\u201cI haven\u2019t heard that for ages,\u201d he laughs, speaking to my colleague Emilie Lavinia<\/a> on the The Independent\u2019s Well Enough podcast<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s been a while\u2026 six years ago, in lockdown.\u201d He insisted he never crowned himself, but for all the humility, he\u2019s fond of the title. \u201cIt\u2019s the proudest thing I\u2019ve achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n Post-pandemic, Wicks has been busy. The Body Coach app, children\u2019s books, a Channel 4 documentary, a small army of followers trying to sculpt abs in the morning before the school run, and now a cookbook<\/a> called Protein<\/a> in 15. Given the moment \u2013 the \u201cprotein era\u201d, if we must \u2013 the timing is exquisite. <\/p>\n Supermarket shelves are groaning with high-protein everything. Bars, crisps<\/a>, puddings, yoghurts, popcorn, bagels, ice cream, cereals, brownies, pizzas. If you can eat it, someone, somewhere, has added whey and slapped \u201c25g!\u201d on the front of the packet. <\/p>\n Wicks, though, did not write a love letter to protein pudding. Protein in 15 is about, as he puts it, \u201ctrying to get people cooking again\u201d. <\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got this snacking culture where people believe, \u2018as long as I’m having a protein bar or a protein yoghurt or a protein bagel, protein crisps, I’m eating healthy\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd some of those items may be healthy, but a lot of them are just masking the fact that they are full of additives and emulsifiers, gums and sweeteners and artificial things that aren’t really gonna be good for your overall health.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe only solution from all the research and the documentary I did and going to talks and reading loads of books around ultra-processed food<\/a> is cooking more,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause then you are in control of your calorie intake and your salt, fat and sugar, but also your energy and your mood and your mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n It is not the glamorous answer to the ultra-processed foods (UPF) crisis, but it is the only one he finds credible. Cooking gives you control. Control gives you stability. Stability stops the cravings. Protein bars are merely the nicotine patches of snack culture.<\/p>\n Wicks is not evangelical about what you cook, only that you do. \u201cI\u2019m a big fan of batch cooking,\u201d he says. \u201cMake a big curry or bolognese or chilli, or a veggie pasta bake.\u201d Leftovers are currency. They stop you from \u201cgrabbing that meal deal or that takeaway on the way home\u201d. <\/p>\n Part of the criticism Wicks faces is economic: who can afford to cook from scratch in 2026? Who can afford lean meats, fresh vegetables and time? <\/p>\n He doesn\u2019t dismiss this. He\u2019s lived it. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a really difficult thing to talk about because you want to give advice and for some people, unfortunately, they are forced into eating these foods at a high volume,\u201d he says. \u201cI was one of those kids. I grew up on benefits and we had a really unhealthy diet<\/a>. My mum wasn\u2019t educated in cooking, so I\u2019d say my diet was 80-90 per cent ultra-processed food.\u201d <\/p>\n He\u2019s keen to destroy the idea that healthy cooking equals expensive cooking. \u201cOf course you\u2019re not going to be able to afford lovely chicken breasts and beef mince in all your recipes,\u201d he says, \u201cbut you can use alternatives. There\u2019s tins of vegetables and frozen veg \u2026 you can add lentils to a really nice veggie bolognese.\u201d <\/p>\n The real expense, he argues, is the daily drip-feed of convenience foods. Most of the recipes in his book cost \u201conly two quid per portion\u201d, which \u201cpeople are probably [spending] on a meal deal or a sandwich every day,\u201d he says. \u201cEven protein bars are like, what, three or four quid? They\u2019re not cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Wicks pushes back against Britain\u2019s protein bar moment: \u2018The only solution is cooking more\u2019 (The Independent)<\/p>\n His preferred model is depressingly reasonable: \u201cIf you get a little bit more organised and sit down on a weekend and plan your meals and do an online shop like I do, I do think you could be better off financially.