Meat-free diets are not necessarily nutritious

There are plenty of vegetarian and vegan foods that are unhealthy, and cutting out meat does not change this. Eliminating meat is therefore not automatically healthier than meat-based diets. Plenty of plant-based meat substitutes are heavily processed and can be as equally unhealthy as meat.^[1] Dietician Elena Fricke explains that "Many meat substitutes are highly processed foods," and "a lot of meat substitutes, they'll say their food is vegetarian, vegan, or plant-based, but it's not necessarily healthy." ^[2] Meat is often the most filling part of a meal, and meat-free diets can struggle to satisfy a person's hunger. As a result, some vegetarians and vegans overfill on refined carbohydrates to compensate for the lack of meat and unintentionally create less healthy diets. Avoiding meat does come with health and environmental benefits, but these benefits only materialise if it is substituted with healthy and sustainable alternatives. To ask people to avoid meat for the sake of leading healthier lives and saving the planet neglects the fact that there are plenty of other sources of unhealthy and unsustainable foods out there causing damage to our bodies and planet. Simply avoiding meat is therefore not the ultimate solution.

[P1] Vegetarian diets are perceived as healthier than omnivore diets. [P2] Vegetarian diets don't provide as much nutrients as meat. [P3] Vegetarian meat substitutes are often highly processed. [P4] Vegetarian diets can therefore be just as unhealthy as omnivore diets.