Readers
Burger enthusiasts out there will enjoy today’s column! Our question comes from Barry Max. He writes: I don’t want to go on a diet. Instead, I’m trying to replace unhealthy food in my diet with healthier food, but I’m a little stuck because I don’t think I can live without a burger! Are homemade burgers much healthier than takeaway? You can make something at home. How can I make a really healthy and delicious burger at home? Should I go with Beyond Meat Burger (I tried it but didn’t mind the taste) or real beef? I need ketchup. Say you can ketchup! “
So today, we’ll break down the popular fast-food burgers with nutrition and taste profiles to determine what you can do to improve at home, from patties to seasonings to bread.
How unhealthy are fast food burgers?
Let’s start with McDonald’s. Their Big Mac contains two 100% beef patties, a special sauce, shredded lettuce, processed cheese, sliced pickles and shredded onions in three pieces of sesame bread. (Still I can’t do it without listening to the song in my head!)
McDonald’s claims that 100% beef patties are free of fillers and are seasoned with salt and pepper only. No further reliable information on material or meat processing can be found. Sure, it’s not grass-fed beef, grown in a sustainable way. McDonald’s burger meat comes from cattle operations in commercial factories. To better understand the problem of factory livestock, you can visit the ASPCA website or the Human Canada website (no shocking videos or offensive images). Factory livestock is considered to be the number one cause of animal cruelty around the world. And it doesn’t have to be like this.
The ingredients of bread are: Containing concentrated wheat flour (leaked wheat flour, malt barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, high fructose corn syrup and / or sugar, yeast, soybean oil and / or canola oil, 2% or less : Salt, wheat gluten, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioner (may contain one or more of stearoyllactylate sodium, DATEM, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono and diglycerides, ethoxyl Monoglyceride, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide), sorbic acid, calcium propionate and / or sodium propionate (preservative), soy lecithin, sesame seeds.
The ingredients of cheese are: Milk, cream, water, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt of 2% or less, citric acid, sodium phosphate, sorbic acid (preservative), lactic acid, acetic acid, enzyme, sodium pyrophosphate, natural flavor (dairy products), Colorant, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).
Special source ingredients are: soybean oil, pickles relish (diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan gum, sorbate potassium (preservative), spices: Extract, polysorbate 80, distilled vinegar, water, egg yolk, high fructose corn syrup, onion powder, mustard seeds, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar, garlic powder, vegetable Protein (hydrolyzed corn, soybeans, wheat), caramel color, extract of paprika, soybean lecithin, turmeric (color), EDTA calcium disodium (preserving flavor) (source)
The breakdown of Big Mac nutrition from the McDonald’s website is as follows.
- 550 calories
- 30g of fat (1g is trans, 11g is saturated)
- 45g carbs
- Protein 25g
- 9g sugar
- Sodium 1010g
- 3g fiber
- 25% DV of iron
- 8 percent DV of potassium
- 10% DV of calcium
Obviously, the content of salt, fat, sugar and carbohydrates far exceeds the actual nutritional value of this food. Almost all of it is hyperprocessed!
Let’s take a look at a completely different takeaway burger that claims to be much healthier and more natural. Hero certified burger. Unlike McDonald’s, these burgers are made with your favorite bread and seasonings, and the beef is “fully traceable Canadian Angus beef, grown without antibiotics or hormones.” They come in sizes of 4, 6, or 8 ounces. We offer real cheese and a variety of toppings and breads, including sesame poppy seeds, ciabatta, multigrain, and gluten-free. With all kinds, it is impossible to make a nutritional breakdown of a standard hero burger. It depends a lot on the options you choose.
I was able to find nutritional statistics on the 6 oz Hero Burger Patty.
- 440 calories
- Carbohydrate 1g
- Fat 38g
- Protein 24g
And gluten-free bread:
- 240 calories
- 7g fat
- 41g of carbs
- Protein 4g
Therefore, the quality and selection of meat is excellent, but the content of fat, carbohydrates and protein is very close. As a healthier option, we want to significantly reduce carbohydrates and sugars, completely eliminate vegetable oils and trans fats, like hero burgers, and make fat content as natural and healthy as possible. .. I’m also worried about the salt content. You don’t need that much salt!
Now let’s see how to make these options the healthiest at home.
How to make a healthy burger at home:
We recommend the highest quality ingredients to make healthy burgers at home. You want ground beef or chucks grown on grass that you can grind. Choosing minced lean beef is disappointing because the fat in the hamburger tastes great. When you make it at home, you can be assured that this is high quality meat, so the fat content is much healthier.
All Natural Homemade Juicy Beef Patty Recipe:
- 1.5 lbs of medium ground beef
- Half an onion, finely chopped
- One egg
- 1 teaspoon Braggs liquid amino
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Crushed. 5 teaspoons dried rosemary
- .5 teaspoon mustard powder
- Optional .5 tsp ground red pepper flakes
Mix all ingredients well to make putty. This is the secret I learned from the chef. Beef is salted on the outside, just like grilled. This is because salt helps to remove water and make skin. We like the hamburger to have a little skin on the outside and moist on the inside. That’s why we salt the outside a lot. Also add a little crushed peppercorn. Cook on the hot grill until done.
If you like some rare burgers, this is a zipper and safe. But don’t do it with minced beef. If you like crispy edges, you can use a hamburger smasher to thin it. You can also make a small slider or a large round hamburger with cheese. You can really enjoy it!
If you like veggie burgers, we recommend only meat burgers. They are hyperprocessed. You can find the material here. The most unpleasant ingredient I’ve found in their products is the second ingredient, Expeller Press canola oil. All vegetable oils are super-processed and highly inflammatory foods. If that is your choice, I recommend making your own Veggie Burger. Here’s a great low carb veggie burger recipe I’ve found.
In my expert opinion, all-natural beef burgers are much more nutritious, have less unwanted carbs, and are much healthier. Because carbohydrates cause insulin and insulin resistance is our time’s greatest health concern, healthy burgers include genuine raw meat, all-natural sugar-free toppings, and lettuce bread. Is recommended.
There are many combo ideas that I enjoy here. There are keto and low carb breads available at Low Carb Canada and other specialty grocery stores to reduce carb creep, but my strong preference is to stay away from processed foods. Our family tends to prefer our burgers as hot burgers stuffed with caramel onions, mushrooms and bone broth juice, or as meatloaf muffin burgers, or as thin letterpan sliders (usually with chapley spices). I have.
For seasonings, try fermented hot sauce such as fermented ketchup and kimchi, natural mustard, homemade 1-minute mayonnaise, horseradish sauce, all natural cheese on top or inside, and fried onions, bacon, and mushrooms. I recommend you to try it. Of course, lettuce, unsweetened pickles, bean sprouts, microgreens and raw onions are all great!
If you really need bread-type bread, I’ve heard good things about this keto bread recipe. Why ketopan? They have a very low carbohydrate content and it is clear that excess carbohydrates are causing the epidemic of obesity and insulin-related diseases in our society. If you need healthy food, you don’t have to be a vegetarian to include vegetables. You can also include keto bread without filling it up! Everything we do to make our diet healthier is a step in the right direction! Therefore, as a side of a low-carb healthy burger, it’s a good idea to add a healthy vegetable salad or a crudet with homemade mayonnaise. Replacing soda with filtered water will give you a very nutritious diet.
Max, thank you for writing! We hope you enjoy homemade burgers as much as you take out and enjoy the health benefits. Fermented ketchup is so easy to make that you can enjoy it more than you can buy it at the store!
As always, readers can email health-related questions and find more information about me and my service online.
Namaste!
Nony Nutritinista
