There’s an old South Park episode about cartman Being outraged at the vegetarian school meals until he realizes they are highly processed goo and then he’s okay with it.
I actually like beyond meat and find impossible meat good in pasta with red sauce. Yeah they’re vegetarian and tick two out of the three main reasons people go vegetarian but I doubt it’s any healthier, the third reason.
I think the thing the vast majority of comments on hn regarding fake meats miss is the 3 factors in going vegetarian (1. environment, 2. animal welfare, 3. health) are completely independent.
Like I care a lot about 2, some about 1 (in that it's not my motivating factor just a nice side benefit) and not at all about 3.
I'd be eating like crap if I ate meat too, sausages, KFC, McDonald's. The cool thing about meat substitutes is you no longer need to be an incredibly intense lentil-weaving, yoghurt-knitting hippie to go vegetarian, you can do it if any one of the 2 non-health factors is motivating enough.
Is it gonna replace steak? No and I don't think it should. It can totally replace ground beef at Taco Bell though.
Are most meat substitutes maximally healthy? Probably not. Are they likely healthier than the red meat they're replacing? Yes.
Is it a perfect win? No. Is it likely healthier per our best guesses at nutrition science per the articles I've read? Yes. Again, it's not perfect.
https://chanapdavis.medium.com/the-skinny-and-fat-on-wall-st...
https://www.nutritionix.com/i/usda/beef-ground-80-lean-meat-...
https://www.nutritionix.com/i/beyond-meat/beyond-beef-plant-...
> higher fat
untrue
> higher sodium
true
> lower iron and calcium
untrue
Beyond has less calories, and less calories from fat. it also has less cholesterol and more protein. at least, according to this source. I suppose your final statement still stands, though. But to me the Beyond looks healthier, especially if you compensate for that increase in sodium elsewhere in your cooking.