Afraid of Red Meat? Here’s Why Women Over 60 Actually Need More

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I'm JJ Virgin, PhD dropout— sorry, Mom— turned 4-time New York Times bestselling author. I'm a certified nutrition specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer, and I speak at health conferences and trainings around the globe. But I'm driven most of all by my insatiable curiosity and love of science to keep asking questions, digging for answers, and sharing the information that I uncover with as many people as I can. And that's where you come in. That's why I created the Well Beyond 40 Podcast to synthesize and simplify the science of health into actionable strategies to help you thrive. In each episode, we'll talk about what's working in the world of wellness, from personalized nutrition and healing your metabolism to powerful aging, and prescriptive fitness. Join me on the journey to better health so you can love how you look and feel right now and have the energy to play full out at 100. Don't miss an episode. Subscribe now at subscribe2jj.com to start unlocking your healthiest, most energetic self. Wanna listen to the show ad-free?

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Rated PG. For years you've been told to cut back on red meat for your heart and for your health. But what if avoiding it is actually making you weaker and more tired, and it's the opposite of aging powerfully? Now hear me out. I know red meat has gotten a bad rap literally for decades, so Where did it all come from? Where did the fear of red meat come from? Is it legit? What's the research say? I'm going to dive in and share some of the latest studies. And more importantly, what does it mean for you? And how do you incorporate this advice into your daily diet? If you're focused on improving your body composition, aging powerfully, and optimizing your metabolic health, you're in the right place. We really got to like address the elephant in the room. All red meat's not created equal. Like, you can be talking about red meat and you could be talking about, you know, bacon and hot dogs and all the processed meat, or you could be talking about lean, grass-fed, and grass-finished meat. When I think of the processed stuff, the hot dogs, the deli meats, the fast food burgers, to me it's kind of like the white bread of red meat. And I'm guessing that if you're watching this, you probably gave up white bread ages ago and you're probably not eating hot dogs Either. So let's just put that final nail in the processed meat coffin of how bad that is. Because I think most of what we talk about when we talk about red meat is really the fact that we haven't pulled these two apart. Processed meats have been linked to increased cancer risk, especially colon cancer, increased heart disease and high blood pressure risk, increased inflammation and gut problems. So when I talk about the benefits of red meat in this video, I think it should be pretty clear that I am focused on not that, right? Eat this, not that. I'm not talking about ultra-processed meat. I'm also not talking about factory-raised meat. I am talking about grass-fed and grass-finished beef and lamb, and I'm talking about the lean cuts of these. Why am I focused on that? And again, it's because it's an entirely different food, right? When it's grass-fed and grass-finished, this meat is, first of all, it's not absorbing the bad stuff out there. Remember, we store toxins in our fat. So if you are eating an animal that's been in close captivity, fed GMO corn, you are what you eat, ate, right? So if you're getting it fed GMO corn and soy, you're getting glyphosate, you're getting pesticides, maybe it's getting shot with hormones or antibiotics, that's all going into its fat. And you actually change the polyphenol content of the meat when you change the feed. Now there's more to it though. I really look at a lot of what goes on with the fat because again, the toxins store in the fat. But when you eat grass-fed, grass-finished, you're gonna get leaner animals and they're gonna be higher in omega-3s. Those are those nice anti-inflammatory fats. They're gonna be rich in vitamin E and antioxidants. And they're also high in something called CLA. You may not have heard of CLA before. This is a special kind of fatty acid, conjugated linoleic acid. And you know, it's been studied because it supports fat loss, it supports good metabolism, muscle retention, appetite suppression. In fact, I think back, I don't have the study right in front of me, the study that showed the people that took in more CLA tended to have smaller waistlines. There's also potential benefit with CLA for heart disease, lowering heart disease and cancer risk. So CLA is a great thing that you wanna get, and that comes from that grass-fed and grass-finished meat. Now I also mentioned the phytochemicals, the polyphenols. Grass-fed, grass-finished beef has higher levels of polyphenols, of phytochemicals, flavonoids and carotenoids. Carotenoids are those precursors to vitamin A, and