You have to get that exercise component. And then you have to get that nutritional and the other of the all the other components, right? And it's really changing how we feed and really rethinking? What does it mean? And how are we feeding to improve body composition, improve health, improve cravings, blood sugar control all of the things.
Happy New Year. Welcome back to 2023 is an exciting Oh, my goodness, I'm so excited for this year, have some incredible guests lined up for the show. I'm so excited. I can't wait to go wait. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season. And so lovely to be back on the show. You're probably thinking if you're like me, and have indulged a little bit over the festive period, about how you can get into really great shape in the new year. So very common thing for people. I think we all regardless of where we are in terms of the spectrum of how much we need to optimise our body composition, we can always be more optimal. And so I thought it would be a good thing on this bite size bio hack to share. Probably the the easiest hack that you can do to change your body composition quickly, in addition to strength training, and that is to consume more protein. But people get confused about protein, how much is enough? How much is too much? And what should you be looking for. If you're including obviously, we want to use whole foods as much as possible. But if you are including something like a protein powder, what do you need to look for in a shake is protein enough, for example, and also the importance of Leucine, because this actually is a significant trigger for muscle protein synthesis. So that's really important. And you'll also learn in this clip about why you shouldn't be sitting there sipping your protein shake or your essential amino acid drink, you actually need to consume it quite quickly to trigger that muscle protein synthesis. And there is no better person on this topic than Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. So I'm going to introduce you now to this clip from my episode with Dr. Gabrielle. And if you want to go back and listen to the full episode, it is episode 131.
The key in understanding optimising body composition and optimising muscle mass as we age is understanding that blood levels of amino acids need to rise to a specific point. And if you are below, if you are sub threshold, and constantly sipping on these amino acids, you get a little and then it goes down a little and it goes down. But you never hit you never hit a threshold. For example, the threshold would be a minimum of 30 grammes of protein that is a minimum of you know, for four and a half ounces of beef, chicken, whatever it is. And the reason that is is you need to hit what's called a leucine threshold, which is an essential amino acid it is one of the branched chain amino acids. And as soon as you hit that, it triggers your muscle. It's like putting a key into a car and starting the car. And then the next thing after that is that you have to have all the amino acids. So let's say for example, you're eating beef or bison, you have all the amino acids to then contribute to regeneration of muscle to building more healthy strong muscle over a period of time. Now, for people that likes to eat little small meals a day and never reach a 30 to a more optimal 50 grammes of protein, which is a robust amount and it's really changing how we feed and really rethinking? What does it mean and how are we feeding to improve body composition, improve health, improve cravings, blood sugar control all of the things? Ideally, you then balance it to a minimum of 30 grammes of protein to a maximum of 55 Beyond that, you still absorb everything but as as it relates to optimization for muscle, then there's no reason to go higher than that.
Okay, that's interesting. So what about people that are fasting and they're doing one meal a day? They would then only be really you say they're still be absorbing the protein but it well, all of it? Okay, that's interesting. I'm appreciated that but they This isn't
this is another great point. I think that we should touch on the one meal a day people are one meal a day. And you have to define your goal. Is your goal to build muscle or is your goal to maintain tissue? And when I say tissue, I mean, are you just trying to maintain your body composition? If you are trying to maintain your body composition, you absolutely can get away with one meal a day. But ultimately, that means that you have to get all your protein in Not one meal is not an ideal eating strategy, it is probably not an ideal eating strategy. A more an all I want to have a caveat in here. Humans are incredibly adaptable. We could do, and cycle through different strategies. It doesn't have to be one way of eating for a lifetime. This is how I eat. And this is what works for me, it can be for this one month, I am going to do one meal a day, I'm going to measure my body composition before, I'm going to measure it after. You can, for example, if you're younger, get away with one meal a day, assuming that you're training, you're doing resistance training, and you're just doing a lot of activity. Then people you know, some of the research would say, well, the 24 hour period amount of protein that you get in is really what's important. You know how much protein you get in a 24 hour period. And I agree with that. However, I will say if you are up against ageing or hormonal changes, or thyroid challenges, you have to take that into consideration and what would be an ideal strategy? I mean, that's at least what I've seen in clinical practice.
