Jump to content

Is seitan really garbage?


seitan_man
 Share

Recommended Posts

I was reading an article by Mike Mahler who said that seitan was 'garbage' and to avoided, adding that gluten was also the worst part of wheat. Mac Danzig has also stated he stays away from seitan most of the time.

 

I do like seiatn a lot, although don't eat it that often partly due to the fact that the only type I can find is the canned asian mock duck and vital wheat gluten is impossible to find where I live.

 

Other resources have listed seitan as an excellent source of protein, low in carbs and fat, written by qualified nutritionists.

 

I am a little confused!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do like seiatn a lot,

 

You think "seitan_man" ?

 

Mike Mahler has a reputation for publishing some really ignorant articles and he isn't a vegan.

 

Neither Mike Mahler nor Mac Danzig have any professional credentials in regards to medicine or nutrition. Especially on the internet, you need to see who is the author of an opinion, what his/her credentials are, and how many other people of reputable credentials agree with him/her.

 

Anything written by anyone without credentials, including members of this board and including me should only be taken as invitation to further inquiry --- if you care about the truth and the benefits that knowing the truth brings.

 

Having written that, Seitan is not a whole food and a rule of thumb in nutrition is that whole foods are the healthiest way to go. Seitan is as highly processed as white rice or white flour. Seitan is wheat gluten. Gluten is the protein from grains. Wheat gluten is made by taking whole wheat flour and processing most of the carbohydrate.....and everything else out, leaving only the protein.

 

Enjoying it once or twice a week will not kill you, but you don't want to make it a dietary staple - in my non-expert opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

when you say mike mahler isn't vegan are you reffering to that time when he took some organic casein powder or has he dropped out "completely"?

anyways, I think BWs advice is really good. Specially the part about looking who wrote the article and what that person knows about the subject. I'm not saying Mahler doesn't know nutrition at all but he has made a lot of weird statements, that's a fact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks guys, he does have some strong anti-soy opinions but never realised he wasn't vegan anymore.

 

The last article I read in favour of eating seitan was written by a qualified nutritionist, who I don't think was even veggie.

 

Registered dieticians who are not veg*n can frequently have information that is decades out of date or just plain wrong. Your best bet is to read what vegan RDs have to say.

 

Jeff Novick is a vegan RD, has a string of other degrees, keeps up on research, and answers questions on his forum at jeffnovick.com

 

I think he will tell you to enjoy seitan but not make a staple

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My opinion is that gluten is to be avoided. Seitan, which is pretty much gluten + water, is thus something I do not eat. It is very tasty, but I no longer think it is a healthy choice for someone in my shoes who needs high quality protein. The problem with gluten is that it is very difficult to digest, which in a lot of people causes a sensitivity/intolerance, and in some cases an actual allergy. Other people can consume it fine, at least on the surface (although even in these cases, there are folks who would argue that it causes a lot of stress/damage that is not seen and/or not attributed to the gluten consumption). My opinion is that if you're an athlete who depends on quality nutrition to fuel your lifestyle, avoid it as much as possible, but if you're not intolerant/allergic to it, then eating some bread, mock meat, or even seitan every once in awhile isn't a big deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would have to agree.. Gluten is an inflammatory food. Wheat gluten is the worst, in my opinion. I just don't see it as a very beneficial part of the diet, but if you're gonna have it once in awhile it shouldn't hurt. I'm allergic to wheat gluten. As soon as I eat it I get bloated and gassy.. then the migraines come. Then the nausea. It's nasty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends a lot on the person. Some people are horribly intolerant/allergic and some people aren't. I was convinced that gluten was making my seasonal allergies (hayfever) bad, so I completely gave wheat up for 2 weeks. Made no difference in anything as far as I could tell. Therefore I don't think my body has any problems with it, but I know many people do have problems.

 

I think the root of the gluten as protein problem is that it's a very incomplete/unbalanced protein. Sure, it can be corrected with other protein sources (or just eating a lot of it), but there are simply better choices out there if your focus is getting large amounts of high quality protein.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone read the book "Quantum Wellness" by Kathy Freston? She advocates a gluten-free vegan diet. I have only skimmed through the book. I'm not sure if she's an R.D. I just have a question. Why are the cases or gluten intolerence and Celiac disease on the rise every year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone read the book "Quantum Wellness" by Kathy Freston? She advocates a gluten-free vegan diet. I have only skimmed through the book. I'm not sure if she's an R.D. I just have a question. Why are the cases or gluten intolerence and Celiac disease on the rise every year?

 

i wonder if it's because a lot of wheat is genetically modified now? I know most of the wheat grown in Canada is this red something type wheat. It was bred with 2 types of wheat so it could survive the dry soil of the prairies.

