Beyond Burger and Plant Based Meats

[finley]

I’d be interested to know what DonR thinks, but that is indeed quite a lot of food!

I still suspect your hunger is driven by blood sugar dysregulation. I used to get this, back in the day, when I would sit at my desk praying for the pie van to arrive at 11am. Try dumping the bread/bagels, the overnight oats, rice/pasta and stuff with sugar in it (e.g., orange juice). Replace them with vegetables and try to get more fat into your meals. Eggs and Greek yoghurt are good (as long as it’s not low-fat yoghurt - never buy low-fat anything). Add fatty meat, butter, avocado, and anything else you can think of, apart from seed oils, that contain fat. Put cream in your coffee instead of milk. After a couple of weeks you should find that your hunger stabilizes out and you’ll want to dial back on the fat. Just follow your appetite.

Your protein is excessive and may be contributing to the problem.

I gather you’re female, so your weight-to-height ratio is just on the lower edge of normal. Count yourself lucky; if you lose your job you could probably walk right into a gig as a catwalk model. You’d be underweight if you were male.

[DonR]

I would say the same thing mostly. Cut out all the refined (no white rice, bread, pasta, bagels, cereal, etc.) grains, added sugar and juice. Don’t eat anything that looks different from when it came out of the ground. I don’t have any issues with rolled oats. Need more healthy fats like avacado and nuts and more starchy carbs like beans and taro. Much more beans. They make you full and really regulate blood sugar.

Try breakfast…

Two-egg omelet with cheese, onions and leeks. A breakfast shake consisting of rolled oats, an avacado, a carton of egg (or soft) tofu, and almond milk. Coffee with full cream.

Lunch…

Tons of vegetables, five or six different kinds and different colors. A filet of the fish of your choice and a giant bowl of beans.

Dinner…

Some 10-grain, all whole grain mix or a taro/sweet potato. Squid stir fried with the vegetable of your choice. Another side of vegetables. I often stir-fry the other vegetables with some kind of tofu.

Before bed…
Another big bowl of beans, an apple and an orange. Maybe a small slice of cheese.

If you need a snack, grab a handful of nuts and a different kind of fruit. Mix the colors and type of fruit just like the vegetables. I also eat a lot of Kimchi mixed in with things during meals or as a snack. Make sure it’s the kind with only a gram or so of sugar per 100g. Some can be high in sugar. I eat more nuts than recommended.

I use rice bran oil or avocado oil for all my stir-frying/pan frying.

Drink a glass of water before and after meals and one between meals. Drink a glass first thing in the morning.

I only eat red meat once a week. I eat mostly tofu and seafood.

Once a week I have a small cheat meal and maybe some milk chocolate or a few pieces of licorice.

I used to have a cheat day once a month, but I just feel sick if I try to eat the crap most people eat daily.

[Belgian_Pie]

@tango42

I’ve tried the fake meats at the many vegetarian pay-by-weight like restaurants. Suprisingly tastes ok and I’m almost sure tastes better than the new fad mass produced ones.

They are mostly soy are gluten based.

[Belgian_Pie]

@Explant

the mos burger chain would always say they fried the buger in the same oil they use to fry their mreal meat meat.

You don’t fry burgers!

[Ender]

@Explant

The interesting thing, as per taiwans typical lack lustre attention to details, the mos burger chain would always say they fried the buger in the same oil they use to fry their mreal meat meat.

I thought this was a nice way of showing they actually care about customers.
I was surprised when I bought one of their mushroom rice things and some fries that the guy actually commented that the fries are cooked in or contain animal fat in some way.
I know most restaurants wouldn’t mention it, and most people don’t care, but it does matter to some people, so to Mos Burger.

[Belgian_Pie]

@Ender

I know most restaurants wouldn’t mention it, and most people don’t care, but it does matter to some people, so to Mos Burger.

Because they got caught before? McD was.

[DonR]

Most chefs pan fry burgers and finish them in the oven.

[Belgian_Pie]

You really need to finish these skinny patties in an oven.

