Words of Wellness with Shelly

Protein Pacing: The Secret to Optimal Health and Longevity

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 75

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Dr. Paul Arciero revolutionizes everything we thought we knew about protein consumption in this eye-opening conversation about optimal health and longevity. With over 70 peer-reviewed publications and three decades of scientific research, Dr. Arciero presents compelling evidence for his protein pacing strategy—a game-changing approach that could transform your health trajectory.

The science is clear: consuming high-quality protein sources (particularly those rich in essential amino acids) every four hours is fundamental to maintaining muscle mass, supporting brain function, and extending your healthy years. Dr. Arciero dismantles longstanding protein myths, revealing that our bodies can effectively utilize significantly more protein than previously thought—up to 100 grams in a single sitting. This finding has profound implications, especially for those who miss meals during busy days.

Most fascinating is the crucial connection between protein consumption and cognitive function. As Dr. Arciero explains, "Our minds are as strong as the health of our body, our muscles. Once we begin to compromise our muscle mass, we compromise our brain health, our cognition, and our ability to think clearly." This relationship between physical and mental decline makes proper protein intake even more critical as we age.

For those practicing intermittent fasting or following specific dietary approaches, Dr. Arciero offers practical guidance on maintaining adequate protein within these frameworks, though he cautions that research shows these approaches may not optimize muscle preservation compared to traditional protein pacing throughout the day.

The conversation concludes with Dr. Arciero's hopeful vision for aging—that our "longevity years" need not be marked by decline but can instead be some of our most vital and energetic decades if we prioritize proper nutrition. As a recent grandparent himself, he embodies his own philosophy: "When it comes to our health, we are in charge. We're the person who has the greatest ability to impact our health, and starting with what we nourish our body with on a regular basis is the first starting point, and protein wins the day every time."

Check out Dr. Arciero's books "The Protein-Pacing Diet" and "The Prize Life Book" to discover how this simple but powerful nutritional approach can help you live better, longer.

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

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And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!

In Health,
Shelly Jefferis

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I will be your host, and I am thrilled to bring you our guest today. I am going to try and run through all of his credentials and accolades. If I read all of them it probably would take up the entire episode, but I'm going to share that I have just been honored to be able to work alongside him and learn from him over the past decade. He has an advanced graduate degree in nutrition and applied exercise physiology. He serves as a scientific advisory board member and consultant for the health and wellness industry. He is a fellow in the Obesity Society, the American College of Sports Medicine and the International Society of Sports Nutrition. With over 30 years dedicated to scientific research and over 58, which there's probably more now published peer-reviewed articles, dr Paul continues to be the leading nutrition and fitness scientist and expert. He has authored two amazing books that I have read myself the Protein-Basing Diet and the Prize Life Book, and welcome Dr Paul Arciero to the show.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, thank you, it's wonderful to be here. Yeah, great intro. Thanks for doing that. Always happy to update people. Yeah, it was 58 back a few years ago. Now I'm over 70 of these peer-reviewed publications, so that's always nice to be able to continue to add to it. So, yeah, great to be here and a wonderful topic.

Speaker 1:

Yes, absolutely, and I had a feeling it was going to be over the 58. So over 70. Wow, that's phenomenal. I love it. So you know, I've gotten to know your work and read your books and learn from you and all of the studies and the research that you have done and are currently doing.

Speaker 1:

And the research that you have done and are currently doing, your biggest topic I feel like that you really share a lot about, is the protein pacing and also the importance of protein just for our overall metabolism, but also for overall performance, and I would just love for you to share on that topic, as you are, of course, the expert. I was thinking about it this morning how, back in the day, probably back in the eighties, when it was kind of a low fat carb load eat bagels. I know back then I was not getting the protein that I needed, but nowadays, thank you for changing my nutrition 10 years ago, I am from our simple system. 10 years ago, I am from our simple system, but what do you recommend for everyone who maybe they might not be getting enough protein intake? And also, what would you recommend for the average male and female?

Speaker 2:

Well, that's a really good starting point. So, protein pacing, first of all, just to kind of update everybody on that, shelley is consuming the right quality and quantity of. We use the word quality when it comes to protein. It really is describing the complete protein that the food source contains, which would include the building blocks of the protein and that's the amino acids. So you want to make sure that you have the highest quality and mix of those amino acids and what our body is able to do is make some of those amino acids on their own.

