Every food commercial, advertisement, and packaging in the US is currently protein obsessed. I just bought 3 burritos, and the most noticeable thing on the entire package is its protein content. TV commercials about waffles are advertising that they have X amount of protein per serving. The products in my jobsite’s vending machine have protein all over every package.
Did America have a protein thing recently?
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Maybe you missed the pendulum swung back hard after the body positivity fad of “healthy at any size” and people yelling about how calories are a lie. this all went down about 3 yrs ago.
Then after the resulting mass of influencer death from health failures in as young as mid twenties to early thirties we are swung back on the fitness side of things again with a new ferocity involving protien and glp1 now.
We actually just had another fitness epidemic here similar to the 90s but slightly more gym related than outdoor related. Protein powder was HUGE on tiktok shop and fairly big in stores. I happen to be a target of the powder supplement as a medical issue caused me to start my journey in losing over 100lbs in less than a year. I was having overnight oats with extra protein everyday. I have some left but now that I’ve lost the weight and kept most of the muscle, I’m back on whole foods only, especially for protein.
Edit: if you look it up, theres’s a lot written about the “fitness influencer to right wing pipeline”
This might need confirming so take it with a grain of salt
I heard because GLP-1 treatments got super cheap in US lately everyone is getting slimmer. So slimming doesn’t seem as a luxury anymore. And because meat quality went down massively and expensive - protein is the new luxury and “bulking up” is the new trend rather than slimming.
Typical American market manipulation.
I noticed that during the big egg “crisis” where eggs went up to the price we normally pay in the UK. Turns out they were gobbling them up like fucking Gaston for “protein”. I get through maybe half a dozen in a particularly eggy week…
No mention of fibre though. Their arses must be split asunder.
They don’t eat real fiber. They gobble up all of the sterculia gum which, coincidentally, is now also not available for people who need it for medical reasons worldwide.
I’m sure some people are chugging eggs for protein but it isn’t the norm and that is not at all what led to eggs being more expensive in the US. It was bird flu outbreaks combined with new regulations in some states coming into effect. In my state everything now has to be “cage free” which came into effect right around the whole egg price spike, but from what I can tell the price spike was mostly due to bird flu
Bird flu is not over either. I usually only buy eggs from hens that can go outside, but for a few years hens weren’t allowed outside because of bird flu.
Some of us just like deviled eggs.
I buy PROTEIN-packed twinkies to grow humongous MUSCLES so my mom knows that I have SEX with many ladies and I want everyone to rest assured that I am a big HETEROSEXUAL man in my Thunderfalconcougarbird
Why is this place so mentally ill?
Ozempic. People on it can’t handle sugars and carbs as well.
I think this is the correct answer. A shocking amount of people are on these weight loss drugs. When you are on these medications, you’re given guidelines for a high protein diet. Because these drugs make you lose weight pretty fast. I know several people taking these medications and it’s buy everything high protein because the drugs make you not want to eat at all so you need as much protein as possible when you do.
i think its the anti fat messaging, and sugar messaging going on.
In Poland we also have this. A lot of products of have a huge infromarion how much protein it has or comercials in big cities with a new prootein products
Because every time they try to eat something, it’s recalled.
Influencer slop. That’s literally it.
This thread rightly points out all the excesses of capital-fueled social trends.
Less mentioned is that a higher protein breakfast ~20-30g vs traditional carb-heavy breakfast is actually helpful for more stable morning energy (less sugar crash), cognitive clarity, and reduced snack cravings especially later in the day. Search any of your reputable health sources and you’ll likely find something to that effect. I don’t believe it’s particularly disputed at this point.
Wait, what about morning pasta, I feel they work fine for me. Should I switch to morning sausages?
Is it because of less carb or high protein? If I eat veggies do I get the same result?
Mostly no, but the mostly is because most vegetables aren’t as high in protein. If you eat protein rich vegetables the effect holds.
Some starches and fiber also have the effect, since metabolism is complicated. I believe potato is quite high on the satiety index, as are apples.Basically it’s that your body just absorbs sugar and doesn’t spend time on it, so it doesn’t satisfy you. Carbs are pretty quick, but depending on the fiber content it can more than make up for it. Your body cherishes fat so it tries to get you to drink it. Protein is useful calories that take a lot of work to rip up, and they occupy space.
