Foods for healthier people and a healthier planet [pdf]

I've started eating a lot less meat, but typically through limiting how much of a meal it comprises vs no-meat meals.

If I replace meat with greek yogurt or beans, I haven't noticed much difference.

I personally grow tired of eating such things after a while, but I don't think they are expensive/time-consuming and they do satisfy hunger.

Also, beans are a good substitute because they tend to dampen blood sugar swings, due to the way they feed our gut flora. And a sudden drop in blood sugar is a big reason for feeling hungry. This property of beans is known as the "second meal effect".

Note that just because you are slim and not having health issues, does not mean that meat is not gradually harming your health. There is rather overwhelming evidence that the cholesterol and saturated fat in meat is harmful to our circulatory health, and also that meat protein intake is linked to cancer growth by triggering the body to create IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Gactor 1).

Many people feel like (or are told) that they are craving protein, when in reality what they are craving is just more calories. Consider that most of us have had a lifetime to figure out what works for us with a meat-based diet, and were taught by our parents -- switching to a different diet isn't trivial. There are lots of good resources out there, but unfortunately, also lots of misinformation.

> how do you not feel hungry?

Lots of starch. Carbs and eating more volume vs. when I ate meat is what fills me up. It's a bit of an adjustment but you get used to it. After doing this for three years I don't feel a need to eat meat/cheese/eggs etc.

> What of those who work by the hour? most don't want to spend 2 hours cooking regularly.

Being plant based really limits your eating out options and options for convenient processed foods. Granted cooking your own food takes significant time. I work full time and I'm taking masters classes. I make it work because eating healthful meals is important to me. I find efficiencies in batch processing. I cook my whole weeks worth of food in a few hours on the weekend. I'm faster than I was when I started, probably because I have built up muscle memory and also because I select foods that I know I can make quickly.

> Maybe it just doesn't work for everyone?

One of my friends wants to go plant based, but she has a small stomach. So eating more volume is a problem for her. Different people are going to experience plant based diets differently. For me the first month was the hardest to transition because I was so used to the SAD diet before. For me the second month was easier.

I will disagree with this statement from personal experience. The first claim is that this is a "luxury diet", of which it is not. Grains, legumes, and most all leafy greens and vegetables on here fall within the same construct as meat pricing. Yes, you can spend a lot of money, but no it is not a requirement. I have tested not eating red or white meats now for ~16 months and consume fish or crustaceans on average once a week, but sometimes not. Over that time my weekly food cost has gone down on average. Yes, herbs and spices can be expensive however they are not exclusive to a more focused plant or whole food diet. Also, the claim about time-consuming is also false. I used to spend more time in meat than almost any dish I prepare now. From overnight smokes of pulled pork or half day cooks of meats in sous vide with a finish on grill was, by far much more work. Now, I understand those are not always normal cooking practice by everyone but normal meat prep involves proper prep and post prep regardless if you're making hamburgers or not. Maybe you're talking about preprocessed meats with your argument. But if you're arguing a preprocessed burger is easier, then I'm sure you're right. Frozen meat is horrible IMO, however.

> Honest question for those who follow such a diet: how do you not feel hungry? If I don't have meat, I tend to stay hungry. I regularly eat lots of meat for this reason, and am still very slim (no health issues), so it's not like it's hurting me. I tried not eating meat for a month or so, and I perform measurably worse (comparing my output on days when I ate meat vs not). Maybe it just doesn't work for everyone?

Moving to a plant / whole food focused diet doesn't leave you hungry if you're doing it in a complete way. Legumes are a great component and satiate just as well from a density of food standpoint. Our family has made breakfast burritos recently for friends who didn't know it was 100% plant based. This included the use of Just Egg (bean formulation of scrambled eggs) and an Italian Seitan product that is hard to distinguish in flavor and texture from ground breakfast sausage. The prep for this meal is identical to using those traditional ingredients. Nobody was hungry and everyone was impressed and asked for the recipe.

Ultimately it doesn't work if you don't give it a real try. My family and I cook a lot and the hardest part was getting out of the rut of the recipes we've made our own over the years. New ingredients, new recipes, new flavors. Not everything is good, not everything turns out. You learn and pivot. 3 months in I was feeling comfortable with the new direction I took. My family still will consume red and white meat when there's no other good choice. I have decided, for me, the ethical and global implications are a personal choice and continue to avoid it. Even though I don't cast judgement I feel as though more people should give it a fair shake. But it's easy to take the well traveled option. I will say though it's gotten easier only a year later to find options where I couldn't last year. They're not all the most healthy, but cater to more of the flavor pallette than health. There is that gray area of healthy plant based eating and the middle ground of Beyond Meat / Impossible Burger type alternatives. But even those still have a positive impact on things overall.

It does sound like in your attempt to go meat free you were missing something in your meals to round out comparative calorie intake. My recommendation is the cookbook: Vegan For Everyone by America's Test Kitchen. There are a lot of fantastic recipes in there but it is one of the best to get you going. There are many other cookbooks that have helped me find new avenues of cooking as well. I think, for me, that guidance and ideas are the reason I still continue down the path I'm on today.