Speaker 2:

Those are called non-essential amino acids. So whenever we take in a protein source from food, it has a combination of both the non-essential and then what are called essential. So again, the non-essential ones, if they're found in food, that's great. But we also have the ability inside of our body to make those on our own. But it's always obviously super important to get them in from the diet just to make sure that the body has a sufficient quantity of them. But where the most important aspect of protein comes from is the what are called essential amino acids, and they're called essential because our body doesn't produce those. We have to. It's mandatory, we are required to consume those sources of protein that have those essential amino acids, because our body can't produce those. So that's the issue regarding quality, and so the real focus for us on a daily basis is to make sure that we are choosing foods that have the highest quality protein, in the sense of the foods that have the greatest amount of essential the ones that we can't produce on our own contained within them. So what would those foods be? Those would be foods the number one source would be, for example, undenatured whey protein. That would be our highest quality source of those essential amino acids. And then some grass-fed, pasture-raised out in the wild sources of animal protein fish, eggs, beef, dairy yogurt, of course, or things like that. Those are the highest quality whole food sources, but the whey protein really is the top, and then the eggs and the meat and things like that, and then, a little bit further on down, are those plant-based sources, and so the plant-based sources have wonderful nutrients found within them, mostly in the form of what we call plant chemicals, phyto plant chemicals and antioxidants. They're not nearly as well endowed with the essential amino acids.

Speaker 2:

So when we talk about the quality, it should come in those sources that I described. So protein pacing is making sure that you're consuming those highest quality protein sources three to four times a day. Ideally it would be four every four hours. So highest quality, those sources that I gave every four hours, equivalent to you consuming them about three or four times, ideally, over the course of the day. The first one should be consumed within an hour of waking in the morning. The last one should be consumed within two hours of going to sleep at night and when you I call them the bookends. When you bookend those super high quality servings of protein but those high quality essential amino acids beginning the day and ending the day, you have solved an enormous and an enormous amount of your health in terms of, you know, providing you optimal health and I think that's where most people miss the opportunity is not bringing in those high quality sources of protein first thing in the morning and then at the end of the day.

Speaker 2:

You add stated the amount. So the amount ranges, but it's somewhere at a minimum of 20, 25 grams at each of those servings. Now some people might be thinking, oh, that's way too much. No, it's not even anywhere close to too much. That would be the minimum of what you'd want to consume about 20 to 25 grams too much. That would be the minimum of what you'd want to consume about 20 to 25 grams. I would not recommend 25 for young developing boys and girls in their teenage years and through adolescence Definitely not into their teenage and early 20s they have to consume at least that 25 grams per serving. And then the elderly the elderly need at least at a very bare minimum of that, 25 grams over four meals, because they need actually more than that. That would be.

Speaker 2:

Again, I'm just giving minimums because we know that as we age over the age of 35 and definitely by age 40, our bodies are not making those essential amino acids as available to our tissues as they need to be. So, yeah, it's a really it's a missed target for sure the majority of people. We're not talking about building big, you know, bulking muscles, that's you know, not even on the. You know the discussion right now. We're just talking about the ability to maintain and continually replace and repair our healthy body tissues that are being turned over. We call it turnover, protein turnover. So that's just the minimum.

Speaker 2:

So that 25 grams is a minimum, and there was some really interesting research that came out. We used to think that if we consumed more than 40 grams of protein at one sitting. Any excess beyond that 40 grams would be burned. We call it oxidation. We'd oxidize those amino acids and there's been a growing body of research that has completely dispelled that that our bodies are actually using and absorbing those amino acids in proteins as high as 100 grams per serving. So it's not out of the question to fall somewhere between 25 grams and 100 grams in terms of even just one feeding. I know that sounds, you know, just enormous amounts of protein for some people, but the truth of the matter is, if you're somebody who is in need of that protein for body repair and replenishment and growth, your body will use it, not burn it. So I think that's a great starting point.

Speaker 1:

That is an excellent starting point. You have so much knowledge and it's so, so informative. I didn't know that to go up to potentially 100 grams. That is incredible to know that that there's potential and possibility that that can be beneficial.

Speaker 2:

It can be yeah, and I probably need to provide a little context, not suggesting that you would want to do three or four meals at 100. But if, for example, you had a light breakfast and went the whole day, sometimes happens when we get really busy and you had a really poor amount and quality of protein as a meal that you might have started the day let's say, a breakfast of 20 or 25 grams and you went all day. I'm not so embarrassed because it's real life. It happens to me on occasion when I get home at night just to be able to know that, yes, absolutely, especially if I've worked out during that day as well, where I haven't eaten, consuming a hundred grams or more in order for me to catch up with my protein requirement is 100% acceptable and actually is necessary. So you know, to consume that much protein at one time. Just know that it will serve you very well. There's no risk of damage. There's no risk of, you know, kidney dysfunction.

