Speaker 1: 0:02

If you're a whiny snowflake that can't handle the truth, is offended by the word fuck and about 37 uses of it in different forms gets ass hurt. When you hear someone speak the absolute, real and raw truth, you should leave Like right now. This is Shut Up and Choose, the podcast where we cut through the shit and get real about weight loss, life and everything in between. We get into the nitty gritty of making small, smart choices that add up to big results. From what's on your plate to how you approach life's challenges. We'll explore how the simple act of choosing differently can transform your health, your mindset and your entire freaking life. So if you're ready to cut through the bullshit and start making some real changes, then buckle up and shut up, because we're about to choose our way to a healthier, happier life. This is Shut Up and Choose. Let's do this Now. Your host, jonathan.

Speaker 2: 1:10

Ressler. Hey, welcome back to Shut Up and Choose the podcast where we cut to the noise, the nonsense the diet industry's throwing at you. We debunk all the myths from those Instagram and social media gurus and we talk about the real stuff, which is how to lose weight and, more importantly, how to keep it off for the long term, how to make it fit into your life, not take over your life. I'm your host, jonathan Ressler, and today we're going to talk about a topic that people are going to be crazy about. I'm going to catch some heat, I'm going to catch some noise, I'm going to get a bunch of nasty emails, but the facts are the facts. So today, what we're going to talk about is the plant-based eating craze and why it's not as healthy as everybody claims. It is Because you know, everywhere you look, everywhere you go, if you're on social media, even if you're on TV, if you look at TV, people are talking about, ah, plant-based eating, that's the way to go, and the truth of the matter is this Plant-based eating has taken the world by storm. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look in the grocery store, people are talking about plant-based eating. So what was once, I guess, a nice niche lifestyle for vegans has become a full-blown movement and it's all put out there with some clever marketing stuff and promises of better health, environmental sustainability and guilt-free indulgence. So everywhere you look, you're told to ditch real meat for plant-based burgers, sausages and even fish. I don't know if you've tasted it, but I find it absolutely repulsive. But that's a a story for a little bit later. On the surface, I mean it does. It all sounds great. You're eating plants, right, I mean you're saving the planet and your body at the same time. Except the truth is you're really not plant-based eating and those wonder burgers whatever the fuck they're called isn't some magical like kale leaf transformation. It's ultra processed junk made in factories using chemicals, artificial ingredients and industrial oils that are anything but natural. And the product this stuff isn't saving your health and honestly, I think it's potentially harming it, your health and honestly, I think it's potentially harming it. If you're trading like a nice grass-fed burger for an impossible patty, or swapping real fish for some concocted salmon and I say salmon with quotes thinking that that's a healthier choice.

Speaker 2: 3:37

Let's take a closer look, because it's time to really unpack the truth about plant-based eating and why it's not the health miracle that everybody claims it is. So I guess let's get this straight. First, plant-based meat isn't just plant in burger form, it's not. It's not like they ground up some plants, no, it's a Frankenstein product created in a laboratory. Companies like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat they use ultra-processed shit, ultra-processed ingredients and and, honestly, industrial techniques to create something that vaguely looks, tastes and feels like meat, but it has none of the natural nutrition, none of it. So if you want, if you're wondering because I was what you're really eating when you bite into one of those plant-based products, let me, let me give you a little picture here. So it's really just a big mishmash, a cocktail of processed ingredients. So real meat is just that right, it's meat. It's one ingredient.

Speaker 2: 4:33

Plant-based meat, on the other hand, is a blend of highly processed ingredients that have been stripped, altered and, I guess, recombined. Like I said, it's like a Frankenstein to mimic meat. So let's take a look at the typical Beyond Burger, because I wanted to see what was in a Beyond Burger or an Impossible Patty. So here's the things that I found. Here's one of the ingredients Pea protein isolate or soy protein concentrate.

Speaker 2: 4:58

Do you know what that is? I didn't, so I looked it up. They're proteins that are stripped out of plants using high heat, which we all know is bad. High heat, chemical, heavy processes that destroy the nutrients that you're trying to eat. So pea protein isolate and soy protein concentrate garbage. It also has a bunch of refined industrial oils like canola oil. Sunflower and coconut oils are all staples in those products. We know that those cause inflammation. I am a guy that wrestles with inflammation, so those are inflammation bombs. They're heavily processed. They're very high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can contribute to inflammation when consumed in excess. So there's a ton of that shit in there.

Speaker 2: 5:40

Flavor enhancers I love this one Flavor enhancers Because, as you can imagine, processed peas and soy don't taste like meat. Companies add this thing. They call natural flavors. Natural flavors that's all they put on the package. Well, isn't natural flavors? Wouldn't that be meat? But it's not. It's some kind of mystery mix of lab-derived chemicals to make the products even palatable. They're repulsive. They're trying to make it palatable because they know it's nasty, and then they use some kind of binders and texturizers.

Speaker 2: 6:11

This one ingredient that I found is called methylcellulose. I don't know if I'm saying that, but I did find out that methylcellulose is a thickener that's used in industrial adhesives. So you're eating Gorilla're eating gorilla glue. That's that's crazy, but that's the stuff that you know. That and some modified starches are what give this fake meat its texture. So enjoy eating that glue. I always heard of people sniffing glue, but I never. I don't know, I just never heard of people eating it.

Speaker 2: 6:40

The second thing there and there are all these artificial additives. So to create the taste and the color and the smell of real meat, these plant-based companies are using a slew of synthetic additives. There's a product called I don't even know if I'm saying this right, it's Heme H-E-M-E. I'm probably saying it wrong, but it's known as soy lehemoglobin. That sounds something like healthy. I don't know, but impossible.

Speaker 2: 7:06

Food's secret ingredient that mimics the bleeding effect of real beef. That's what that shit is. Heme again not sure if I'm saying it right is genetically engineered in a lab and no one knows what the long-term effects of that shit certainly there's been no research on. They use artificial colors and that gives that like gives your meat that pink you, which is shocking to me that people even want that. But they give it the pink you and they're synthetic and unnecessary in your real food. It's processed food. And then, of course, they use preservatives and they include a ton of chemicals that extend the shelf life, keeping it quote unquote fresh for longer than real meat. I don't know how it can be fresh, but whatever.

Speaker 2: 7:46

So, in short, plant-based meat is less about plants and more about factory manipulated dog shit. Well, not dog shit, factory manipulated food. It's incredible that people are jumping on this and talking about how fucking healthy it is. Oh yeah, I also don't want you to forget about the sky-high sodium. Most of these plant-based meat products are loaded with sodium. It makes up for the lack of flavor. A typical Beyond Burger, just so you know, contains 390 milligrams of sodium, and the Impossible Burger has 370 milligrams of sodium, and that's before you add any condiments to actually make it taste good, or you add the bun. So compare that to this weird thing called a real burger, and that has about 75 milligrams of sodium. So for people who are trying to reduce their salt intake, plant-based meat is a stealthy sodium bomb that can increase their blood pressure and strain their heart over time. This is not health food. This is processed food.

Speaker 2: 8:45

So plant-based meats are part of a larger category of foods known as ultra-processed foods, industrial products made from ingredients that barely even resemble real food. The products are marketed as healthy, but their effects on your body absolutely tell a different story. Like for me. Like I said, I struggle with inflammation. I mean I always have something that's swollen. Until I lost the weight, I had uncontrolled gout. I had all this inflammation in my body and we all know we've learned over the last few years that inflammation is a killer. So one of the biggest concerns with these ultra processed foods is they're linked to inflammation.

Speaker 2: 9:21

Ingredients like refined oils, like canola and sunflower oil are high in omega-6 fatty acids and while omega-6s by themselves aren't inherently bad, an imbalance between the omega-6 and the omega-3 fatty acids triggers chronic inflammation, which is the root cause of things like heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, autoimmune conditions. Inflammation is the body's natural response to injury or infection, but when it becomes chronic it can wreak havoc on your health. Trust me, take it from me. I know I have chronic gout, which, again, I haven't had in the last I don't know year and a half since I lost the weight. But inflammation is an absolute killer, not to mention it makes your life fucking unlivable.

Speaker 2: 10:05

So eating this plant-based meat on a regular basis probably contributes to the imbalance. I mean I'm not saying I'm not a scientist, I didn't do any work, but I know that things that trigger inflammation are probably causing these plant-based meats are probably causing you more inflammation, because you have this imbalance between you don't have enough omega-3s and you're loading up on the omega-6s. And I know I sound like a fucking scientist, but I'm not. I'm not a nutritionist, but I just read all this online and I didn't read it in one place. I read it in five or six places. I did just a little bit of research, just enough research for me to be dangerous.

Speaker 2: 10:39

So it's also really bad for your gut health. So your gut microbiome is home for literally trillions of bacteria that play that basically allow you to digest food, and it also affects your immunity and your overall health. There's nothing more important than what's going on in your gut, and that's why people take prebiotics and they want their gut health to be great. Well, these ultra-processed foods, including plant-based meat, be great. Well, these ultra-processed foods, including plant-based meat, are often low in fiber and high in additives that totally, completely and utterly disrupt your gut bacteria. So let me just give you a couple examples. So there's an additive they use called methylcellulose I think I'm saying that right and that's used as a thickener, and the methylcellulose. You can check this out. They are not digestible by humans and definitely irritate your gut. Lining a lack of prebiotic fiber means that your gut is not working right and the the the bacteria in your gut is not being nourished, and that leads to imbalances that affect everything from digestion to mood. So if you're trying to support your gut health, replacing real whole foods with this ultra processed dog shit is a step in the wrong direction.

