Hi!

I have been some sort of vegetarian for quite some time now, for my own personal reasons. Anyway, lately, I have been into veggie burgers a lot.. I don't know, maybe because it's grilling season and I want to be somewhat like everyone else, and I want to know... do you think they're healthy or not?

Most say something like "85% less fat" on the front, and have high protein claims, so they seem healthy... I don't know, I'm probably wrong and should just stick to salads.

WillLose60

Ok, let me turn this around on you. Why do YOU think they might not be healthy? Or why do you think they could be healthy?

(And yes, this is an exercise to help you learn how to judge what's healthy for YOU rather than relying on someone else to tell you why or why not it's healthy.)

And here's a hint for you: Many things are rarely 100% healthy or 100% unhealthy. Most things fall under a sliding scale (with a few exceptions). Healthy or unhealthy has a lot to do with your overall eating plan, your limits for things like sodium, protein, etc., and for whether or not you want to avoid processed foods, chemicals, and the like.

I always thought that they were at least somewhat healthy because they are made of veggies and protein. Let's see... the box says one patty contains 110 cals, 3.5 g fat, 350 mg sodium (not sure if that's too high), 9 carbs, and 10g protein. In dietary exchanges, it counts as 1 lean meat, 2 veggies.

So at least I am getting some veggies in by eating this product,I think? But I won't be eating them on a regular basis. I'm trying to eat more raw foods. Nothing that didn't come out of the Earth... but I have to do a little more research on that first before I jump into it, and then do it little by little.

For now, I think a salad for lunch and a fruit for a snack would help me. Anyway, just curious to see if anyone else ate them...

WillLose60

Keep in mind not just the nutritional information, but the actual list of ingredients as well.

I eat Morningstar Veggie Patties every now and then. I'm comfortable with them because the first 10 or so ingredients are veggies. Way down at the bottom there's a little sugar and some natural preservatives, but it's less than 1% of the total.

Premade veggie patties/veggie burgers are one of those things that I put close to the healthy end of that sliding scale I talked about in my earlier post. But again ... that's about the way I eat, and what I consider healthy. I work really hard to keep processed foods and packaged foods out of my diet and to cut out sugar as much as possible. For me anything with added sugar (especially something that I don't think shoudl have sugar to begin with) starts sliding towards unhealthy - but it's a small enough fraction in the patties, that I'm not terribly bothered by it.

Make sense?

OTOH, I have a couple of really good recipes for homemade veggie burgers/patties using mixed veggies, oats, black beans, and garbanzos. So overall on my sliding scale, my homemade patties are more healthy, but the pre-made ones are ok for now and then.

I wouldn't say that they're something you should have at every meal, however, or eat 4 of them at a sitting. And having one crumbled over a salad in lieu of say chicken or whatever is also a reasonable option.

i think its healthy..since it is veggies its less oil and salty than the normal hamburger..but dont eat too much veggie burgers i advise you..because if you are trying to lessen your weight you should avoid eating too much..