John Myers
Seitan – this is what you should know about the food
The use of seitan as a meat substitute is by no means new. Seitan has been on the menu of Asian monks for hundreds of years.
- However, the food got its name from the Japanese Yukikazu Sakurazawa, who is considered one of the founders of macrobiotic nutrition. Sakurazawa, also known as Georges Ohsawa, made the food internationally famous more than 60 years ago.
- Seitan consists mainly of wheat protein, which initially sounds quite healthy. And indeed, the protein content in seitan is very high: 100 grams of seitan contain around 30 grams of protein. This means that the food has almost twice as much protein as tofu or many types of meat.
- However, it must also be mentioned in this context that our body cannot utilize the protein in seitan as well as other sources of protein.
- On the other hand, the extremely low fat and carbohydrate content of seitan is positive, which makes it a very figure-friendly food. 100 grams of seitan has only 150 calories. In addition, the meat substitute contains no cholesterol.
- This makes seitan a healthy food. But that’s not entirely true either. Wheat protein is gluten and therefore seitan is completely unsuitable for anyone suffering from celiac disease. If you have gluten intolerance, you should completely remove seitan from your diet.
- Regardless of whether you suffer from gluten intolerance or not, seitan should not necessarily be on the menu every day, as too much gluten is generally considered unhealthy.
- In addition, simple flour is used for the production of the meat substitute, which contains hardly any nutrients anyway. These few nutrients are then washed out during the manufacturing process so that ultimately only the pure wheat protein remains. This in turn means that apart from a lot of protein, seitan contains hardly any important nutrients for our body. However, you can compensate for this with a delicious and healthy marinade or seasoning with healthy herbs.
- Conclusion: The raw seitan is not necessarily healthy food. However, if you don’t suffer from celiac disease and season your seitan healthily, it won’t do any harm if you enjoy it in moderation. You are also doing something for your ecological footprint by not eating meat. Meat substitutes generally have a significantly better climate and water balance than meat.
