At 12, I had the same after-school ritual every day: come home, spend an hour or two reading the newspaper, mix rice and bhindi (okra) in a bowl, and head up to the terrace. There, tucked under the shed, I would devour my favourite lunch.
A few years later, I ditched the school autorickshaw and started cycling to school instead—a ride that took nearly an hour each way. Like every other desi mom, my mother would never let me step out of the house on an empty stomach. But with the morning rush of getting ready for school (and spending far too much time perfecting my puff hairstyle), breakfast was usually simple: a glass of milk sweetened with jaggery and a banana before I hopped on my bicycle and set off.
It may sound silly, but most days we had simple, carb-heavy meals like every other Indian household, and only on weekends did we get a proper protein-packed, balanced lunch when my mum worked her magic in the kitchen and made chicken curry. Sunday lunches were usually either chicken or fish, since everyone was home together. Life felt happy because it was rich in carbohydrates.
Despite a balanced diet being one of the most discussed topics in school, given my obsession with having a body like Jennifer Lopez, I never quite understood the importance of proper nutrition, and just having a protein-packed meal on weekends is not enough. It took the social media generation for me to realise the importance of protein and the wonders it does for the body.
However, from protein cake and protein spaghetti to protein chips and more, everyday foods are now being rebranded through a protein lens. Digitally active users are increasingly bombarded with content that fixates on protein, with fitness creators and health experts frequently emphasising its importance. So much so that a simple “let’s have lunch” can quickly turn into a breakdown of protein counts on the plate.
While these complex molecules are essential as the body’s fundamental building blocks, many millennials, Gen Z, and zillennials are reporting growing anxiety around not meeting their daily protein targets.
This phenomenon, often referred to as “protein fatigue”, reflects a sense of exhaustion from the constant pressure to ensure every meal is heavily protein-focused, three times a day. Last month, Alia Bhatt resonated with the same sentiment. She reshared her sister Shaheen Bhatt’s Instagram story that read, “My favourite childhood memory is not ever having to think about protein.”
Deepika Pranav, 29, talked about how the modern wellness environment has changed the way she thinks about food. Speaking to indianexpress.com, Deepika explained that the shift has created confusion rather than clarity as people find themselves overwhelmed by contradictory messages. “Some promote protein powders; others discourage them. Some say natural food is enough, while others suggest consuming a certain amount of protein in every meal,” she said.
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“Another challenge is that not everyone eats non-vegetarian food regularly, and although vegetarian foods also contain protein, people often hear that those foods come with more carbohydrates, which creates even more uncertainty,” Deepika added.
This confusion is especially visible in everyday households. Even simple, traditional meals begin to feel inadequate when filtered through modern nutritional expectations.
When nourishment turns into constant calculation
Kajol Awon, 27, described modern nutrition content as mentally exhausting. Protein shakes, bars, coffees, and high-protein snacks dominate wellness media to the point where the word “healthy” feels increasingly like marketing rather than meaning.
She explained that while protein is important, wellness is highly individual, something the internet often ignores. “I think social media has made wellness very DIY, with everyone trying trends without fully understanding their own body. I don’t completely discredit these sources of information, but I do think moderation and self-awareness are important. At some point, the focus has to shift from blindly following trends to actually listening to your body and understanding the root cause of what it needs,” Kajol said.
Adrian Williams, author and CEO of The CEO of Me, placed this shift in a broader system. Protein, he explained, is scientifically legitimate as it supports muscle growth, recovery, and satiety. However, the issue is not the protein itself, but how it has been amplified.
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“What changed is the amplification. What used to be a conversation inside a gym is now the content engine for an industry worth trillions. Protein sells because it is visual, measurable, and attached to an outcome people actually want. You can photograph a high-protein meal. You can show before-and-after results,” he said.
He argued that social media has turned nutrition into a performance-driven space where measurable numbers create an illusion of control.
When health ignores life itself
Medical and nutrition professionals emphasise that protein is only one part of health, often not the most neglected one. Parul Yadav, Chief Dietitian at Marengo Asia Hospitals, explained that while protein deficiency is not widespread among urban populations with sufficient food access, many people still fall short of optimal intake. However, she stressed that the bigger issue is imbalance rather than deficiency alone.
“Social media has made this problem worse because now a lot of people think everyone needs to eat a lot of protein or take protein supplements. That is not true. Most people who do not exercise do not need to eat much protein as bodybuilders. We should focus on eating protein, eating a balanced diet, and eating consistently rather than thinking we need to eat a lot of protein all the time. Protein is important. We should make sure we eat enough protein,” Parul said.
