Samantha Maxwell
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
I think Kenny is right. I think it's largely a response to the industrial food system, which, you know, has caused a lot of harm. And I mean, I also think that there's a lot of anxiety around health right now because of the way our medical system is structured. Like if you get sick in this country, it could be a financially devastating event for you.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
So to stay healthy in this medical environment seems more important than ever. Yeah.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
I probably don't get enough. I should probably have more, but I know I definitely don't get enough protein.
It's Been a Minute
Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
I think there's a historical context for it. I think back in the 80s and 90s, fat was really the demonized macronutrient. And then going into the early 2000s, you started having the Atkins diet, the keto diet, which focused on trying to be as low carb as possible. So I think protein is really the only macronutrient that's never been villainized.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
And so a lot of people view it kind of as a safe source of nutrition.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
And I think a lot of this also comes from social media. Like if you are on social media, health can be kind of measured by aesthetics versus maybe like less visible indicators of health. So, you know, no one is going to see if you, you know, are really regular because you eat a lot of fiber, but they can see if you have built a lot of muscle because you're eating a ton of protein.
It's Been a Minute
Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
So I think that's definitely a factor as well.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
I think the idea of not having a restrictive diet is so big now because we've seen the damage that restrictive diets can do to people's both physical and mental health. I think it really is a lot of times about weight loss. Eating a high-protein diet is supposed to be correlated with eating fewer calories overall because protein is satiating.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
Yeah, I mean, I think the masculinity point is a really big one. I think you can also see kind of like a strain of alt-right, like white nationalism there as well. There's an anonymous social media personality and author called The Raw Egg Nationalist who kind of came from the bodybuilder community.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
He's been referenced by Tucker Carlson, and he kind of like rails against the globalist food system and promotes raw eggs. kind of because he thinks they're the perfect food, the perfect protein, and kind of sees it as like white men having strong, healthy bodies means they can better fight globalism.
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Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
I think you could also see milk as a symbol for the alt-right. So there's been instances of people literally chugging milk at neo-Nazi rallies. Oh. There's hashtag Milk Twitter, which is kind of a dog whistle that's, you know, put in juxtaposition to the soy boy like Kenny mentioned earlier. Yeah.
It's Been a Minute
Bad news for protein bros: you might be getting scammed
And even prominent alt-right figures like Richard Spencer at one point had milk emojis in their bios, kind of like a symbol of their belief system, their white nationalism.