Decoding Protein Needs: A Comprehensive Guide for Women in Peri-Menopause and Beyond {Protein Part 3️⃣}

If you've been tuning in to this mini-series on protein, THIS is the episode you have probably been waiting for.
Today I focus on the specific protein needs of women in peri-menopause and beyond. I cover:

• A recap of the previous two episodes in the series
• Why protein needs are unique to each individual
• The foundational assumptions I'm making about my audience's health goals
• An overview of general protein intake guidelines
• The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for protein and why it might not be enough
• How protein needs change as we age, with specific recommendations from experts
• The importance of protein timing and distribution throughout the day
• Practical tips for increasing protein intake, including meal and snack ideas
• The concept of sustainable changes for long-term health

Get your free download Protein Playbook here.

Transcript

Decoding Protein Needs: A Comprehensive Guide for Women in Peri-Menopause and Beyond {Protein Part 3️⃣}

Welcome back to our four part series on protein in season 22. So these are just the first four episodes of season 22. Stay tuned. We've got a lot more. Good things coming. I am probably telling you way more than you ever wanted to know about protein, but I think it's important to share the why with you. 

In part one, we took some time to talk about just the foundation of how we are approaching this, because this is a weight neutral, intuitive eating based show. And I'm going to go over some of those here in a minute, just so we are all on the same page. I talked about some of the sources that I use. Primarily Dr. 

Stacy Sims and Molly Galbrath with girls gone strong. Both of them educate based off of research, done on women. A lot of the stuff that we see out there is research done on men and not only men, but like men and their twenties. I have a 20 year old, almost a 21 year old. 

Let me tell you how different everything about us is. And so why would I want research done on him to meet me where I am? I don't. That's why I trust these two sources. And then of course, I also relied on my nutrition coaching certification from NAZA. In part one, we also talked about what makes up a protein, like kind of, we went down to the basics of protein, what makes up our protein, what it does, how our needs change as we get older, I used that cell phone analogy. 

If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back, listen to part one. And then we talked some about plant versus animal protein. In the last episode, part two, 

we kept our focus on protein powder and collagen. And in that I gave some guidelines of what to look for in protein powder, which is a food supplement, 

meaning it has different regulations by the us food and drug administration. And we talked about collagen and then today we're going to get into probably what all of you have been like, just tell me, just tell me Amy. 

But I'm going to tell you. That I'm going to tell you, and I'm not going to tell you. What do I mean by that? It means that our protein needs are so nuanced.

That I cannot give you a specific recommendation. I will have a simplified general guideline for the general masses of women in peri-menopause and beyond, but in good conscious, I cannot give you a specific number. Or. Goal to meet because your body is different than my body. And all of our uniquely created gut bodies. By the creator of the universe. Have different needs based off of different things. So with that, I want to just really quickly cover some of the kind of that foundation stuff that I talked about earlier. 

There are a few assumptions that I am making in this episode. Number one, I'm going to assume. That you want to age with resilience, with strength, with functionality you want to feel well and function well, as you get older, I'm calling these grandma goals. Whether or not you are a grandma now, or you hope to be one in the future. 

My guess is that you want to be able to move well. You want to have the strength to support your children and their children. You want to be able to have the endurance. And because of that, this is why we are focusing on some of these. Nutrition aspects now, 

because it will influence our future.

And if you're already a grandma and you haven't yet applied these 

that's okay, because this will still make a difference. This is still something that you can apply now. 

Another guideline in this episode, that is very important. If you're just now tuning into this episode is I am a weight neutral, certified personal trainer, meaning I don't coach for weight loss. I don't train for weight loss. I don't educate for weight loss. 

What I do, coach and train and educate for is

health promoting behaviors that we do and how we move and how we eat. But also in other ways, like in our connection, in our sleep, it is all very holistic and this is not the place to get into that now. But if you are tuning in for the very first time and listening to me and looking for me to tell you how much protein you need to eat to lose weight, you're going to be sorely disappointed. And I invite you to listen in, but also just know that that's not one thing that I am providing in this episode.

