Going to a vegan restaurant. "Impossible Burger"?

[wycoff]

My work-group is going to a place that serves mostly vegan. I'm delighted, but I doubt everyone in my group will be.

Anyway, the place is called RawASF, site at:

https://rawasf.com/collections/all

I noticed their menu has an "Impossible Burger" on it. I have heard of the "Impossible Burger", but I've never tried one. I realize that vegan doesn't equal McDougall. Is the "Impossible Burger" patty to be avoided, or is it McDougall-legal?

Thanks,

-Donald

[Risto]

The Impossible Burger is a high-fat, high-sodium processed product, so not recommended on the McDougall plan. I guess having it once is probably not a problem, if you're healthy and know it's not going trigger a slide into the pleasure trap.

I looked up the nutrition facts. It says 14 g of fat per 113 g serving, so that makes 12 % fat by weight, more than half of that saturated. 370 mg of sodium per serving, which is not the worst I've seen, but still pretty salty. Not surprising for a processed food.

I recently tried a new brand of vegan non-meatballs from my local supermarket, without reading the nutrition numbers until I got home. The package said it they were based on oats and seeds. Turned out the things were 20 % fat by weight, and you could really tell. The fat would just ooze out when I heated them in the microwave. Never again.

[JeffN]

Don’t be fooled!

Not compliant

High fat, high saturated fat, isolated protein & tropical oils.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=56030

Have a custom bowl made using only compliant ingredients

In Health
Jeff

[Risto]

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=56030

From there:

Meat is Murder

Hmm... if so, does "Fake Meat is Suicide" follow? It's a bit drastic, but that labeling might make a dent in the business.

[JeffN]

Hmm... if so, does "Fake Meat is Suicide" follow? It's a bit drastic, but that labeling might make a dent in the business.

I would recommend asking the guy who wrote it. .

Most mainstream headlines these days are nothing more then click bait.

But his points about fake meat, which I quoted, were right on.


In Health
Jeff

[brec]

Ye olde nutrition proverbs:

Don't eat anything bigger than your head.

And relevant here...

Don't eat anything for which reading the ingredients list takes longer than eating it.

[Grammy Ginger]

Sure. Eat one if you don't mind injuring your endothelial cells.

[Ltldogg]

Stick to the program. Here is a great thread from Jeff on a visual healthy placemat: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=37450

This can be done when dining out or at someone's house. You just have to plan ahead and be determined to stay healthy. When I go out I get a small salad (tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, lettuce and no dressing), steamed veggies and brown rice and fruit on the side if available. If not available, I will have brought an apple or banana with me. Temptation can be hard without motivation. So remember why you are doing this, how great you feel for eating this way and how easy the pleasure trap can wreck that.

Hope this helps,
Scott

[wycoff]

I wanted to add my final comment.

I went to the restaurant and tried their Teriyaki Bacon Burger. It was all vegan. It tasted very good. But there were some very strange side-effects starting within an hour of eating.

To set the stage: I've mentioned on my youtube channel that I had a brain injury a few years ago after an automobile accident, and I required brain surgery, and after the surgery I had a stroke, followed by destructive seizures. I lost the ability to talk, couldn't see out of my right eye, lost control over my right arm and right leg, and was told in the ER by a counselor that my engineering career was over.

After a long, long effort at recovery, I did the unexpected; I went back to work part-time, but couldn't drive for another two years. I lost my memory for people (actual entire people, lifted right out of memory, including at least one relative), I have what may be permanent temporal issues, I lost my ability to use the other languages I was familiar with, I lost my ability to play the musical instruments I loved, and I had to re-learn how to be an engineer so I could go back to my job. As a result of the brain injury I cannot use any kind of sleeping pill, enjoy sugary-sweet things, cannot have alcohol of any kind, must be careful with my allergy triggering foods (raw tomatoes/peppers), and the list goes on from there. I have to be very careful, or my body reacts with cognitive issues, even if temporary.

