FOOD LABEL ESSAY- HOUSTON MORRIS
In this short essay I will discuss why a Quarter Pounder from Mcdonald’s is healthier
than The Impossible Whopper from Burger King. Firstly, when you look at the food labels of
both products you notice that the Impossible Whopper, a meatless alternative, contains around
200 more calories than the Quarter Pounder. They are both going for the same concept, single
patty with lettuce, pickles, etc., yet the vegetarian patty has 200 more calories jammed inside. I
find this interesting because it makes you wonder what is inside the meatless alternative that
causes such a calorie increase. Well, the answer is: a lot. I’m not going to get into the specific
ingredients but a really popular one that has just been allowed for consumption by the FDA is
soy leghemoglobin, a soy byproduct. We can probably assume the 18 extra grams of
carbohydrates in the Impossible Whopper have something to do with the burger’s consistency.
However, I will not focus on this 200g calorie difference in asserting that the burger is
less healthy, I will fall back onto common nutritional wisdom and understanding how the body
works. Much of my insight is self-taught because I find it hard to get any good nutritional advice
from anywhere other than your own personal research. Instead, I will focus on how close each
product is to nature, and why the regular burger is better.
The Impossible Burger is made up of a bunch of different synthetic, strange compounds
with names you’ve never heard of. The human body is simply not made to eat any of it, and
likely responds poorly to it in many different ways. Mcdonald’s food Is without a doubt also
heavily processed, but when you’re substituting meat for a combo pack of, I would guess at
least twenty ingredients you are just eating junk. Your body is going to respond a lot better to
crappy meat than it is to completely fabricated nonsense that is found nowhere in nature.
Replacing meat with vegetarianism in my eyes has some value, as I would agree that a
vegetarian diet is the healthiest diet known to man. However, when you want a burger, you
should eat a burger. Incorporate more vegetables into your diet or even become a vegan, but
don’t try to convince me that eating an Impossible Whopper is somehow healthier than a
regular burger from Mcdonald’s.