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People often focus heavily on protein tracking while ignoring sleep, stress, fibre intake, and physical activity. She observed that it is common for individuals to meticulously count protein while sleeping only five hours, eating processed foods, and living under chronic stress. “The problem is that a lot of people do not move much and they eat a lot of foods that are not good for them like foods that are highly processed and do not have many nutrients,” she said.
Traditional diets in modern eating habits
Kristina Das, 36, added a grounded, lived perspective to this conversation. She shared that for her, the shift away from strict diets is less ideological and more practical. She emphasised that home-cooked meals remain her primary approach, shaped by affordability, stress, and daily responsibilities rather than structured nutrition plans.
Reflecting on past experiences with diet culture, Kristina recalled how she once followed the GM diet when it was trending. The approach—limited to fruits, boiled eggs, and milk for seven days—did not last.
“After three or four days, you get bored, and it is not good for your health. And now I keep following diets, but that also doesn’t work. So, practically, I prefer to have home-cooked meals. And of course, at times I order. But yeah, that is it for the second question,” she said.
The marketing behind ‘healthy’
Shivam Hingorani, founder of a longevity-focused nutrition brand, explained that while protein awareness is justified, it has also been simplified into a single-macro obsession. India does face a real protein gap, but social media often reduces this complex issue to oversimplified messaging.
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“Telling a 40-year-old Indian professional they need more protein is true. Not telling them that sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass, begins in the early thirties and accelerates sharply without adequate protein and resistance training means they have no real reason to act on it. India also has a genetic predisposition toward lower muscle mass relative to BMI. So this conversation isn’t just relevant. It’s urgent. The science is the story. You just have to respect people enough to tell it properly,” Shivam said.
Tanya Malik Chawla, a Functional Medicine Practitioner and Nutrigenomics Researcher, argued that the current focus on protein in social media discourse is not only justified but long overdue from a public health standpoint.“The real issue is that India has spent decades discussing calories and fat while largely ignoring protein adequacy,” she said. Given rising rates of insulin resistance, obesity, fatty liver disease, metabolic syndrome, and declining muscle mass, she believes the protein conversation is proportionate and necessary.
“The bigger risk today is not that people are talking too much about protein. It is that generations have normalised eating far too little of it,” Tanya added. Tanya noted that in her retrospective observational review of women aged 36–60, common findings included low anabolic reserve markers, insulin resistance, ferritin depletion, and chronically inadequate protein intake alongside minimal resistance training.
“The larger clinical issue is not protein obsession. It is metabolic fragility driven by years of inadequate muscle-supportive nutrition and insufficient resistance training,” she said.
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Gen Z and millennials and their “protein obsession”
Chirag Yadava, founder of Ruokamill, noted that Gen Z and millennials increasingly rely on social media for nutrition guidance, which has contributed to what he describes as a “protein obsession”. At the same time, Sudipta Sengupta from The Healthy Indian Project argued that protein awareness is not inherently negative. In fact, many Indian diets do show protein gaps, particularly due to high carbohydrate consumption and shifting dietary habits.
However, she also acknowledged that viral content often lacks context, leading to partial understanding.
When awareness becomes anxiety
Mental health expert Dr Rimpa Sarkar, PhD, Sentier Wellness, Mumbai, highlighted the psychological side of this shift. She explained that constant exposure to nutrition content can lead to guilt, anxiety, and obsessive thinking around food.
“Over time, this may lead to anxiety around food, obsessive thinking about meals, guilt after eating, or feeling like one is constantly failing at health. Psychologically, this kind of pressure can turn food from a source of nourishment and enjoyment into a source of stress and self-judgment,” Dr Rimpa said.
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Dr Rimpa emphasised that wellness content, when consumed without boundaries, can create emotional fatigue rather than motivation. She also shared symptoms of an unhealthy relationship with food.
- Feeling anxious or guilty after eating certain foods
- Constantly comparing one’s diet or body to those of people online
- Obsessively tracking protein, calories, or meals
- Feeling overwhelmed by conflicting health advice
- Believing one must “earn” food through exercise
- Spending excessive time consuming wellness content
- Feeling mentally exhausted rather than motivated by health information
Protein fatigue is not a rejection of science or nutrition. It is a response to too much information, too many rules, and too many conflicting interpretations of what “healthy” should look like. Protein is essential. But awareness is equally important. Health was never meant to feel like a constant performance. And food was never meant to feel like a test.
