The Hidden Sugar Trap in Anything “High-Protein” - The Menopause Edition

These days, everyone shouts at you “eat more protein” and food manufacturers quickly jumped on this trend. Walk through any supermarket and the shelves are full of bars, puddings, yoghurt drinks and powders claiming to contain high amounts of protein. It’s not much better on social media where influencers are flooding our feed with their high-protein recipes.

All of this is great but… (and this is a big BUT), many of them forget to mention what else is in their “healthy” meal ideas and products.

Adding a good portion of protein to your meal is one thing, but if that comes with a ton of carbs - most of them sugar - it’s counterproductive.

A portion of Nestle Cereals contains 25 grams of protein per portion wrapped in 60 grams of carbs and 10 grams of sugar. A supposedly healthy RX bar comes with 12 grams of protein, 24 grams of carbs and 14 grams (!) of sugar. Even Rude Health’s lentil crisps serve you 18 grams of protein with almost double the amount of carbs (32 grams if you want to know).

But my pet hate is those 20-something TikTok girls that share their “high-protein” breakfast bowls, oblivious to the fact that us midlife ‘girls’ can’t even look at carbs without adding another roll to our bellies.

You know what I’m talking about?

Problem is when your hormones are leaving the party during perimenopause, you’re getting ultra-sensitive to anything high carb. Your body is less reactive to insulin meaning we’re pumping out more and more which often leads to insulin sensitivity and further down the line to diabetes.

I know this because, despite my healthy lifestyle, I came dangerously close to insulin sensitivity until I dialled back on bread, rice and pasta.

And when you know that you ‘should’ eat more protein you become a prime target to anything screaming “high protein’ at you, like that delightful breakfast I discovered on my Insta feed the other week.

It looked good - Greek yoghurt, a handful of berries, half a banana, some almonds and a little bit of raw honey. Because if it’s RAW it must be good, right?!

Well….

• Greek yogurt isn’t bad per se. It has typically around 8 grams of protein per cup. The sugar content in plain unsweetened varieties is usually lower but still around 9 grams per cup, primarily from lactose (natural milk sugar). This can easily double when you go for anything with flavour or sweetened.

• Berries are great because they’re low sugar and packed with antioxidants but they add minimal protein.

• Half a banana contributes about 0.7 grams of protein and around 8-10 grams of sugar. The riper they are, the higher their sugar content.

• A small handful of almonds provide about 2-3 grams of protein and a negligible amount of sugar.

• That ‘little bit’ of honey the Insta girl so generously poured over her high-protein bowl was questionable. However you look at it, honey is mainly sugar and my guess was that she easily added about two table spoons (= 34 grams of sugar). How she could still wear a cropped top remains a miracle? Maybe she was still a teenager with a super fat metabolism.

So, this whole “protein-packed” breakfast tallied up a 13 grams of protein, 74 grams of carbs, 15 grams of saturated fats and a mind-boggling 60 (!) grams of sugar!

Even when you leave out the honey, it’s still 25 grams of sugar.

For a mere 13 grams of protein! (The optimal amount for us menopausal women is 30 grams per meal)

And you can be sure with that sugar bomb at the beginning of your day you set yourself up for a wild ride of sugar spikes and crashes, resulting in ginormous cravings all day long.

So, skip those shiny influencer bowls, listen to a nutrition specialist (like me) instead, and opt for something that actually has high amounts of protein in it, like a protein shake or scrambled eggs with smoked salmon. And if you just can’t live without Greek yoghurt (I know people), then add a big scoop of protein powder to a small portion of sugar-free yoghurt. Add some nuts, seeds and berries and you’re good to go.

You don’t need honey or bananas - you’re sweet enough just as you are.