Speaker 2:

That's a myth as well. You know people used to think, oh, you can't, you know, eat more than 30 grams. It's not good for your kidneys. And there's never, ever, ever I read the research all the time there's never been a research study to show that amounts of protein and those higher amounts pose any risk for the kidney. The only exception would be for people who have what's called pre-existing kidney disease. So that's a small, very small segment of the population, but for those individuals they would need to be more closely monitored.

Speaker 2:

You know, and the other one thing just to add on to that in terms of the kidney issue, you know we used to think that high protein diets and normal, healthy people were not very healthy for the kidneys, and just the opposite.

Speaker 2:

We know that when people go on low protein diets, it's actually very unhealthy for the kidney, because the kidney is then not doing its job and so it becomes kind of dormant, sleepy, lethargic. So when people say, oh no, it's not good to eat, you know, proteins of more than 40 grams, actually nothing is further from the truth, at least from a health standpoint, that when you begin to limit and restrict the amount of protein that's coming into the body, that's actually not good for the kidneys. It needs to have that higher level so that it itself can repair and continue to perform its functions at a really optimal level, at a really optimal level. So yeah, just to dispel those total misconceptions that I think unfortunately too many people out in their normal population here, and it needs to be corrected that, yes, you want to make sure that you're at a very minimum of 25 grams of high quality protein over the course of four meals a day, preferably, or more ideally, somewhere between 30 to 50 would be the ideal.

Speaker 1:

And I love the fact that you can play catch up at the end of the day, yeah, I haven't had enough.

Speaker 1:

That's an excellent. I'm going to keep that in mind, to know that, and thank you for dispelling that myth, because I do sometimes still come across clients who are concerned about their protein intake and you come across it as well, as I would imagine the average person is probably not consuming enough protein. Get this out to my listeners to reinforce the importance of it and to share the facts surrounding it and also to share sources, which you've done that. So thank you so much for doing that and also touching upon the different age groups. I think that's critical because I think we it of course changes from our young kids up and through all of the different ages into it of course changes from our young kids up and through all of the different ages into when we are in our elderly ages. So the needs change, not drastically, I don't think, but they do change a little bit through the years. So thank you for touching upon that. Really appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

So curious question comes to mind when you talk about the protein consuming it within the first hour of waking, and that is something that I tend to do and I want to just let you know on a little side note, after my husband listened to you speak not that long ago. He started adding the protein at night. So I'm like you know, he didn't hear it from me, but when he heard it from you he started to incorporate that. So thank you for that.

Speaker 1:

But my question is for those that are doing the intermittent fasting, as you so well know, and they have that window of when they are consuming food, and many are not consuming food until 12, maybe sometimes one o'clock. What would you recommend or say to those individuals in regards to their protein intake that they're not getting in the morning?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, that's a growing number of people, isn't it? People that are doing what's called time eight hour window. Some go to a six hour window, so they call it the 18 um, six um or the uh, you know whatever else.

Speaker 2:

Some even go to a 12, 12, some go to a 16, 8, so there's lots of different variations. I've even heard some people that are starting to do a 24, so they don't eat for 20 hours and only eat within a four-hour window. Regardless of which one of those that a person chooses, they definitely are not optimizing their protein synthesis, so their muscle repair and growth. There's scientific evidence to show that they're limited. Now the somewhat good news to help counter that is that at least if they're consuming within that 12, 8, 10, 6, 4-hour window, whatever it might be for them, they're consuming their required amount. So it should be again the equivalent of what they would have eaten over a protein pacing, which is the ideal, at least from our body standpoint and our optimal lean body mass repair, growth and regeneration. They need to get that recommended amount. So let's say, for example, someone has 160 grams of protein, so 40 grams over four feedings following the protein pacing. If they're only eating within that shorter six to eight hour window, they would have to somehow do two feedings, maybe 80 grams. So an 80 gram and an 80 gram within that six or eight hour window. The reason why we don't want to 80 gram within that six or eight hour window. The reason why we don't want to flood I use that word appropriately but the reason why we don't want to flood our system all at one time with those nutrients on a regular basis, even within that six or eight hour window, is because it's a heavy stress for the liver and for the blood. More importantly, and so you know, jamming, literally jamming, and flooding all of those calories into that shortened feeding window that you require, that your body needs, is a lot on the system. It would be the same thing if somebody were to decide, you know, instead of doing, you know, four meals, I want to do six or eight meals over the course of a day. That would be a lot. That would mean you'd have to be feeding every two hours, three hours, and that's just.