I assume you are active in some capacity, you are walking your strength training, you're cycling, you're doing yoga, anything where your body is moving because. Our protein needs are influenced by that. 

And finally, these are general guidelines. My nutrition coaching certification is only for general guidelines. 

If you have specific health issues. If you have questions beyond what I am saying. 

I highly recommend you contact a registered dietician. 

If you don't know a registered dietician, reach out to me. I have a lot of contacts I can connect you because of licensing. That that does make a difference. You can also go to intuitive eating.org and there you will find an intuitive eating, aligned, registered dietician who will help you from a non diet approach?

And remember, I will be talking more about this in depth next week, but I have put together a protein prep playbook for you that you can go ahead and get. 

So for all of you high achievers, and you want to go ahead and do everything that you can go ahead and go to grace health.com. Slash protein dash playbook grabbed that I will have the recipes that I use, and I'm going to talk more about them next week 

this protein prep. 

Playbook is your guide to just nourishing and protein, rich items that fit into your life. So this is to avoid opening up the refrigerator at. Lunchtime or at four, o'clock going, what am I going to make? With this, you will be able to grab into the freezer, get some protein, And then combine that with your carbohydrates, with your vegetables.

With your healthy fats to make a well-rounded high variety meal.

And finally, before we get into the nitty-gritty information on this episode, I beg you to remember let this information guide you. Not. Govern you. We'll talk more about that and how I incorporate this with an intuitive eating mindset. This is not the end. All be all your body knows best. 

The other thing that's so important to know is your protein needs will vary based on a number of factors, your activity level, what kind of activity you're doing, whether it's endurance or strength-based, it'll vary based on your age. How much muscle mass you have, what is your health status? Are you recovering from something? What are your dietary goals? 

What are your hormones like? So if you have been confused about protein, because you hear a lot of different things, that's because our bodies need protein in different ways throughout our life. I need protein differently now than I needed 20 years ago than I needed 10 years before that. So, yeah, of course, of course. You're confused. You guys. I have spent hours researching this episode. 

Number one, because I wanted to make sure that this is research back and this is real data. This is not like tick-tock information, right? Like we can't rely on any of that. And remember the walking into a room analogy I gave in the first season or the first episode, that's what I'm talking about. 

Like the voices that are out there on Tik TOK, but.

We are confused because there is no one clear number that is best for us. Because of all of the nuances that I just talked about. And again, I would like to remind you use a registered dietician. If you have specific health issues, this is general guidance.

And this is one thing I also haven't said. That's a really important

don't let your protein focus supersede. Fiber rich plants. We have had, I feel like a bajillion conversations on this podcast about a lot of different things. And one thing I know is true, all roads lead back to eating a wide variety of plants. If you consume animal protein and you get really focused on that, 

you are missing out on. A lot of health promoting behaviors from not eating enough plants. So do not neglect plants. And by plants, I mean, like not only vegetables, but also. Carbs and fruits. And seeds and beans and all of that. Like a wide variety of plants, all the roads lead back to eating a wide variety of plants. 

So do not let protein goals supersede your fiber rich plants. Okay. Having said all of that.

The United States recommended daily allowance for protein is. Point eight grams per kilogram of body weight.

If you are like me and you grew up in the states, you never learned how to very quickly. Adjust from kilograms to pounds. So I'm going to tell you how you're going to take whatever number is given to you in Lbs.. And you're going to divide it by 2.2. This is a very big difference. 

If you see guidelines of so many grams per kilogram. And you think, well, I don't know what that is. So I'm just going to use whatever the number is. If you see 1.4 grams per kilogram. Of body weight and you're like, well, I don't know what that is. And so I'm just going to eat 1.4 grams of protein 

Per pound of my body weight.

then that is 2.2 more times than what they are recommending. 

Do the math, it is worth it because that is a very big difference.

If you'd like to bake. You know that you need to be precise in your measurements. No one ever gets by 

baking something successful if they are off by 2.2 times. So again, whatever the Lb. is divided by 2.2. 

