Jackfruit, seitan and all the other vegan foods which are actually pretty unhealthy

I am in shock

4 years ago

Some people turn vegan to help the planet, some do it for animal welfare reasons, some do it for the likes and some do it to become healthier.

And a lot of the time a vegan diet is super healthy, all those fruits, vegetables and nuts. The vitamins, wow, they’re great. But some scientists and nutritionists are saying certain vegan foods are really bad for your health.

Because a lot of products are labelled as plant based, people naturally assume they’re healthier but a tonne of them are processed meat replacements and they contain loads of salt and sugar. Or they’re foods which aren’t necessarily bad but they don’t provide your body with any nutrients.

These are all the vegan foods which are pretty unhealthy:

Vegan takeaways

We all know fast food is bad for you, it tastes delicious and we all crave a salty snack after a night out.

However if you think going for a vegan takeaway is somehow better for you, well I’m here to tell you you’re wrong.

Subway’s Meatless Meatball Marinara Melt is an amazing concept I’ll give them that, but the new sub has 3.6g of salt, which is more than half your daily recommended intake of 6g. The meatball sub contains far less with 1.9g of salt.

The sugar content is also higher in the vegan option with 19.3g of sugar compared to the meat version which has 13.5g.

Still looks delicious though

Jackfruit

Jackfruit is literally everywhere at the moment and used for loads of meat replica thanks to its fleshy texture.

However if you want protein from this replacement you will not be getting much as it’s essentially nutritionally valueless in that regard as it’s mostly made up from carbs and contains virtually no protein.

Vegan cheese

Obviously if you’re going vegan, cheese is a big one to give up and is usually the main food that keeps people vegetarian. So when vegan cheese was created, we all thought it was a gift from the gods.

Vegan cheeses made out of nuts, seeds or cooked veggies are usually quite nutritious. However the ones that are heavily processed and made out of refined oils such as coconut oil have extremely high levels of saturated fats, even higher than animal fats. This high level can lead to high cholesterol.

Megan Rossi, a dietician at King’s College London said: “Having small amounts of cheeses in your diet [can be] good for your body.

“Cheese is fermented by bacteria that produce peptides which are beneficial in our bodies. Most vegan cheeses are not fermented but they are calorific and have [degraded] nutrients”.

Vegan sausage rolls

Last year Greggs made everyone happy when they brought out a vegan sausage roll and pissed off Piers Morgan in the process.

But they’re not actually that healthy, they have 1.9g of salt compared to a regular Greggs sausage roll which has 1.6g. The regular sausage roll also has 0g of sugar compared to the vegan one which has 0.8g.

What a beauty

A lot of the processed vegan meats

Faux meats are literally everywhere – seitan, Quorn. Made into nuggets, burgers, meatballs and even bacon.

However a lot of products made from soy protein isolate or wheat gluten are heavily processed and contain “artificial ingredients, preservatives, processed oils and nutritionally empty ingredients” according to vegan dietitian Megan Roosevelt. They are also usually very high in salt.

Coconut yoghurt

Normal yoghurt is usually a good source of protein but vegans who have given up dairy go to coconut to get that creamy breakfast goodness.

However one serving of coconut yoghurt can contain 60 per cent of your daily saturated fat intake and hardly contains any protein.

Some vegan desserts

Vegans deserve proper desserts too, fruit should not be the only option on offer.

However because eggs and butter are removed from a lot of vegan replica desserts manufacturers have to put in pectins, starches and gums to achieve similar textures and consistency. But these usually increase the sugar and calorie counts.

So, what do I eat now?