Speaker 2:

It's an excessive amount of time that your blood and your cells are being exposed to nutrients. In this case, in many cases, you know, sugar glucose, for example, which is not good. So the protein pacing still wins the day. It's still proven scientifically to be the most ideal because it allows the body to have resting periods in between those meals where the body has, you know, kind of tailed off its processing and its exposure to those nutrients. We just know through science that when people nibble all day or constantly bathe their blood and their cells with nutrients in this case energy, glucose, sugar, amino acids, fats that's not healthy. The cells develop a resistance and a tolerance to all those nutrients and they don't do their job as effectively in clearing those things and so those things begin to just get stuck in the blood and that's never healthy. That's why people have a high risk for type two diabetes, especially at younger and younger ages. Right, we're starting to see young boys and girls who are developing type two diabetes, which back when I was growing up that was an impossibility.

Speaker 2:

We used to say it was only for people that were older, who were sedentary and they didn't have a good, healthy, active lifestyle.

Speaker 2:

So when we nibble throughout the day, that's really unhealthy. The same goes for when we concentrate all of our feeding into a very short window of time. That heavy load that we expose the body to can be stressful. So, yeah, I mean, if people want to continue to do that just because they feel like it fits into their lifestyle, well then I would just say do the best you can at book, ending again that six to eight hour window as best you can with your, your larger meals. Don't be nibbling over the entire course of that six or eight hour window, and I think that's where people come up short. I think that's where people fail in making that eating strategy at least a little bit more beneficial for them. So my caution would just be if you do decide to do the time-restricted eating, be very disciplined in doing your first meal right at the beginning and then avoiding any food intake over the course of that time period and then eating that one more meal at the end.

Speaker 1:

That makes so much sense and it really goes against what I have taught through all the years as it makes more sense to spread out those meals for digestion reasons and metabolism reasons. So I've had a I don't do the time restricted eating. I just, first of all, I don't want to wait till noon to have my, my protein shake. It goes it. I have, I have from all the years of teaching. Just I don't have that concept. I have a hard time wrapping my head around it because of all the years of teaching how important it is to get up first thing, get something in your body for your metabolism.

Speaker 1:

That's the best way, right All those years all those nights, all the hours of sleeping, and then you haven't put anything in your body. So you want to put something in soon, like you're saying that first hour of being awake. So it's interesting to just try and understand the concept and I know people talk about, I know they tend to have results and they feel good. Doing that schedule and that time restricted, eating it just in my mind doesn't seem like the most beneficial. But again, to each his own right.

Speaker 1:

So everybody's going to have a different way of approaching things. So the main point in regards to that is that they're still getting enough protein in that restricted time.

Speaker 2:

That's the key.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and to be perfectly honest, we don't know long-term.

Speaker 2:

We have some early scientific evidence to suggest that when people do do time-restricted eating within that six to eight-hour window, their levels of lean muscle mass maintenance and growth is not as good, or not as effective to the same magnitude, as individuals that do the protein pacing of the every four hours.

Speaker 2:

That's the optimal way to help protein synthesis kick in and allow you to really optimize your body composition. So, yes, they might be able to feel as though they're managing their weight. They might feel, as we talked about, fits their lifestyle, they might feel better in certain ways and that's fine. But I think ultimately, over the long haul, in terms of us combating aging and really optimizing longevity in terms of our health span, the protein pacing is going to win the day, just based on what we know scientifically in terms of its ability to preserve and in some cases, even help us maintain and increase our lean body mass as we get older, which is really the most critical factor. So, yeah, I think both can work. It's just a matter of you know the degree to the optimization, and the protein pacing still kind of wins the day.

Speaker 1:

And that was going to be my next question in regards to lean body mass and body composition how it affects that overall. So you went right into that just perfectly, and that is something that I believe I might have heard you discuss not too long ago about just how it can maybe not be the best for your overall body composition over time and time restricted eating yes, right the time is eating, and one thing I tend to encourage individuals to do is maybe it's a starting point for them or kind of just a kickstart to get them doing what they want to do, or get them to get a little bit of results.