 

I like ancient grains like spelt, quinoa, kamut, and amaranth. They've been unaltered through the years, hence why they're called ancient grains

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're definitely right--I think spelt, quinoa, kamut and amaranth are terrific alternatives to seitan & processed, GM grains. (Have you tried red quinoa?) (What about the Ethiopian grain, teff? I think it's sold as a flour.)

 

For anyone reading this post Quinoa is a great replacement for rice. It was a staple of the Aztecs. Anyone who hasn't tried quinoa should try it. It's easy to cook- it cooks like rice. It's extremely nutritious. It has around 8 grams of protein per serving. A perfectly complete meal full of all essential amino acids would be quinoa and beans! (and perhaps a salad!)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Has anyone read the book "Quantum Wellness" by Kathy Freston? She advocates a gluten-free vegan diet. I have only skimmed through the book. I'm not sure if she's an R.D. I just have a question. Why are the cases or gluten intolerence and Celiac disease on the rise every year?

 

One of the current theories as to why there is an explosion in food allergies is overexposure of those foods to infants before infants are ready for them. Another theory is the obsession with cleanliness taken too far. Children's immune systems develop by being tested and then adapting. Super clean water, anti-bacterial house hold products etc removes these things from children's environments. There immune systems never learn how to identify problems properly and over respond to "harmless" things like peanuts.

 

Celiac is a different story as it is technically not a food allergy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For someone like myself, who is aiming for 140-180 gms of protein per day, seitan is a welcome food. It's nearly impossible to eat that much protein (with a total intake of 2000-3000 calories) on a mostly whole foods diet. I've cut out all protein isolates but still rely on concentrated sources of protein, such as tofu and seitan (neither of which are pure isolates as both contain carbs and/or fat).

 

As for the inflammatory aspects of gluten, I have to disagree unless someone can give me a source for this information. See here for nutritiondata's inflammation rating on one ounce of gluten - which is about a typical serving size for seitan. If you have celiac disease then gluten is inflammatory to you, but for those of us who have no problems with it there is no evidence that it causes inflammation, IMO. Especially if it is eaten as part of a meal that includes anti-inflammatory foods such as leafy greens, etc.

 

If you are not aiming for a high protein intake then there is no reason to eat seitan if you feel it's detrimental to your health. But for those of us who are actively bodybuilding and avoiding protein isolates, it's a great source of low-fat protein. As for it being an incomplete/unbalanced protein, I don't think this is a big deal. It's so high in protein that a serving size still gives you a lot of complete protein - the limiting amino acid is lysine but it's not as though it contains no lysine. Of course, this gets into the Limiting Amino Acid theory, which makes a lot of sense in my mind since many humans have survived on an "imbalanced" food source as a staple for centuries. And it's also the reason I think vegans who are bodybuilding need to eat a lot of protein - unless they've figured out a way to eat the exact amount of needed amino acids in perfect balance each day, which I don't see as necessary.

 

Just my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is a typical day (except that much of the protein is wheat derived and therefore the balanced total protein intake might be somewhere around 150+ gms if you go with the limiting amino acid theory - numbers taken from a Brenda Davis, RD presentation for wheat protein):

 

1/4 lb pasta with vegetables and legumes

1 cup oatmeal (dry measure) with 1 cup soy milk, 1 T dried fruit, 2 T ground flax

8 oz tofu

3 slices bread

Navy bean dip

Melon

Broccoli

Carrots

Seitan with mushrooms and greens

 

Calories: 3000, Protein 178 gms, fat 63 gms

 

I can get a similar ratio with legumes, whole grains and vegetables but for me that diet gets boring at times and isn't as easy to eat quickly between cases in the OR. If I had a job where I could pull out a container of food and a fork/spoon according to my own eating schedule then things would be different. I eat every 2.5-3 hours and work 10 hour shifts - seitan and tofu can be eaten with your fingers, stuffed in a pocket easily and scarfed down during the walk between post-op and the pharmacy!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're welcome. No protein shakes or isolates. I weigh all my food and use nutritiondata.com as well as package info. The tofu is either Wildwood or Trader Joe's (same thing) super firm high protein tofu. The seitan is homemade. Here's the breakdown:

 

Pasta dish - 700 calories, 30 gms protein

Oatmeal with flax, etc. - 875 calories, 34 gms protein

Tofu - 250 calories, 35 gms protein

Bread - 360 calories, 16 gms protein

Navy bean spread - 150 calories, 10 gms protein

Melon - 100 calories, 3 gms protein

Broccoli - 70 calories, 6 gms protein

Carrots - 80 calories, 2 gms protein

Seitan with mushrooms, etc. - 450 calories, 42 gms protein

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i'm not even sure i can eat much of seitan, i may have a little insensitivity to it i ate a bunch a few times and my stomach always feels a little funny afterwords, also after eating a couple cookies (which had gluten) the next day i had some "issues" (won't explain in detail) lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...