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Why is the US currently obsessed with protein?
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this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2026
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It’s a weird obsession because people are trying to eat significantly more than they need.
People misunderstood grams per kilogram and just switched it to grams per pound without actually converting units
Lmfao, no they didn't, you misunderstood the difference in recommended intakes for maintenance (/kg) vs gaining muscle / slowing it's atrophy in old age (/lb).
People eat more than they need because modern society makes it incredibly easy to, and we're removed from the survival conditions that made high-energy foods so attractive to us in the first place. The American lifestyle is particularly bad in this regard, with our car-dependent cities, sedentary lifestyles, abundance of cheap, calorie-dense food, and food companies that spend heavily on advertising and lobby politicians to keep regulations and labeling requirements favorable to them.
The “people are trying to eat significantly more than they need” was referring to protein
As in people are drinking 300 calorie protein shakes when they aren’t hungry so they can hit their “protein target”
What protein shake is 300 calories? All the decent ones are around 110-130
Americans eat too much everything. Protein won't fix that.
Actually one of the biggest problems that Americans and Europeans have when it comes to obesity is high carb diets. Compared to carbohydrates, protein helps keep you feeling fuller, longer. So higher protein diets would absolutely have an impact on fixing that problem.