Speaker 1:

And and it seems to be a lot of these different I don't know if you'd say styles or approaches are not the best for long-term. So maybe initially someone will get the results they want. I talk about that a lot with individuals who who are very strong into having a keto program or doing keto diet. Can you speak on that just a little bit?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely yeah. That's another one that's obviously very popular, I think, even with the keto, or let's say we were to go to something like the Mediterranean or the plant-based. I mean there's so many other options that people can take. I think the foundation of any of those, even if it does just talk specifically to keto incorporating protein pacing into a ketogenic diet lifestyle should be a top priority. I mean, if you wanted to, you know, if there are some people who just feel you know their genetic makeup, their body response is more well suited to a lower carbohydrate, higher fat, ketogenic type diet, that's perfectly fine. But they would still want to adhere as close as possible to consuming the protein using the protein pacing strategy and then just add in the keto, the fat, healthy fat containing foods to help support that. So that I mean I, I advocate that for people who do want to adhere because they feel that it's more beneficial for their overall well being, their body composition, their mood, which a lot of people comment on energy level.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely so yeah, I think the great, I think flexibility, kind of nimbleness of the protein pacing is the ability to adapt and to fit in to some of those other different lifestyles. But it's the critical component. I don't think there's any denying that. That if we compromise or limit our intake of the high quality protein, especially as we move through an active lifestyle and into a longevity health span period of our life, older age, our life older age, yeah for sure you're compromising your body's metabolically active tissue mass and that is the most dangerous system of the body to compromise because it leads to muscle mass loss, which is sarcopenia, bone mineral density loss, which is osteoporosis.

Speaker 2:

You have compromised immune function. You increased your of of frailty. So bone, you know, fractures, stress fractures and falling, you know we don't talk about those things. So the connection between muscle mass and cognition I mean it's it's so powerful. The research is coming out in an abundance way every day. It seems like, seems like making this connection that our minds are as strong as the health of our body, our muscles, and once we begin to compromise our muscle mass, we compromise our brain health, our cognition and our ability to think clearly and execute cognitively. So yeah, I just feel it's priority number one, so why would you want to compromise it?

Speaker 1:

So yeah, it's a really good focus.

Speaker 2:

I'm really thankful that you have asked me to come on because it serves another opportunity for me to really, I hope, provide people optimism and gosh. I mean optimism and gosh, I mean hope that you know growing older and reaching our longevity I call them longevity years don't have to be resigned to a sedentary lifestyle or an impaired state of being. Those can be some of our most vital, you know, years of our life where we live with the most energy, the most vitality. You know, hopefully, some, many of us are going to be winding down, you know, our work, so we can have more time for leisure and physical activities that we enjoy. Engaging in those things is 100%, entirely dependent on the quality of your protein and protein pacing. So, yeah, it's a great topic and I'm hoping that we, you know, together along with others, can change the paradigm of our thinking that, yeah, as we age, we got to really boost that protein intake.

Speaker 2:

I just got a warning for my next call, but this has been such a fun time yeah.

Speaker 1:

It's been so great. I appreciate your time so much. And just one last, any last bits of inspiration and wisdom. I know we could talk forever and I'll have you again on in the future, but you are just. You walk the talk. You're a perfect example of what you were sharing and and staying young and energetic, and so thank you for being the example for all of us and sharing all of your incredible knowledge, Any last minute words of advice, wisdom that you want to share with our listeners.

Speaker 2:

Oh well, first of all, thank you.

Speaker 2:

And I just became a grandparent, so my son yeah, so that's my, you know motivation to want to continue living. You know this lifestyle. But I think, yeah, we have so much hope and optimism. I think we're so bombarded with all the negativity that we have impacting us, you know, through various life events and social media and news and things like that. But when it comes to our health, shelly, there's no question that we are in charge. We're the person who has the greatest ability to impact our health, and starting with what we nourish our body with on a regular basis is the first starting point, and protein wins the day every time. So I would just say, you know, thank you for highlighting my prize life book that speaks to the protein pacing. You can find it on Amazon and, yeah, as much as we can continue to spread the word and let people know that there absolutely is a solution to helping us achieve longevity, health span at the highest level possible. So, yeah, thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Thank you so much and I will include your books in the show notes and your contact information for anyone to reach out. And thank you again, dr Paul, so much. I really really appreciate your time so very much. Thank you for all your incredible knowledge and all that you do.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me. We'll do it again.

Speaker 1:

We will absolutely do it again and thank you everyone for listening. Have a wonderful rest of your day and take time out to do something for yourself and your wellness on this day. Have a beautiful week everyone.