THE "PAUSE" BLOG
For women and men who wish to improve their "Third Act" of life.
PROTEIN
"For a menopausal woman or an andropausal man, all your meals should lead with a palm-sized serving for women and a hand-sized serving for men of clean animal protein.”
If you want to lose, maintain, or even gain weight, clean animal protein is the most essential part of our Meso-Menu.
MESO-MENU
Why do I call it a Meso-Menu?
When I had brick-and-mortar practices, the first action I would take with a new patient was to do a physical exam. On the top of the physical exam page were three drawings. One of the drawings represented a slender patient, an ectomorph. The next drawing represented a more muscular patient, a mesomorph. The last sketch was of a robust, overweight patient.
Morphs
Ectomorph-skinny
Mesomorph-just right
Endomorph-overweight
I liken the three morphs to Goldilocks and the three bears. One porridge was too cold, the other too hot, but one was just right. That's being a mesomorph.
I call it a menu instead of a diet because I don’t believe in dieting. A diet is all about deprivation. Deprivation diets rarely work. I believe in eating a menu that promotes how you define yourself.
"A meso-meal contains a palm to hand size serving of clean animal protein, two thumbs of God-made fat, and one to two handfuls of high-fiber vegetables."
MESOMORPH
My goal for all my clients is to Be a mesomorph. You’ll learn all about Be, Do, and Have later in the program.
Here is a hint from the Be-Do-Have course. If someone asked you to define yourself in the future, your Be regarding your physical Be-ing is,
“I AM A MESOMORPH!”
MUSCLE
The Meso-Menu is the best menu to eat for you to look and feel young, which comes about by weighing your ideal weight and being muscular.
I was once a vegetarian for six months. At the end of that time, I felt awesome and spiritually connected. But I looked frail and had more wrinkles in my thirties than I do now.
Once I went to a more balanced menu and gained my muscle back, a close friend told me that people asked him if I had AIDS or something similar. That means I may have felt great, but looked awful.
The largest organ your body possesses is your muscular system.
“Loss of muscle makes us look older!”
As we age, we lose muscle; the more we lose, the older we become. Muscle atrophy causes decreased metabolism, a frailer–untoned body, and our face ages.
Also, the more muscle you have, the more carbohydrates and fats your body will utilize for fuel. That’s increased metabolism.
"One of the most striking effects of age is the involuntary loss of muscle mass, strength, and function, termed sarcopenia. Muscle mass decreases approximately 3–8% per decade after the age of 30, and this rate of decline is even higher after the age of 60."
EXERCISE
What about exercise? Doesn’t that make muscle?
Exercise may make your muscles larger, but protein is what makes muscles. We will teach you later on how to shape your body with exercise.
AVOID ALL STRENUOUS EXERCISE/ACTIVITY WHILE ON PHASE ONE OF HOPE!
Strenuous exercise causes insulin to be released. When you are strenuously exercising, your muscles need fuel. You must open the entrance doors to your muscle cells to feed the muscles. Insulin is released to open the doors of your muscle cells so they can be fueled.
If we had fat-burning hormones, exercise would cause us to burn the stored fat. But after fifty, we have little to no fat-burning hormones.
“When you reach your pauses and no longer have sufficient fat-burning hormones, exercise will no longer work as a fat-burning tool.”
PROTEIN AND MUSCLE
Proteins and their amino acids are the building blocks of muscle. When your protein intake is too low, your muscle tissue decreases. Your body will break down your muscles to use as fuel!
“Once you reach ages 40–50, sarcopenia, or losing muscle mass as you age, begins to set in. To prevent this and to maintain independence and quality of life, your protein needs increase to about 1–1.2 grams per kilogram or 75–90 grams per day for a 75-kilogram person.”
When you break down all the research, 90 grams of protein daily becomes the magic number for us in our pauses. So, why is consuming 90 grams of protein on a daily basis the magic number?
Proteins are made from amino acids. The ones that make muscles are called Branched-Chained Amino Acids. These amino acids are essential, which means that you must get them from the food you eat.
There are three Branched-Chained Amino Acids.
Lutein,
Isolutein,
Valine.
Research says we need to consume 7.5 grams of lutein daily. Guess what? It takes 90 grams of high-quality animal protein to give you 7.5 grams of lutein daily.
High-quality proteins are:
Wild-caught fish and seafood.
Pasture-raised chicken and fowl.
Wild game that had been hunted.
Grass-fed and Pasture-raised Beef, lamb, and pork.
Every day, I hear diet gurus say that you've got to eat more fat. I also hear them say that we must eat a plant-based diet. I rarely hear them talk about how it is of the utmost importance for someone over forty to eat 90 grams of protein daily. That is a travesty!
VEGETARIANISM
So, what if you're a vegetarian?
Vegetarians often tell me how they can achieve enough protein from plant-based foods. They also tell me that quinoa has lutein within it.
“You will need to eat 6 cups of quinoa to get 2.5 grams of lutein.”
What about using vegetable protein powders?
Pea, hemp, and other vegetable protein powders have low absorption rates. You would have to eat 30 grams of vegetable protein to absorb 15 grams of vegetable protein. And where is the lutein?
Ahh, I got this, you say.
I'll use collagen protein powder.
Collagen doesn't have any BCAAs within it. So, it doesn't work for building muscle. Collagen does a great job repairing your skin, hair, and nails but does not build muscle.
THE INSULIN GLUCAGON SEESAW
The reason a high-protein Meso-Menu is needed for both menopausal women and andropausal men is that we lose our fat-burning hormones as we age.
