pbass

And the quality of the meat is important. Best to try and only consume antibiotic-free meat. And this is not just because of the potential for antibiotic resistance. Flouroquinolone antibiotics, for example Cipro, are used in factory meat and poultry. Read about what that does to your body. For one, it destroys mitochondria in connective tissue (more quickly for some than for others). So it is essentially aging you prematurely. Years, heck decades, of putting even small amounts of that in your body will take a toll. Fortunately, it's getting easier and easier to find antibiotic-free meat and poultry in grocery stores. Fast food, not so much.

Flip Flop Rider

Genetics matter as well

Classtime 

If you are interested in nutrition to maximize health, consider
https://nutritionfacts.org
If you insist on consuming meat and dairy products, this site may be useful to you nevertheless.

rsbob 

Gave up red meat and pork and processed meat years ago and frankly don’t miss it. Was a big lover of steaks, but with the hormones, antibiotics, and impact on the environment (methane and deforestation by Latin American beef producers) no more.

Still eat plenty of fish and some chicken, but get my protein from a variety of sources which is very important for senior athletes.

MoAlpha

I don’t feel great about meat, but we eat it a couple-three times a week. There’s just no other easy way to meet protein requirements for two elderly athletes without ingesting a huge caloric load and that seems to me the best health trade-off for us. We pay through the nose for a monthly delivery from a local producer of grass fed beef and forest raised pork. This is for environmental and humane reasons. I buy exactly none of the health claims.

Classtime 

Plenty of protein for ANY athlete in plants. Highly recommend the movie The Game Changers.

MoAlpha

Yes, sure, and you can grow them all too if you have the time and inclination.

Classtime 

Given the time and inclination you can learn how easy it is to eat only plants. The fact is that no one needs to eat meat or dairy. As a smoker, I can say it is easier to continue smoking.

MoAlpha

Yes, it's easy to cook vegan and we do it a couple of nights a week. Tonight, for instance, I'm making tofu with ginger and scallions and sautéed bok choi. What's not so easy, at least for me, is being a fully employed professional and planning and preparing meal after meal with the full set of essential amino acids, which don't involve soy every time, and which are palatable and varied enough to be pleasant to eat.

wolfchild

Nothing but propaganda and misinformation.

Classtime 

It actually refutes propaganda and misinformation in an easily consumed format.

And I agree that the adjustment from the S. A. D. Takes some effort. My Virginia tobacco was pleasant but hard to find in CA.

Richard Cranium

I think we all keep our own private "diet/exercise" balance sheets.

For many years I maintained a training volume in excess of professional Ironman triathletes. A considerable amount of my diet was drinking 4 or 5 or mores beers.

I liked Jim Fixx, and his book was inspiring to me. Luckily - I had better genes for dealing with my exercise/booze "balance."

The facts are - for a few people - exercise does ameliorate the effects of a high cholesterol diet. But that hardly means its a good idea to ignore any aspects of your health.

Jeff Neese

Humans are naturally omnivores, going back to the very beginning of our species. Wherever and whenever meat was available to eat, we did. That's the "Hunting" part of Hunting and Gathering. It is most natural for us to eat meat.

terrymorse 

If I've understood the studies, exercise doesn't seem to prevent the formation of plaques in your coronary arteries. In fact, intense exercise may increase the amount of plaque.

But exercise apparently produces hardened plaques, which are less likely to break off, form a clot, and cause a heart attack.

Those hardened plaques may explain why exercise of any kind reduces the risk of heart attack.

Classtime 

Got a link to the analysis of earliest human remains and evidence of their diet including as much meat as the S. A. D. ?

OldTryGuy

Having Prostate Cancer(PCa), some leaky valves, half a thyroid, Red cell issues, arthritis since the '80's, oh yeah and the issues from an Orchiectomy thanks to the PCa, diet and exercise is Paramount. Eat and drink what fulfills your desires and enjoy life the best you can.

Carbonfiberboy 

Chocolate flavored whey protein, after breakfast and dinner plus a little before and after workouts. Do you know of a downside?

terrymorse 

Other than being yummy, none that I can think of. But I try to get my protein from food.

As far as the "can't consume adequate meatless protein without eating too many calories" idea, I don't see that. My daily "elderly athlete" dietary requirement is 2500-3000 Calories. Plenty of room in there for egg whites, fat-free Greek yogurt, peanut butter, soy milk beverage. It can be work to get enough Calories.

MoAlpha

Nothing that could possibly negate the upside. I do the same, except not with workouts. I think that’s been largely abandoned by experts.

GhostRider62

I never followed this thread and now that so much content is deleted, the thread isn't clear. Fixx was a smoker, drinker, fat, stressful job, two divorces, his dad died at 43 from a heart attack, and he lived in NYC. Meat killed him. Ok.

3 months post covid, I cannot taste anything. Anyone know where I can get bugs to eat. I hear they are the next thing. Soy is so 1970's.

Older athletes need more grams of protein per Kg per day than younger athletes. At 90Kg and training heavily, I need close to 180 grams. I do not have time or inclination to do that with plants. Eggs from the farmer down the street and chicken are my favorite sources. High quality grass fed beef got too expensive for me.

terrymorse 

2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is far more than the recommendations I have found.

Do you have a source for this recommendation?

MoAlpha

Some influential studies showed “anabolic resistance” in older people, meaning higher amino acid concentrations are required to stimulate or support protein synthesis in muscle. Hence the 2 g number. However, more recent data suggest that lifelong endurance athletes may retain their sensitivity and efficiency of muscle protein synthesis, so consensus is now sliding back to 1.8 ish or something closer to the recommended intake for younger endurance folks, as I understand it.

GhostRider62

I am not making any recommendation.

There have been studies with 1.8 g/kg/day for old athletes but not many. How many 65 year olds exercise hard and often. Is 1.5 sufficient? I have no idea. I just do not have the patience or time to meet my needs with plants. That is all.

https://www.researchgate.net/publica...Younger_Selves

terrymorse 

Thanks. After some digging, I think I found the review article that the "1.8 g/kg -- same as younger athletes" recommendation probably comes from:

That 1.8 is a bit of a mystery number, also, which comes with a footnote:

Daily protein targets extracted from studies that have not specifically used a summative target meal protein approach for maximizing muscle protein synthesis

To summarize: Masters athletes should eat the same amount of protein as young athletes.

(I think I'll start a once-a-day protein smoothie, just to cover the bases.)

merca

I can't say that I'm a big fan of red meat, though I eat it twice a week. The same with chicken and fish. I alternate these products to diversify my nutrition. When I started my weight loss journey, I understood that it is important to set small achievable goals. So I changed my diet, how I still eat what I love, but in different amounts and not so often. Also, learning about my Resting Metabolic Rate turned out to be helpful (you can check the info here https://betterme.world/articles/resting-calories/ if interested). It allows me to better plan my weight loss regime.