Back in 2018, I wrote a guide to chugging whey as a cheap, low-hassle way to hit your protein goals. Whey protein is still a low-hassle way to hit your protein goals, but it ain’t cheap anymore. Oliver Bateman at Men’s Health noticed the same thing.
He went through his Amazon orders and found that a five-pound tub of whey concentrate cost him about $60 in 2024. Why the big jump in price? The problem is the demand has exceeded the supply.
Whey is the leftover liquid from making cheese, and dairies used to discard it, so supplement companies used to get whey basically for free. But protein demand has skyrocketed in recent years. Food companies are cramming protein into everything from Cheerios to Pop-Tarts, and they often use whey to add that extra protein.
And there aren’t enough cheese factories making whey to fulfill that demand, hence, higher prices. I haven’t used much whey in the past few years. Instead of aiming for 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, I now shoot for 0.8, which the research suggests is enough for muscle protein synthesis.
At that target, I’ve been able to get my protein from whole foods like egg whites, Greek yogurt, and lean meats. Bateman recommends doing the same thing. When Brandon Flowers came on the podcast, he shared his five favorite country songs. (Listener Robbie R. put together a Spotify playlist of them if you want a handy reference).
I checked them all out, and my favorite was “Silver Stallion” by the Highwaymen. The song brings together four country music legends — Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson — and uses the imagery of wild horses and open plains to capture the ethos of the American West; it feels like a cowboy ballad crossed with a meditation on mortality. The quartet’s warm and weathered voices harmonize for a real smooth ride.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
