To think I am not going to whither away?

[wavecurlnoidea]

Soooo, my BIL tells me today that I am destined to suffer sarcopenia and muscle loss when older because I only eat meat 3 times per week. Even worse, my chosen meat is fish.

i just prefer that, although I do like poultry every now and again. I don’t care about following a diet, it’s how I like to eat. I mix this with lots of whole grains, lentils, beans and dairy. I also like a bit of sugar for treats. I eat tons of veg. But I understand that I need more than that.

His theory is I won’t get enough protein and fish is inferior. And only eating it 3 times a week is encouraging muscle loss.

I am 50 and fairly fit, normal weight and feel ok. Health check recently just fine.

is he or am I the arsehole?

Maybe sniper alley will hit him hard. Sometimes we project our instinct.

Many people eat processed meat 3 times a day - it'd be easily done- bacon with breakfast, ham sammich at lunch, sausages for dinner.
The protein in processed meat isn't good quality.
You can get all the protein you need from plant sources, you just need to eat a variety to get all the essential amino acids. The difference with meat is that it's a source of complete protein. I believe soy is a complete protein though.
Your bil is a dick.

@ThatFairy get your B12 checked

I was eating meat 3x a week,(for environmental reasons) but when I started tracking my diet I discovered my protein was really low , I eat lots of veg, lentils usually with brown rice/pasta or pearl barley/ bulgar, eggs too and nuts. It was coming in around 30 grams of protein a day but for my weight I (apparently) should be having 140g a day!
I started roasting a chicken and using it for sandwiches/salad at lunch time or having a piece of salmon. And I started including organic protein in my porridge. I’m now having 100g of protein a day.

Do they really?

I'm 71 and eat a diet much like @wavecurlnoidea . I am still strong, active and have good muscles. I have 4 gym classes a week and go for long walks.

I’m a life long dairy free vegetarian, maybe let him know that I used to be a fulltime professional athlete, I now do hyrox and I currently weigh 98kg and it isn’t excess body fat.

I guess he’s proof that meat isn’t brain food.

Hi OP, ignore him.

However the protein thing is important as we age, as boring as it is.

My mums generation were forever 'slimming' and cutting out fat and protein in favour of crackers and fruit and veg. So not terrible for vitamin intake, but absolutely abysmal for sarcopenia. Add in the fact that they might not as a generation have done weight bearing activity, add in osteoperosis and their bones would break and they wouldn't have the muscle condition to recover.

It's so bloody boring tracking this stuff, I've just had 20g protein for breakfast in the form of kefir/Greek yog/mixed seeds, but I usually try for 30g and then 30g with lunch. But as I don't tend to eat dinner I really struggle to get any later in the day.

There is no small snack that contains 30g protein. And I can't do the protein bar/powder thing.

For ref op, a tin of red salmon or pink salmon has nearly 40g of protein. So yes you can eat fish and still meet protein requirements.

Would you find a Trek bar palatable? They have 9g protein. I eat them because I'm coeliac, not because of the protein, but I think they're quite nice.

Short of a genuinely inadequate diet, it’s not food that prevents sarcopenia, it’s resistance training, which can be as simple as frequent yoga, walking with a weighted vest and other exercises.

You are unlikely to be eating insufficient protein. The elderly people you see shuffling around just don’t have a history of regular exercise. They don’t move enough.

The information is but a Google away. Sorry, but what’s required is physical effort.

Yes we need protein , and more as we get older

we don’t need it to come from meat or from snack bars
and no we don’t need the kind of levels that are internet fairy tales at the moment - up to 1g per kg of body weight

you get loads from all sorts of sources - whole meal bread for example - 13 g of fibre from 2 slices of bread

why not track all your protein for a week to see what you are getting really to shut him up

what you should be doing is weight training- lack of exercise is what encourages muscle loss and as you get older it is import ant to protect your muscles . eating protein without the exercise seems
pointless

And as for inferior - that was debunked in the 70s - if you get variety it all works out. Add a bit of butter to your beans on toast

@Needlenardlenoo no not really. I don't really like sweet stuff. Which is weird I know!

But having mentioned the salmon above i might go and buy a few tins from aldi later!

Also agree with @HoppityBun the exercise is so important.

I am lucky in that respect, I started using wright's in my early 30s at a mums exercise class run at the DC school overseas. It was heavy kettlebells and I've loved using weights ever since. So whilst I'm not brilliant at protein, I do have very visible arm muscles and strong thighs!

