#159: PROTEIN: What you need to know for a longer and healthier life

In this episode, we're diving deep into the world of protein and why it's a key player in promoting longevity and a healthier life, especially as we navigate through the challenges of middle age. 

I'll also help you figure out if you're getting enough protein daily (spoiler: you might not be) and share how I plan my meals to make sure I'm getting the right amount.

We'll cover essential questions to help guide you to a longer and healthier life:

• Why is incorporating protein into your diet essential for a longer and healthier life?
• What's the optimal daily protein intake for maintaining overall well-being?
• Where can you find the best sources of protein in your daily meals?
• Can protein aid in weight loss and muscle growth?
• What practical steps can you take to ensure you're meeting your protein needs?
  
  
  

If you're facing challenges on your midlife journey and need some guidance, I'm here to help. I'm currently opening slots for a few individuals to join my FREE 1:1 Coaching.

Apply now for personalised support from me.

Or you can check more of my coaching programs here


WAS THIS HELPFUL?
I’d be so grateful if you could take a moment to follow, leave a 5-star rating, and download a few more episodes.


WORK WITH ME:

Move Better, Minimise Pain, Prevent Injuries, Relieve Stress and Enhance Your Everyday Life with my Total Body Connection Program

Ditch one-size-fits-all dieting and discover your unique nutritional blueprint with
28-day Revoloution Program

Discover your Inner self and Improve your mindset with Mind Over Muscle Program

Get the support, guidance, and tools you need to feel stronger, healthier, and more empowered—at every stage. Membership Program

Join my EXCLUSIVE community of Women in Midlife: Strong Body...

Transcript

#159: PROTEIN: What you need to know for a longer and healthier life

[00:00:00] So today I'm going to talk about protein and why it is so important for us to put up a bit of a focus on our protein for our muscle health and to obviously the ultimate goal of aging the best way possible. My whole main goal in life is I want to live the best life possible. So I want to be as fit and active for as long as I can.

I want to be able to be as strong as I can, lift my kids up whenever, you know, lift them up, even when they're old lift my grandkids up, all of those things. I want to be able to do that. I do not want to be an elderly person that can't move or can't do anything. So that is really leading that good quality life.

My belief is we need to start it now. I also believe that the stronger the healthier that my body is, whatever life throws at me, I will be able to cope or deal with it better. So they're my [00:01:00] beliefs and that is my why in life. So that is, you know, the reason why the days when I can't bothered to exercise that I still get up and do it.

It's the reason why, you know, I focus on, you know, , I still have foods I enjoy. But I also make sure that I am getting a nice balanced meal because of how good it makes me feel. And because I know that it's helping me work towards that ultimate end goal. What I feel has happened over since a long time and it's really great that lots and lots of new research is coming out is people are forgetting.

About how important putting a focus on maintaining or growing your skeletal muscle mass. If you are someone like me growing up, we were always taught to eat less in order to lose weight. We were always taught about get yourself down to 1200 calories and all that things. And what I see, what I've seen happen with so many women that I've trained or people that have known in my life is that yes, people may have [00:02:00] lost weight, but they have lost their muscle mass.

And there was this huge focus on, you know, and I still see people they get on the scales and they, they see, they just look at that one, that one little piece of information of what the scale is saying, and they're not focusing on all the other aspects, , what's your muscle mass, what's your visceral fat, what's your body fat percent, they're not focusing on any of those other things.

They're just saying that the scale's gone down, and they think that that's better. The first time I ever did a body composition scan myself, I weighed 75 kilos and I did a scan. I did. I, I think I don't know, maybe six weeks or so. I set myself a goal. And I lost weight. I've lost five kilos. But in losing that five kilos, I lost three kilos of muscle because I wasn't eating correctly.

If I had only focused on the scale, I would have thought that I had done really well, [00:03:00] you know, but the truth, the truth is that I was better off. When I weighed 75 kilos compared to when I weighed 70, because my muscle mass was more. And it was such a great eye opener and it was such a good lesson to learn.

And from that point on, I stopped focusing on the scale. I tried to look at the, all the other aspects that goes into your, what your weight is. But what I want to really talk about and focus on today is your skeletal muscle and how this is giving you the power of your longevity. And when we focus on maintaining or growing our skeletal muscle, that it will totally change how your body looks.

 It'll change how your body metabolizes food, and it will also increase , your lifespan, because muscle plays such a more important role than what people give it credit for. So your muscle is actually 40 percent of your body, your skeletal muscle. [00:04:00] And, there is this huge connection that I feel lots of people are missing.

