Are High Protein Foods Making you Fat?
High protein foods are the fashion these days. But are they making you fat? I was stalking the aisles of my local supermarket a few weeks ago when I realised two things:
- I really hate supermarket shopping
- There are increasing numbers of foods branded as ‘high protein’
Why are there so many high protein foods around. Any why could this be a bad thing? Is eating them going to lead to super leanness or the dreaded Dad Bod?
‘High Protein’ isn’t Evil
If you’ve made any moves to try to clean up your diet, you’ll know by now that you need protein in your diet. The word ‘protein’ even comes from the Greek which means ‘the most important’.
Your body needs protein for growth and repair of cells for day to day function. But if you’re active and exercising regularly, guess what?
Your protein requirements just went up.
Day to day, I shoot for around 200g of protein (less on non-training or cardio only days). When I dieted down to lose my Dad bod my protein intake remained high for the duration.
However this predication towards high protein diets has been seized upon by fad dieters who follow plans such as the Dukan Diet or even the now cliche Atkins, popular in the late 1990’s.
And where fad diets go, the money grabbing food industry soon follows.
Junk Food Labeled as High Protein
I was trolling Instagram recently and came across one of the generic, basic ‘fitness journey’ accounts. Some guy had drunk the Kool Aid when it came to buying high protein foods.
3 months in the gym and an Instagram account is not a ‘fitness journey’. It’s a cry for help.
— Neil M White (@neilmwhite) January 28, 2016
His Instagram account was rammed with pictures of protein pizza (yes that’s a thing), bars, cookies, brownies and pancakes. If his photographs were anything to go by, he was eating protein bars, protein pancakes and other protein enriched foods several times a day.
But that’s not a problem is it? I mean protein enriched foods are healthy, right?
That depends a lot on what you’re eating and what the label says.
Take this pot of instant porridge oats which is branded as being high protein. A glance at the label reveals that it has just 11 grams of protein and more than 16 grams of sugar!!
So you’d be wrong in thinking that this is a health food. In fact it’s got three good spoonfuls of sugar in it with only a scrap worth of protein.
The other problem with these ‘protein’ foods is the protein source.
In many products this added protein is nothing more than soy granules or powdered milk (correctly but misleadingly labeled as ‘milk protein’)
Soy is an inferior source of protein to animal sources such as whey, egg and meats such as steaks. Added powdered milk gives no more benefit than if you drank a glass of the liquid stuff with your meal or snack.
Take these cereal bars for example. The main source of protein is from soy and added peanuts. Not exactly high value.
I also guarantee that this does not have 15% of my protein needs. Not on the days that I’m killing it in the gym anyway.
Even protein bars produced by supplement manufacturers are not necessarily healthy. Some only have 30 grams of protein per 100g. What is the rest made up of? Normally carbs and vegetable fats.
The exception to this are Quest Bars which are from paradise.
So what is the alternative? You want healthy food but don’t want to be stuck in a torturous rut of chicken, rice and broccoli.
If you Want to Eat Pizza, Eat Pizza
Planning a cheat or a treat into a healthy diet is a good idea. If you miss foods that you ate when you were accepting of your Dad Bod, don’t deny yourself like some kind of martyr to fitness. Unless you really want to.
I love a good cheat meal.
But plan it in to your week. Have it at the weekend enjoyed with family, loved ones or friends. I’ll often have something I fancy on a Saturday night when the kids are in bed.
It makes the meals of tuna and rice cakes during the week a lot less traumatic.
The guy who was eating protein pizza like it was a health food would have been better to schedule in real cheat meals and then eat healthy whole foods the rest of the week.
Exceptions to the ‘Protein Foods’ Rule
As with anything, there are exceptions to the rules for high protein foods. I plan to share some of the products I buy in a later post (I already mentioned Quest Bars – I don’t work for Quest. I just think they’re great).
Be smart. Read the labels and if you do buy a protein bar ‘off the shelf’ don’t kid yourself that it’s equivalent to the chicken and rice you’ve been avoiding for several hours.
Liked this? Be sure to read my other articles on nutrition and supplements:
