Yay, we're 'ending the war on protein'

Oh, hey. It's a viral image macro issued by United States Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. If you'd told me 10 years ago that I would be speaking that sentence out loud today, I would have assumed you'd come from the mirror universe. But let's check this out. This image, for some reason, depicts Mr. Secretary Kennedy almost entirely in shadow, rim lit like a bad guy in a Marvel movie who's receding into the shadows after having said something ominous. That's a totally normal way for a US government official to depict himself in official communication. And the text on top rendered in that default Instagram caption font reads as follows. We are ending the war on protein. My dearest Martha, on the tomorrow, the cause in which I am presently engaged shall lead me with my brethren into the teeth of these most dreadful protein wars. The battle of histadine and lysine, I feel impelled to inform you, cost our most glorious confederation a great many, great many fine caroxil groups. My courage does not halt or falter in the face of such poffidious polyeptides. You know, with everybody from Jack in the Box to Dunkin' Donuts hyping up their high protein menu options, I think that we could all be forgiven for somehow overlooking a war on protein that's apparently been happening somewhere. What the heck is all this about? Well, we're going to get into it. We're going to talk about RFK's new food pyramid, which pretty much just flips an old one upside down so that meat and full fat dairy are at the base. Meaning that steak is among the foods that the US government advises you to consume most heavily on a daily basis. But let's start with the simplest explanation for why the likes of RFK perceive a war on protein where obviously none exists. And that most simple explanation is RFK Jr. is 71 years old. He is a boomer like his boss, President Trump. And like most boomers, they're all still stuck in the 1980s. Never gonna give you up is not a meme to them. It's a current chart topper. This Ashley kid is number one with a bullet. See, there actually was a public health campaign against protein four decades ago. But even that isn't quite what it was. It was a campaign against red meat and highfat dairy. Not because red meat and dairy contain protein, but because they contain lots of saturated fat and dietary cholesterol. Yes, the public health establishment singled out these particular nutrients as being responsible for rapidly rising incidents of cardiovascular disease and obesity. Yes, the public health establishment in the 1980s advocated higher carb diets as a healthier alternative. Yes, some of this thinking was influenced by old research that was bought and paid for by the sugar industry. Yes, subsequent research indicated that high carb diets are also associated with a rise in cardiovascular disease and obesity. Yes, subsequent research indicated that saturated fats might not be that much worse than unsaturated fats, though it really depends on a lot of specific factors. And overall, saturated fats probably still are on balance worse for you than unsaturated. And a lot of the research that's exonerating saturated fats was bought and paid for by the beef industry, which is like five times the size of the sugar industry. It's not like the ranchers are under represented in the halls of power. They've got lobbyists, too. Good ones. RFK Jr. says that it isn't the beef fat that's hurting you. It's actually the sugar. buddy. It's both. It's either. It's whichever one you are consuming in excess, which is probably both. And I'm not here to shame anybody. I'm certainly not here to preach veganism. I enjoy a large piece of animal protein on the weekend or special occasions. I like to gnaw a big leg in bed Henry VIII style, especially if I've got my mattress from Helix, sponsor of this video. You spend about a third of your life in bed, so you might as well do it in a quality one, right? Helix is the most awarded mattress brand. But of course, what matters most is if you have the mattress that's right for you. And that's where the Helix quiz comes in. You just tell them how you sleep, what sleep issues you have, back problems, uh getting too hot, that kind of thing, and they will recommend a model just for your body. Mattresses for kids, big and tall people, you name it. It's a real mattress that they roll up like a burrito and then they ship to your house under a vacuum seal. You just set it up and then you puncture the seal and there is your mattress. And get this, in Helix's Whisper Sleep study, they found that 82% saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle when they were sleeping on a Helix. You can also check out Helix's mattress toppers. These allow you to turn any old mattress into a Helix mattress. This one's for spinal support, but there's like memory foam toppers, uh, dual zone toppers for couples who want different surfaces. Right now, Helix is running a flash sale where you can save 27% off sitewide. 