So the us RDA is 0.8 grams per kilogram. Seems simple enough, right? 

Well, there's two things about that. One is that's kind of the minimum amount that they provide that doesn't necessarily mean it's an optimal amount. And secondly, as we talked about in our first episode on this, we need more, as we get older, this was that cell phone battery analogy that I used. 

You can go back and listen to the first episode in this, but basically if you have a brand new cell phone, the battery lasts forever and it's great. But as the phone gets older, you have to charge it more. Protein is the charge to our internal muscular battery. 

We all need more as we're getting older.

I also mentioned in part one 

That there are two primary voices that I listened to and learn from when it comes to nutrition. And movement and women's health. Dr. Stacy Sims and Molly. Galbrath over at the girls gone strong.

Even they have different recommendations.

And if this makes you want to throw your phone out the window, stick with me because I'm going to try and simplify it for you here at the end. 

In the menopause 2.0 course that I have taken through Dr. Stacy Sims. She recommends 1.8. Two 2.3 grams per kilogram of body weight. Now that does assume that you are active and that you are strength training. Dr. Sims is a huge proponent of heavy strength training.

Of high intensity intervals of what's called CIT or sprint interval training. So those assumptions are assuming that. You are very active 

girls gone strong recommends 1.4 to 2.2 grams per kilogram. So they have a little bit lower threshold. And then their upper threshold is just a titch lower than Dr. Sims. So, let me kind of pull this out and do some math for you, because if you're like me, you're multitasking. And I just want to give you some examples. The average American woman is 170 pounds. 

So that is what I am going to use. If you take 170 pounds divided by 2.2, that is 77. Kilograms.

And I will also say if you have chosen not to pay attention to wait, if you do not know how much you weigh, just do an estimate. We are not getting super nitpicky on here. If you are within 15 pounds of where you think you are just go with that. 

You guys, this does not have to be that complicated. So if you're like, bet Amy, I don't know how much I weigh. Well, first of all, good for you. Because in most cases it just doesn't really matter. But if we're trying to give some guidelines, that's why I'm using this. But. Just do your best, like just do your best. Anyway. 

So if you, again, the average American woman is going to be about 77 kilograms. Point eight, which is the U S R D a. Times. 77 is 61. Keep that number 61 in mind, 61 grams of protein.

Now let's go to the lower threshold of girls gone strong, same sized body. 1.4 grams per kilogram of that same size body is going to be 108 grams of protein. By the way, this is in a 24 hour period. This is not like per meals. 

No, no, no, no, no. Just to be very clear. 1.8, which is the minimum amount that Dr. Sims recommends. Same body size is 138 grams of protein a day. 2.3 grams, which is the higher level that Dr. Sims recommends is 177 grams of protein. You have thoughts about all of these numbers? I don't know what they are. They are somewhere between, I get way more than that too. 

There's no way I can never have it. All of these thoughts are valid and I'm going to, I'm going to hold your hand a little bit here in a minute.

And I'm going to give you some guidance in how we can start to increase protein. If that is a challenge of yours. 

With regard to timing. What is ideal? 

What we want is BC AAS and leucine circulating throughout your system. Pretty much all day long. Remember we want those BCAs. And leucine in your system because that will help with muscle growth, muscle, regeneration, or generation. If you are strength training. And it will help prevent sarcopenia, which is that natural declining of muscle as we age. 

So we want things circulating in our system at all times. How do we do that?

We eat meals throughout the day. We do not fast. 

I am going to do an episode on fasting a little bit later on why I no longer recommend that and why? I wish I didn't have that in my first book. And a lot of it has to do with our muscles. But just so you know, if we want those BC AAS. And we want , that leucine circulating throughout our system. 

Then three to four times a day, we need to eat between 20 and 40 grams of protein.

If you want to soundbite that is it. Three to four times a day between 20 and 40 grams of protein. Per meal. That is going to end up somewhere between 60 grams. 

