Protein and Fibre: The Two Boring Levers
6 min read
If you change nothing else about how you eat this decade, change these two things.
Protein
Ageing muscle is less responsive to protein than young muscle, so you need more of it to get the same effect, and it works better spread across the day than loaded into dinner. Aim for a solid portion at each meal: eggs, yoghurt, fish, meat, tofu, beans, lentils.
The most common gap is breakfast. Toast and coffee at 7am is a large part of why 11am feels the way it does.
Fibre
Most people get roughly half the fibre they need. Fibre feeds the gut microbiome, steadies blood sugar, supports cholesterol, and makes meals actually filling. It comes from plants: beans, lentils, whole grains, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds.
A useful target is thirty different plant foods across a week. Herbs, spices, tinned beans and frozen vegetables all count.
Why these two and not the rest
Because they're the levers with the biggest effect on how you feel day to day, energy, satiety, sleep, digestion, and because neither requires you to weigh anything, restrict anything or hate yourself. That's the whole brief.
Please read: this is general wellness perspective from one woman to another, not medical or mental health advice, and not a substitute for knowing your own history. For anything urgent, or anything that worries you, please see a doctor or a licensed professional.
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