27% off with my link in the description, helixleep.com/regusia, or you can uh scan that QR code right there. Thank you, Helix. Anyway, RFK Jr. is ending the war on protein because he's old and his mind is still stuck in the 1980s when everybody was warning that too much animal fat is really bad for you. Turns out way too many calories are always bad for you regardless of which macronutrients they come from. And so that singular focus on red meat and butter and stuff probably wasn't very productive. You know who knows that? Everybody, everybody got that memo a long time ago. People really like beef. And so when a study comes out saying that beef isn't actually all that bad for you after all, it gets a lot of press. We've heard unlike these arrested development boomers clinging desperately to power, we're all living in the 21st century. We have been for 25 years now. 25 years and two weeks. If there ever was anything like a war on protein, those grievances were settled at the InSync Backstreet Boys summit of Y2K. I believe the guys from 98 degrees were uh non voting observers at that particular summit. But anyway, RFK Jr. is old and he's out of touch. That is likely one reason why he thinks that there was a war on protein for him to call off. There are other reasons probably. I cannot get inside that worn leather handbag he calls his head. So, this is purely informed speculation on my part. Take it for what it's worth. But let's look at what RFK has been doing as opposed to what he's been thinking. RFK has just unveiled his new food pyramid. US health officials have for many decades produced these little infographics to show you what an ideal diet might look like. Obviously, Americans eat whatever they want regardless, but the government guidelines do translate into meaningful public policy when it comes to things like school lunch programs. Anyway, the old US food pyramid from the late 20th century showed sugary and fatty desserts at the very narrow point of the pyramid, meaning that you should minimize those in your daily diet. And then just under the treats, in the second narrowest segment of the pyramid, they put dairy, meat, and eggs. And under that, they put fruits and vegetables. And at the broad base of the pyramid, they put carbohydrates like pasta and rice and whole grain bread. Meaning that the government advice used to be that carbs should be your number one source of calories. That seems weird to us in the 21st century. But consider how the world looked back then. Most people had been getting most of their calories from grains for like 10,000 years since the Neolithic Revolution. Our ability to trap energy from the sun inside tiny shelfstable grains is what allowed our species to conquer the globe as much as any other innovation did. It's up there with fire and weaving and pottery. To this day, the only way that we can afford to feed everybody is with grain. We do not have enough meat to feed everybody on Earth a meat-based diet. Meattheavy diets are a feature of rich countries. To put grains at the base of the food pyramid, it was less of a recommendation and more of an acknowledgement of reality. It's like if you were to make an infographic showing the ideal atmosphere for breathing, you'd probably put nitrogen at the base of that pyramid. Even though nitrogen is an inert gas that we do not need for respiration, it is nonetheless 3/4 of our atmosphere, so we breathe it anyway. >> >> An atmosphere optimized for human health and performance. It might not be 3/4 nitrogen. People can breathe pure oxygen. They sometimes do breathe pure oxygen in hospitals when they need it and on the sidelines of football games when they're totally gassed from sprinting downfield at 300 plus pounds. But if you were going to make a graphic of the typical atmosphere that a typical person ought to breathe on a daily basis, you would not put oxygen at the base of the pyramid because it would be unrealistic. You start with the atmosphere that most people actually have and then you maybe recommend getting like a little less nitrogen oxide in there than you would normally get. that kind of thing. The old food pyramid met the people where they were at the time. Even today, carbs still make up the majority of the calories consumed by humans globally. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. Carbs have taken our species real far. But precisely because carbs are so cheap and convenient and delicious, we are prone to overeing them in countries where we have a great surplus of food. So, in that new and different context, it makes sense to put more expensive, high-fiber, micronutrient-dense foods like fresh fruits and vegetables at the base of the pyramid, indicating that you should be getting proportionally more of your calories from these foods, which are less available and less delicious than grain-based foods. So, you're less likely to overeat them. And they might leave you feeling less hungry later because they don't provoke as such a strong insulin response and they have lots of fiber and vitamins and minerals that we all need to be healthy. Makes sense. Which is why they got rid of the old food pyramid a long time ago. Most recently, under the Obama administration, the food pyramid turned into the My Plate guide, a graphic that was typical of the timid, ineffectual technocratic centism of its time. My plate skirted controversy by ditching the hierarchy of a pyramid in favor of the superficial egalitarianism of a circle, a round table, if you will, which still contains a hierarchy. Veggies make up the biggest single area of this hardto- read pigraph, but grains and fruits and proteins are not that much smaller, and the hierarchy among them is not obvious to the eye. As technocratic centrists usually do, these Obama era officials created an infographic that communicated as little as possible and was intentionally forgettable so as to avoid offending any interest group while allowing the bureaucrats to say that they did something good. I'm guessing that you in your mind could summon an image of the food pyramid right now. I doubt that you could summon an image of the My Plate had I not just shown one on screen. RFK's new food pyramid isn't actually that different from the My Plate. At the base of the pyramid, it puts fruits, vegetables, and protein, and dairy all in the same category along with healthy fats. Though it does not say what those are, we do get little pictures of cheese and whole milk and a pointedly fatty looking ribeye steak and a salmon fillet. At least it maybe gets things right with the salmon fillet. Fact is, most people hearing my voice right now probably eat way too much seed oil and way too much saturated fat from things like steak and dairy. The