these have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Also, you get glutathione and something called superoxide dismutase, glutase, SOD. These are like the powerhouse antioxidants. They help recycle other antioxidants and reduce oxidative stress and inflammation. So processed meat, think of it like ultra-processed food, right? But don't lump in the grass-fed, grass-finished beef, the lean beef, with that. Okay, they're all not all created equal. The next thing I'm going to talk about is why red meat is essential for muscle maintenance in aging women. And when I say aging women, I'm talking 30-plus, because starting at around age 30, as you know, we start to lose muscle mass. But more importantly, we start to lose our strength and our power. Now, when you're eating lean, grass-fed, grass-finished meat, it is a powerhouse of protein. It helps prevent that muscle loss that can lead to sarcopenia. And again, you know, we're losing 3 to 8% a decade starting around age 30. And when our hormones start to drop, it goes even more off a cliff. Why this helps muscle protein synthesis and avoid muscle loss is because of the essential amino acids that red meat has, specifically the branched-chain amino acids leucine, valine, and isoleucine. These are the anabolic essential amino acids that are critical for muscle repair and fat metabolism. And also, leucine's the one that's been studied— this was discovered by Dr. Don Layman— that this is really the trigger for muscle protein synthesis. So you're getting all of this in red meat. Now, what What else does red meat do? Well, it's got a couple really important nutrients, iron being one of them, and this is really important for avoiding iron deficient anemia. And, you know, obviously when you're in your menstruating years, this is even more of a thing. The other thing it has beyond iron deficiency, there's also B12 deficiency. Well, this is a great source of B12, something that if you have been a Former vegan, you know that this is when you have to supplement. Well, red meat's a great way to get it. I always say supplement second, get it from your food whenever you can. Why is B12 so important? So important for cognition. It supports good energy function, reduces fatigue and brain fog. You kind of would hear that and go, well, this is like an ultimate perimenopause, menopause, uh, thing to be eating. And then zinc, of course, which is so important for your immune health and your skin health and also hormonal balance. Now, what about heart? What about cardiovascular effects inflammation, because I mentioned that processed meats, which are again the white bread of beef, the white bread of red meat, I mentioned that those ones put you at a risk for more inflammation, more cardiovascular disease. Compared to grain-fed meat, grass-fed meat again has more omega-3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory and support good heart health and reduce inflammation. And of course has CLA, and that CLA, which is highest in grass-fed and finished meat, helps with weight management, helps reduce inflammation. We We also know that grass-fed lean meat does not raise LDL cholesterol or heart disease risk when it's part of a good healthy diet, right? Quite often we wonder, it's like when people talk about red meat raising your heart disease risk, I'm like, well, was it because they were eating burgers and fries at one of the fast food places and they're counting that in as red meat? When it's part of a healthy diet, there isn't a risk for rising blood, um, rising heart disease. And what they actually found was that women with moderate lean red meat intake had a 32% lower risk of elevated blood pressure compared to those who ate less than that or none of it. What about bone health? So important for all of us. And I want to just shout out on bone health that bone health is really a lagging indicator. I already mentioned that red meat can help with muscle mass. If you have good muscle mass, likely you have good bone mass, because if you're doing the things that help you build and hold on to maintain muscle. You're putting the stress on your bones that you need to, to help you maintain good bones. So when you look at grass-fed, grass-finished meat, it's rich in collagen, it's rich in minerals that are good for your bones and your joints, which then of course reduce the risk of osteoporosis. You've got magnesium in there, you've got phosphorus in there, which are critical for bone mineral density. And one other thing that I heard about from my friend Trudy Scott. People who eat red meat may have lower rates of depression. If they found that women who consumed 28 to 57 grams of red meat per day had lower rates of depression than compared to those who consumed less. So could help with depression as well. I know I get depressed if I don't get my red meat in, but that's just because I really like it so much. I still am a recovering vegan. It's like I still look and go, how did I live without this, uh, without these New York steaks on the bone.

I don't know.

