Incorporating Plant-Based Meat Alternatives into Your Healthy Diet

A growing number of plant-based meat alternatives are available today. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular varieties.

Seitan

Seitan is a plant-based meat substitute made from vital wheat gluten. It has a savory flavor and chewy texture that works well in stir-fry, sandwiches, stews, and pasta dishes.

Nutritionally, seitan is a high protein plant-based meat alternative. It generally also contains small amounts of iron, calcium, and potassium (1, 2).

In many grocery stores, you can find seitan in the form of cubes, strips, or thin deli slices that are ready to use.

You can also make seitan at home using vital wheat gluten, vegetable broth, and flavoring agents such as soy sauce or liquid aminos and garlic. All you have to do is combine ingredients in a mixer, create a dough, and then boil slices of the dough to cook it.

However, because it’s made with gluten, seitan isn’t appropriate for people who have celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

Beyond Meat products

Beyond Meat is a popular brand of plant-based meat products. While it was initially recognized for its debut vegan burger, called the Beyond Burger, this brand now also makes plant-based ground meat, sausage, meatballs, and chicken.

The primary ingredient in a Beyond Burger is pea protein. It also contains refined coconut oil, rice protein, cocoa butter, and dried yeast.

Beyond Burgers are free from soy and gluten and are naturally colored using beet juice. One patty provides 100% of the Daily Value for vitamin B12, 40% for zinc, and 20% for iron (3).

Impossible Burgers

Impossible Burgers are a similar concept to the Beyond Burger. Impossible Foods, the brand behind these burgers, also makes meatless sausage, chicken-style nuggets, and pork alternatives using plant ingredients.

Instead of pea protein, Impossible Burgers use potato and soy proteins.

They get their meat-like flavor from heme iron. While it’s normally derived from animal products, the heme iron used for Impossible Burgers is derived from the root nodules of soybean plants and made through the fermentation of genetically engineered yeast (4).

The Impossible Burger offers an array of micronutrients. For instance, one patty offers 50% of the Daily Value for zinc, 130% for vitamin B12, and 25% for iron (5).

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is a large tropical fruit that grows in Asia, Africa, and some areas in South America. It has a thick, green, bumpy rind and soft, stringy inner flesh with edible seeds (6).

Because of its consistency and mild flavor, jackfruit flesh is often used in place of meat dishes such as pulled pork. For instance, I like to put plain jackfruit in the slow cooker with barbecue sauce and onions to make sandwiches.

Jackfruit is low in calories and doesn’t have much protein or fat compared to other plant-based meat alternatives. However, it does offer some fiber and a small number of micronutrients, such as iron, potassium, and calcium (7).

Soy-based foods

Soy is a legume and one of the original plant-based meat alternatives. Soy-based foods tend to have a mild flavor and versatile texture that make them ideal for use in many traditionally meat-based dishes.

Soy-based foods include the following popular choices:

• Soybeans. Also called edamame, soybeans are a great addition to stir-fry. You can also cook them and eat them as a snack.
• Tofu. A spongy cake made from soybeans and water, tofu can be pressed, cubed, and cooked. You can use it in stir-fry or salads, slice it and add it to sandwiches, or crumble it and cook it with vegetables (similar to the way some folks might use scrambled eggs).
• Tempeh. This is a fermented soybean product sold in long blocks. Tempeh works well sliced into thin strips and added to stir-fry or crumbled and used in stews, chilis, tacos, or sloppy joes.
• Soy-containing meat alternatives. Some of the more processed plant-based meat alternatives, such as premade veggie burgers, use soy protein in their recipes.

SUMMARY

There are more plant-based meat alternatives today than ever before. Some of the most common are seitan, jackfruit, soy foods, and premade products that mimic traditional meats, such as those from the brands Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat.

Below is a comparison chart of the basic nutritional composition of the plant-based meat alternatives discussed above.

The nutritional information provided is for a single serving, the size of which can differ among products and brands and is noted below.

