Beet burger patties + What's "healthy"?

I've been thinking a lot about what exactly "healthy" eating is. Everyone seems to be in love with ranking things, to the point that even diets are on the US News list. Setting aside the question of whether it's appropriate to pit diets - especially if they eliminate whole food groups - against each other, as well as cultural representation in these diets, a certain diet that's piqued my interest for its supposed neurological benefits.

The ketogenic diet. Have you heard of it? It maximises fats and minimises carbohydrates, and is based on the process of ketosis. This kicks in when your body is literally starved for fuel and, instead of running on carbs, converts fatty acids into ketone bodies during gluconeogenesis  (thank you, Human Physiology class). The ketogenic diet is the latest craze within the growing trend of being a "foodie", or "health-conscious" or what have you, probably because it promises an ad lib consumption of butter.

I'm just surprised at the amount of backing this diet has garnered from scientists. This article summarizes some of the research around the beneficial effects of the diet - on mice, including improved performance on memory tasks. Of course, these studies should be interpreted with caution, but it's nice to see some attention being brought to more long-term studies on diet and how it might affect our health, especially as obesity rates are rising. This study from 2004 found that weight and "bad" (I hate that term though) cholesterol decreased, while "good" cholesterol increased in patients on a 24-week keto diet! So results are promising. The big downside is that pasta and bananas aren't keto-friendly, whoomp whoomp...

That being said, I don't believe that any set of rules acts as a silver bullet for healthyness healthfulness health. One of my heroes, James Hamblin, wrote a piece about research studies like these, that tout "miraculous" or "ground-breaking" new findings, particularly about high-fat diets. Basically, the spirit of his post is that food shouldn't be taken as fashion trends. In other words, the guidelines about how best to eat haven't changed all that much, except for the low-fat demonisation of the 1990s. So people should stop following hypes and just eat foods we all know to be wholesome - plant-based, less processed, low on the added sugars.

I don't mean to be preachy; no diet has ever, EVER, EVAR been proven superior to others, as of yet. But tell me - do you have an overarching principle for how you eat? Personally, I like as much variety in my veg and grains as possible.

So how does this tie into beetroot burgers? Weell, a few days ago I was feeling poopy. Making food is a therapeutic process for me. For moments when stress-eating just isn't an option, I invariably pull out my blender and make some date-nut energy bites for mopey days (more on those in another post!). Food brings memories for me, and one of the best things I've eaten was made by one of my best friends' mum - BEETROOT BURGERS. And she makes them every time I come over for dinner, which makes me very happy.

Proper nourishment and comfort food intersect with this recipe. I have to admit, it doesn't hold a candle to the ones I was trying to imitate, and my biceps practically died from grating so much beetroot. But these have pulled me through many a dreary midday lunch, and they keep extremely well. They're so versatile and filling so the hard work really pays off here.

Oh oh! And they're packed with whole grains and protein, and are hearty and crunchy.

Beetroot burger patties
Makes 6-8

About 3-4 medium sized beetroots, without leaves
0.5 cup walnuts (raw or toasted, I used raw)
Half an onion, small-diced
1 cup rolled oats
100g extra-firm tofu
2 cloves roasted garlic*
3 tbsp olive oil
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp miso paste
Paprika, salt and pepper

*To roast garlic, don't peel them, just coat with some olive oil and roast at 400F for about 20 min or until soft

Peel and grate the beets using a coarse grater. Combine both with onions in a blender (if you have a food processor with grating blades, combine both straight in) and blend to combine. Chop up the walnuts into fine pieces (according to how crunchy you'd like the patty to be). Add to the blender the rolled oats, walnuts and roasted garlic. Blend again to combine. Now for the wet ingredients -  crumble in the tofu, miso paste, oil and eggs and mix together. Season with paprika and s&p to taste, and let sit for about 20 min to let the oats soak up the moisture. If necessary, blend to achieve a patty-like mixture. You should be able to handle this with your hands without too much mess, and it should have a paler-pink colour than what you started with. If it's too wet, add more oats or breadcrumbs. If it's too dry, add some milk/almond milk or yoghurt.

Form 8 patties and wrap with clingfilm until you're ready to cook them. These will keep in the refrigerator for 1-1.5 weeks.

To assemble:
As I said, these are super customisable! Roast them at 400F for 15 min/Pan-fry them with some oil on both sides for a few minutes. You can even pop them into a toaster oven at 400F for 10 min.
I had these between whole-wheat slim sandwich bread, with spinach, hummus and Kewpie mayo. They would also be great with melted mozzarella, avocado and/or caramelised onions.

Enjoy!