0:00

Sometimes you need to take control to make

0:02

a difference. That's why with FlexPath

0:04

from Capella University, you're in control.

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Set your own deadlines and leverage your experience

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to move at pace that works for you.

0:11

Discover a different way forward at Capella

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dot EDU

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You made it check out of office to check

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into the sweet views of this

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place where the kids aren't asking

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for the WiFi. Mom, Can we go to the

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pool? And when you're with Amex, it's not if it's

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don't live life without it.

0:35

Hello, and welcome to the nutrition

0:37

dealer podcast. I'm your host, Monica

0:40

Reinigel. And today, I have

0:42

two listener questions. The

0:44

first one from Tal has to do

0:46

with sugar. The second one from Ella

0:48

is about protein. But both

0:50

Tal and Ella are asking kind

0:53

of the same thing Is there any

0:55

benefit to spreading your intake out

0:57

over several meals as opposed

0:59

to eating that same amount in a single

1:01

sitting? So let's start with

1:03

Tal's question about sugar. Should

1:07

I spread out my sugar consumption? For

1:09

example, after eating dessert, is it better

1:11

to wait a couple of hours before having a

1:13

coffee with sugar? That way, I'd

1:15

get less of a sugar spike. Specifically,

1:18

tau seem to be concerned that higher blood

1:20

sugar spikes might lead to insulin

1:22

resistance. Now, just to quickly

1:24

review, insulin is a hormone that's released

1:27

by the pan create and it helps clear

1:29

glucose out of the bloodstream and into

1:31

the cells where it can be used for energy

1:34

or stored for future use. Insulin

1:38

resistance means that our cells

1:40

have become less responsive to

1:42

the effects of insulin. As a

1:44

result, our blood sugar levels remain inappropriately

1:47

high. Insulin resistance can

1:49

be a precursor to full blown type

1:51

two diabetes. And

1:53

a lot of us worry that eating

1:55

too much sugar or eating

1:57

it too often is going to increase

1:59

our risk of insulin resistance

2:02

or type two diabetes.

2:04

But now we understand that

2:07

it's actually more the other way

2:09

around insulin resistance,

2:12

poorly controlled diabetes results

2:14

in chronically high blood sugar.

2:16

It turns out that eating a lot of

2:18

sugar or Even just eating foods

2:20

that are rapidly converted into blood

2:23

such as white bread, are not the

2:25

primary factors in the development of

2:27

insulin resistance. The primary

2:29

factors are excess body

2:32

weight, especially if you carry it around the waist

2:34

and a sedentary lifestyle. Age

2:37

and genetics also play a role.

2:39

We may be genetically disposed to

2:41

insulin resistance, but either way,

2:43

ourselves may become more resistant to

2:46

insulin with age. Now

2:48

that doesn't mean that eating a lot of sugar doesn't

2:50

have any consequences. if

2:52

your body weight starts to drift

2:54

up, whether that's from overeating sweets

2:57

or overeating any other food,

2:59

that would increase your risk of insulin resistance.

3:02

In

3:02

other words, for those who do not

3:04

have diabetes or insulin

3:06

resistance, The short term

3:08

impact of sweets on your blood sugar

3:11

is probably not as big a concern as

3:13

the long term impact of sweets

3:15

on your body weight. or

3:17

on your nutrition. Because if you're eating

3:19

a lot of sweets, they may well be

3:22

crowding other more nutritious foods out

3:24

of your diet. and by the same token,

3:26

for someone who does not have diabetes

3:28

or prediabetes, the

3:30

timing or the basing

3:33

of your sugar intake is probably

3:35

not as important as the total

3:37

amount of sugar that you're taking in.

3:39

If you're interested

3:41

in improving your insulin sensitivity, I

3:43

have three strategies to suggest. First,

3:47

exercise improves insulin sensitivity

3:50

in those both with and without impaired

3:52

insulin responses. regular

3:55

intake of artificial sweeteners,

3:57

in particular sucralose, which

3:59

is sold as

3:59

Splenda, has been shown to have

4:02

negative effects on insulin sensitivity.

4:04

And that might be just one more reason

4:07

to limit your intake of those.

4:09

And finally, an underappreciated way

4:11

to improve your insulin sensitivity is

4:14

to space your meals out more.

