 General advantages of meat substitutes
Added: 01/29/2006 |
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According to the recent studies in the field of nutrition, meat substitutes are better than animal meat. Meat substitutes aspire to imitate the taste of animal meat and are used in cooking the dishes, which traditionally require animal meat. Not all the meat substitutes taste the same. That's why usually people try several of them to see which one is the best for a particular dish.
Many people all over the world prefer eating meat. Meat has its permanent place in our diets. But is it essential and are meat substitutes better? Vegetarians indicate that meat is neither essential nor vital for the people's health. As it has been mentioned in many studies in this field meat is rather high in saturated fat which is likely to cause obesity and various heart diseases. It goes without saying that every individual requires protein, vitamins and minerals (especially iron, calcium and zinc). However, meat isn't considered to be the only and the best source of the mentioned important components. Furthermore, even if the person eats meat it's necessary for him or her to be sure that this meat has been organically grown and is free from antibiotics and chemicals.
Nowadays are living in the 21st century and it's the time of meat substitutes (taking into account all the disadvantages of animal meat). What can we eat to meat all the daily requirements? As it has already been mentioned people need protein for proper growth and development, for proving the human body with energy and manufacturing hormones, tissues, enzymes and antibodies. The building blocks of protein are amino acids - in cheese, milk, eggs, fish and meat. Incomplete proteins which contain only several essential amino acids can be found in grains, green leafy vegetables and legumes. That's why vegetarians pay much attention to combining proteins. But the best source of protein and one of the well-known meat substitutes is soy meat which contains complete proteins.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report the average vegetarian diet (including plant proteins) can easily fulfill the daily protein recommendations. On the other hand, animal proteins are usually associated with the problem of saturated fats. And plant proteins are linked to the dietary fiber; it's very important to include food products containing high quantities of minerals, vitamins C, E, D, etc.
So, speaking about veggie meat, the soy meat is high on the agenda. There are lots of companies in the market today, which produce various soy products to mimic the taste, look and texture of real animal meat. Soy meat is one of the best meat substitutes used in dishes, which traditionally require meat. It's worthwhile to say that some soy products are primarily available in natural food stores. However, at the same time many meat substitutes (including soy) are becoming more and more popular so that today many brands are available in a great number of regular supermarkets.
Speaking about meat substitutes it's necessary to admit that some of them are available in the frozen foods sections. Other soy products can come in boxes. Anyway, while cooking soy meat it's important to follow all the package directions.
To cut a long story short, most of meat substitutes such as soy meat contain antioxidants which protect human cells from the damage caused by free radicals. So, it's not only useful for the human digestion, but also for the entire human health condition (for preventing various forms of cancer, kidney disease, etc.).
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