If you are looking to avoid inflammatory foods, take veggie burgers off your list...unless you are making them yourself! When it comes to the ingredients in veggie burgers, they are a buffet of inflammation!
Look at the picture. This burger has two omega six oils, canola and sunflower, two types of corn starch, and sugar. It is also loaded with lectins.
Here are the ingredients from another popular brand, Dr. Praeger's. This is the California Veggie burger: Carrots, Onions, String Beans, Oat Bran, Zucchini, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Peas, Soybeans, Broccoli, Corn, Soy Flour, Spinach, Red Bell Peppers, Arrowroot Powder, Garlic, Corn Starch, Corn Meal, Sea Salt, Spices. Contains: Soy
Once again, you will find an omega 6 oil, expeller pressed canola oil. Don't let the "expeller pressed" fool you! It is still inflammatory. This burger is also more of a lectin bomb that the first one. Soybeans, soy flour, oat, string beans, zucchini, peas, peppers and corn. Soy comes with a whole host of issues on top of being a high lectin. Yikes! This burger claims it is non-GMO but not organic. Non-GMO is better, but the ingredients wipe out the reason to even look at this burger.
How about Amy's Organic California Veggie Burger? It is no better except that it carries the organic label. Here are the ingredients: organic mushrooms, organic bulgur wheat, organic onions, organic celery, organic carrots, organic oats, organic walnuts, organic wheat gluten, organic potatoes, sea salt, organic high oleic safflower and/or sunflower oil, organic garlic.
Wheat is a gluten and a lectin, oats are a lectin and of course, it has an omega 6 oil(s) in it. Don't let the organic high oleic name fool you here either. Safflower and sunflower oil, organic or not, are inflammatory to the body.
I could go on and on with brands of veggie burgers that are better off left on the shelf, but I will stop with these three. If you are a veggie burger lover, learn how to make your own. They freeze well and you have complete control over what goes into them.
before I close out my rant on veggie burgers, some of you might be asking yourself what a lectin is and why it is so problematic. Lectins are proteins found in many plants. It is one of the ways plants protect themselves from predators. Lectins are a sugar like molecule that attack the joints, brain, and/or the digestive system of people who eat them. Ever have brain fog, bloated belly, or joint pain (think ankles, wrists, fingers and hips)? These are just a few of the ways lectins can hurt the body.
My programs teach people about inflammatory foods like lectins, night shades, omega 6 oils, and sugar. Things like lectins and night shades affect a certain percentage of the population. I find the especially true of folks with autoimmune diseases. Omega 6 oils and sugars affect everyone. If you would like to learn more about avoiding inflammatory foods, please reach out to me. I am always happy to help out!