To the amount of your skeletal muscle to your overall health. So I value strength. So I see lots of people, they see someone that's thin and they think, Oh, I would like to look like that, but I ask you to think about, are they strong? So can they move well? Can they, you know, lift stuff up? What can they do?

Because my personal opinion is I value strength. I value being able to move well and do things. And and maybe somebody that, you know, they don't have a lot of skeletal muscle, they're going to end up having more trouble later on in life. And again, for me, my whole goal is this lasting as long, living as good a quality life as long as I can.

It's. Breaks my heart every time I go in to see my grand and she, it's a huge reminder every day of why I do what I do and why I [00:05:00] focus on having emotions. It started off, , It started a few years ago that , she didn't have any muscle strength and she struggled to do things like lift her arm up.

So lift her arm up to grab something from the top shelf, open a jar. And this is what I'm saying that people, when you talk about muscles, people think about like Arnold Schwarzenegger , like somebody that's like a bodybuilder or anything like that. That is not what we're talking about. You've got to think about your muscle gives you, it helps you with your basic movements, opening a jar, you know, opening a jar, lifting something up from a top shelf.

So, so I, you know, you would watch those things and I'd always think about, Oh yeah. Yeah, that's why it's important to be able to move well and, and maintain your muscle for those basic movements. But as my gran has got older now, you know, she was, she decided to go into a home a year ago. So she's, she moved less.

She's moved less and she's [00:06:00] eaten less and she has just deteriorated. There is nothing health wise wrong with her. She has arthritis, but she, her movement has slowed down so much. Like I can't tell you she now used to, she used to do when she was. My parent's house, when she's here, she, she said she lived here for six months, she used to do like laps around and you know, so she used to do these 10 types of laps around and in the home, she's still, she knows how important she still tries to get up and move.

And but now she, she can't, she probably can only do a quarter of what she used to do. And like I said, it's all from lack of movement and the less that she's moving, she's losing that muscle. So like I said, every time, you know, and now the movement's even, even slower. You know, and it's just, these are things that are in your control that can change to my grand's defense, the research and the knowledge was not out there like [00:07:00] it is today.

Okay. So this is what I want to make it my mission to help everybody live their best life possible. Now the research is there now. , the knowledge is there. You look, look, if you have anyone elderly around you, if you look at them, see what their, movements like, what their life is like, look at somebody, if you know somebody that has put a bit of focus on movement and maintaining the muscle, look at how they move and compare it to someone else.

I have my grand's brother who is a few years younger than her. Three years ago, and he's traveling the world, and I have interviewed him, you know, he's put a huge focus on maintaining his strength and his muscle, and he does some form of exercise every day. Now, this is what I'm saying, guys, look, look at the people around you, you know, if you work in a, you know, if you work in a home, if you.

Work with elderly, any of those things. Just look at them, look at how they move, look, compare the people that , if [00:08:00] you know anybody that's of that age, you know, what's the, oh, you know, somebody migraines in the eighties, she's 88, look at somebody that may be the same age and maybe they've, that maybe they've been more active, you know, but folks and see how they move.

But what I want you to do is I want you to start focusing on your muscle mass and maintaining or growing your muscle mass. Now, when we do this, we will decrease the risks of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's and hypertension. You will have the less worry less worries about falling over. You will you will have, you have control over your muscle mass and it gives you your life.

It gives you your better quality life. . The most amazing thing I learned from reading the book by Gabrielle Lyon, her name is, it is called Forever Strong by Gabrielle Lyon. So one of the most important things that I learned from that is, so if you got sick and you have more muscle mass, your body is [00:09:00] going to chew into that muscle mass.

So they are your protective layer. It's your protective mechanism. So Gabrielle Lyon had done this research over over 20 years, and she was, and people that tended to get sick with cancer or anything like that, the people that had a larger muscle mass, the cancer ate into that muscle. If you don't have any muscle mass, or if you don't have as much muscle mass, Then it's going to start chewing into other things.

So it is your survival mechanism. It is something that you have control over, something that you can do for yourself to help fight against anything that that life throws at you. And we can, it's never too late to change. So it is never too late to start, if you, to start focusing. on maintaining or growing your muscle mass, regardless of what age you is.

There is a lady that I love to follow. She started weight training at 74 years old. I can't think of her name now, but she's amazing.[00:10:00] She started weight training at 74 years old. I think she's now about 79 or so. You know, all of her lifestyle diseases she's been able to turn around. I will find her name and I'll put it into the notes.

