Protein Is A Trap And I Have Fallen Into It, or Second Breakfast #19
Hello! This is Meghan McCarron, and you're reading my newsletter, Second Breakfast. If you no longer want to receive it, you can unsubscribe here.
Down down down the endless scroll on my phone, influencers are asking: Are you getting enough protein? Did you know that you need it to build muscle, satisfy your appetite, cheat death and grow an extra limb, such as an arm or a tail? Don’t you want these things? WHY NOT??
Protein is trending again, and I’m confused. We’ve done this several times already. First: the Atkins craze in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which I blame for getting my father into the chalky and foul-tasting protein bars he offered me as a car snack for years after.
Then, protein-as-a-health-product receded for awhile, before roaring back in the later 2010s. In 2018, I edited a whole dang feature by Casey Johnston about the protein-industrial complex.
Now, it’s happening again. Meat is back. Protein bars are back, even if they’re actually blocks of cod.
I respect my friends who are having fun with the whole thing. I still turn to Casey, my protein sage. But I’m so tired of thinking about protein, largely for a personal and whiny and self-inflicted reason: I have gone back to powerlifting, and keeping up with all the protein makes me want to die.
I’ve played sports for much of my life, but I’ve only ever been “good” two things: hitting hard in rugby and lifting heavy weights. My rugby time is over, but I can still lift. It’s very satisfying to move heavy things with my body*. At an uncertain time in my writing life, the straightforward challenge of putting more weight on the bar and seeing if I can lift it is saving my sanity.
But if I don’t shovel yogurt and meat and beans and eggs down my throat, I am sore and hungry and have dreams about eating endless amounts of cake but never feeling satisfied (this also happened when I was pregnant). So now for breakfast, I eat three hardboiled eggs. Followed by an enormous bowl of greek yogurt for snack. Followed by a salad topped with steamed chicken for lunch. Followed by a whey smoothie. Followed by some hunk of meat or an enormous bowl of beans with some pasta mixed in when I really just want friggin pasta**.
Most of the world’s great cuisines were built around seasoning vegetables, pulses, and grains with small amounts of meat and dairy, leading to lots of variety and seasonal variation and pleasure. One meal unfolds into the next.
Protein is boring and high effort at the same time. It requires meal prep, like steaming a bunch of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for the above-mentioned salads. It’s had a deadening effect on my cooking.
Writing out this email had made me realize, of course, that I’ve forgotten the wide and wonderful world of braises, of baked tofus, of chilis. If I can accept that I’m shifting my diet for the sake of my fitness hobby, maybe I can channel my resentful energy toward something more expansive.
But also, to anyone reading this who does not enjoy my specific fitness hobby and is wondering if they need more protein: you don’t. It’s not worth it! The vegan mass gainer is full of lead! Go have a grain salad or a potato dinner and enjoy your life.
Two new stories from me in the New York Times since the last edition of this newsletter. (Sorry to send this one out a bit late — everything in media and publishing happens in October, it turns out!)
A $35 Chicken Dinner in Mississippi? How New York Prices Went National
Are Michelin Stars Now an Economic Must, Not Just a Culinary Honor?
I didn’t intend to end up on a restaurant economics reporting jag, but it’s one of the most important stories in the food world right now. It costs more than ever to dine at, and to run, a small, independent restaurant, and there’s no relief in sight.
Some reading from the past couple months:
“A painting of Tristan Tate hung on the wall; a Ferrari, a Lamborghini and a Rolls-Royce were parked out front. Meals were ‘black plastic boxes filled with steak and chicken’.” This is what I’m saying about protein
A breakdown of a fun restaurant social media account. I love Judy!
I’m grateful to Bill Addison’s recent series of reviews highlighting the quirky and genuinely interesting new restaurants in Los Angeles bobbing in a sea of mid.
Also grateful for Tejal weighing in thoughtfully and honestly on Spago
Instant contender as one of the great political profiles
I interviewed one of the residents of this trailer park soon after the fires. I hope this story’s conclusions don’t bear out
Jaya doing the lord’s work by making the case for actual vermouth in martinis
Very excited for Rebecca x Moomins!
Always remember: “off the record” is an agreement before, not after, the fact
Man oh man am I rooting for Willy and the Midcoast Villager!
There’s service journalism and then there’s the exact shopping guide I personally needed right now
Moving to San Clemente and getting radicalized is a tale as old as time, but this profile is a wild ride
Lydia Polgreen draws on her experience reporting in war zones to make the case that the death toll in Gaza could be much worse than current estimates
Reporting like this on the economic case for AI really highlights the heads I win, tails you lose dynamic of the whole thing
We’re watching the latest season of Only Murders in the Building, and down a related rabbit hole I found this 1999 conversation between Carrie Fisher and Steve Martin on writing
I love Wicker Man week on Flaming Hydra, and especially love seeing Annalee Newitz as a contributor
Ok, that was a lot of links! Thank you so much for reading this month.
Love,
Meghan
*Through friends, I have been connected with an online strength coach. Good students all, we actually do what he tells us to do, and so he now has a “broke freelancer tier” for his services. It’s been amazing, and I’m lifting heavier than I ever thought possible. The last time I tried out lifting weights, squatting 225 felt terrifying. Now I’m about to break the 2-plate barrier and everything still feels really, really smooth.
**I promise I am eating many carbs. Fancy artisan carbs and satisfying mass-produced carbs and fibrous health carbs. But if I eat only carbs I have the Cake Dreams, and anyway, they aren’t annoying me! The protein is.