Speaker 2: 11:49

I also found out that plant-based meat is engineered to be hyperpalatable, meaning it's designed to make you want more. The combination of fat, salt and synthetic flavoring lights up the brain's reward centers and that encourages overeating. It's no different than the stuff they put in potato chips and Doritos and all that stuff. It makes it almost addictive. When you eat it, you want more, and it's not unique to plant-based meats. It's a hallmark of the ultra-processed foods in general. But to me I guess it's particularly iconic here, because plant-based meats are marketed as quote-quote better for you, even though they're loaded with the same additive ingredients, the same shit that you find in junk food. That's crazy. This is a better alternative according to a lot of people, but it's complete bull.

Speaker 2: 12:36

And last but not least, while there have been some short-term studies of plant-based meat and suggesting that they're safe, but there's very little research on the long-term effects. I'm not crazy about this one because I think everything, oh, we don't have any long-term results. Well, yeah, it hasn't been around long enough, but we just don't know how consuming genetically engineered ingredients, synthetic additives and industrial oils are going to affect our health over decades. Again, I'm not really that hung up on that one, because that's like everything in life, but those other three are really important. Now I was watching Shark Tank the other night and I saw something new Maybe it's not new, but it was new to me and it was fucking plant-based fish.

Speaker 2: 13:17

If plant-based burgers weren't bad enough, now we have plant-based fish, these products. They promise to replace your tuna, your salmon, your crab with lab-created alternatives. So let me save the trouble. They're even worse than the fake meat, plant bait, plant-based I can't even say that fucking word. Plant-based fish contains a similar lineup of the processed ingredients, with even more chemical wizardry to achieve the fishy flavor. So again they use synthetic flavors designed to mimic the taste of fish, but again it's made in the lab. They use texturizers, so that's used to create the flaky texture of fish, which involves a bunch of starches and gums also not great for you and they use something called titanium dioxide, and that is a chemical that's used to give fake fish its white color.

Speaker 2: 14:06

It's also found in a couple other things that you know very well, and those two things are paint and sunscreen. So if you like your white paint, you're probably going to like your white fish, because you're fucking eating paint and you're eating sunscreen. That's insane that people are saying this shit is healthy. And of course, we also have the omega-3s. Real fish is one of the best natural sources of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for your brain and your heart, but plant-based fish it, contains none of that, unless it's artificially added, and even then we know it's often in minimal amounts and it's genetically modified. I'm not sure if it's a. I guess it is a GMO. Who the fuck knows?

Speaker 2: 14:45

So the marketing for plant-based food has been fucking great. It's been phenomenal. I got to give them that. Those products are packaged to look fresh and clean, naturally. I mean. They look like what they're supposed to be, and the words like plant-powered and sustainable are plastered on every single label, making you feel good about your choices.

Speaker 2: 15:04

But Remember, marketing isn't the same as truth. I'm an ex-marketing guy, or still a marketing guy, and I can tell you, as a marketing person, it's my job to get you to buy stuff. Okay, that's what marketing is about. So marketing is definitely not the same as the truth. Plant-based meat is not the same as eating whole, real plants. It's ultra-processed junk food hiding from behind a healthy looking label. So another big selling point that I hear all the time is plant-based meat and it's supposedly better for the environment. And that's you know.

Speaker 2: 15:38

I guess it's true, factory farming has environmental downsides, but plant-based meat is not as green as it claims. So I found out they use this thing called monoculture farming, not really sure what it is. I know soy and pea are grown in these massive monoculture farms, which deplete the soil health, destroy the ecosystems and require heavy pesticides. I mean, that's crazy. There's heavy pesticides in the stuff that you're eating, for all the earthy crunchies. You know, turning peas into pea protein isolate or soy into soy protein concentrate is a resource-heavy process that consumes water, energy and chemicals. So I'm not so sure how great it is for the environment.

Speaker 2: 16:21

So, all that being said, now what should you eat instead. Well, if plant-based meat isn't the answer, what is it that you should eat? I get it. I know you know the answer. The answer is simple real whole foods. Things like grass-fed, pasture-raised meat that's packed with high-quality protein, vitamins and healthy fats. We all know that wild-caught fish is great. It's one of the best sources of omega-3s, which are essential for your brain and your heart health.