Yeah, it's somewhere between 30 and 55 grammes for
sure, and the literature supports that. There is an art there's a science of medicine and a science of and, and a science to nutritional science. And then there is the art of doing it, which comes from, you know, decades of practice and experience in the arena with patients. The best of both worlds is really combining the science and then the clinical practice.
Yeah, for sure. And what about in terms of when people have done resistance training? Some of the research I've looked at is particularly for women, having that dose of protein with some carbohydrates can moderate that cortisol response, if it's within 60 minutes of the workout? Is that something that you encourage people to do? So? Yes,
I encourage it depends on what the goal is, are you looking for muscle glycogen replenishing and carbohydrates are important, are you looking for muscular repair and really building muscle, then it would be protein, if you're looking for a combination of both than both is is fantastic. As it relates to cortisol, I don't think increased cortisol levels while training is a negative, right? It's not it's how the body is designed, I think we're cortisol becomes a problem is if you are going through ebbs and flows of blood challenges with blood sugar regulation throughout the rest of the day. Yeah, I will point out something else. These are great questions, and you're allowing me to talk and serve your audience, which I really appreciate. I know that I am giving you long explanations, but these questions are so you really nailed these questions. Thank you. Post training is very important if you are Peri menopausal or older, postmenopausal older Peri menopausal, any kind of chronic inflammation. And I'm going to tell you why the literature supports that. If you have if you are older, if you are postmenopausal if you are obese or struggling with inflammation, your tissue has the physiology of a quote an older, more mature individual. To simply state that, by having a robust amount of protein post training, your body is primed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, you've got nutrients to the tissue, it allows you to lower your protein dose post training. Okay. And what that means is there's you know, people will say, well, it doesn't really matter how close to training, they use your protein for muscle protein synthesis or body re composition. And I would argue that most of the data is done in younger healthy men. And that if you are a woman, and if you have hormonal changes, if you are obese or are if you are older than we know that you can overcome anabolic resistance, which is that in a inefficiency of skeletal muscle, when you resistance train, and then when you eat protein.
Amazing, which is interesting, because that's exactly what I've been doing recently. Yeah. So I'd gone through a stage because I like to periodized training, I've gone through a stage where I was doing cardio and some people listening, right, we'll be doing that and they're into running and then I'll go through a stage I'm like, right, I want to gain some more muscle mass. And I've been very, very disciplined with my protein. And now I can get back to doing I'm 45 I can get back to doing a pull up with no assistance, literally through the resistance training and the protein. And that's why I'm so like, excited to have you on because I just think the more people that can really get this the more they can protect their health and longevity.
I agree with you and we're up against a lot. It's interesting because I think in in our space that we're in, it's either keto or PE Leo, and then it's kind of keto paleo vegan vegetarian. It's not protein forward or wait, there's one more group or it's kind of the bro. Hey, dude, I'm gonna eat a lot of protein kind of a bodybuilder space. The reality is, it's probably, and there's not really a there's a carnivore space. But that is, you know, while I would say my diet is is probably more on the carnivore style, there are these these groups that are a bit extreme. And I think that if we were to really break it down, and look at what the priority would be for Ageing, it is high quality protein. It is and you create a flexible plan where you prioritise protein, it's a protein forward plan, that's your number one priority. The next thing that you do is you decide do you tolerate carbohydrates? Or do you tolerate fat? I tolerate carbohydrates, and do much better on carbohydrates, even when calories are controlled, versus doing better on fats. So the individual then decides, they prioritise protein, they know how much they're getting in a day. They know how much they're getting in a meal. And then they determine do they do better on carbohydrates or fats? And then you do a meal dosing on both those macronutrients?
