Protein After 60

1. Take yesterday's honest look. Walk through your last full day of eating in your mind and simply notice where the protein was and wasn't. No changes. Just see the pattern.
2. Stand at your own fridge and cupboard and find five protein foods already there. Point at each and name it. You're better stocked than you think.
3. Add one protein thing to your breakfast tomorrow, an egg, a spoon of peanut butter, some yogurt, and notice how the morning feels.
4. Look at your lunch. If it's usually crackers or a snack, put one real protein in it today: a can of tuna, a cheese sandwich, some leftovers.
5. Ask "where's the protein?" out loud at one meal today. If the answer is "nowhere," add one thing. That's the whole habit.
6. Buy or set out three no-cook proteins you like, cans, eggs, cheese, yogurt, nuts, as your safety net for tired nights.
7. Rest and look back. Which small change this week felt easiest? That's the one to keep. Do it again tomorrow without thinking.
8. Make breakfast the protein meal today, whatever that looks like for you: eggs, yogurt, oatmeal with milk and nuts. Just once.
9. Notice your weakest meal, the one most often protein-empty. Name it. That's your target for the week.
10. Boil half a dozen eggs and keep them in the fridge. Instant protein for the next several days, no cooking required.
11. Try eating your protein first at one meal, before the bread or the filler, so it's in you even if you fill up early.
12. Swap one snack, a biscuit, chips, for a protein one: a handful of nuts, some cheese, a few spoons of yogurt.
13. Cook one batch of a protein you like, a tray of chicken, a pot of beans or lentils, and split it for the week and the freezer.
14. Rest and reflect. Is protein showing up earlier in your day than it was two weeks ago? Even a little counts.
15. Write your three go-to breakfasts on a scrap of paper and stick it on the fridge. Decide once so you needn't decide daily.
16. Write your three go-to lunches beside them. Now your two weak meals have defaults.
17. Try one soft or no-chew protein today, a smoothie, soup, yogurt, scrambled eggs, in case you ever need the tender end of the shelf.
18. Add a serving of beans or lentils somewhere today, in place of something. Cheapest good protein there is.
19. Read the back of one protein product in a store and compare its cost to a carton of eggs. Don't buy it. Just see.
20. Stand up from a chair without using your hands a few times, if you safely can. That's strength training, and it's free.
21. Rest and reflect. You're halfway. Notice whether any of this is starting to feel automatic yet. That's the goal arriving.
22. Tie one small strength move, a few chair rises, a minute with a band, to something you already do daily, like the kettle boiling.
23. Eat one meal this week with another person if you can arrange it. Company is part of good eating, not separate from it.
24. Boost one small meal with a protein add-on: cheese melted on top, an egg stirred in, a spoon of nut butter.
25. Start your list of protein questions for your next medical appointment, beginning with "more, less, or the same for me?"
26. Add the kidney question to that list if there's any history or concern: "Is increasing protein safe for my kidneys?"
27. Cook a bigger batch of something and freeze half in single portions. Your future tired self will thank you.
28. Teach one idea from this book to a friend or family member. Handing it on is how you keep it.
29. Look over the month. Circle the two or three changes that actually stuck. Those are your keepers; let the rest go.
30. Write yourself a short plan: the few protein habits you'll keep, one strength habit, and one note to bring your questions to your doctor or dietitian. Put a check-in date on the calendar a month out. You're set, and you did it your own way.

Protein

one of the main things food is made of, along with fats and carbohydrates. It's the body's building and repair material, used to make and maintain muscle, among much else. It comes from both animal foods and plant foods.

Muscle loss with age

the gradual, natural decline in muscle that most people experience as they get older, faster if the body isn't given good food and regular use. Doctors have a formal name for the more serious form of it, but the plain idea is what matters here.

Complete protein

a protein food that carries the full set of building blocks the body needs. Most animal foods are complete; soy is a plant example. A mixed diet across the day is complete even if single plant foods aren't.

Incomplete protein

a food a little short in one building block or another, true of most single plant foods. Not a problem in practice, because eating a variety of plants across the day fills in the gaps.

Resistance / strength training

movement that makes a muscle work against a force, body weight, a band, light weights, a soup can. The kind of exercise that best tells muscle to stick around. Walking, though excellent, doesn't do this on its own.

Registered dietitian

a qualified nutrition professional, more strictly trained and regulated than a general "nutritionist," who can build an eating plan around your specific health, conditions, and medications. The right person to set your personal protein plan.

Kidney disease / reduced kidney function

conditions in which the kidneys don't filter as well as they should. Because the kidneys handle byproducts of protein, people with these conditions often need to manage protein carefully with their medical team, sometimes eating less rather than more.

Supplement (protein powder, shake, bar)

a manufactured product delivering concentrated protein. Occasionally useful for genuine need and with professional advice, but not necessary for most people and no substitute for food.

Batch cooking

cooking a larger amount of something once and eating it across several days, often freezing part. A practical answer to cooking fatigue and cooking for one.

Who is Protein After 60 for?

For adults over 60 who want to hold on to strength and eat in a way that supports it, using ordinary food.

What does it not do?

It is not medical or nutrition advice, sets no gram or calorie targets, and makes no health claims; your personal target and any condition belong with a doctor or registered dietitian.

How long is it?

About 24,900 words across 10 chapters, with 13 full-page illustrations. In paperback that is about 120 pages. The audiobook runs about 2h 36m.

Can I read some of it first?

Yes. The foreword and the whole introduction are on this site, free, with nothing to sign up for.

What languages is it in?

The books exist in five: English, German, Spanish, French and Dutch, each localised properly — its own illustrations with the labels drawn in that language, and its own country's institutions named in the text. This shop can sell you the English and the Spanish today; the other three are finished books waiting on their paperwork.

What does the complete set include?

All thirty guides in print, in one box, and the ebook and the audiobook of every one of them at no extra charge.

En español