Anyway, we'll talk about the best cuts here in a moment. Next big question is, how does animal protein impact iron levels, energy, and metabolism? Now, I already pointed out that grass-fed, grass-finished beef is rich in iron. And the deal with iron from animals versus iron from plants is that the iron from animals, or the heme iron— iron from plants is called non-heme— the iron from plants, from animals, is way more bioavailable. Available. And then I'm going to give you a little more pro tip on this too. If you consume it with a vitamin C-rich food, you boost it even more. So here's a little tip for you: try making a grass-fed, grass-finished bolognese. So I love to get lean ground beef and I make a little tomato sauce with it, and sometimes I'll throw some red peppers and red onions in there as well. So that is an easy one to do. I've also found these amazing steak tips from a company called Pete Bontes, and we will cook those up in air fryer, and then we will do a stir fry. And again, red peppers are an amazing source of vitamin C. We all tend to think of tomatoes or oranges, but red peppers are incredible too. So throw in some vitamin C-rich food with your meat for an even bigger boost with that iron. And iron's so important for energy, same with B12. Now, of course, in terms of metabolism, when you think of your resting energy expenditure, how many calories you would burn if you just were hanging out all day long, and metabolism has 3 different things that impact it, right? Your resting energy expenditure, thermic effect of food, and your activity. The biggest way you can impact your resting energy expenditure is to have more muscle on your body. So as we know, eating red meat can help you preserve muscle mass and help preserve your strength and your mobility. So this is super important for metabolism. Of course, protein is the most thermic of all the macronutrients. And then that CLA that I talked about before, that can help with fat loss, that can help preserve muscle, and that can help lower your appetite. So ends all the way along. All right, let's get into the— what do we do with this? What are the best types of red meat to eat for optimal health, for powerful aging, for having a great body composition? First of all, if you have not been eating a lot of animal protein, you may find that you have a little trouble at first as your body is not used to it. One of the things that I like to have people do is use my Protein First digestive enzymes. I create them for this very reason. Also, if you are 30+ or under any kind of stress, you might have lower hydrochloric acid. So I find most people benefit from adding 2 protein digestive enzymes with their meals. You don't need them for your smoothie, that's fine, but for your meals, especially red meat, I would add them in. It's going to help a ton. So that's, uh, the first little pro tip. Now, one of the ways that you can add more of this in is use my Paleo-inspired bone broth shake, or you can use some grass-fed bone broth. So this is one that I absolutely love. And remember, when you're doing bone broth, you're getting a very collagen-rich food. That's in our body is 70%— the protein in our body is 70% collagen. Now, in terms of actually eating meat, what I like to do is pick the leanest cuts. Kind of been obsessed lately, I must say, with, um, skirt steak or flank steak. It seems like— I think I was in Mexico is where this all happened. Actually, I know I was in Mexico. I was out in Punta Mita, and like, they made some amazing skirt steaks. I tend to stick with New Yorks and filets and sirloins. I really love picanhas and then lean ground beef, and I like to do pretty lean, lean ground beef. I prefer the 90/10 or 93/7, and we order our grass-fed, grass-finished beef. There's two different places that we get things from, either ButcherBox or Piedmontese. So those are two of the places that we've been getting different cuts. Piedmontese because we can get bone-in New Yorks and those sirloin tips, and then we get a lot of the other stuff from ButcherBox. If left to my own devices, I really like to have meat fairly cooked, but I've been really working to acquire the taste of rarer meat. The reason being is that rarer meat is going to have more creatine in it. So, you know, I'm a big fan of creatine if you've been around my channel at all. We have about 120 to 140 grams of creatine in our body. We make about a gram a day from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine, and then we're going to get a gram a day or two from our food or supplements. Now, I take supplements every day. I have a product called ShiAtin. It's a very bioavailable form of creatine called creatine HCL that is made in the United States, only one that is, combined with taurine and magnesium to make it just a trifecta powerhouse for creating energy, for recovering from a workout, for having great mental focus. You also get creatine from your food. Creatine is from meat. And specifically when you cook meat, you tend to like lose some of it. So the rarer the meat or the fish, the more creatine you're gonna get. To get a gram of creatine in your diet each day would be about a pound of rare meat or fish or 2 pounds cooked. That's why I tell people to supplement, because you're probably not eating that much. I, I eat a lot of protein. I'm not doing that much. And speaking of how much, let's talk about how much red meat should a woman 40+ actually be eating. You know, I got to tell you, the research is really not clear on how much, and this is where I also think you have to look at your N of 1 and how you're doing. I saw some studies that said 1 to 2 times a week, some say more like 3 to 4 times a week. You know, I think it's really nuanced based on your preferences, your lifestyle, your genetics. Uh, I'll share a couple things with you though. You know, I was on this show through TLC called Freaky Eaters for a couple seasons, and on it we had a guy who would only eat red, raw, or rare meat. Now I will tell you, and that was— he was like the original carnivore. And I kind of look back then as I was so, so sold on one way. And I look now at diets as tools, as they're just all these different tools. And I remember thinking, oh, you can't just eat this. And I went and looked at all his blood markers and they looked amazing. I'm like, geez, the guy was ripped, he was lean, and he had perfect blood work. I even did a stool sample because I'm like, I'll find some parasites and scare him that way. Nope, he looked incredible. And it kind of backs up what Shawn Baker said. And Dr. Shawn Baker, I've had him on the podcast Well Beyond 40, and man, he goes through all the health benefits of eating a carnivore diet, and it's really compelling. So I personally love a diet that is protein first. You know, I like to eat protein first, 1 gram per pound of target body weight, combined with non-starchy vegetables and a little bit of berries. Berries and some olive oil or ghee. That's basically my diet. And you've got to find what works for you, but I'd be very comfortable to say, you know, red meat 4 times a week and fish, you know, and then maybe a little bit of lean chicken and pastured chicken, and you're golden. So I tend to do lean cuts of beef, a little bit of lamb. We don't get lamb as often. I might do that once every other week. Same with pork chops, we'll do that like once every other week. And then the rest wild salmon and sea bass and a little bit of pastured chicken. Quality is everything. This is where you really want to be careful because again, you are what you eat—

