What Dietary Guidelines Get Right and Wrong

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So the new dietary guidelines dropped, and for the first time, they're finally telling Americans to eat real food. That is progress. But here's the problem. They're still giving generalized advice to a population that's anything but general. And if you're a woman over 40 trying to build muscle, burn fat, and stabilize your metabolism, the many recommendations will actually hold you back. So today I'm breaking down what they got right and what they missed and what I would change if your goal is to age powerfully and not just follow guidelines. I want to know, should we create our own dietary guidelines specifically for women over 40? Let's get into it. Hey, I'm JJ Virgin, PhD dropout, Sorry Mom turned 4-time New York Times bestselling author. As a certified nutrition specialist, Fitness Hall of Famer, and globally recognized leader in health, I'm driven to keep asking the tough questions and use my podcast to simplify the science of health into actionable strategies that help you thrive. I'd also love to hear your thoughts on the show. And here's the fun part. When you send me your review, I'll reply to you using my on-demand virtual me. That's right. My team and I created a virtual JJ Virgin packed with my books, speeches, and wisdom so I can personally connect with you. Here's how you do it. Subscribe and leave an honest review of the podcast. Take a screenshot of your review, text it to 813-565-2627. That's 813-565-2627. 2-7. My virtual JJ will reply directly, and trust me, this will make your day. So subscribe now at subscribetojj.com and text me your review. Let's keep thriving together.

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Let's talk protein. So here's the reality: the minimum is not the optimum. The guidelines give you the minimum to survive, but not the amount you really need to thrive. I'm glad they boosted up the recommendations to 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram body weight. But the reality is that should be the baseline because we've got a sedentary lifestyle. We've got anabolic resistance that happens as we age. This means that it's harder for your body to take the amino acids from the protein and help them incorporate them into muscle. You've got insulin resistance, poor sleep, high stress, All of these things are gonna increase your protein needs. In fact, what we saw in the Journal of Applied Physiology, Moore et al., showed that anabolic resistance meant that older adults require more protein per meal. And in the Journal of Obesity, Leidy et al. showed that higher protein improves your body composition and satiety. That's a big deal considering that we've now got 40% of the population who is obese. And then what was shown in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Morton et al., was that 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram was optimal for muscle and fat loss. So it's better, but it's not good enough. Here's where I'd love to see this is 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target body weight. And make sure that you get at least 30 to 40 grams at your beginning and ending meals, what I call your bumper meals. Here's the reality. If you're undereating protein, everything else gets harder. Losing fat, building muscle, cravings, all of it. So we gotta get that one right. It is foundational. Now, the next thing that came up is dairy. And for the first time ever, we are recommending full-fat dairy. But there's some other things with dairy, because dairy is not a religion, it's not a belief system, it's really about your biological response to it. And that's why I like to say it's not good or bad, it's a signal. I mean, if you can tolerate dairy, it's amazing because of the leucine. It's a rich source of the essential amino acid leucine, which is the trigger for muscle protein synthesis. This is the groundbreaking work of Dr. Donald Layman. But for some people, this is what I wrote about in the diet, it can trigger inflammation and all sorts of issues from skin issues, gas and bloating, joint pain, et cetera. So that's the first part. And also quality certainly matters here. There is a big difference from eating an A2 grass-fed cow fermented into Greek-style yogurt versus say some kind of a processed skim milk yogurt with fruit on the bottom and artificial sweeteners. That's pretty obvious. So we know that leucine can trigger muscle protein synthesis. That was also shown in Nutrients by Phillips et al. And that dairy is an amazing source of this, but also a highly bioavailable protein source. And especially when you look at these choices like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese are great sources and they're fermented. I always like things that are fermented. So if you can get that, bonus points, but you may, if you have trouble tolerating those, may be able to tolerate goat or sheep or A2. A2 dairy has a different type of milk protein that many people can digest easier, so they don't get the bloating and discomfort from, say, what they would get from normal cows, A1 cows. I wouldn't say normal cows, they're just the more common