Speaker 2: 16:51

Here's a crazy idea. Eat whole plants, right. Eat vegetables, fruits and nuts in their natural forms and, of course, we all know this. We're all out here saying it all the time. Eat minimally processed foods. If it comes from a factory or it has I don't know 15 or more ingredients, just skip it. There's no fucking reason to eat it. It's ultra processed junk.

Speaker 2: 17:17

So I know all that probably is going to make people go crazy that I'm shitting on plant-based meat and plant-based food, but the reality is it's a Frankenstein of chemicals and shit that's bad for your body. You can't be out there saying, oh, you got to eat healthy. You're not eating healthy If you're eating plant-based foods or plant-based meat. It's not healthy. It's not. There's no way that you can convince me that that's good for you in any way, shape or form.

Speaker 2: 17:46

So, like I said, plant-based eating might sound good in theory, but in practice it's just. It's really no more than a health-washed marketing play. That's what it is. It's all marketing. The products are ultra-processed, they're filled with artificial ingredients and they offer none of the natural nutrition you get from real food. I mean none, zero. So the next time someone offers you a plant-based burger, take a closer look at the ingredient list. That's what I did. I looked at the ingredients. I was like oh my God. Then, after that, ask yourself do I really want to trade a grass-fed, like beef patty for a pile of chemicals, oil and additives? I think not.

Speaker 2: 18:22

Real food and losing weight sustainably is not complicated. So stick to the basics, ignore the hype and remember that you already know what to eat. I tell you this all the time. I mean this shit is not complicated, but there's marketers out there, there's companies out there that are trying to separate you from your money, and plant based food, plant based burgers and meat and fish and things like that are just designed to separate you from your money. They're doing a great job marketing it, telling you that it's healthier for you, but the reality is it's not. It's no different than chips and Doritos and all that shit and I'm not saying any of those are not shitting on any of those companies.

Speaker 2: 19:03

But you know, let's look at it for what it is Impossible Burger or whatever Impossible Package it's all fucking junk. It's garbage. You know how to eat. You were born with that ability. You were born with that information. Eat whole, unprocessed foods if you want to. I mean, I can't imagine feeding yourself with a Beyond Burger. But if you want to feed yourself every now and then with one of those nasty plant-based meat things like you know, like on a dare or something, yeah, fine. But to go to eating only plant-based meat, I think you're taking your health in your hands and you're taking a real risk. So that's what I have to say about plant-based meat and all that plant-based bullshit. I know people are going to flame the shit out of me for this, but again, go look for yourself. Go look at the ingredients on a Beyond Burger or an Impossible Patty or whatever the fuck they're called. You tell me if that's what you want to eat. If that's what you want to eat, knock yourself out, go ahead. But the reality is that stuff is nothing more than the thing that everybody tells you to avoid at all costs, which is ultra processed food. That's what it is. So there's my thought.

Speaker 2: 20:11

If you want to read my book, I think you should, because it'll tell you how to do this. It'll help you get into the right mindset to lose weight and keep it off. It's called Shut Up and Choose. It's available on Amazon. Tons of great reviews. People are buying the book, selling a lot of books every week. It's been, I don't know. It's been a journey. It's been exciting. It's gratifying as hell to see people actually getting results from reading the book and, for the first time in their life, losing weight and keeping it off.

Speaker 2: 20:36

Another thing that you could look at, another thing that I suggest you look at, is I have a video course online. It's 23 short videos, all under five minutes, called Live Life, love Food, lose Weight, and it's all about living your life, loving the food that you eat and still losing weight. That's available at learnshutupandchoosecom. That's learnshutupandchoosecom. Great holiday gift for somebody. There's no better gift than the gift of health. It's long-term, it doesn't fade. It'll be there for the rest of your life. What's the sense in having a great looking bag if you got to lay in bed because you're so fucking sick you can't walk around. But anyway, that's a story for another day. It's actually a story for another podcast, so do what you think is best. I hope I educated you a little bit on this plant-based meat craze and this plant-based fish craze and all this nonsense of the plant-based eating that is positioned as healthy out there. I've given you the information. I hope it's useful. I hope you use it. Now. All that's left to do is to shut up and choose.

Speaker 1: 21:40

You've been listening to Shut Up and Choose. Jonathan's passion is to share his journey of shedding 130 pounds in less than a year without any of the usual gimmicks no diets, no pills. And we'll let you in on a little secret no fucking gym. And guess what? You can do it too. We hope you enjoyed the show. We had a fucking blast. If you did, make sure to like, rate and review. We'll be back soon, but in the meantime, find Jonathan on Instagram at JonathanWrestlerBocaRaton. Until next time, shut up and choose.