Table of Contents
Food Allergies
I have talked a lot about plant based meats. I also mentioned that people with peanut allergies (food allergies) should be cautious when eating plant based meats. Let me preface my next statement that I am not saying that this is safe for you if you have peanut allergies… you need to check the ingredients and find if this product is safe for you. Now, would you believe me if I told you that I found one brand that one of my peanut allergic family members can eat? Yep! You heard me right. There is a brand that we stumbled on quite accidentally.
I am sure you are wondering what that brand is and how did we stumble on it. Enough suspense… the brand is Morning Star Farms. But let me tell you the story of how we stumbled on this gem.
As you know, my family and I have incorporated a plant-based diet into our meal planning especially since I had a health scare. There are so many benefits to incorporating a plant-based diet into your meal planning. I will list those for you here:
- A Plant-Based Diet May Lower Your Blood Pressure
- A Plant-Based Diet May Keep Your Heart Healthy
- A Plant-Based Diet May Help Prevent Type 2 Diabetes
- Eating a Plant-Based Diet Could Help You Lose Weight
- Following a Plant-Based Diet Long Term May Help You Live Longer
- A Plant-Based Diet May Decrease Your Risk of Cancer
- A Plant-Based Diet May Improve Your Cholesterol
- Eating a Plant-Based Diet May Minimize Your Risk of Stroke
- Ramping Up Your Plant Intake May Keep Your Brain Strong
Who can eat it?
Now, even though plant based diets are very beneficial for your health, many of the products that have plant based meats are made with pea proteins. Unfortunately, people with peanut and certain food allergies need to be careful with these proteins. While most everyone in my family could enjoy the plant based meats, one person could not. Food allergies! Specifically, peanut allergies. Pea proteins can cause an allergic response. I am not saying it will; I am saying that it can.
For that reason, my whole family could not follow the plant based diet. All of that changed one day when my wife went shopping. She happened to pick up some Morning Star buffalo chicken nuggets… plant based. She had picked these up without even realizing that the ingredients did not mention pea proteins.
My children decided they wanted to have some for lunch. They looked at the ingredient list and decided to fix them and eat them. There were no warnings for peanut food allergies. Pea proteins were not listed. And the best thing… no allergic reaction!
I have talked about Beyond Meat and Impossible Burgers to name a couple. So let me tell you about Morning Star Farms. Even though Morning Star does not use pea protein in their products but the proteins they do use are complete proteins.
“A complete protein source is one that provides all of the essential amino acids in the recommended amounts. Animal-based foods, for example, meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs and cheese, are considered complete protein sources.
Soy is a complete protein but many other plant-based protein sources like peas, lentils, and grains have some, but not all, of the essential amino acids and need to combine with other foods to provide all of the essential amino acids in the recommended amounts to be considered a complete protein”.
When you look at the labels of their products, you will see the key ingredients are:
Water, wheat gluten, vegetable oil (corn, canola, and/or sunflower oil), soy protein isolate, soy flour, egg whites.Contains 2% or less of natural flavor, cornstarch, methylcellulose, cooked onion and carrot juice concentrate, salt, whey, garlic powder, spice, onion powder, tomato paste (tomatoes), xanthan gum.
There is such a wide variety of products to choose from as well. Burgers, breakfast sausages, “chik’n”, dogs, meal starters and veggitizers are the products you can choose from. We have tried the burgers, chik’n and veggitizers. The flavor is impeccable.
It was nice to add “chicken nuggets” to our variety. Of course, those don’t make a meal for us but they do serve for a great healthy snack! But those are not the only options from them that we tried.
Even the breakfast sausages are tasty.
Are they healthy?
The good thing about plant based meats is the ingredients are good for you and they provide fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals. They can be a part of a your healthy eating plan. In addition, the ingredients that Morning Star Farms uses are non-GMO. I know that is a big plus for us. Food items that have been genetically modified tend to “contain fewer nutrients, antioxidants, and other important substances that contribute to our overall health and fitness”. (1)
Celebrating!
Needless to say, stumbling on Morning Star Farms products was cause for celebrating in my family. Now everyone in my family can enjoy a plant based meat without fears of an allergic reaction. Unless you have been in a situation where a food allergy prevents you from enjoying the same meal as the rest of your family is, you will have a difficult time understanding why this find would be cause for celebration.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it. How we found plant based meats that someone with peanut and food allergies can enjoy. Again, I want to emphasize that I have not run any of this past an allergist so you do need to be cautious when introducing any new foods to someone with food allergies. I am just relaying our story of being able to add a safe (for our peanut allergic family member) plant based meats to our meals.
Maybe you have a similar story. If you have any comments or want to share, please leave a comment. I love to hear from my readers.