ate.

And I'll tell you what, I start to crave red meat. I feel so much better when I'm getting enough of it, and I really notice a difference. And I track everything. I use Function Health— shout out to Dr. Mark Hyman— and I track all of my blood work and everything is spot on perfect. I just went and got a CT angiogram. Nothing at all, no plaque, absolutely zero. So, you know, again, I'm an N of 1, and this is what you wanna be doing is making sure that you're tracking as well. And I think the biggest thing with this is really getting clear. I am not advocating eating ultra-processed junk food meat. I'm really promoting you are what you eatate. Choose quality, choose lean, choose grass-fed, choose grass-finished. And you know, the other cool thing here is is try overeating on meat. My husband and I are kind of fans of the Brazilian steakhouse. And in fact, I love to take my husband, my ex-husband, we're all buddies, we are a modern family, and my two sons, and we go to the Brazilian steakhouse. And my goal always is for them to lose money on us. And we don't eat anything but the steak. We eat the lamb, we eat the picanha, the sirloins, amazing, the filets. And, you know, boy, you just get full. I mean, that's the thing. I'm trying to think of like when you're eating cake or ice cream, you just never get full. Eat meat, you're done. Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips, and techniques you can incorporate into everyday life to ensure you look and feel great and are built to last. Check me out on Instagram Instagram, Facebook, and my website, JJVirgin.com. And make sure to follow my podcast at SubscribeToJJ.com so you don't miss a single episode. And hey, if you're loving what you hear, don't forget to leave a review. Your reviews make a big difference in helping me reach more incredible women just like you to spread the word about aging powerfully after 40. Thanks for tuning in, and I'll catch you on the next episode. Want to listen to the show ad-free? Head over to subscribe2jj.com and start your ad-free experience today. Hey, JJ here. And just a reminder that the Well Beyond 40 Podcast offers health, wellness, fitness, and nutritional information that's designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for, nor does it replace professional professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid, or delay obtaining medical or health-related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk.

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