Hamburgers aren’t inherently unhealthy (though I’ll concede that in practice they often are). A well-made hamburger contains part protein, vegetables and carbs. It’s a whole meal. A bit too heavy on the carbs maybe, but not extremely so. It can stand on its own with very few additional flavour components, and has the potential of being a more wholesome meal than many others.
The issue, rather, is twofold. First, almost all burgers skimp on the veggies and generally use low-quality ingredients, instead relying on other flavour components (i.e. too much sugar and salt, and often added fat in the form of low-quality cheese and bacon). And secondly, burgers are umami bombs and lead people to overeat, both in terms of quantity (serving size) and frequency.
Fat and protein would be the problem. The typical American diet is very high in fat and protein. More carbs (low GI carbs with fiber) would make it healthier. To make a well balanced burger, you'd probably need to eliminate cheese, reduce the size of the patty significantly, use a whole wheat bun, and add plant fiber. You're basically replacing all of the ingredients.
I would argue that a burger with bun included is balanced even for most low-carb diets. It's the addition of fries and a sugary drink that throws it out of balance. I was actually able to lose weight by replacing my routine soda/fries with an additional burger.
I have been training hard for about a year now, trying to get my body into as ideal shape as I can get it. During that time, I've experimented with a wide range of diets, including keto. I was on keto for about 4 months. I was decently well fat adapted by the end of it, but I did not feel healthy. I was also not making progress in my training. I plateaued for for months.
I switched to a "high carb" plant based diet and I haven't looked back since. My performance has skyrocketed, my fitness is building at a mind boggling pace, I sleep better, my skin is clearer, and I just feel healthier.
Just because an athlete at peak performance can utilize carbs effectively does not mean the average person does.
And refined sugars and grains.
The average American eats significantly less fat, and more carbohydrate now than fifty years ago.
Interesting how this trend appears to track perfectly with the rise of obesity...
This is very interesting data, but it doesn't say what you're implying it says. The condensed version is that people are eating more quantity, which is leading to increased obesity. And that's certainly the biggest factor. Macros are far less important that overall quantity.
Most (all?) foods aren't. It's less the quality of ingredients and more the latter you wrote about--the consumption rate relative to their nutritional values that makes the more or less healthy.
Quality of ingredients may lend itself to poor nutritional values, but over-consumption is the bigger problem.
Some foods are just too low in NV to over consume, like say broccoli. Others, are much easier, leading to the moniker of "unhealthy."
Why do people continue to make nutritional arguments using macronutrients as the basis? Macronutrients tell you very little about how healthy something is.
"It's a whole meal" - what does that even mean?
What tells you if something is healthy is the nutritional value - vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, phytonutrients etc. Just because something is high in protein or high in carbs or low in fat does not tell you whether it is healthy.
A burger is not unhealthy, but eating only burgers probably is.
Multivitamins are not a replacement for a balanced diet[1], most likely provide very little protective health effects[2] and can, in some cases, be dangerous[3].
> It's the macronutrients that matter when it comes to actual meals
Why? What difference does it make what ratios of macronutrients individual meals are comprised of?
> A burger is not unhealthy, but eating only burgers probably is
That's not saying much at all. You can probably say that about most edible things.
1. https://time.com/5564574/supplements-vitamins-health/
Source: https://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/guide/heart-disease-lowe...
Intake of animal fats linked to 21% higher risk of dying from any cause.
Source: https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/plant-based-fats...
Higher percentage of the amino acid Methionine in the protein portion of meat/dairy/egg vs. plant protein, which promotes cancer and diabetes in adulthood.
Source: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-07-diet-cancer-treatment...
The sugar Neu5Gc, found in most mammalian meat. We don't have it, and it seems to increase colon cancer rates.
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/evolutionary-story-of-red-meat-...
Your studies are mildly interesting but correlations are low and large scale studies of vegetarians do not show any benefit in terms of longevity. The reasonble take away is that, while meat consumption may certainly increase the risk of some things, it also prevents other things.
No, I don't think it's a reasonable takeaway, unless you have something to back that up besides opinion.