As you enter your 50s, your body begins to go through some changes that can affect the results you get from eating healthy and exercising. For example, your muscles it can begin to weaken naturally over time, making strength training crucial. But how can you optimize your trip to building stronger muscles in a healthy and sustainable way?
One of the changes you can make is to adopt some daily eating habits that can help your body get stronger and work the muscle when you exercise To learn more about this, we asked Amy Goodson, MS, RD, CSSD, LD author of The Sports Nutrition Playbook and member of our expert medical boardand Courtney D’Angelo, MS, RD, author at what a wellnessfor some tips.
Here’s what they had to say about eating habits that can help you build stronger muscles after 50. And for more tips for healthy aging, check out The best foods to eat for heart disease prevention.
Protein It’s a key nutrient for building stronger muscles and achieving better overall health, but getting enough throughout the day can be a challenge.
“Protein is essential for both building and repairing lean muscle. And while many people think of protein at lunch and dinner, it’s often overlooked at breakfast and snacks. The truth is, research support consuming approximately 30 grams of high-quality protein at each of your three main meals and additional protein for snacks This could look like 2 eggs, whole-grain toast, and 6 ounces of Greek yogurt at breakfast, a salad with 3-5 ounces of salmon or chicken, cheese and vegetables with fruit at lunch and steak and vegetable skewers with 3-5 ounces of beef and brown rice stir fry at dinner Then add protein such as string cheese, nuts, beef jerky and even protein bars at snack time,” says Goodson.
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It’s not just getting enough protein throughout the day is important, but consuming enough after a workout is crucial to building muscle and seeing results.
“Exercise damages muscle mass, and dietary protein helps repair it to help build muscle. The goal is to have a post-workout snack with 15-25 grams of high-quality protein (meaning it contains all the essential amino acids ) as soon as you can after a workout, but definitely within 45 minutes of a workout. This helps jumpstart the muscle resynthesis process and also aids in recovery. This could look like a smoothie made with cow’s milk, yogurt Greek and fruit, mixing 15-25 grams of protein powder in water and combining it with a fruit or granola bar, or consuming a protein bar with the appropriate amount of protein,” says Goodson.
Another important eating habit you can adopt to help build more strength from a workout is to make sure you’re getting enough whole grainsespecially as a replacement for refined carbohydrates.
“One of the biggest benefits of whole grains is that they generally contain a good amount of protein. They also contain zinc, which helps build muscle, and magnesium, which can help with muscle recovery. Examples of Whole-grain foods include whole-grain bread, whole-wheat pasta, oatmeal, brown rice, and buckwheat. A great morning eating habit with whole grains can be adding whey protein powder to your oatmeal,” says D’Angelo .
Another important part of building strong muscles is giving your body the nutrients it needs for proper recovery after a workout. Including enough antioxidants in your day can help with this.
“If you train hard, you are likely to experience exercise-induced muscle soreness. While this can be frustrating and semi-uncomfortable, there are many recovery strategies that can help reduce muscle soreness, minimize exercise-induced muscle damage and speed up the muscles. recovery,” says Goodson.
It also notes that “antioxidants top the list of nutrients that can help your body recover by helping it fight or buffer free radicals, also known as the bad guys, that cause cell damage. Including foods and beverages like berries, vegetables orange juice and fruit, beets, spinach, tart cherry juice, 100% pomegranate juice and more can aid in muscle recovery to help your muscles stay strong and healthy.”
