Thank you for the question.

It is both an interesting and important question. Regardless of the category of diet that you enjoy to be healthy, it needs to be based on nutritionally rich, fiber dense food . A vegan diet made up of soda, potato chips, and vegan candy is not a healthy diet regardless of the fact that it does not include animal-sourced products. To place a finer point on it, I find the following guidelines for a healthy diet simple to use and effective:

No/Low P . A . S . S .

P = Processed Foods
A = Animal Products
S = Sugar
S = Salt

For me, that means Low Processed Food, No Animal Products, Low Sugar, Low Salt.

When evaluating any of the many plant-based meat substitutes they can be rated on the No/Low P . A . S . S . criteria. If the specific burger rates well it will be fine to make them part of your diet on a regular basis. If they rank poorly it is better to eat them rarely.

Please note, regardless of the plant-based alternative’s direct impact on your personal health, most will provide a more environmentally friendly choice than do the animal-based option. A cleaner, better cared for environment is healthier for everyone.

The nutritional panel from Beyond Burgers is included below:

Personally, I enjoy up to 5 Beyond Burgers per week as part of my vegan diet. I do track my daily nutrient macros and I do pay attention to my fat intake (the fat content of Beyond Burgers is high). I find the burgers delicious and when eaten as part of a mindfully tended nutritional regime, they do not have a negative impact on my health.

The original article appeared on Quora.com: https://www.quora.com/How-is-eating-a-plant-based-meat-lookalike-food-any-healthier-when-the-food-is-full-of-processed-ingredients/answer/Jim-Moore-21