Just eat the damn nuggets. Why NUGGS are worse than fast-food.
You may have seen these popular vegan chicken nuggets trending around the internet. Bella Hadid shared that she was a customer and now everyone is trying to get their hands on them. But why? Just because they are vegan does not mean they are a healthier, cleaner option. Whenever companies are claiming this for an item that is notoriously unhealthy, it’s usually too good to be true.
Trust me, I used to enjoy these fake meat substitutes when I was once vegan. I thought that I was getting a cleaner option that would help my health. Boy was I wrong. When I realized what these substitutes were actually made of, I stopped eating them all together and turned to whole-food protein sources instead. I wrote this article because I don’t want us to be fooled by good marketing. Just because you can engineer something, doesn’t mean you should.
This is taken straight off the NUGGS website:
“NUGGS utilize an advanced soy protein technology that enables a hyper-realistic simulation of the texture and flavor of an animal-based nugget.”
A hyper-realistic simulation? Do you honesty want to be eating that? It sounds unnatural and that is exactly what it is.
Let’s break down the ingredients.
Textured Wheat Protein
This is a highly-processed ingredient that is made by separating the protein from the rest of the soybean.
Corn Flour
This is exactly what it sounds like- a flour made from dried and ground up corn.
Soybean Oil
This oil is made by heating soybeans at high temperatures or using chemicals like hexane to extract the oil.
Soy Protein Concentrate
This concentrate is made after the soybean is dehulled and defatted. The remaining protein is turned into this concentrate.
Wheat Flour
Wheat flour is flour made from wheat, known to be highly inflammatory due to it’s high lectin and gluten content.
Wheat Protein Isolate
Similar to the other proteins, this is extracted from wheat at high temperatures, separating the protein from the rest of the crop.
Why are these bad?
Notice that all of these ingredients are made using wheat, corn, or soy, also known as “the big three”. It is no coincidence that these are the three most common ingredients in highly processed and unhealthy foods. They are the cheapest crops on the market and almost always genetically modified (GMO). In addition to being GMO crops, they are some of the top allergens.
The government actually subsidizes corn and soy, which is why there is so much of it. Farmers are motivated to grow it because of this, making it plentiful and cheap for manufacturers to then use in their food products. Not to mention farmers also feed it to their livestock, which is why you want to avoid cows that aren’t 100% grass-fed or chickens that aren’t pasture-raised.
Here’s a great article on how these government subsidies started in the first place if you’re interested in reading more.
But they claim they kill you slower?
First of all, yikes. They are basically admitting these chicken nuggets are still going to kill you, just not as fast. NUGGS contain 13g of protein, 10g of fat, and are cholesterol free. While they may have more protein than a traditional chicken nugget, that does not mean the quality of the protein is better. Soy is a great source of protein if it is organic, but most soy is not. If it’s not organic, steer clear- it’s probably GMO and can have many detrimental health effects. Personally, I avoid soy whenever possible because of its high isoflavone content, a compound that is known to mimic estrogen. Anything that mimics estrogen can throw your hormones out of whack.
In terms of the fat and cholesterol content, these two things actually aren’t bad for you. We’ve been conditioned to think that this is what destroys our health when in reality it is the overly-processed fake foods that do this. Of course, there is good and bad cholesterol, but I’m assuming the brand is referring to the cholesterol found in saturated fat, which is highly prominent in chicken. This saturated fat that everyone once thought was so bad, is actually good. Bulletproof has an excellent article on the history of saturated fat, how it was unfairly villanized, and why you should eat more of it. I highly recommend reading it.
Recommendations
Overall, if you want chicken nuggets, just eat chicken nuggets. Obviously, there are good and bad options for eating chicken nuggets. You probably want to steer clear of any fast food chain that uses poor quality meat and these highly-processed vegan substitutes. Instead, go for the ones produced by Applegate, who uses humanely-raised chicken. Is this a perfect option? No. But they are a lot better than soy protein or nuggets made from traditionally-raised chicken. If you are willing to make your own, you can even pick up chicken tender meat from Grass Roots and cook up this healthy recipe.
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Resources:
Textured Soy Protein: What It Is and How It’s Used
The Big Three: Soy, Wheat, and Corn
Corn is Subsidized By the Government, Here’s What That Means for You