“You can’t burn fat without fat-burning hormones.”
Without fat-burning hormones, we will have to manipulate two other hormones.
We will need to manipulate insulin and glucagon once we are in our "pauses" because of our lack of fat-burning hormones.
Imagine that you and I just ate a large bowl of pasta. The pasta will turn into about a thousand calories of sugar. Our blood sugar will rise rapidly. The increased blood sugar will signal the pancreas to release insulin.
High blood sugar is toxic. High blood sugar caramelizes our brains, hearts, livers, and kidneys. Insulin’s job is to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Each molecule of insulin can be thought of as a key. Millions of these molecules are released into our bloodstream. These insulin keys travel to every cell in our body and open the entrance doors to our cells.
This allows the toxic high levels of blood sugar to pass freely through these opened cellular doors, clearing our blood of the high levels of blood sugar.
Once the sugar enters the cell, since the cell doesn’t need the sugar unless you are running a marathon, the cells will convert the sugar into fat. The fat is then stored in cellular pantries to be used when needed.
Our bodies have evolved over the eons to store fat for lack-of-food emergencies.
Our stored fat, in people who lack fat-burning hormones (us), is only going to be released if we are starving. Therefore, we must be in a starving state to release our stored fat and use it as fuel.
“When we are starving, our blood sugar bottoms out, and insulin isn’t released.”
The hypothalamus, the hormone thermostat located in our brain, recognizes that we are starving. The hypothalamus's attention is only on hormones, not blood sugar levels. It registers that insulin hasn’t been released for quite some time.
The hypothalamus signals the pancreas to release a hormone called glucagon. Glucagon is the twin hormone of insulin. I call it a twin hormone because they both use the same receptor sites that float like boats along the cell’s surface.
Receptor sites sail the cells’ surfaces.
Whereas insulin opens the entrance doors to our cells, glucagon opens our cells’ exit doors.
“Glucagon releases our emergency fat stores from the cells to fuel the body.”
All you have to do is starve yourself to release your stored fat.
Hold your horses. The last thing we want you to do is to starve. Instead, we are going to fake out the hypothalamus. We are going to make the hormone thermostat think you're starving.
"The Meso-Menu is designed not to spike your blood sugar and, therefore, bottom out insulin. We are mimicking a starving state."
The good news is you can eat as often as you like, as long as you eat foods that do not spike blood sugar, therefore not causing insulin to be released.
The reason obesity has become an epidemic in America is because the Great American Diet spikes blood sugar several times a day, placing us into a fat-storing state over and over.
“To lose excess fat, we must eat foods that do not cause blood sugar to spike, therefore, not causing insulin to spike. Glucagon will be released, and the exit doors of our cells will be opened, and the stored fat will be released to fuel our body.”
Protein, fats, and high-fiber vegetables do not spike blood sugar, therefore not causing insulin to be released.
If you overeat protein, you may spike blood sugar and spike insulin; to avoid an insulin spike, women should eat palm-sized servings of protein, and men should eat hand-sized servings.
BCAA
There are 21 grams of protein in a three-ounce steak. We would have to eat nearly five steaks in a day to reach 90 grams.
For those concerned about not eating enough protein, you can supplement with BCAA's. Since most days I only eat two meals a day, I supplement with one serving of BCAA. My wife often only eats one meal daily, so I recommend that she have two servings of BCAA daily.
Here is a link to the BCAA capsule we use.
Doing leisurely exercises when supplementing with BCAA is important—a nice walk with the dog, mild yoga, or stretching.
Promise Keeper: I promise to eat a palm-to-hand-sized serving of protein at each meal, and if I cannot eat 90 gm of protein in a day, I will supplement my protein with a BCAA supplement, but only if I am doing some form of leisurely exercise.
Please rate and or comment on this blog below. It will be greatly appreciated.
If you are hormonally miserable and need to lose thirty pounds or more, read about our free week of coaching below.
WHO WANTS TO FEEL BETTER, LOOK BETTER, AND BE HEALTHIER?
This Thursday, I have opened my calendar to enroll two of you for a free week of coaching. If your hormones make life miserable and you need to lose 30 pounds or more, don't hesitate to accept this offer.
The features of our coaching program:
Daily Accountability through texting
Twenty-four-hour problem-solving availability via texting
The HOPE QuickStart Course
The HOPE QuickStart Consult
A Phone conversation to know what to do after the first week
The Benefits
Lose weight and feel great quickly and easily.
BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE!
Have the program customized for your body and life.
TRANSFORM YOUR BODY
These spots will fill quickly.
"Procrastination is the seed to failure."
THIS WEEK'S US-IE
Las Vegas
I spent this past weekend in Las Vegas with our oldest son (He's the one in the middle) and his best friend since kindergarten. We went to the Cirque du Soleil show ONE, a Michael Jackson tribute.
It was amazing!
Now you know why The Pause Blog is a day late. Las Vegas and writing is a difficult combination.
And remember...
"IT'S ALL ABOUT YOUR HORMONES!"
"Because when your hormones are balanced, your weight, health, and mind will follow."
🕺 Doc
© 2023 | Doc Mac Coaching
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Furthermore, none of the statements within this post should be construed as dispensing medical advice, making claims regarding the cure of diseases, nor can these products prevent disease. You should consult a licensed healthcare professional before starting any supplement, dietary, or exercise program, especially if you are pregnant or have any pre-existing injuries or medical conditions. The Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated these statements. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent diseases.
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