I had surgery a few years ago and it was so brilliant being able to haul myself off the sofa with my arms when I couldnt use my stomach muscles!

! I don’t know anyone who does so - certainly no one under 35 or who is health conscious Large intakes of processed meats such as bacon, ham etc is very bad for your health.

The focus on meat is concerning because it suggests quite a bit of dietary ignorance. There’s protein in all sorts of of foods and if you understand that and eat a wide variety of foods, then you benefit from all the other nutrients in those foods, such as fibre, oligosaccharides, lutein and so on. All these are important: for instance for eyesight, skin and bone health.

Your dietary choices are up to you, but this near obsession with protein from meat suggests that neither of you have much idea about nutrition.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8804093/

Oo I have a suggestion then - I think they're called Cheesies. Baked cheese and nothing else. I got them in Holland and Barrett's in desperate "no gluten free food available post Xmas shopping hell". They're shelf stable so I keep some at work (teacher, eats far too many Trek bars...).

@Needlenardlenoo oh that sounds like a great snack!

I’m a mostly vegetarian middle aged woman with pretty decent muscles. I think this protein thing is a fad. I haven’t eaten anywhere near the target protein amounts for my height/weight ever and I’m fit and strong. We should all be eating more fibre to live well - I eat legumes every day and oats for breakfast. Lifting weights is good, though. You should definitely be doing some of that.

Nobody can answer that. It depends on everything else you eat, your activity levels, your personal biology etc etc. If you think about it, there huge variations in healthy diets around the world. Some Indians live mosh on daal and rice, a lot of Inuit people live mostly on seafood, many cultures have no dairy in their diets but still get plenty of calcium.

You could always try making one change eg slightly more meat and see if it changes anything. I have found that my brain fog is better with slightly more protein in my diet. On the other hand, you may feel better with less meat.

‘My mums generation were forever 'slimming' and cutting out fat and protein in favour of crackers and fruit and veg. So not terrible for vitamin intake, but absolutely abysmal for sarcopenia. Add in the fact that they might not as a generation have done weight bearing activity, add in osteoperosis and their bones would break and they wouldn't have the muscle condition to recover.’
@Moveyourbleedingarse

What a ridiculous and totally inaccurate generalisation.

@Petrine

Wow sorry I didn't mean to offend you!

OK. In my own personal experience and anecdotally from my mum and her friends in the 80s and 90s lots of women dropped all fat from their diet, very often dropped dairy and slimmed using ryvitas, crispbreads and grapefruit.

Lots of fitness people push the idea that very high protein is necessary, and whilst protein is important for muscle gain and muscle retention, it isn't the main reason that the fitness industry encourages the average person to eat that much. It is promoted because when people focus on eating more protein, they naturally eat less overall because protein is satiating, if you eat high protein meals you're much less likely to want to snack.
Sarcopenia is more of a risk if you have a history of disordered eating, if you're very underweight, if you're a smoker, and if you don't/can't do any weight bearing exercise. If you're eating a varied diet and some meat or fish then chances are nutritionally you're fine. It can certainly be fine on a veggie or vegan diet too though usually vegans have to be a bit more conscious of what they're eating to get all the nutrients they need as it's doable but easier to miss. The main thing as others have said is to think about whether you're doing enough weight bearing exercise to help keep you strong as you get older.

@Moveyourbleedingarse my mum and her friends were the same, plus add in heavy smoking which helped them stay skinny. Sadly I saw many of them go from skinny to frail as they got older. There was a really strong message of low fat in the 80s and 90s, and aside from the message that fat was bad for your heart, there wasn't that much focus on health - or at least it was assumed that for women if you were slim, you were healthy. Cabbage diet, grapefruit diet, Beverly hills diet, and let's not forget the special k diet...! Diet culture in that era was awful!

Surely your question should be "Do I have a balanced diet?" rather than "Do I eat enough meat?", meat doesn't need to form part of your diet so long as what you are eating provides you with a good balance of the nutrients you need.

I saw Paul McCartney in concert a few years ago and the strength, stamina and energy on stage was unrivalled…

As you age, your muscles will gradually weaken no matter how much meat you eat or how fabulous your diet is. That's life. Eat well, walk a lot and lift weights when you can and you'll be fine.