cows here in the United States. And, you know, of course, your body's response is what matters the most here, not the rule of what you should be eating. So I mentioned that we are being finally encouraged to eat whole fat dairy. In terms of fats overall, the challenge I've had with what they've made for recommendations in the fat is that we are still talking percentages. I find that really hard to incorporate in the real world. You know, we've taught people to like fear fat and too much fat instead of fearing what that fat is, like the fat from ultra-processed foods, the rancid toxic fat. When you have percentages, it's abstract. It's hard for people to get that. And what you really want to look at with fat is the quality of it. I like to say make an oil change. The type of fat you eat can make such a difference. We need fat and we need protein to survive. We can live without carbohydrates. We eat the protein for those essential amino acids. We fat for the essential fatty acids. The way I like to do it is first you want to get your fat from whole foods, and this is stressed too in the new dietary guidelines. So what would that look like? That would be things like nuts and seeds, olives, grass-fed, grass-finished meats, wild fish. And because toxins are stored in fat, you are what you eat ate. So you want to make sure that when you're getting fat from animal sources, from fish sources, that you're getting clean sources. So small fish, and again think game, think grass-fed, grass-finished. What they still talk about in the dietary guidelines is limiting saturated fat to less than 10% of your diet. First of all, that's a challenge because how do we even figure that out, right? I think it would be much better talking grams. But the other piece of that is there's a difference, big difference, between eating saturated fat in the form of, say, some dairy fat or some coconut oil versus eating the saturated fat that has been chemically processed and is now in an ultra-processed food. We cannot compare those two. So I think what we need to do instead is talk about where we want to avoid fats, and that is in toxic, rancid fats and ultra-processed foods. And the science shows us ultra-processed foods are strongly linked to both obesity and metabolic disease. That was a study published in Cell Metabolism by Hall et al. Here's the big reality though. People eat food. They don't eat macronutrients. And where that food come from, the source, well, that changes everything. Now, what about added sugar? Of course, you want to avoid the added sugar, but it's the number game that gets you really trapped here because managing sugar keeps you stuck thinking about sugar, and that's an issue. So instead of thinking about like per-item limits that can lead to like loophole behavior, right? Can lead to stacking, food obsessions, all not great behaviors. What I think that we need to think about instead is avoid added sugar. Eat real food, avoid added sugar, and every once in a while have a piece of birthday cake. It's not going to hurt you. It's what you do every day that makes a difference. We know that high added sugar intake is linked to both insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction. And that was in JAMA, Stanhope. But again, the goal isn't to manage sugar. It's to stop needing to manage it because you're reaching for whole foods, things that are naturally low in sugar, you know, like avocados and blueberries and salmon, and that you are being careful about things that have a bunch of sugar, and they are seen as a treat every once in a while, like birthday cake. Now, another thing that probably should be seen as a treat is alcohol. Let's call this one the hidden metabolic break. And alcohol's been all over the place. Like, first it was a health food, then it was like, don't have any of it. Let's kind of reframe what it is. So alcohol doesn't— you know, it's, it's its own macro where Carbohydrates and protein have 4 calories per gram. Fat is 9 and alcohol is 7. And it isn't just a calorie. It also changes what your body does with calories. When alcohol is consumed, it's the first thing that has to be metabolized. It lowers fat oxidation, increases fat storage. It messes up your sleep and it messes up your muscle recovery. When you really look at alcohol, it's not a health food. I was, I'm very sad to say that too. I loved it before when we were like, a glass of wine every day is good for you. However, as scientists like to say, things are nuanced here. Because if alcohol allows you to calm down a bit, spend some time with friends, have a great social time without, say, and that's just a having a glass of wine a couple nights a week, one could argue that might be better for your health than being socially isolated and more stressed out. So I think we always have to look at these things not in a vacuum, but in the big picture. And so we just have to watch it. If you're using alcohol and you're trying to lose fat, well, we know that alcohol suppresses fat sedation. That came from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Seiler et al. And it also can disrupt your sleep and mess up your sleep architecture. That came from Sleep Medicine