And 160 grams. 

I know that is a big gap. 

But again, Our bodies need different things based on all of those factors that I mentioned earlier. 

As a side note. If you are strength training, if you are highly active and you're really sore. Then, if you can consume 20 grams of whey protein. 

Studies have shown that that can help encourage your muscle growth and repair. So that looks like having a cup of Greek yogurt, a cup of cottage cheese a couple of. String cheeses. Just 20 grams can really help with sore muscles. This is a great one too, by the way, if you have young adults who are trying to focus on their protein 

my recommendation to my boys was like, have some chocolate milk. 

I mean, it gave, it had some cards, it had some good protein and they would drink it because chocolate milk is delicious, even though I can't have it. It's still delicious. 

Now with that wide gap. Again, if we're talking about between 60 and 160 grams of protein. Keep in mind that your meals are going to vary. And the protein in these meals are going to vary. What is common here in the states is for breakfast to have a little bit of protein. Lunch to have a little bit more. And then we really bulk that up in the evenings. So we're going to try and spread that out just a little bit. 

The other thing too, is the numbers there. Aren't totally adding up because life is nuanced and what we eat is nuanced. So if I'm telling you between 60 grams and 160 grams, and I got 60 from taking three times 20 and I got 160 from taking. Four times 40 cars, three to four meals. Evenly spaced 20 to 40 grams a meal. That doesn't add up to the 177 grams that's recommended on the top. 

End of. Dr. Stacy Sims. So yeah, there's going to be some nuance 

and one of your meals may have more than 40 grams and that's okay. But again, the focus is 

having those BCAs, having the leucine circulating throughout evenly throughout the day. I asked a few groups that I am a part of on Facebook, about what other questions of protein. And I got this question, which I think is definitely worth addressing. And that is how much is too much. So per Dr. Sims studies show that you can consume up to 3.7 grams per kilogram with no issue, but big capital B capital U capital T. If you've had a medical situation or a family history of kidney issues work with a registered dietician to determine the right amount for you. So again for the average sized American woman that is 285 grams per day. I have no interest in consuming 285 grams a day, but also

I'm not, you. The other thing I do want to remind you of is God did not just give us protein. He also gave us carbohydrates and he gave us fat. So don't let that protein override your consumption. Of these two other macronutrients, especially the high fiber carbs, all roads lead back to a wide variety of plants. How do you know if you've had too much? 

Here are a few symptoms per the Cleveland clinic. One of them is bad breath from being in ketosis.

Which is basically when your body doesn't have enough carbohydrates to burn. And so it will start to burn fat.

Another sign may be that you have digestive issues. Or you might have foamy urine. So those are some signs also. How do you feel like if it feels heavy in your belly, if you feel sluggish, because it's just so much protein, like sitting there like a brick in your stomach, chances are you've had too much. Use the discernment God gave you. Use your internal wisdom guide you with how much you need to have. 

 If you're listening and you've decided, okay, maybe it's time for me to increase my protein. What now, how do I apply this? And especially how do we apply this in a diet culture free way without getting too consumed by it 

without thinking about this all the time, every day. So the first thing I would ask is where are you now? And I'm not talking about like how many grams to the number are you consuming now? But just like, what's your general. 

Rhythm of. How much protein do you have throughout the day? Do you eat breakfast? Does it have protein in it? What is your lunch look like? What does dinner look like? What does snacks look like? Or another meal? Like what. Just consider, just take a step back and think about like, where are we now? Are there gaps.

Chances are. There are gaps in breakfast. And I'm just saying that just from the research I have done, I, I saw a lot of like, we're not getting enough protein at breakfast. 

But that's for you to decide that's for you to figure out about you. Where are your gaps? And then where is the easiest place that you can add in some protein? What's the easiest, what's the lowest hanging fruit, which is a terrible. Wordplay, but you get the point.

Another thing to consider is are you eating enough? If you're coming out of diet culture, there is a chance that you have been so consumed by calories and macros and grams and tracking and all of the things that you might not be eating enough. If you're not eating enough, then you're going to have a hard time getting all the protein that you need. 