There's so much. You know, she feels she has more vitality for life, any of these things. And she didn't start until she was, until she was 74. So it is never, ever, ever too late to start. The thing that we have been taught all our whole life was to eat less in order to lose weight. So it's all about calories in, calories out, and it's all about eating less.

But instead of focusing on that, what about we focus on how can we, how much protein can I get in my day? To maintain or grow my muscle mass. So it's a total different spin on it. We are not thinking about eating less. We are not thinking about depriving ourselves We are thinking about how much protein can I eat when I look at people's diets?

And I look at what people are eating we generally I generally find most [00:11:00] people are eating totally under eating and protein that they get to the evening and then they have their You know, their biggest protein meal and then they're going to bed, you know, the more that you distribute your protein out throughout the day, you are giving yourself a better chance of being able to grow and maintain your muscle mass if you are someone that exercises.

So I guess we've all heard about you see everything saying about why it's so important to do resistance training and and all this, but I. Hey, you know, I can see people still defaulting back to that old way of, Oh, I always need to do cardio. I think you should do what you love. We understand if you use somebody that really enjoys cardio, then do that.

But go, I'm going to put in one weighted session. If you're someone that likes lifting weights, or you've never done either, just know, understand it's important. And this, lifting your [00:12:00] weights is going to be able to help you maintain and grow that muscle mass. And that's what our goal is here. Our goal is about having you know, maintaining what we have.

After the age of 30, Okay, so after the age of 30, if you are not actively working on your muscle, you start to lose a percentage every year. I think it's 4 percent or something of your, of your current muscle mass, but we want to maintain that. We want to maintain that and you can do this by resistance training and increasing your protein intake.

Now, what I find most people are eating, most women would be eating some or less, but you know, the average one is probably get about 60 grams a day. And what I would recommend and what is recommended about one gram. of protein per pound of weight. So in Australia, we generally measure ourselves in kilos.[00:13:00] 

So what I do is I convert that measurement, I convert that measurement to pounds, and then I whatever that is in pounds, and that's how much. So I personally, I aim for about 150 grams of protein per day. I find it really easy to get that. I've done this for a long time. There's something that you can do.

I distribute it out throughout the day. So I'm giving myself, you know, I aim for about 30 to 40 grams of protein per serve that I'm eating. And yeah, I split, I split it out throughout, throughout my day. The way in which we age, it can be strong. It doesn't have to be riddled with obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, any of those things, Alzheimer's, or you can, you have, you have control over this and you can you can make a difference to your own life.

By starting to look at how much [00:14:00] protein you're eating, you know, doing some form of resistance training. Now people who have spent their whole life yo yo dieting, in doing different diets, then yo yo dieting has just, will be destroying your muscle. Because, because you're eating less, and when you start eating less, Your body needs a certain amount of food to function optimally, so what is it going to do?

It's going to start chewing into that muscle that you have. Now, so I want you to understand this and stop any of the yo yoing today. Stop it. So it stops right now. We are not going to eat less in order to lose weight because I guarantee you you're losing muscle mass. And it's really hard to grow your muscle mass.

We want as much as possible. And when I scan, when I I've got a body composition scanner and when I scan my members, we scan them and we can see, and you know, I can see straight away if they've been eating too much, if they start to lose muscle and then we go, okay, so then we [00:15:00] refocus and we put that more focus on the protein.

So that's when I said, if you're just focusing on what that one number says, it's not necessarily right. And like I said, when I had done my first scan, you know, I was better off weighing 75 I was when I weighed 70, because I had more muscle mass, you know, and this is how we are going to you know, really change the trajectory of aging.

Okay, change the trajectory of aging. So instead of thinking about being a you know, like a. A frail, old person that can't move very well and you're scared about falling and you have to use a walking frame or any of those things. What about being a, a fit, strong, elderly person who can stay on her own, who can move well, who doesn't have to be put into a home.

And that is something that you can change and you don't have to, you know, do crazy workout routines. You don't have to, you know, do. Eat little amount of food. Any of that stuff. You have to do quite the [00:16:00] opposite. You know, we do some strength training, but the biggest focus is make protein, the hero of all your meals.

So with protein, it can get quite confusing because your protein. Is made up of 20 different amino acids. So not all proteins are seen as equal or the same. So yes, this does make it very confusing. So these amino acids, they are like the building blocks of your muscles. So they're kind of all the building blocks.

And you imagine them as they're tiny grains of sand. And they, that all go together to kind of build a Sankoff. Now, the reason why we so if something doesn't have those, those 20 amino acids in it, it's not classed as a complete protein. Depends on, say, say like where there's lots of, there's benefits to everything, but let's use Collagen as an example, it doesn't have, [00:17:00] it's not a complete protein.