only fat we might need to make an effort to eat more of is omega-3 fatty acids, which are abundant in salmon. Omega-3s are also abundant in chia seeds and flax seeds and certain nuts. The only nuts on RFK's food pyramid are shown much further toward the tip. I'm pretty sure that if you pulled nutrition professionals working in rich countries, they would overwhelmingly endorse putting vegetables at the base of the pyramid. That ain't controversial. But RFK is putting highfat dairy and meat on par with vegetables without saying which you should eat more of. In a way, RFK seems to have reverse engineered timid, ineffectual technocratic centism for himself. He's avoiding ruffling feathers by being vague. RFK's tribe really wants to advocate a red meat-based diet for reasons that we will get to. And this graphic allows RFK to tell his supporters that he advocated what they want without actually really doing that very much. Classic Obama era move. The only sort of controversial thing this food pyramid asserts explicitly is that whole grains should constitute the smallest portion of your daily calorie intake. And refined carbs like white flour and sugar are not shown on the pyramid at all, implying, I guess, that you should never eat them. For what it's worth, I think it's probably good to go into your day not planning to eat any sugar because, as I've said before, carbs happen. Whether you plan for them or not, sugary treats will find you, and you will submit to their will from time to time. You do not need to put sugar on your to-do list. And most of us probably should eat less rice and bread and pasta. But to come out and say that grains should be at the very point of the pyramid, to say that these are the things that we should eat least, that really is a pretty bold statement and one that does not have clear scientific backing. Indeed, there are risks in telling people to eat almost no grains. risks that RFK and his people don't seem to have considered like at all. Public health work is complicated and hard, which is why people have gotten it wrong so many times through the years. You got to do studies. You have to see what happens among free living humans when you give them a food pyramid like this new one. If you tell them to eat less grain, what do they end up eating more of instead in practice? Do they eat salmon or do they eat gas station beef jerky? There's a really meaningful difference between those two protein sources. And you have to get some sense of how that's all going to shake out in practice before you go live with these sweeping new public health recommendations. You also have to consider micronutrients, vitamins and minerals. People used to have a really hard time getting enough vitamins and minerals. You think it's bad now? OMG, just look at how it was in the preWorld War era. Major nutritional deficiency diseases were endemic. Ricketts, pelagra, berry, berry, scurvy, goiters. These were really common things. We have virtually eradicated major nutritional deficiency disease by doing a number of things, but arguably the biggest thing was by fortifying refined grain products with extra vitamins and minerals. People get a lot of their essential micronutrients from fortified white flour and such. None of RFK's people seems to have done the math on what would happen if people actually followed their advice and cut out all refined grains. Would they actually get enough niacin and thamine and iron to avoid horrific debilitating disease? It is just too perfect that in the same week RFK was unveiling this new food pyramid, he was also poo pooing an effort in California to require the fortification of corn masa with folic acid to combat elevated levels of birth defects among a Hispanic population that gets a lot of its daily calories from tortillas. RFK called this completely rational policy insanity, which is itself insane. Or maybe it's perfectly sane if your goal is for more brown babies to be born with neural tube defects, which maybe it is for RFK. Again, I cannot peer inside that worn leather handbag. Would it be better if people got their folic acid from fresh, dark, leafy greens rather than from tortillas? Yeah, probably. But is that actually going to happen? If we ban ultrarocessed foods like RFK says he wants to eventually, are people going to get enough iodine? People get a lot of their iodine from fortified salt that's used in processed foods. You know what they used to call the northern third of the continental United States? They used to call it the goiter belt because almost nobody up there got enough iodine until we started adding it to processed foods. If you think everyone was healthier back before we had the industrialized food system, my brother in Christ, you need to read a book about the past. What's really going on here? Why is RFK Jr. out there saying that a beef-based diet is clearly better than a bread-based diet? Well, as is generally the case with the Trump administration, I reckon it's about the sizzle way more than it's about the stake. It's about the show. It's about social signaling. I think RFK and Trump and the like have vaulted themselves into power by appealing to a perception of lost masculinity. Civilized modern life involves way less killing and way more emailing than a whole lot of men would like to be doing right now. Meat is necessarily a product of violence. Grains are what you put in the bird feeder. Never mind that birds are dinosaurs. They're alpha as hell. But back to the perceived loss of masculinity. One completely healthy and productive way to cope with such feelings is to get your ass to the gym. I join RFK Jr. in endorsing Jim wholeheartedly. If you are an epidemically lonely male, your truest friend awaits you and it is the iron. If you lift weights a lot, really hard, it may benefit you to get extra protein in your diet to provide raw material for the muscle