And then the other thing to think about is.

When you make adjustments, how do they make you feel? 

I can tell you in my experience from making adjustments to my protein over the last year, number one, I am sore less often. And number two, I feel so good in the mornings between breakfast and lunch, because I now know, and I now realize that I was eating under eating at breakfast. And so I was kind of walking around in a. In a state of. At a minimum, low grade hunger between whatever I got up to whenever I had lunch. And now when I have. 

Enough. And something that has a decent amount of protein in it for breakfast. I just feel a lot better throughout the day. 

The other thing I've noticed, and this is anecdotal. This is not research. Bat. I mean, maybe it is. But I haven't seen it. This is just my own personal experience is I found that my morning, hot flashes subsided. Some when I started eating breakfast, did they completely go away? No, but I get my hot flashes are the most intense in the mornings. And when I get something in my system that seems to stabilize my blood sugar, particularly if I'm having a good amount of protein and it helps with the hot flashes. 

So something to consider again, I'm not saying that this is what the research says. I'm just saying that this is Amy's personal experience. Now, how do we do all of this? How do we get adequate protein without tracking and without it turning into its own type of idol, this is a big question. 

If you follow an intuitive eating perspective, and this is a big question, if you are just trying to take care of your body so you can do what God is calling you to do. 

If you've been with me awhile, you know, my faith drives everything I do, and this is why I take care of myself so I can live out the purpose that God has for me that I have to do in my body. 

Like I can't separate that out. So. I'm acutely aware that a lot of us are trying to figure out how we can do this. And like I mentioned, in the first. Part of this series, it took me 14 months to feel confident enough to do this without it turning diet culturey so I totally get it. 

Here is a high level way. Of ensuring that you have enough protein. Without tracking and without using an app. 

Take your hand and look at the Palm of your hand, not with your fingers and thumb, but just the Palm of your hand. A good estimate. Have a good serving of protein is about the size and the thickness of the Palm of your hand. 

This is going to be about 20 to 30 grams of protein. Of course, it's going to vary based off of the type of high protein that you were having. 

And so when I talk about high protein, 

these are your animal proteins that we have talked about, these are the muscles of an animal. So chicken beef, pork, Turkey. Fish. Any of those types of things, those are high protein. 

That also goes for your, like your Greek yogurt and your cottage cheese. So I recognize that if you are plant-based, if you were vegan, if you were vegetarian, that's a little harder too. 

To gauge, but if you are an animal eater, then that is a, just a good high level estimate.

So if we take the Palm of our hand, As a good guide of high protein. Girls gone strong recommends three to six. Palm sized servings. Of high protein food a day, which is going to be about one to two servings, a meal. So if you are the kind of person who has her biggest meal at dinner yeah. And you can have two servings of protein. 

I mean, I tell you what you go to this grocery store and unless you're going to whole foods or like growing your own chickens, I mean, chances are. Those chicken breasts are.

Between eight ounces and a pound. I mean, those things are enormous. It's a little concerning. I won't go off on that. 

So you can absolutely get more than one serving of protein, but again, we're wanting to evenly. Space it out throughout the day. 

When I was writing your core strength Leslie Schilling, who is a registered dietician, and I'm going to call her 

An anti diet culture advocate. She wrote the book, feed your soul when she was on. Last year in 2023, right. About this time. I'll put the link in the show notes, if you want to read her book, but she she really helped me out a lot in identifying problematic spaces in your core strength, which I wrote for teen girls. And we in the chapter on protein, she said, you know, what you ought to do, Amy is you ought to provide some examples of what 20 grams of protein is. 

So that's what I did. And I am borrowing, literally borrowing a page from your core strength. And so here are the examples that I provided in your core strength where you can get an estimated estimated big caps, estimated. Grams of protein. So obviously you can get one chicken breast, the size of the Palm of your hand. 