An apple and a bowl of lentil curry will fill you up.
Protein takes longer to metabolize into energy than carbs, hence you don’t crash like with carbs. Starchy veggies give you carbs, low-carb veggies don’t have protein or carbs so you’ll just be extra tired.
A lot of Americans have been convinced lack of protein is why they keep gaining weight and aren’t muscular. Testosterone is in a similar position. These can be concerns for people who are low in them, or for people struggling at high levels of fitness. But it’s largely just influence from diet influencers repeating gym bro advice.
There’s also a straight line between bro culture, testosterone supplements, and fascism
Only on Lemmy can you find a link between protein powder and fascism
This place is beyond brain fucked 🤣
I’d love to see the link between those cause you seem to be implying high testosterone = bro = fascist and I really hope that’s not what you think.
If you need testosterone supplement, it would imply that you have low testosterone to begin with. Or that you just want more. But you are completely changing the meaning by changing “testosterone supplement” to a generalized “high testosterone”.
You don’t have to look far to find the far right’s obsession with testosterone (read: gender affirming care for cis men), whether it’s giving it to the military or Elon Mask’s weird cybertruck shaped body. Then look at who else is pushing that shit nonstop.
Though I did learn there’s a weak study that they like to cite, outlined by Vice here
I understand, fascist bros (the manosphere basically) push the idea that “weak” men just have low T and by taking more they’ll become “alphas” or whatever. Not that people with high T are more likely to be fascists.
As the article points out repeatedly, that study linking high T with Republican voting (it never mentions fascism) is so flawed as to be useless but I guess that doesn’t matter if chuds aren’t going to read it anyway.
It’s got what plants crave.
It’s the prevalence of drugs like Ozempic. They cause people to eat a negative calorie diet so it’s very important that they keep their protein intake at or above their requirements. If they don’t, they will lose muscle at a dangerous rate.
Pretty sure these drugs are just creating huge heart health problem we’ll see in the future.
i think that might only have a weak correlation, because iirc the “trend” with high protein products started before ozempic became available.
i would say it is only the normal marketing cycle, like how 15-40 years ago it was the phase of low sugar
so i would predict that in 5-10 years we will enter a cycle with maybe high (healthy) fats/low sugar or something similar again
You will also feel like shit without it
Sufficient protein intake is very important when it comes to gaining healthy weight, or retaining muscle mass as you either diet or age. Most people do not get enough protein intake their daily meals, and unlike other things like potassium, iron or vitamins, there’s no easy over the counter pill you can swallow to level that out. In the U.S. people that haven’t been intentional with their diets usually tend towards very carb-heavy diets.
Companies put what they think people care about on their packaging. In the 90’s it was “low fat”. It’s trendy right now in America to eat healthier (perhaps due to fast food abandoning Americans for unsustainable profits) and one of the first two things any American will learn when you start actually paying attention to what you eat is that 1. You’re probably eating too many calories, and 2. You’re not eating enough protein.
Reinforcing what another comment has already said: the idea that we don’t get enough protein is horse shit, we get way way more than we need. Which, and this is important, your body just has to filter out putting stress on vital organs.
I’ve heard this claim countless times, usually from people trying to shit on plant based eating, and it simply has no basis in fact. Even fully plant based eating gives you plenty of protein.
Something you don’t commonly see: people getting treated for protein deficiency.
Organs? Apart from kidneys, which one? I’ve always heard no more than 1g/kg/day of protein otherwise risk of degrading your kidney.
Kidneys are the primary problem (and there’s two of them so I’ll pretend “organs” was meaningful there), I’m not educated enough to know much past that. I kinda assume that if you’re stressing your kidneys it’s going to impact something else though.
It’s not that protein is like bad for the kidney, it’s just that your body has to get rid of what you don’t use so they work harder than they need to.
Most Americans get significantly more protein than they need, men by ~30% and women by ~15%. Even if you look at the new wildly unscientific federal guidelines saying to get more protein (this is a top down “problem”) Americans tend to still get more than that, but it is closer. A huge problem is the over reliance on animal proteins causing the other issues and the huge lack of fiber Americans struggle with.
Preach. It’s upsetting how the system has either failed to properly inform or actively misinformed so many people on this topic.
My favorite part of the debate are the sources
Where did you learn that Americans don’t meet their protein needs?