growth that you are stimulating. Promoting a high protein diet is going to be popular with the gym bros and the gym girlies. It's also going to be popular with the people who wish they were gym bros and gym guries. The people who say, "Well, I didn't have time to lift today, but I can still get extra patties on my burger, and that'll make me jacked somehow." Our desire to do the fun part of building muscle without also doing the hard part is what RFK is appealing to with this food pyramid. It's also what Dunkin' Donuts and Jack in the Box and Starbucks and Subway and Chick-fil-A are all appealing to with their new high protein menu options. Not enough people in this country are lifting hard so as to necessitate these foods, but we're eating them anyway because we like to imagine that we're the kind of people who would need to eat a high protein diet, which almost none of us are. The protein craze is just another way for us to pretend that certain calories don't count. the way we did it with carbs in the 80s. Pasta is made from plants, just like vegetables, and it's a satisfying thing to build a meal around that isn't red meat. Therefore, the calories don't count. That stuff was delusional in the 1980s. It's delusional right now. All calories count. It's not as simple as calories in versus calories out. >> >> Yes, about a quarter of the calories you consume from protein are burned off through the digestion process, but that doesn't mean all the calories are burned off. Most of them are not. Also, high protein foods tend to be highfat foods. Unless you're getting your extra protein from refined supplements like protein powder, which I advocate for people who are trying to get jacked without eating an insane amount of meat. I'm not sure what RFK thinks about protein powder being that it is an ultrarocessed food. People like steak, so they like it when someone tells them that steak is healthy, which is why RFK Jr. is telling them that if there is a war on protein right now, it is the still feeble ineffectual war on meat eating, on animal protein specifically. Yes, veganism is on the rise, but not by much. We're still talking about a very small subculture here. The economic health of the meat industry is not meaningfully threatened by people for the ethical treatment of animals and the like. Why are people like RFK so concerned about veganism? Because they really, really, really do not like to be morally challenged. They don't like it when their kids come home and ask tough questions about their parents' values and behaviors. This threatens the hierarchy and it provokes a level of inward moral scrutiny that dudes like RFK simply cannot abide because somewhere deep inside they know they're wrong. I eat meat sometimes and even I can acknowledge that the moral case for veganism is pretty damn strong. It is hard to refute. In fact is we will all have to eat less meat as the global population gets richer because there isn't enough meat for all the people who want it and are increasingly able to afford it. When you really like something that you know is wrong, how do you avoid the painful cognitive dissonance that arises? You tell yourself that meat is actually essential for a good diet. Therefore, you have no choice but to keep eating lots and lots of meat. Even though the meat industry is both unsustainable and cruel, the idea that meat is essential is a moral pretext, like so many of the others that people invent in order to justify doing things that they know they shouldn't do. Why else would RFK put beef at the base of his food pyramid while putting beans and other plant proteins like way up near the tip? There is no broadly accepted dietary science to support such a distinction. If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about everybody's diet to make them healthier, well, I'm not sure what you should do, but one good option would be for everybody to put beans at the base of their pyramid. Beans are not great for everyone if you're sensitive to them. If you're someone who suffers from so many allergies or autoimmune conditions that meat is basically the only food you can tolerate, well, look, you're not alone. That is a real thing and I am not judging you. But most people can and would get by great on mostly beans. Plus, beans are awesome and we can grow enough of them sustainably to feed everyone. You know what else is awesome? You for tolerating yet another RFK Jr. rant from your grumpy uncle goose. I swear this isn't personal and I'm not obsessed. I do feel that in these times, in this crisis of trust, in this epistemological calamity that we're all living through, and as democracy itself declines in the West, I have an obligation to make constructive contributions as a citizen of some limited renown and influence, an influencer, if you will. And given the kind of stuff that I normally talk about on this channel, mythbusting RFK Jr. seems like something that I am particularly well situated to do, so I'm doing it. I certainly do not want to lean so hard into it that hating on RFK becomes the entire identity of this channel because then we get into this really dangerous pattern where our entire community is united by being in opposition to something or someone and it would threaten our group dynamic. It would threaten my livelihood for me to ever change my mind. And that kind of thing is bad. It's happening all the time around us. If RFK starts doing more constructive stuff from his perch or if we get new evidence to support what he's already doing, I need to make sure that I am able to accept that. And that would be hard. But just know that I am trying to avoid making anti-mahaism core to my identity or core to our group identity because when you incorporate something into your identity, it becomes real hard to change in response to changing circumstances. Anyway, make good choices. Talk to you next time.