Episode 88: How To Be Awesome At Exercise & Diet So You Are Awesome At Age 100

What does it look like to be awesome at 100? That’s what we’re talking about today.  

Longevity!!  

What we should be eating now and how we should be moving so we live a long and very physically functional life.

When we are old… we want to play with our grandkids and our GREAT grandkids and we want to be able to tie our shoes!
So let’s think… how do you want to look, perform and feel when you are 60, 80 and 100?

MOST people are exercising to look good, not actually for health and a long life of movement. And science basically tells us that if we aren't exercising we are whittling away. So we need to move!  And focus on balance and building muscle and stretching. Right now, if we fall, most likely nothing happens.

But if you fall later, the probability of something bad happens is so much greater. Don’t let yourself get stiff and lose flexibility.

Muscle is the largest organ in the body and is responsible for so many functions throughout the body and it is for sure the most important organ system to get right when we are talking about aging.

We worry about being overweight but I really think we need to shift our focus. We need to think about being under muscled as much as anything else. The reality is most of us are under muscled and so many diseases start in the muscle tissues first.

Muscle is one of the ways we can really change our metabolism. When you exercise and you build muscle - muscle builds calories at rest while cardio burns calories while you are actually exercising.  

When you’re looking at long term adjustments in metabolism - muscle is the key factor in that.

When you think about the impact of muscle, there is something that happens.  When you’re young, your hormones are strong and you can really drive muscle.  It is important that we change our diet and exercise as we age.

And if you do take a fall, the higher muscle mass you have - the greater your survivability. We should really work on building muscle while we have the flexibility to do so. We know that the higher the protein in your diet - the more muscle mass, the better your bone density is.

Fractures and falls are one of the things that really devastate our older population. There's a death risk from falling and the chance of dying from a fall is really preventable.

So mid-life optimization of skeletal muscle is so important! As we age, we start to lose muscle mass and strength and function

So rather than thinking about loosing fat, let's think of it as far as building muscle and strength.

There is SO much more than eat less and exercise more. Thinking about building muscle instead is so valuable.

Breaking it down… here are the 2 main factors we need to focus on for functioning well as we age…

1. Optimizing your nutrition

2. Get on a good strength train plan

When we are younger, we have a little grace period - which is good we have some cushion and some time to figure it out.

As we age, as our skeletal muscle becomes resistant- which basically means it does the protein as efficiently as we used to.

We have to change our nutrition- by understanding dietary protein mid-life we can really ward off all the physical aging changes. You know how people get smaller as they get older.

So what is the right amount of protein?  We should be eating about 30-50 grams of protein per meal.

You have to change things as your body changes and as you age and your hormones change.

Many of us, especially women are not getting enough protein. The average woman gets 60 grams of protein a day and 100 for men. That's really low. So what really progressive dietitians say is that you should have one gram of protein for ideal body weight.

So if you weigh 125 pounds, you should have 125 grams per day. Easy enough right? You need 30-50 grams of protein per meal to stimulate the muscle tissue. This is KEY!  So you are probably only stimulating tissue once or twice a day if you’re just having 60 grams total in the day.  

This is how we get skinny fat. You lose muscle tissue and gain body wait. Good proteins are just so good for you! It takes more metabolism to burn proteins in the body than carbs so it's more optimal for for your body.

I really think we are dieting and depriving our body of what it needs! Today and for a long life.

Some people think..

If we eat too much protein, it gets converted into glucose in the body.  And that’s true but it’s not a bad thing!  It's a better strategy to get in your carbs and allow your body to generate the glucose.  

The body does require glucose - so the better way to get it is by your body generating rather than consuming it.

Eat the good proteins!!  Like…

• Grass fed beef
• Wild caught fish
• Organic chicken
• Organic eggs

The things is… Protein causes a phase 1 insulin release.

Too many carbs- over 40 carbs per meal causes a phase 2 insulin response. So then you’re chasing your blood sugar all day long which is not what we want.

Meal Spacing

The worst thing you can do is graze all day long when it comes to how the body works and longevity.

Small meals all day is a myth - you’ll never turn over that muscle tissue - we want to trigger that muscle tissue.

It's all about the amount of protein you eat at a given time. So make sure you are getting a minimum of 30 grams of proteins per meal.

This will change your metabolism and increase your brain function and keep you feeling strong and alert into your 90s and beyond!!

Cheers, to being awesome at 100!

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