Reviews, He et al. And we all know that, you know, it's like no one ever has had a bottle of wine and said, gosh, I slept great. No, you passed out and probably woke up middle of the night and had crappy sleep. So the reality is if fat loss is a goal, if recovery is a goal, if good sleep's a goal, alcohol's not really gonna be your best friend. Does that mean that you can't drink it at all? Probably can have a glass or two a couple times a week. And it's really up to you and your goals and how you do with it. So if you are, choose wisely. And if you're gonna choose wisely, this is where I use Dry Farm wines, lower alcohol wines, lab-tested wines without, you know, the pesticides and all the garbage in them without added sugars. And full disclosure, when everyone was giving up wine, I was like, you know what? I did for a while and then I went, nope, I'm not gonna do that. I'm just gonna use it in moderation and be careful with it. Now, when you've got hormone shifts going on, like estrogen going down, and that means insulin and inflammation are going up, right? Progesterone going down, poor sleep and anxiety are happening, and you're getting more muscle, you're getting more fat distribution around the midsection. We know that menopause is linked to increased visceral fat and increased insulin resistance. That's in Obesity Reviews. Love Joy et al. And we also know that as we age, we lose muscle. And as we age more, it starts to accelerate after the age of 60. That was in the Journal of Cachexia and Sarcopenia Muscle, Mitchell et al. So I think we have to think differently for people 40 plus, and I'm gonna say women 40 plus because of that shift in estrogen and progesterone that happens. So what would I do here? I would still bring protein up higher. Again, I'd have it at 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target body weight. I would really focus on where my carbohydrates are coming from, and I'd put a fiber target in here too. At least 30 grams of fiber a day, at least 10 grams per each meal. That's going to help with that blood sugar balance. That is so super duper important. And then looking at making sure— I love the 30/30, so 30 grams of fiber and 30 different plants, so I'm getting all those different polyphenols that really fuel your gut microbiome. That's so important for not just our immune system but our appetite, our nutrient absorption. So I would focus on that too. So I'm really looking looking at how— what kind of plants am I getting? What kind of fiber am I getting? I would take a real good muscle-first approach to all of this, and that means polyphenols help with that. Getting good fats is going to be important there. Getting good protein is going to be important there alongside resistance training, but that's not in the dietary guidelines, of course. And I would add in some fluid intakes in here too. Don't drink your sugar, and let's make sure that you are getting in 8 or more servings of of pure water a day, filtered, and ideally add in some electrolytes. I think at some point here we should create the optimal dietary guidelines for the woman 40 plus, and you can extrapolate from here. But again, I'd also add in 5 to 10 servings of non-starchy vegetables a day and probably 2 servings of fruit a day. Now, these guidelines, they're here to prevent a deficiency, but again, I want the optimal metabolism dietary guidelines. So those are what we need to work on next. I think these are a great step in the right direction. They are certainly better than what we've seen between the MyPlate and the Food Guide Pyramid. But, you know, real health isn't built on percentages or calorie math or checking the boxes. Real health is built on muscle. It's built on metabolic health, on getting quality sleep, stress resilience, and really understanding how your body, specifically you, the N of 1, works, especially in midlife. Because if you follow generic advice in a super non-generic generic phase of life, then you're going to get generic results. Conversely, if you want to feel strong and lean and energized as you age, that focus has got to shift from rules to results, from managing food to supporting your metabolism. Now, if this was helpful, make sure to subscribe. What do you think? Should we create a set of dietary guidelines, especially for women over 40? Because honestly, I think it's time. Be sure to join me next for more tools, tips, and techniques you can use to look and feel your best and be built to last. Also, I'd love to connect with you and hear your thoughts on the podcast. Here's how. First, subscribe to the podcast and leave an honest review. Second, take a screenshot of your review. And third, text to 2-813-565-2622 2627. That's 813-565-2627. When you do, I'll reply using my brand new Virtual JJ Virgin. It's my on-demand virtual self built from my books, talks, and years of experience so I can interact with you directly. You'll make my day and I can't wait to hear from you. Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you on the next episode. 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 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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