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hardly sexy, but it\u2019s hard to argue with. <\/p>\n \u201cWith this book, I\u2019ve tried to take that philosophy around quick, healthy food \u2013 which I\u2019ve been doing for 10 years now, since Lean in 15 and all those books \u2013 and really focus on protein.\u201d he says. He isn\u2019t against high-protein eating. Far from it. He just wants to remove the neuroticism from the process. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from the school of thought that I don\u2019t think you need to be too obsessed about daily calories, daily protein targets,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always been much more about balance and a bit more flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m just here trying to help consumers get the truth around the ingredients and give people a chance to make an informed decision and eat healthier. That\u2019s really my only goal in life<\/p>\n Joe Wicks<\/p>\n This is Wicks 2.0: less six-pack, more saucepan. Still protein, sure, but protein as a food group, not a lifestyle product. The distinction matters more than you think. <\/p>\n Protein\u2019s cultural image used to be simple: boys in vests swigging shakes after bench press. Not anymore. Protein is now for everyone, including people who have never used the word \u201chypertrophy\u201d. TikTok is an endless scroll of \u201cprotein oats\u201d, \u201cprotein popcorn\u201d, \u201cprotein pancakes\u201d. There\u2019s even whey in instant noodles, now.<\/p>\n Wicks doesn\u2019t hate it, exactly. He just refuses to talk about protein the way fitness influencers do: with whiteboards, bodyweight-multiplying and wild-eyed macros spreadsheets.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to be eating it,\u201d he admits, \u201cbut not obsessing over 40 grams per meal. It doesn\u2019t have to be that complicated. Some days you\u2019re going to have more, other days you\u2019re going to have a little bit less. It\u2019s more about trying to be conscious of it.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked what protein is actually for, he sidesteps the usual gym-bro catechism. Yes, it matters for \u201cmuscle\u201d and \u201crepair recovery\u201d, but he also points to \u201chormones in the body\u201d, \u201cskin, hair, nails\u201d, \u201cgood gut health and digestion\u201d, \u201cperimenopause\u201d, \u201cfocus and concentration\u201d, and the practical bit: \u201cIt keeps you fuller for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n In other words, protein is not just for men who lift things up and put them down again, repeat. It\u2019s for women in perimenopause, teenagers glued to their phones and anyone who finds themselves elbow-deep in the office biscuit jar at 3pm. It is also, Wicks argues, one of the few ingredients that can meaningfully reduce the sort of absent-minded snacking that ruins everyone\u2019s good intentions. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n When Wicks held up the \u2018killer\u2019 protein bar in \u2018License to Kill\u2019, the fitness world didn\u2019t know whether to laugh or riot (Channel 4)<\/p>\n Which brings us to the supermarket problem. <\/p>\n There are few things Britain loves more than a health shortcut, preferably one that can be eaten on the bus. Protein bars were inevitable. They promise virtue but deliver confectionery. They look sporty but they behave like Mars bars in expensive gym kit. <\/p>\n Wicks has seen the industry pivot to meet the boom. \u201cThere\u2019s not just one fitness influencer. Now, there\u2019s millions of people and they\u2019re always emphasising the importance of protein,\u201d he says. Brands, forever pragmatic, responded by taking isolate or whey and \u201csticking it into every single food item on the shelf\u201d. <\/p>\n It works because the protein halo is powerful. But it\u2019s also misleading. <\/p>\n Wicks knows this well, after he fell down the rabbit hole last year while making Joe Wicks: License to Kill for Channel 4, in which he investigated the growth of UPFs, the gaps in labelling and the marketing tactics that hide unpronounceable ingredients behind cartoonish packaging. The title alone tells you it wasn\u2019t going to be a cosy hour of grocery shopping.