I just ate at a restaurant that was serving “High Protein Brownies.” This is the ultimate in health washing. Do people really believe that because something has protein in it that it will therefore be good for you?

We eat more protein than any other country in the world, except maybe Iceland. I have been reviewing the diet logs of patients who come to see me and they are dramatically similar. Eggs for breakfast, sandwich with Deli meat for lunch, and meat and vegetable (side dish) for dinner. That is a lot of protein. On average, depending on which source you read, we eat 80-120 gm of protein a day, many eat more. The RDA is 44 for females and 52 for males, so we are eating about double the recommendation.

Despite the plethora of protein we consume we have the lowest longevity, highest heart disease, highest rates of obesity , and highest rates of many forms of cancer. Our high protein diet isn’t making us very healthy.

Now, if we are one of the sickest countries in the world than how about looking at the healthier countries. In fact, the healthiest people in the world eat relatively low levels of protein. The Okinawans and Sardinians average only 7-10% of their calories from protein while we consume 15-20%.

This obsession we have with protein is ridiculous. We can only process a certain amount at a time, so all this excess protein in the end is just excess calories. After people in this restaurant finish their cheeseburger and fries, the high protein brownie will do nothing more than further add to the calorie burden and thereby drive fat into their cells.

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