After eating the "Impossible Burger" several strange things happened:
1) cognitively I kept forgetting what I was doing, middle of sentence I wouldn't know what I was talking about. Very embarrassing.
2) once I got home to cook dinner, I couldn't get the timing correct. Had to make a list and execute the list and use timers.
3) I overslept for the first time in at least 3 years.

After my brain injury I admit I am unusual and have uncommon obstacles to overcome in my day to day life. I accept that: I'm glad to be alive and able to communicate. But the above list of symptoms are way, way out of the ordinary. I wish it were otherwise, but I have to add the "Impossible Burger" to the list of things I can never have again. I don't need an explanation for it: I know what is bad for me just by how my body reacts to it, and my body cried out with a resounding "Please no!"

So my list grows to include "Impossible Burger". I thank my lucky stars, though, that Boca Burger (the lower calorie one) is just fine for me: they are tasty and itch the "I want a burger" itch. Plus vegan, plus McDougall.

That's my report. I don't expect it to apply to anyone else, but I'm glad I know, now.

[Dougalling]

Hi Wycoff

I have had a number of concussions. The last one left me feeling dizzy whenever I lay on my left side. I noticed that after one year of being oil-free my dizziness went away. I notice that whenever I do eat something with oil, my dizziness comes back. I now stay away from anything that contains oil. My brain thanks me for it. I believe my brain works better on clear blood rather than 'oily' blood.

[vegman]

Working from the Impossible Burger's nutrition facts on its website, and using an Excel spreadsheet, by percent of calories, it's:

53% fat
32% protein
15% carbohydrate

The ingredients list: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

So it's oil, soy protein concentrate, binders, flavors, and vitamin and mineral supplements.

It sounds truly awful.

[JeffN]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Working from the Impossible Burger's nutrition facts on its website, and using an Excel spreadsheet, by percent from calories, it's:

53% fat

Most of which is saturated fat.

I thank my lucky stars, though, that Boca Burger (the lower calorie one) is just fine for me: they are tasty and itch the "I want a burger" itch. Plus vegan, plus McDougall.

Which Boca Burger are you referring to?

I ask, because as far as we know, none of them meet our guidelines

In Health
Jeff

[vegman]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Working from the Impossible Burger's nutrition facts on its website, and using an Excel spreadsheet, by percent from calories, it's:

53% fat

Most of which is saturated fat.

Per the Nutrition Facts, 57% of the fat is saturated.

By way of comparison, a recent MWL meal of mine on Cronometer has 6% of calories from fat, of which 14% are saturated.

[JeffN]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Working from the Impossible Burger's nutrition facts on its website, and using an Excel spreadsheet, by percent from calories, it's:

53% fat

Most of which is saturated fat.

Per the Nutrition Facts, 57% of the fat is saturated.

By way of comparison, a recent MWL meal of mine on Cronometer has 6% of calories from fat, of which 14% are saturated.

The percentage of calories from saturated fat cant be higher then the percentage of calories from fat as the saturated fat is a fraction of the total fat.

The problem is the Nutrition Facts doesn't tell you the percentage of calories from fat. It does tell you the percentage of saturated fat compared to the Daily Value, which has no value to us.

To calculate the percentage of calories from saturated fat, take the grams of saturated fat, multiply it by 9, then divide your answer by the number of calories. That is the value we use.

In Health
Jeff

[vegman]

The percentage of calories from saturated fat cant be higher then the percentage of calories from fat as the saturated fat is a fraction of the total fat.

The problem is the Nutrition Facts doesn't tell you the percentage of calories from fat. It does tell you the percentage of saturated fat compared to the Daily Value, which has no value to us.

To calculate the percentage of calories from saturated fat, take the grams of saturated fat, multiply it by 9, then divide your answer by the number of calories. That is the value we use.

In Health
Jeff

I was referring to the percentage of calories from fat that are from saturated fat, not the percentage of total calories that are from saturated fat.

53% of the total calories in an Impossible Burger are from fat, and 57% of these are from saturated fat. This would make the percentage of total calories from saturated fat 57% of 53%, or 30%.

Similarly, 6% of total calories in a recent meal were from fat, and 14% of these are from saturated fat, making the % of total calories from saturated fat 14% of 6%, or 0.8%.