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Wicks with Professor Chris van Tulleken: two voices who\u2019ve publicly taken on Britain\u2019s ultra-processed food problem (Channel 4)<\/p>\n The most memorable sequence involved a protein bar with two faces. \u201cOn one side, it said 30 grams of protein, 200 vitamins and minerals and all these health claims,\u201d he explains. \u201cBut when you turned it over, it\u2019s the deathly protein bar. It said, \u2018may increase the risk of stroke, dementia\u2026 and cancer\u201d \u2013 health risks that researchers have linked to high consumption of UPFs. <\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever wondered whether fitness television can still provoke, the answer is yes. The real surprise was who got angry. <\/p>\n \u201cI was really surprised at the amount of anger and pushback from the fitness community,\u201d says Wicks. \u201cIt was other fitness coaches and dieticians and nutritionists really pushing back with the narrative of: you are demonising foods, you are stigmatising low-income families, you are promoting eating disorders.\u201d <\/p>\n Wicks was blindsided. \u201cI\u2019m so used to getting such positive responses to everything I do that I wasn\u2019t ready for it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt knocked my confidence a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n But he doesn\u2019t regret it. \u201cI\u2019m just here trying to help consumers get the truth around the ingredients and give people a chance to make an informed decision and eat healthier. That\u2019s really my only goal in life.\u201d And sometimes, he says, \u201cyou need to do things a little bit provocative\u201d because \u201cit is scary s**t\u201d. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n From burpees to batch cooking: Wicks\u2019 evolution from PE teacher to accidental public health educator (The Body Coach\/Getty)<\/p>\n He is also, as he keeps reminding us, not interested in telling anyone they\u2019re failing. \u201cMy biggest concern is, with anything I do, I never want to upset anybody,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m such an empath and I really care about people.\u201d <\/p>\n One of Wicks\u2019 strongest arguments for protein has nothing to do with muscle at all. It\u2019s about how food makes us feel \u2013 and how UPFs make us feel bad. <\/p>\n \u201cWe always think of exercise for our mental health, but I really believe that food fundamentally changes how we feel,\u201d he says. \u201cIf I\u2019m having a bad day of eating and I\u2019m eating a lot of junk and UPFs and chocolates and sweets, I instantly feel it in my mood. I depress and I feel low and I crave it every day.\u201d<\/p>\n Anyone who has eaten an entire share bag of chocolate buttons in a moment of emotional weakness knows this cycle well. It is not a character flaw. It is a feedback loop. And in Wicks\u2019 view, no amount of protein pudding will fix it. <\/p>\n Strip away the burpees and the pandemic nostalgia and you find that Wicks is offering something deceptively radical: literacy. Not wellness optimisation or macros perfection, but literacy: ingredient literacy, cooking literacy, child-feeding literacy. <\/p>\n Protein is merely the delivery system. It fills you up, steadies blood sugar, stops the grazing, protects mood and hormones and, crucially, forces you to make actual meals. It\u2019s hard to hit 25g of protein by eating crisps; it\u2019s easy if you fry some eggs or make a bolognese. <\/p>\n It is also quietly subversive in a world where every health solution is sold in single units at \u00a32.99 a shot. <\/p>\n Somewhere between lockdown PE and License to Kill, Wicks stopped being a workout influencer and became something closer to a kitchen coach. Less glam, more useful. Less dopamine, more fibre. <\/p>\n \u201cI want to empower people and make someone feel like they can make a change for themselves,\u201d he says. And in a wellness landscape obsessed with perfection, that might be the most radical message of all.<\/p>\n Watch the full episode of Well Enough<\/a> with Joe Wicks here<\/a>, or listen on Spotify<\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[103,61,60,446],"class_list":{"0":"post-256096","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Wicks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/joe-wicks-well-enough-1.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"When](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-Killer-bar-claims-it-offers-200-health-and-nutritional-benefits-19g-of-protein-high-fibre-and-lo.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Wicks](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Joe-Wicks-and-Professor-Chris-van-Tulleken-joined-forces-to-create-an-ultra-processed-protein-bar-fo.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"From](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gettyimages-1208029121-2048x2048-0.jpg\")
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