Proteinmaxxing Is In. Should It Be?

When fast food restaurants add protein in everything, it's officially a craze.

I was in Nashville last week for work. While in town, I went to Waffle House, because if you’re in the South, you might as well roll the dice with diabetes. And I also have a fondness for restaurants where I could get murdered at any given moment (IYKYK).

What surprised wasn’t the chaos of the place—the grizzled waitress running it like a friendly dictatorship, the methy griddle cook slinging eggs at warp speed. Those are Waffle House standards. What surprised me was the menu.

Even Waffle House is now part of the protein craze. Their new menu included various items, like a 53g Protein Bowl—which mixes grilled chicken, eggs, and lots of cheese. I also passed a Raising Cane’s advertising new meals with 80+ grams of protein. McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and Taco Bell all have protein-forward menus.

The narrative—now so mainstream that even Waffle House has adopted it—is that we don’t get enough protein and need to eat more. A lot more.

Researchers point to 2025 as the year protein became the #1 nutrient. We’re told eating more can help us lose fat, live longer, balance our hormones, build muscle, and offset the downsides of menopause and GLP-1 drugs.

I’ve reported on health for two decades. In my experience, when fast-food chains jump on a diet trend, it’s a reliable sign that the hype has outrun the evidence. I saw this with low-fat, low-carb, and keto.

So: Is protein just another craze? Or is it different this time around?

To find out, I reached out to the world’s foremost protein scientists. He’s spent three decades studying protein’s role in health.

The rest of this post covers what I learned from him.

From here, you’ll learn:

• What eating more protein does (and doesn’t do) for you.

• The costs and benefits of new protein-forward menus and foods.

• The cake analogy that will change your thinking about protein.

• A simple framework from researchers to prioritize muscle growth, metabolic health, fat loss, and more.

• How to know if you need more protein, and how to increase your protein intelligently and avoid four potential drawbacks.

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