Delicious UK – (01)January 2021

a lowerriskofcoronaryheart

disease,type2 diabetes,

hypertension,somecancersand

obesity.Indeed,a largereviewof

studiesfoundtheriskofcancerwas

15 percentlowerinthosefollowing

vegandietscomparedtomeateaters.

Thepotentialbenefittoyour

waistlineis anotherdrawofa vegan

diet,especiallywithcelebrities

suchasAdeleandSimonCowell

creditingplant-baseddietsfortheir

weightloss.Is it true?Studiesshow

goingveganmaybeeffectiveat

helpingpeopletoloseweightand

keepit off,butit’sanareathat

needsmoreresearch.

Thehealthbenefitsofa vegan

dietaremeasuredbyhowclosely

they’realignedwithglobal

nutritionrecommendationsthat

focusonbalancingcaloriesinwith

caloriesout;reducingfat,saturates,

sugarandsalt;andincreasingthe

intakeoffruit,veg,pulses,nutsand

wholegrains.Eatingvegandoesn’t

initselfmeanyoueatfewercalories.

IT’SEASY,THANKSTO‘DIRTY’VEGAN

Manypeoplebelieveplant-based

dietsareautomaticallyhealthier,

providingmorevitaminsand

minerals,andlesssaturatedfat,

sugarandsalt.Lastyear,research

fromveganfoodbrandGosh!

revealed 38 percentofpeople

thoughtplant-basedfoodsprovided

morenutrients.Morethana quarter

believedtheywerelowerinsaltand

halfthoughttheywerelowerin

saturatedfat,whilefouroutof

10 agreedplant-basedfoods

containedonlynaturalingredients.

Cookingveganfoodfromscratch

canhelpmeettheseexpectations.

Butit’sanothermatterif switching

toa vegandietsimplymeansrelying

onplant-basedproductsandready-

mealsinplaceofmeat-basedones.

“Notallvegansaresuper-healthy

andliveona diverseleafydiet,”says

TimSpector,professorofgenetic

epidemiology at King’s College

London and author of Spoon-Fed

(see below left). “Many eat chips,

biscuits, cakes and processed vegan

versions of meat and cheese, which

are often pumped full of chemicals,

sugar and saturated fats.”

Clearly, you need to look beyond

the vegan symbol on the pack. Take

KFC’s Vegan Burgers, which sold a

million in their first month on sale.

While they contain similar levels

of calories, fat and saturates to the

Zinger Burger, the vegan option

contains 31 per cent more salt.

M&S reported selling four of its

Plant Kitchen No Chicken Kievs

every minute in January. They may

be applauded for having almost half

the sat fat of the Garlic Chicken

Kiev, but there’s only a slight

reduction in calories and fat, and

they contain considerably more salt.

Greggs Vegan Steak Bake is

slightly lower in calories, fat and

saturates than the regular Steak

Bake, but when compared with

maximum amounts recommended

for a day, it still provides 34 per cent

of fat, 60 per cent of saturates and

30 per cent of salt*. And it’s higher

in salt than the regular bake.

Indeed, the wide variety of

ready-made, processed foods now

available means it’s easy to have

a vegan diet that’s high in calories,

fat, sugar and salt, and low in fibre,

vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

“Vegan and vegetarian processed

foods are often marketed as healthier

than they actually are, and some,

like vegan fish fingers, contain up

to 40 artificial ingredients,” says

Tim Spector. Regardless of whether

your sausage roll is from a pig or

Quorn, or your burger from beef

or soy, it doesn’t make one more

healthy than the other; they’re

often both processed and high in

calories, saturated fat and salt.

But if we focus on including a

range of wholegrains, pulses, nuts,

seeds, fruit and veg and check the

labels on ready-made products,

following a vegan diet can be

a healthy option – have a look at

my recommendations (right).

Spoon-Fed:

Why Almost

Everything We’ve

Been Told About

Food is Wrong

by Tim Spector

(Jonathan Cape

£12.99, paperback)

is available now

14% of Brits are flexitarians and

eat a mainly plant-based diet but

sometimes include meat or fish

WORTH

A TRY...

Gosh!

(goshfood.

com)vegan

andgluten-

free

sausages,

burgers,

falafeland

bitesare

madeonly

from

recognisableingredients.There

arenoredtrafficlightsforfat,

saturates,sugarandsalt,

either.TrytheBeetrootFalafel

madefrombeetroot,chickpeas,

redpepper,potatoflakes,

onion,rapeseedoil,garlic

purée,coriander,cumin,lemon

juice,paprika,saltandchilli

flakes.£2.50for300g

MindfulChefrecipeboxes

(mindfulchef.com)comewith

a completesetofingredients

foreachdish,includelotsof

freshvegandthereareplenty

ofveganoptions.They’rea

greatwaytolearnhowto

cookwithveganingredients

suchasmeat-freemince,

tempehandtofu.Pricesstart

from£25.50for2 mealsfor 2

peopleto£54for3 mealsfor 4

PEPKitchen(pepkitchen.co.uk)

frozenready-mealsforone

includeonlyrecognisable

ingredientsandnoadditives.

Theylookandtastehomemade

andcomeindecentportions.

Nutritioninformationis available

online– theygetgreenoramber

trafficlightsforfats,sugar

andsalt– andtheycomein

recyclablepackaging.Wetried

theGunpowderRootsandDhal,

andMungbeanMoussaka– both

verytastyindeed.£5.75for420g

TESTED

*BASED ON REFERENCE INTAKES

102 deliciousmagazine.co.uk