So if you were looking at your protein count for the day, I wouldn't, you wouldn't, you obviously collagen has lots of benefits. If you've seen my nice long hair, I all put that to my collagen. It works on your hair and your nails and your tissue repair and lots of other things, but it's. Not classed as a complete protein so but your protein is the more protein it's going to keep you full and it's really, really hard.

So I also hear people say, Oh, my God, I have to eat. I can't possibly eat that much food. And so I hear people sense kind of planning can be like, I can't eat that much food. But the thing is, when you eat, there is a certain amount of food that our body needs to function optimally. So that is your BMR. So if you work at your BMR, that is how much you need your basal metabolic rate.

That's how much you need is if your body, if you were laying down all day and not moving. Then you add in, you know, if you have an active [00:18:00] job, if you you have an active job, you know, if you're putting in any exercise, any of those things, you're moving around that, that you're going to need a lot more food than what people think.

So what happens when you don't eat enough is your body starts to shut off what it doesn't need. So, because again, and that's why people go, I'm eating, so I'm eating the little food. Because you know we're going with that old way of thinking. I was brought up exactly the same way. You'll think, well, I'm eating less food.

Why am I not losing weight? But because your body, you're, you're not, your body doesn't know when it's going to get regular food. It's just going to store. And it shuts off what it doesn't need and it slows you down. So you'll start, you'll feel more tired, more lethargic, and it's all because we aren't eating enough and it's really, really hard.

So your body does not can't make protein itself. Okay. So it cannot make it up itself. So protein needs to be [00:19:00] consumed or your body can make up a couple of hydrates. Okay. So that's why when you're not eating, When so that's why we need to fuel our body. With protein, when the more and it's really hard because of the effects of protein protein keeps you full, it's going to help repair.

So when you do any when you're doing it, if you were exercising, your muscles are going to tear, but then they're going to repair, but you're eating by eating protein. It's going to help them repair leaner and stronger. It will, it will keep you fuller longer. You, you aren't going to be looking for as much food.

And if you are thinking, okay, I'm going to try to eat more protein, you will, you will, and then just slowly start increasing it. And then you'll find one day that you're like, Oh, I'm actually, I'm actually hungry. I'm looking for food. And that's good because your body's starting to work how it should. So we need food to survive.

We need food to survive. We don't need to be [00:20:00] restricting and eating less. So I want you to look at really improving the amount of protein that you're eating per day. Now there's lots of people you know, as you are going into this age of menopause and you know, people here, you know, with the hormone changes and you know, we get told about this menopause belly and all and putting on weight and that all of this stuff is due to menopause.

But the thing is that you can change the trajectory of that by eating a protein focused diet for anyone that's in that menopausal category. I do not think that that that has to be your case. We have a decline in hormones with with most people. It actually there's this natural decline in hormones with menopause.

But what happens is it makes you less active. So we end up moving less and there's so much more research out there as to As she how it's actually, it's not the menopause that's making people gain weight. It's the lack of movement. [00:21:00] So you can, you can really make a change to that. So what I say for anybody in that category and what I say for anybody, not just people are going through menopause I truly believe whatever the first meal that you eat for the day, that is the food that you are going to crave for the rest of the day.

So if you ate a really sugary breakfast, then you're going to tend to crave those sugary foods. If you ate a really high carb breakfast, then you're going to crave those more carby foods. Again, there's nothing wrong with carbs. We need, we need them all. We need a balance of protein, fats, and carbs in our diet.

But I want you to think of your first meal of the day is and to make it a protein focused meal to make that protein, protein focused meal. And we want to be having 30 to 50 grams of protein per serve in that meal. It can any, it can be I find the easiest way to get protein in, especially for breakfast, because I'm really busy in the morning is for me, I personally have a protein shake.

Other things you can do is, [00:22:00] you know, like eggs, cottage cheese, but as an example. So if you have to, if you're aiming for, you know, so for me, I reach, I aim for 150 grams of protein per day, so I might have a protein shake for breakfast, or another day I might have eggs, so I might have eggs, scrambled eggs with cottage cheese.

So, one egg has six grams of protein in it. I add the cottage cheese as well to get my protein. I'll have avocados, then I've got my fats, and I'll have some tomatoes. So that's, that's a really yummy breakfast. Many other breakfasts I have is I actually really enjoy a meat breakfast. So turkey mince or turkey burgers.

