Protein Obsession, Mindfulness & Parenting: A Conversation With Shruti Seth

Everywhere you turn, something is fortified, upgraded or rebranded as protein-rich. Protein chips. Protein makhanas. Protein atta. Protein bars that look suspiciously like the junk they claim to replace. Scroll long enough, and you’ll be told urgently that you are probably not eating enough of it. That your muscles are disappearing. That your forties demand grams, tracking and supplementation.

Somewhere between supermarket aisles and social media reels, a quiet anxiety has crept in. Am I eating enough protein? Am I doing this wrong? Am I already behind?

The Protein Noise

I am in conversation today with Shruti Seth. Actor. Behavioural Coach. Mindfulness Mentor. Arts-Based Therapy Practitioner. I begin by asking her, what does all this protein noise feel like to you?

“I’ve never been a fan of labelling food groups into this is protein, this is carbs,” she tells me. “I’ve always maintained a good, balanced diet. With research increasing over the years, I do see that my mom’s diet in her forties was very different from mine, and that’s thanks to growing awareness."

She adds, "There is a marked difference. I know that if you go to the gym and want to build muscle, you need protein. But I don’t believe in making a song and dance about it.”

Because what we are witnessing right now is not just awareness. It is amplification.

Protein has shifted from being a nutrient to being an identity. It is the packaging doing the talking. It is influencers throwing around macros without context. It is the suggestion that unless you are measuring and optimising every bite, you are failing your body.

Parenting Without Pressure

For many women in their forties, myself included, this feels less like discovery and more like déjà vu. We have lived through low-fat hysteria. Size-zero madness. Detox fads. Clean eating moralism. Each era arrived with the same promise: do this, and you will finally get it right.

But somewhere along the way, information has begun to sound like intimidation. So I ask Shruti how she navigates this as a mother.

"I don’t believe in putting pressure on my daughter to not eat or to eat," Shruti says. "My mom didn’t put pressure on me either. I’ve always been inclined towards fitness, and I understand body anatomy, so I’ve always eaten the right things."

She reveals, "There is a history of diabetes in my family, so sugar is something to watch out for, but I’m not obsessed with it. The key is to maintain a balance. It’s not a one-size-fits-all formula.”

She also tells me that up to the age of five, she restrained sugar consumption for her daughter because she herself was not allowed sugar until five and did not develop a sweet tooth.

“What it’s done for her is that she doesn’t take on too many sweet desserts, and her body doesn’t accept much of it now. Maybe it’s a good thing. We’ll find out with time. As a mom, I did what I thought best.”

There is firmness where it matters.

“I stopped colas completely long ago because we understand what they come with, and that’s a complete no-no. I’m not giving them to my daughter. I’ve told her, when you’re going out on your own, you’re free to make your choices, but I’m not feeding you this.”

No drama. No declarations. She has just built quiet boundaries.

Then I ask Shruti how she stays mentally steady in a culture that keeps moving the goalposts of what a body should look like. She brings it back to something deeper.

“The best thing I’ve learned these days and talk about a lot is mindfulness. You can’t follow life with blinkers on. Things are very simple. People just complicate it. Listen to your body, it tells you so much, it gives you all the signals."

We get so disconnected through social media these days. Be empathetic and compassionate towards your body, and you will get all your answers. -Shruti Seth

Teachers Along the Way

Her learning has been layered over time. Her first yoga teacher, Eefa Shrof, introduced her to yoga and shaped her early discipline. Sonali Sheth, once her hairdresser and now a pranic healer, influenced her in unexpected ways.

Nivedita Chalil deepened her understanding of Buddhist psychology. Nabhiraj Mehta and Neha Patel guided her through arts-based therapy.

Aston Colley shaped her mindfulness meditation practice. Dr Farida Dias introduced her to choice theory and reality therapy. These are some of the very fine people she has met in life and learned a lot from.

Listening to her, I realise the real question is not whether protein matters. It does. The question is how we relate to it. Whether we can absorb evolving research without turning it into a belief system. Whether we can eat to support strength and longevity without measuring our worth in grams.

Perhaps the work is not to reject the protein wave, but to quiet it. To take what serves us. To leave what does not. Because food was never meant to feel this loud.

Authored by Ankita Dhupia,  writer, creator, and 45-year-old mom of two, writing about motherhood, midlife, and the woman in between. | Views expressed by the author are their own.