The “Protein Window” Myth — How Big Business Shapes Our Beliefs

Why do you believe the things you believe?

Anyone who’s been in the fitness game for a while will remember the protein myth.

Around 10 years ago, it was commonplace to believe that in order to build muscle your absolutely had to get an intake of protein within the “protein window” of 30–60 minutes after exercising.

Most of us believed that if you didn’t consume some form of protein within 30–60 minutes of lifting weights, then your entire workout was nothing but a big waste of time.

After a gym session, many of us ran home as quickly as we could to try and get some form of protein within the crucial “protein window”. And conveniently for the protein industry, most of us did this by drinking a protein shake.

The “protein window” was, of course, hugely exaggerated. The truth is, it really isn’t essential to consume protein within 30–60 minutes of working out. It might help a little, but the effects are pretty negligible.

So why did so many of us in the fitness world believe this piece of misinformation? Because that’s the power big business has over our beliefs.

They Control the “Mind Space”

(This is an idea that’s incredibly difficult to put into concrete terms. So please do your very best to understand the gist of what I’m talking about here)

Our brain is capable of holding a lot of information. And in our minds there are a lot of “mind spaces” that can be filled with information.

One of these “mind spaces” is our opinions on working out, and more specifically, protein intake and protein shakes.

Multiple websites and businesses selling protein shakes pushed the lie that you had to get your protein in within a small window in order to increase profits for the industry. They used bogus scientific studies and convincing language to spread the lie.

Huge numbers of people believed this lie and then started telling their friends in real life, as well as strangers on the internet. The lie then circulated organically from person to person and became a commonly held belief.

With no real push-back, the beliefs of the public around protein shakes were molded and shaped to exactly what suited the protein industry the most.

Because giant industries and giant corporations simply have such enormous amounts of money and resources at their disposal, and because nobody else with any reach or power intrudes (why would they bother?), the interests and beliefs that are convenient to big business often become the dominant narrative amongst the population.

After all, who else would bother spending their time debunking the lies? Who else has the same reach and power as the giant businesses who are selling to us ?

There is very little money to be made in debunking lies. And so, very few people bother to do it.

Big business is able to shape our beliefs about certain areas of life mainly because there is almost no competition that stands in their way. Nobody is as motivated or as incentivized as them to control the narrative in the “mind space”.

Just take the protein industry for example. Who else would be motivated to debunk the “protein window” myth? Who else would be motivated to try and control this “mind space” Nobody.

There may be very little money to made in debunking lies, but there are millions to made by spreading lies that encourage people to buy more.

There is always profit to be made in people buying something rather than buying nothing. No large, powerful forces exist to encourage people not to buy something, and no large powerful forces exist to debunk and challenge the lies of big business.

Big business molds the culture. Big business molds the beliefs of the public. Big business molds your beliefs

Big business often has partnerships with media companies or even own their own media platforms. They can influence public opinion by controlling the narrative presented in news coverage, entertainment content, and social media channels.

If big business has the ability and power to mold the beliefs of the public, what are the wider implications of this?

• Can weapons manufactures like Lockheed Martin shape public beliefs around wars in order to sell more weapons? Can they discourage you from voting for anti-war presidents?
• Can food manufacturers shape public beliefs about which food we’re supposed to eat in order to sell more food products?
• Can big pharmaceutical companies encourage us to indulge in unhealthy habits so that they can earn billions profiting off of selling drugs to an already sick population? Can they discourage you from voting for politicians that support free universal healthcare?
• Can big business encourage you to hate and despite politicians who have policies that would be good for the population, but would hurt the profits of big business?

How many of your beliefs were actually shaped by big business?

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