4:16

For example, eating two or three

4:18

larger meals with several hours

4:20

between them instead of grazing

4:22

throughout the day, can improve

4:24

your insulin sensitivity.

4:30

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4:32

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4:34

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6:59

Now, let's turn to the question

7:01

about protein. Ellen

7:03

wrote to ask for clarification about

7:05

something that I've talked about before, the potential

7:07

benefits of distributing your

7:09

daily protein foods more evenly

7:11

throughout the day rather

7:13

than eating most of your protein at

7:15

dinner, which is the typical pattern here

7:17

in the US. Ella's

7:19

question offered the additional attraction

7:22

of allowing me to wade into a

7:24

marital dispute. You know how much I

7:26

love to do that. My

7:28

husband is on a

7:29

huge protein kick, she wrote.

7:31

And when I saw him eating a protein

7:34

drink, eggs, and yogurt all

7:36

at the same meal, I mentioned

7:38

lovingly, of course, what

7:40

you have said about the added benefit of

7:42

spreading your protein intake out across

7:45

meals

7:45

versus eating it all at once.

7:47

Well,

7:48

he was very eager to tell me that that's

7:50

actually not true, that the body

7:52

can store amino acids in the small

7:54

intestine and then the body can

7:56

utilize them later, so I'm curious

7:59

to hear your thoughts.

8:01

Now, this does not happened very often

8:04

in the nutritional marital disputes

8:06

that I'm called in to mediate, but in

8:08

this case, both Ella

8:10

and her husband are actually correct.

8:13

The body does store

8:15

amino acids

8:16

for future use. And

8:18

the

8:18

oft repeated dictum that the body can

8:20

only absorb or utilize thirty

8:22

grams of protein in one sitting

8:25

is a misunderstanding or

8:27

at least a gross oversimplification.

8:30

Increasing the amount of protein in

8:32

a meal has been shown to increase

8:35

muscle protein synthesis. but

8:37

only up to a certain point.

8:39

After that threshold, adding

8:41

more protein to the meal does

8:43

not lead to more muscle protein

8:45

synthesis. In younger

8:47

folks, that threshold is

8:49

about twenty five grams of protein.

8:51

And by the way, that is assuming

8:53

a high quality protein source

8:55

like whey protein or chicken or

8:58

beef. If you were getting your protein

9:00

from plant sources, you might

9:02

need more grams of protein to hit

9:04

that threshold. But

9:06

for people over forty,

9:08

it can take thirty or even

9:10

thirty five grams of high

9:12

quality protein to hit that peak

9:14

muscle protein synthesis threshold.

9:16

And this phenomenon is

9:18

referred to as anabolic resistance.

9:22

Similar to insulin resistance where the

9:24

cells become less responsive to the effects

9:26

of insulin, anabolic

9:28

resistance, is when the cells become less

9:30

responsive to the effects of protein.

9:33

In any case, there is a threshold

9:35

beyond which eating more protein

9:37

at a single meal doesn't

9:39

further enhance muscle protein

9:41

synthesis, but that's not to

9:43

say that it can't be utilized.

9:45

Dietary protein serves

9:48

more than one function in the

9:50

body. Yes, it is used to build

9:52

and repair muscle But

9:54

dietary protein also supplies the

9:56

building blocks for enzyme and

9:58

hormone production. Proteins are

9:59

involved in cell signaling and repair

10:02

and brain function And of

10:04

course, protein can also be

10:06

used as a source of fuel

10:08

or energy.

10:09

So when people say that

10:11

the body's ability to utilize protein

10:13

pops out at thirty grams per

10:15

meal. What they really mean

10:17

is that the body's ability to

10:19

utilize protein to synthesize muscle

10:22

tops out at about thirty grams

10:24

per meal. But the rest will

10:26

be put to other purposes. Now,

10:29

it sounds like Ella's husband But

10:31

with the protein shake and the eggs and the

10:33

yogurt all at the same meal, he may have

10:35

been over that threshold.