SUMMARY

Among popular meat alternatives, seitan, Beyond Burgers, and Impossible Burgers are highest in sodium, protein, and calories. The latter two are high in total and saturated fat. Jackfruit and tofu are low in calories and sodium and free from saturated fat.

Some of the main benefits of consuming plant-based meat alternatives are subjective in that many people choose to consume them for a variety of personal reasons.

For example, I eat plant-based meat alternatives because they are more aligned with my personal ethics than eating meat.

Eating plants means that I’m not supporting industrialized animal agriculture or its effects on animal welfare, the environment, and public health (10, 11).

Additionally, certain plant-based meats are free from nutrients that some people may want to limit for heart health, such as saturated fat and sodium — though the amounts depend on the specific product (12).

In recent years, research has linked a high intake of processed and red meats to an increased risk of developing certain cancers, particularly colon and breast cancers (13, 14).

On the other hand, most Western diet patterns are lacking in important nutrients such as fiber, which is known to help reduce risk for several chronic diseases (15, 16).

Because plants are the only natural sources of fiber, adopting a more whole food-based, plant-centric diet is a simple way to increase fiber intake — in addition to getting more vitamins, minerals, and compounds that offer further health protection (17).

Plus, a great thing about plant-based meats is that many of them offer a similar taste, texture, and versatility to meat, so they can work well for people who don’t want to consume animal products.

SUMMARY

Many people prefer to eat plant-based meat alternatives due to their stances on animal welfare and the environment. Some meat alternatives are also free from certain nutrients some folks want to limit, such as saturated fat and sodium.

While plant-based meat alternatives can offer a number of benefits, they may also have some downsides to consider.

For instance, not all plant-based meats are created equally.

Some highly processed products, such as those from Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger, are just as high in total and saturated fat as their meat counterparts. The burgers even contain more sodium than a single beef patty, which may not support heart health (12, 18, 19).

Additionally, many packaged meat alternatives contain other ingredients that some people don’t wish to consume, such as refined oils, modified cornstarch, dextrose, or added sugar.

The best way to avoid any ingredients that are of concern to you is to read the ingredient list on any packaged plant-based meat alternative.

Finally, while tofu is inexpensive, other plant-based meat alternatives can be more costly per serving.

SUMMARY

Not all plant-based meat alternatives are inherently healthy. Some still contain large amounts of saturated fat and sodium, as well as other ingredients you may want to avoid. Additionally, some of the more processed options can be fairly expensive.

As with any food, the healthiest options among plant-based meat alternatives are the ones you can eat in as close to their original, whole form as possible.

For example, jackfruit flesh or a soy food like tofu undergoes significantly less processing than products like the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger.

However, this doesn’t mean the other plant-based meat alternatives can’t also fit into an overall healthy diet. Although they’re more processed, Impossible and Beyond Burgers are good sources of plant protein. They could arguably be healthier choices than fast-food hamburgers.

When choosing a plant-based meat alternative, it’s a good idea to opt for ones like jackfruit and soy foods most often and incorporate the highly processed options into your diet less frequently.

Don’t forget, you can also use legumes — such as beans, peas, and lentils — in place of meat in many recipes. These are not only inexpensive but also full of beneficial nutrients and easy to incorporate into homemade veggie burgers, chilis, soups, stews, tacos, and salads.

SUMMARY

The healthiest way to enjoy plant-based meat alternatives is to choose the least processed options, such as whole soy foods, jackfruit, and legumes, most of the time and consume premade burgers and other meat alternatives less often.

A growing number of plant-based meat alternatives are available today. Many of them are so delicious and easy to access that even people who don’t follow a plant-based diet enjoy eating them.

From a nutritional standpoint, many of the more highly processed meat alternatives aren’t necessarily healthy choices. For instance, they tend to be high in sodium and saturated fat.

While I’d recommend emphasizing less-processed meat alternatives most of the time — such as seitan and whole soy foods — products like the Beyond Burger and Impossible Burger can still be enjoyed on occasion as part of an overall healthy diet.