And what about in terms of training? So when somebody is trying to do that body composition? What have you found in terms of the ideal balance like from, from my understanding, here, we have to create enough of a trigger, right? So we've got a lift heavy enough to create that stimulus to the muscle tissue. Have you found there's different ways of doing this? There's enough Hollywood celebrities the same, I just lift three pound dumbbells, hoping this amazing thing, you'd have to do so many repetitions, right, right. That's even lighter than bodyweight, right? I'm just curious what you found. And with your, in your clinic, in that respect, volume
matters, like focus, intensity, and Sue. Stu Phillips talks a lot about this at McMaster University, it really is about volume. And I think that data is clear. And then it is about exertion, volume and exertion. I recommend you know, and then training status is this a novice train individual is this an intermediate or advanced train, if an individual is advanced, then there is a component to muscle memory. In addition, those people put on muscle mass much slower, versus a new individual who is going to put on makeup put on a couple pounds of muscle in a month. Right, they could put on maybe two pounds of muscle, it depends. And then of course, that training volume is really what matters and how they're doing it. And if they're hitting body parts twice a week, you know, having a really good structured programme is important. You know, I always recommend, like I said, care Killian or Layne Norton has great structured programmes. These are guys that are very science oriented. And an Andy Galpin, the reason why it's good to speak with an exercise physiologist, when it comes to programme programming. There's always a path forward. And you can do a path that takes a long time because you're inefficient, or you can do a very efficient path forward. And I think when it comes to body composition, you have to get that exercise component. And then you have to get that nutritional and the other of the all the other components, right? gut health matters really your ability to to absorb nutrients. Sleep matters. Most people, many of the athletes that I train, and many of them military ops guys, they all have sleep apnea, even though they're fit it, it has nothing to do with it. It has to do with the musculature. And a lot of the women, when women go through Peri menopause and post menopause, this is the time they get sleep apnea with hormones change. And this is important stuff and then you correct for the the lifestyle factors. You see real improvement.
And what about with because there's some curious and I haven't been able to really get to the bottom of this when you're looking at taking collagen orally, right? So it's not a full spectrum essential amino acids, it's missing the tryptophan, but it's providing very specific trigger, right? So it's triggering collagen production within the body. What happens if you then you have essential amino acids alongside collagen G then miss out on that on that trigger?
No, you don't. You have to know you don't but is missing tryptophan. So you would need tryptophan and it's very low in the branched chain amino acids. It's high in proline hydroxyproline you would need to do a combination and just really make sure that it was balanced. I think actually collagen is great. I think collagen is great. I don't think collagen is great for muscle doesn't do anything for muscle. I haven't seen a tonne of great evidence on collagen, but I haven't clinically I have seen it do really good things and much higher doses. And I do think it's a great product and I do think that we are seeing some data for hair, skin and nails, which makes sense. The question becomes absorption.
And it has to be at that high dose, doesn't it? A lot of the supplements you see when people are taking it actually so low and yeah, amount of collagen. Yeah, yeah. What about with taking essential amino acids? So you were saying like with when you're looking at a protein source, somewhere between 30 and 55 grammes, you say you're gonna actually just take some essential amino acid journey powder or tablet form? How much do you need of those because those are going right in too bad
50% So if it's, it's a, it's about 50%. So if it's 30 grammes of protein, it's 15 grammes of essential amino acids. Okay, so a lot. That's a lot to be taking, and then you're missing the food matrix. You're missing the iron, the zinc, the Selenium, the B vitamins, the creatine, the taurine, I mean, maybe you're getting some taurine, but you're missing all the other components. We have to begin to think about the macronutrients and the food sources as food matrixes. Right now we have this isolated thought of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as opposed to what is in it that makes up the whole component, right? When an individual goes to an essential amino acid, which can be very helpful if their diet is low in protein. The question then becomes and what one would have to think about is what about the other components? Like I said, those minerals as vitamins and minerals that you are now not getting
