In Part One we explored how animal foods are an important source of essential nutrition and addressed some of the concerns with consuming animal foods. In Part Two we explored why animal foods are the ideal protein source for human beings. In Part Three we will be exploring one of the most important reasons to optimize your protein intake: your muscle mass and your ability to repair, maintain, and build skeletal muscle.
If you are in your teens or 20’s, and are active, you will probably be able to get away with consuming less protein than what I will suggest. But, if you’re over the age of 30, you would be wise to optimize your protein intake, and be eating and living in a way to optimize muscle growth and maintenance, and stave off muscle wasting (sarcopenia).
It is inevitable as we age that we will eventually experience muscle wasting. The more muscle you can put on and maintain now (no matter what your age), the longer you can stave sarcopenia off, and the higher your likelihood of maintaining a high quality of life (in terms of mobility, activity, metabolic health, cognitive health, and general resilience) into your elderly years. The more muscle mass that is preserved with age, the longer the life expectancy. The older we get, the more challenging the process of muscle growth, repair, and maintenance becomes, and the higher our protein needs will be. This is known as anabolic resistance.