It's a matter of making sure you eat enough. I've noticed when playing around with a mostly, but not entirely, vegetarian diet that there's no magic at all if you're already in the habit of counting calories.

I've known some people for whom it's more of a problem, for a few reasons. For starters, an athletic person who likes a steady three meals a day might have some problems and need to change some habits, but a snacker who is trying to lose weight might thrive with the change.

Utter nonsense. A commonly perpetuated myth. Foods like lentils have the best cost-nutrition ratios of any food. What do you think the people around the world living on $1 a day are eating?

> doubtless time-consuming. What of those who work by the hour? ...most don't want to spend 2 hours cooking regularly.

Another myth.

If you eat tons of starch you won't be hungry. I eat whole-wheat pasta, potatoes, rice, beans, peas, lentils, corn till failure at every meal and I am in great health.

Also this is hardly a "luxury" diet -- some of the poorest people on earth eat diets based around starches.

.. did we read the same list? Do you think lentils are "fancy"? Spinach? Mushrooms? Them starting with algae is probably a weird move, but regionally they are very available.

> how do you not feel hungry? If I don't have meat, I tend to stay hungry.

You need to think more critically, you probably crave meat because you have it almost every meal. Entire subcontinents and religions avoiding all meat products for millenia probably didn't all just "feel hungry and perform bad".

Just like like it's easy enough for someone to start eating meat, it's just as easy for you to stop.

I suspect that most people who think they can’t manage a vegetarianism, by experience or otherwise, are making the mistake of thinking that a “vegetarian diet” consists of just the vegetarian side-dishes familiar from a meat-eating diet. That is not true, and if you try to do it that way, of course it’s not going to work. A proper diet finds foods that fill the role of meat, one way or another.

In what way is this diet a luxury? Some of the ingredients are not found in supermarkets and so not easily available. But beans, lentils, mushrooms, fruits are readily available at your local supermarket if you live Europe or the US.

Want to know what is a luxury? The world's consumption of meat, especially in Europe and US. I'm a meat eater, but we are eating more meat now that in any other time in history. We think such cheap and plentiful meat (on a daily basis for so many people) is how it's always been, but it's only thanks to industrial-scale farming we can eat meat so cheaply and with such abundance. And what a bunch of hypocrites we are on the subject (myself included). So many of us won't even consider reducing our meat consumption despite the proven role of animal agriculture in contributing to climate change.

With that said cooking every night does not take long at all not to mention leftovers means no cook time the next night or two.

Also- things like beans, rice, and vegetables are cheap as hell. Meat is almost always the most expensive part of a meal, and rightfully so.

Some will view that cynically, but there is absolutely nothing in the report that seems biased or benefiting Knorr in any way, beyond sincerely trying to herald sustainable food and at most getting a bit of credit for trying to do good. It still is an interesting read.

This was assessed by Knorr cross-functional teams of marketers, nutritionists, chefs, and product developers spanning across Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Europe and Australia, who answered the assessment questions with yes/no/maybe for every ingredient. The data were collated and assessed to determine which foods should potentially be eliminated based on responses. If more than half of the countries answered ‘no’ to one of the questions, the ingredient was eliminated. The relative nutrient density scores (NRF) were considered when choosing between foods with similar input, ensuring the foods in the final list would be nutritious.

Then later near the bottom:

Knorr and WWF have joined forces with other leaders in nutrition and sustainability to develop Future 50 Foods

In writing this report, Knorr, WWF and Adam Drewnowski are grateful for input and review from experts at Bioversity International, Crops For the Future, EAT Foundation, Edelman, Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), Food Reform for Sustainability and Health (FReSH), GAIN, Global Crop Diversity Trust, Gro Intelligence, Oxfam GB, SDG2 Advocacy Hub, Wageningen University and Yolélé Foods. This report ultimately reflects the views of Knorr, WWF and Adam Drewnowski. The creation of this report was led by Dorothy Shaver, Registered Dietitian and Global Knorr Sustainability Lead. It was published in February 2019.

The Earth will fix itself, eventually, no matter what we do to it. It's seen worse. I mean it apparently went from a ball of lava pelted with meteorite-nukes to the only verdant garden we have ever known, and it has already been through at least a few cataclysms.

Even if the planet disappears overnight, the universe at large will still go on as if we never existed.

You choose the scale you want to care about, and some levels require some sacrifice on other levels.

And without this assumption the "own good vs. common good" argument doesn't hold. Because in reality, "own good" and "common good" align at a lower consumption of meat. (Ignoring taste, obviously. Meat is delicious!)

What does your typical diet look like now ?

Of the people I know that do not eat meat, including myself, they don't not eat it because of religion or animal pity...

Yes. Here's an article about it, and some one actually tried it for a while [1].

[1] https://www.popsci.com/nutrition-single-food-survival

"STOP OPPRESSING ME!"

Really? Like, if you don't think these foods are worth your time, maybe just do your own thing? These foods are already widely eaten by a whole range of people, cultures, and socieconomic statuses.

Besides, a number of these items are available at my local Bulk Barn; a low cost, "bring your own container" bulk purchasing store.

People usually harvest the fruits but this document made me question whether the kind of cactus I've always seen walking around is actually edible (and if not, whether edible cacti could be grown as easily as the non-edible one).