So I have them with some greens, you know, so that's just, that's just a suggestion. Then you would have your lunch. So again, in that lunch meal, you're going [00:23:00] to make the 30 to 50 grams of focus of your protein. obViously we need our fiber, you know, our vegetables, all that other stuff, and then you're going to, you know, in the afternoon, if you get hungry around that three, four o'clock, there's yogurts, yogurts, any of those things that you can add in, and then again, your dinner.

So again, with your evening meal, you want to make. Your evening meal protein focus as well, which you're then going to go to sleep with women. If you are someone that is awake through the night, so if you're awake through the night, protein takes longer to digest. So people, especially ones that are going through menopause, if you're having hot flushes, any of those things, look at what your evening meal is and make that evening meal say fish and see how different.

So I had a lady that she cut out red meat at, before bedtime, so she only has fish and her hot flushes and [00:24:00] everything went away. So just be wary, wary of that. The other thing with protein is you might be thinking, Gosh, you're asking me to eat so much, my calories are going to blow out. So for an example, if you're going to have about 100 grams of protein, it's only going to be 400 calories.

So the protein is not going to be the thing that's going to blow you out in your calories. Okay, I promise you the other thing, the benefit of protein is the thermic effect of foods. So this means that it takes more energy to metabolize. So you're going to burn more calories to, to metabolize that protein focused meal.

So that is a bonus too. So everything I want, I want you to learn from this as to that your skeletal muscle is something that we should really put a focus on. So instead of focusing on weighing less and losing weight. Let's focus on how much muscle can we [00:25:00] gain when people come to me, they ask me, they want to be toned, they want to be toned, they want to shape up any of those things to become toned is bending more muscular.

So any of those things you are not going to become more muscular by eating less. You are not going to become that way by restricting your food. You are going to become more toned and stronger by having a protein focused diet and resistance training. It's, it's, it's a, it's, there's, you know, and we, it's not, doesn't need to be complicated.

It does not need to be complicated. It can be really make it as a. As you know, simple as you properly possibly can, but the way in which we, we age, we can age strong. We can be fit and active and we can move well. It does not have to be riddled with diseases, you know, [00:26:00] obesity, diabetes, any of those things.

Those things can be changed, but we need to start working on it now. And the sooner that you work on it, the more muscle that you can build while you're younger. The easier it is to maintain it when you're older there was a person that was during COVID. He ended up getting long COVID and it was someone that I followed on I used to listen to his podcast and he got long COVID.

Now he could not exercise. During, it was about 18 months that he was quite sick and he couldn't exercise or anything during that period. Well, he did very, very little now during that whole period of time, because he changed his nutrition to suit his movement, he only losing one kilo of muscle. And this is what I'm saying.

Even if you can't, if you can't exercise, if you can't, you know, if there's things you do, you can look at your nutrition and you can focus on the protein to make, to make sure that you are maintaining that muscle mass. Okay. And so we, when, and the [00:27:00] That, you know, people again wanting to look toned, you know, the more protein you eat, the more resistance training you do, you are going to lose fat.

Okay. You are going to lose fat and increase your muscle. And the thing is muscle is denser than fat. So when we get onto the scale. We get onto the scale, you know, and we see that the you might see that the scale hasn't changed, you know, we, that's why the scale may not have changed, but your body composition would have, but that's why it's also important to look at other aspects, take photos of yourself, do your measurements.

So the biggest thing that I also share with people is do your tummy measurement. So if you go onto the scales, there's so many, and I've done a podcast on this before, you get onto the scales and you see that the scale has increased, well, I want you to do your tummy measurement. If your tummy measurement.

Has gone up and the scale weight has gone up. You have put on fat. If your tummy measurement has stayed the [00:28:00] same or less and the scale measurements gone up, you are retaining water, hormones, any, anything like that. So you've not put on fat. So you haven't put on, so you haven't put on, you know, it could be hormones, whatever's going on with you at the time you could have eaten something salty and you're just retaining, retain that.

So, so look, look at the other factors. Don't just focus on the scale. So from today, I want you to get rid of this yo yo dieting, understand that yo yo dieting is destroying your muscle and muscle is so important. Your muscle is the thing. That is going to keep you alive longer. Your muscle is the thing that is going to, your skeletal muscle is a thing that is going to protect you in whatever life throws at you, whether you're in a car accident, whether you're you know, you get sick, anything, the more muscle you have.

It is a protective layer that you have control over. So take charge today. You [00:29:00] have control over this. Take charge today. Put a focus on how much muscle mass can you grow, can you maintain and make protein your focus in your meals. If you need any help on this or you want some advice, please make sure you send me a message because I'd always love to help and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Bye.