How to Eat More Protein: Timing, Food Choices and Healthy Ageing

The Protein Chronicles — Part 3

This is the final instalment of The Protein Chronicles, and we’re going to focus on two practical things: when to eat protein and which protein sources to choose to get the most from this essential macronutrient, especially as we age.

But before we get to that, have you read Parts 1 and 2?

There are plenty of take-home messages, but here are the big ones:

• Our bodies are built and maintained using thousands of different proteins. We need enough of their building blocks — amino acids, particularly the nine essential amino acids — to support ongoing protein turnover and synthesis.
• As we age, getting enough protein at each meal becomes increasingly important. Around 30g of protein per meal is a useful starting point for many people, although individual requirements vary.
• Muscle is fundamental to our health, strength, body composition and physical function as we age. It deserves to be protected!

Front-Loading Your Day With Protein

Many of us in the Western world consume our largest amount of protein late in the day, usually at the evening meal.

That protein certainly contributes to muscle protein synthesis. However, research suggests that redistributing protein more evenly across the day, rather than concentrating most of it at dinner, can help support muscle protein synthesis.

Let’s consider breakfast.

After a night’s sleep, we’ve been without food for several hours. Muscle protein synthesis continues overnight, but the balance between muscle protein building and breakdown is influenced by our overall nutritional intake, including the protein we consume.

Breakfast is an opportunity to provide the amino acids needed to support that process.

Muscle protein synthesis

Remember leucine, the essential amino acid we discussed in Part 2? It plays an important role in signalling muscle protein synthesis. Getting a sufficient amount of high-quality protein at a meal helps provide that signal, alongside the other essential amino acids needed to build new muscle proteins.

For many people, aiming for around 30g of protein at breakfast is a practical place to start.

Think of it as giving your muscle-building machinery a useful early-day boost.

And why does this matter beyond muscle?

Skeletal muscle plays an important role in glucose disposal and contributes significantly to our body’s use of fat as fuel. Maintaining healthy muscle has benefits that extend well beyond how we look or how much weight we can lift.

Culturally, though, we’re often primed to do the opposite.

We’re primed to eat cereals or grains for breakfast, which can contain relatively little protein unless we choose carefully or add protein-rich foods. Even adding an egg or two may not get us to that 30g target.

Get protein in early

Decades ago, when I was competing in fitness competitions, I used to have a five-egg-white omelette with vegetables. That gave me around 18g of protein from the egg whites alone, before counting anything else in the meal.

It did the trick, although these days I’d probably choose a few whole eggs alongside other protein sources rather than relying entirely on egg whites!

There’s an easy, convenient option for getting more protein into breakfast: a whey or plant-based protein isolate.

Yes, it’s processed protein. But it can be a very practical way to get a useful amount of protein, including leucine and the other essential amino acids, into your day without having to prepare a large meal.

It’s convenient, relatively cost-effective, available in different flavours and easy to combine with berries, nut butter and other ingredients.

If you prefer a traditional cereal-based breakfast, a protein shake mid-morning can work just as well as part of your overall daily eating pattern. For many people, it fits neatly into a working day.

I recommend protein isolates, whether whey or plant-based, to many of my clients, including my 82-year-old mum. A shake can be useful when appetite is low or a large meal feels unappealing. You can also divide it into smaller servings if that makes it easier to manage.

The important thing is to find an approach that works for you.

A note for athletes

A note for athletes: if you’re planning a long workout, consider getting a solid 30–45g of protein into your first meal, depending on your individual needs and the demands of your training. Endurance exercise increases the need to support recovery, and protein provides the amino acids your muscles need to repair and rebuild. Just remember that carbohydrates are also essential for fuelling prolonged exercise and replenishing the energy you’ve used.

Protein content in foods

When it comes to getting protein from whole foods, it helps to know what different portions provide.

Here are some approximate examples to help you build your meals.

Food	Approximate protein
4oz (113g) lean meat	29g
4oz (113g) chicken	31g
4oz (113g) fish	25g
1 large egg	6–7g
8oz (227g) Greek yoghurt	15–23g
4oz (113g) cottage cheese	12–14g
8oz (240ml) skimmed milk	8–9g
200g cooked oatmeal	5–7g
24 almonds	5–6g
3 tbsp sunflower seeds	5–6g
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds	3g
1 cup cooked lentils	18g
½ cup chickpeas	7g
1 cup broccoli	Around 3g

These figures are estimates. Actual protein content varies with portion size, product, preparation and brand. For meat, fish and dairy products, check the packaging or a reliable food composition database for more precise figures.

Notice that we don’t need enormous quantities of animal products to reach around 30g of protein at a meal. A suitable portion of meat or fish, for example, can get us most or all of the way there.

If you’re vegetarian or vegan, meeting your protein needs is absolutely achievable, but it can require a little more thought and planning.

Plant foods vary considerably in their protein content, digestibility and amino acid profiles. Some provide less protein per serving than animal-based alternatives, and some are less digestible. This doesn’t make them inferior foods; it simply means we need to pay attention to the overall amount and variety we eat.

Combining different plant protein sources throughout the day, choosing protein-rich foods such as soya, beans, lentils and tofu, and using a plant-based protein isolate when helpful can make meeting your needs much easier.

And so I come back, time and time again, to the practical value of protein powders, whether whey or plant-based.

They offer a convenient way to deliver a substantial amount of protein in one serving, helping you reach your daily target without having to eat more food than feels comfortable.

The goal is to provide your body with the amino acids it needs to build, synthesise and grow.

Adjusting your nutrition as you age

There are multiple ways to eat well and get the nutrients we need. But as we age, and as our lifestyles and goals change, we may need to adjust what has worked for us in the past.

Protein is a good example.

Staying aware of how best to support your body throughout your life is important. It’s easy to accept certain changes as an inevitable part of ageing: weight gain, muscle loss, a slowing metabolism and a gradual decline in strength.

Some changes are a natural part of getting older. But we don’t have to accept that nothing can be done to influence them.

We can start by looking at what, when and how we eat.

It won’t solve everything, of course. But making thoughtful adjustments to our nutrition, alongside appropriate exercise, strength training and recovery, can make a meaningful difference.

And for me, that’s worth it!

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Ready to Make Your Nutrition Work for You?

If nutrition is an area of your health that you find confusing, and you’d like some help making sense of it, let’s talk.

I design personalised nutrition plans for people aged 15 to 85, taking account of their life circumstances, current eating habits, goals, food preferences and dislikes.