[DonR]

Lol, good one.
But I think he means the real meat and the fake meat goes on the same flat top.

[Explant]

@Ender

@Explant

The interesting thing, as per taiwans typical lack lustre attention to details, the mos burger chain would always say they fried the buger in the same oil they use to fry their mreal meat meat.

I thought this was a nice way of showing they actually care about customers.
I was surprised when I bought one of their mushroom rice things and some fries that the guy actually commented that the fries are cooked in or contain animal fat in some way.
I know most restaurants wouldn’t mention it, and most people don’t care, but it does matter to some people, so to Mos Burger.

Yes, that is true. Good point. Plus one for honesty. Minus a few for failing at making vegetarian options. I suppose if its true they were never trying.to promote vegetarian and wanting to normalize their brand it makes sense.

[Explant]

@Belgian_Pie

@Explant

the mos burger chain would always say they fried the buger in the same oil they use to fry their mreal meat meat.

You don’t fry burgers!

They seem to. You can flatten and enlarge the pan shape but its the same thing. Never seen a bbq in a mos burger, hope they arent microwaving them. But they have told me, many times, same oil as with the meat ones…i dont think they are lieing to me.

[lostinasia]

Not sure if this is the right thread (my question matches the title, but not most of the content), but whatever: has anyone used a good vegetarian substitute for chicken breasts in Taiwan? Do any of these fake-meat companies produce something that has an OK flavor & texture substitute for chicken?

Context: assorted dishes that are basically chicken breasts fried or poached or cooked simply, then added to dish (stir-fries, couscous, pilafs, pasta, whatever). Spouse is vegetarian and I’ve been using firm tofu (板豆腐?) as a substitute for years. But I’m curious if there are now better options available. Or maybe there’s always been one and I’ve been unaware of it.

Thanks!

[nz]

My understanding of plant-based meat substitutes is that companies are still struggling to find a way to build something that resembles the actual animal. That’s why there’s hamburgers and nuggets galore — they’re “processed” meats as it is, so making a processed plant-based product isn’t too much of a leap. Mimicking the structure of a whole chicken breast or slab of steak isn’t quite there yet. (My “source” here being some videos about plant-based “meats” that I’ve watched lately. I think Netflix’s “Explained” did a video on this)

[Belgian_Pie]

And to be honest, the substitutes are seriously processed and therefore not really healthier. It’s just not meat and spared some animals.

[nz]

I don’t think anyone is claiming they are health foods. Just offering an alternative for the sake of the planet, which can’t support the entire human population eating meat at the rate we currently consume it in the developed world.

[Marco]

@nz

which can’t support the entire human population eating meat at the rate we currently consume it in the developed world.

That’s not true and the claims leave out a lot of important aspects and data. The claim relies on cherry-picked data.

[Andrew]

This is more about lab-grown meat substitutes than plant-based meat substitutes, but I read this article a couple of days ago about the (in)feasibility of the former. Found it quite interesting and informative (long read).

Lab-grown meat is supposed to be inevitable. The science tells a different...

[Brianjones]

I see a lot of rubbish coming out of Singapore about this lab grown meat. Absolutely pointless because the inputs are so expensive and require so much energy and waste to produce them.

You see all kinds of dumb comments on LinkedIn about it, morons.

We are all better off switching to veg diets and forget about this labmeat pipe dream…These plant based alternatives are a better idea all round.

[nz]

Bugs. That’s what I was told about five years ago. Anytime I complain about a bug flying into my food, I’m reminded by someone that I told about grasshopper protein to that they will be my main source of protein in a few years. I guess the “eww” factor of bugs comes more from where the bugs have been than the bugs themselves, but it’s going to take more than grasshopper flour hidden in my cookies to convince me that’s a good idea. Though not really any less gross than a lab-grown steak, TBH. At least bugs are “organic”?

[Brianjones]

Yeah bug protein is going to be huge. @Explant can explain.
But I have to understand why it is better than plant based protein.