. This fact supports the concern stated in their report about infant formula:

We believe that this research is especially important given the fact that most soy-based infant formulas contain ingredients that have been hexane extracted. In fact, nearly every major ingredient in conventional soy-based infant formula is hexane extracted. Infants consume much greater quantities of food compared to their body weight than adults, and formula-fed infants consume the same foods day after day, for many months. If hexane residues are present in conventional soy-based infant formula, their effects on infants should be investigated.

With a background in primatology, this is obviously not my primary area of expertise. However, given that it has been shown that trace amounts of hexane remain after the extraction process, and given that the effects on human health are unknown, it would seem that learning more about this and monitoring its presence in our food is an excellent idea. Neurotoxin in our veggie burgers? Hardly. A reason to pay an extra buck for organic infant formula? Probably not a bad idea.

While I applaud your weazle-word-fuu this might actually be interesting, behind all your weazle words. Could you link the actual study?
 
This person has been copying and pasting articles written by other people and passing them off as his own. You can search on the opening sentence of each of his posts and find the original blog where the article was written.

Here's the original source for this post, which links to the article referenced, which links to other stuff.



But IMO Mother Jones is not always a reliable source. It can be a bit ... uhm ... excessive. :)
 
Boca Vegan Burger

Just today I tried the vegan burger from Boca. The flavor says grilled burger but the texture is like chewed up meat that some one spit out (sorry to make any one sick here). Portobella mushroom caps make a decent burger, and you don't have to read any labels picking up a mushroom cap from produce section.

It would be really cool if we can share recipes here, does any one have any tried and true recipes for egg-plants.
 
Amy's Organic Texas-Style Veggie Burgers

One brand of veggie burgers that I really enjoy is called "Amy's Organic", and I get the vegan Texas-style burgers. They're around 120-140 calories each (I can't remember exactly how much), and with a vegan whole-wheat bun it's still under 300 calories for a pretty nutritious burger. Amy's Burgers are made out of veggies and grains, so they aren't made to taste like fake meat so much as they're just made to taste like an awesome sandwich. I LOVE them!
 
You can't really say if veggie burgers are okay since there are SO many brands made with so many different things. Sorry if I'm being blunt, BUT.... If you have to ask, I'd say that you need to become more educated on what's healthy and what's not. Learn to read the nutrition labels and know what's right for you.
.....
Anyhow, this thread is OLD!!!!
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I adore black bean burgers and I knew someone once who made them from some sort of oatmeal concoction. In the end I think making something from scratch will normally be healthier as there are much less preservatives.
 
I think it depends on the brand. The Schneider's veggie burgers that I buy are loaded with protein, vitamins, and they are 180 calories which is only 30 more than a Mcdonalds salad. No cholesterol but they have a bit of fat in them. I only like to eat veggie burgers once in a while or if I'm hitting the weights hard and need to get a lot of protein in my diet. There is some controversy as to how healthy veggie burgers really are for you but I think it is propaganda. Real beef is known to cause cancer so a veggie burger can't be worse. I have tried the Licks brand and didn't like them nearly as much as the Schneiders.
 
I am a 23 year old boy, I am away from my house.My Hostal meal is not that much good enough.I am planning to follow a diet chart can I eat a vegetarian burger during dieting ?
 
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