That's going to be about 30 grams. Another estimate is like a deck of cards, which is about the size of your hand. You can do two chicken thighs, which is 20 grams four chicken wings, whose, whose people like chicken wings mind do four chicken wings, 24 grams. You can have a four ounce hamburger. 

Patty that's 28 grams. If you like tuna fish, grab a 6.4 ounce tuna fish packet. That's 36 grams. You can have a two ounce beef stick. That's about 23 grams. Three hard-boiled eggs is 18 grams. A cup of Greek yogurt is about 24. Check the label. This does vary.

You can have a cup and a half of extra firm tofu, that's 30 grams and a cup of beans, which will be anywhere between 14 and 20 grams, depending on the beans. 

So, this is totally possible. It might be that just awareness of this is the key to everything. Just being aware of. Our need for protein increasing and where we can get it and how we can put it in without it starting to consume us. 

I gave you some considerations earlier, and that was kind of a higher level, but let's zoom in and talk about more practical application with this. 

So. What's the first thing that we can do if we feel like, okay, we need to increase our protein. Number one, try and include some just anytime you eat again, just an awareness. Just add something. Number two maybe start with breakfast. 

As I mentioned, many of us don't get enough protein at breakfast, and I will tell you that breakfast is my lowest protein meal. Throughout the day, I'm normally coming in between 20 and 30 grams, but sometimes it's more like 10. I mean, it's just, it's just not there all the time. And that's okay. 

But you know, if you're adding with breakfast, you can add some Greek yogurt to your morning routine. You can try a smoothie with some protein powder. Because we're going to eat more whole food throughout the rest of the day. 

Then let's look at your snacks. So how do you eat? 

I will tell you, I, I eat three meals a day and sometimes we'll add in some snacks. So let's look at those snacks as opportunities to beef up a little bit of protein. You can have some nuts have things like hummus with your vegetable sticks. Roasted chickpeas are a great snack is so are at a mommy. I will tell you, I like the good beans chickpeas. 

Those have been, those are like, Those are crispy and salty, which is something that I really like. So those are a great thing to snack on, or you can boost up something that you're eating. If it makes sense to put in with like chia seeds or hemp seeds keep in mind, those are the good, those are complete proteins. 

So those are nice to add. When you're having salads, can you add some beans in, can you add some nuts in. 

Can you add protein in, if you don't typically have protein? I have yet to go to a restaurant. That offers a salad that can't add in at least a chicken breast or a piece of salmon. Just because it's not on the menu, doesn't mean they can't do it for you. So keep that in mind as well. 

If you want to get a little more nitty-gritty than slit start thinking about the carbs that you're having, maybe have keenwah or wild rice instead of white rice. 

And then what kind of garnishes can you add? These are things like sprinkling, nutritional yeast on some things maybe taking your soups or salads and putting again, some extra seeds on there. Chop nuts. I mean, just kind of adding on those moderate protein items. That will give you a boost of protein. 

The other guidance I can provide is batch cooking. So next week is going to be all about batch cooking and recipes I use and strategies I use to help me get help. Me and my husband get adequate protein throughout the day in a way that is simple. And it just makes things easy. 

I want to leave you with this start small. 

You do not have to do all of this at once. There is no timeline. There is no one like standing behind you cracking a whip, like what works for you? What makes you feel good? And go from there. 

Please. I do not do more than what makes sense for you because you will get overwhelmed. 

We're looking for longterm sustainable changes so we can protect our body and our muscular system. So we can stay strong and continue doing the things that we love to do.

As I mentioned next week, I'm coming back with some very applicable strategies I have, but if you cannot wait until then. You can grab my.

Protein prep playbook, which is your guide to nourishing protein, rich items that fit seamlessly into your busy life. So it is for anyone who is looking to honor their body's needs without the stress of last minute decisions or rigid diet rules, because we don't know, that's not good for anyone. 

Nobody wants any of that. And you can get that@gracehealth.com slash. Protein dash playbook. And of course I will have the link in the show notes. Come back next week for all of that. That is all for today. Go out there and have a Grace Day.