10:37

And Ella's right, in terms of

10:39

building muscle, you'd get

10:41

more benefit from eating two

10:43

meals each containing thirty grams of

10:45

protein than from eating a

10:47

single meal containing sixty

10:49

grams. but that may

10:51

only be relevant for

10:53

people who can't or just don't want

10:55

to eat more than sixty grams of

10:57

protein per day. If they're

10:59

trying to maximize their lean muscle,

11:01

they'd really be better off splitting that up

11:03

over two meals than eating it all at a

11:05

single meal. But for people who

11:07

are happy to eat a hundred

11:09

or a hundred twenty or even

11:11

more grams of protein per day,

11:14

Exceeding that threshold of thirty or thirty

11:16

five grams of protein at any given

11:18

meal probably won't be as

11:20

much of an issue because they're

11:22

still likely to be hitting that optimal

11:24

muscle building dose two or three times a

11:26

day. And just in case you're

11:28

wondering as I was, My

11:30

protein researcher friends estimate that you

11:32

need to have at least two

11:34

hours between meals in

11:36

order to reset that muscle

11:38

protein synthesis. capacity. If

11:41

you're interested in more information

11:43

on how to build muscle with

11:45

less protein, I have a link in the

11:47

show notes to a previous episode that I've done

11:49

in that topic. And for those interested in more

11:51

information on building muscle on a

11:53

plant based diet, I've got a link

11:55

to an article on that. But

11:57

here's just a final thought on this.

11:59

If you

11:59

take in more protein than your body needs

12:02

for its various protein specific

12:04

functions, and more than it can

12:06

put to immediate use

12:08

building muscle, the rest will

12:10

be used as fuel, just like

12:12

carbohydrates and fats, and

12:14

If you consume more calories than your

12:17

body needs to fuel its activities,

12:19

well then that excess energy will be

12:21

stored as fat and that's true

12:23

whether the excess calories come from carbohydrates,

12:25

fats, or proteins. However,

12:29

protein does offer a couple of

12:31

potential advantages. as an

12:33

energy or calorie source,

12:35

particularly for those who are trying to lose

12:37

weight or trying to avoid

12:39

gaining it. protein

12:41

requires more energy to digest.

12:43

So a higher protein

12:45

diet will give your metabolism

12:47

a modest boost, and I don't wanna

12:49

overstate the impact of that because it is

12:51

relatively modest. Far

12:54

more relevant, in terms of weight

12:56

management, is the fact that calories from

12:58

protein keep you full for

13:00

longer than the same amount of calories

13:02

from fats or carbohydrates and

13:04

that can make it easier to eat just a

13:06

bit less. Now,

13:08

of course, sometimes we do eat for

13:11

reasons other than hunger, such as

13:13

stress, or boredom. And

13:15

a lot of the people that I work with on weight

13:17

management tell me that emotional eating

13:19

is an even bigger challenge than

13:21

managing their appetite. And if that sounds

13:23

like you, you may be

13:25

interested in a program that I'm going to be

13:27

offering on overcoming stress and

13:29

emotional eating. We're kicking it off

13:31

next week. and you can

13:32

find all the details on that at wayless

13:35

dot life slash stress.

13:36

If

13:37

you have a nutrition question or

13:39

even better, a nutritional marital

13:41

dispute, You can send it to me at

13:43

nutrition at quick and dirty tips dot

13:45

com or leave it on the nutrition diva

13:47

listener line. That's 4439616206

13:52

and you might hear your question

13:54

featured in a future episode. Nutrition

13:57

Diba is a quick and dirty tips podcast,

13:59

It's audio engineered by

13:59

Nathan Sams with script editing by

14:02

Adam Sasol and Big Banks,

14:04

also to Morgan Christiansen,

14:06

Harley Hedgens, Devina Tomlin

14:08

and Kim Renezy. Thanks so

14:10

much for listening. I'll see you next

14:12

week.

14:18

Sometimes you need to take control to

14:20

make a difference. That's why with

14:22

FlexPath from Capella University, you're

14:24

in control. set your own deadlines and leverage

14:26

your experience to move at a pace that

14:28

works for you. Discover a different way

14:30

forward at coppella dot EDU

14:32

Your favorite band's about to

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play a sold out show. You got

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in. Over here. With a friend,

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Aon fought a spot close enough to see the

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sec list. they're definitely playing your

14:43

song. When

14:43

you're with Amex, it's not if it's going to

14:45

happen, but when? American Express,

14:47

don't live life without it.