@codymcg It's definitely not junk food and I see no reason why it should be considered worse than tofu. TVP is basically soy beans, but the oil extracted. Soy contains a lot of omega 6 fatty acids which most people get too much, so I think it's a good thing that most of it is extracted.
Processed foods might intuitively sound bad, but that's just an association our brain has made because most processed food is crap
@codymcg Look into soy curls. It’s very minimally processed compared to tvp and other extracted soy proteins. Great texture and can take on many flavors through marinades and sauces!
@jeff98682 Soy curls would be my favorite meat substitute by far even without them being much healthier than other alternatives. The texture is great and it's really easy to flavor them however you like.
@codymcg IMO the rule about avoiding processed food is more of a rule of thumb than a strict and inflexible principle. TVP is processed food, but it's not bad for you and there's no reason to put it in the same category as like Doritos and wonderbread and whatnot. Dr. Gregor, who I personally would consider the number one authority in whole-foods plant based diets, tends to consider a lot of soy foods that are technically processed as still being health-promoting. Soy (really beans generally, imho) are so good for you that it doesn't really matter all that much what you do to them as long as you're not drowning them in salt, fat, and sugar.
