Nutrition Diva

879. Are you eating too much protein, or not enough? The honest answer is that the question itself is flawed, because there's no single number that fits everyone.
In this episode, Monica breaks down why protein needs shift across a lifetime. The mTOR "growth switch" inside your cells runs hot during childhood, powering the tissue-building that young bodies require. In your 30s and 40s, dialing protein back may nudge cells toward repair and cleanup instead. And after 50, when muscle naturally starts to decline, eating more actually helps preserve strength, mobility, and bone health well into later years.
She also puts the recent longevity headlines in context. A widely covered review of animal studies found that lower protein intake can extend lifespan in flies and rodents, yet those results don't map neatly onto human biology, where lifestyle, genetics, and the rest of your diet all shape how you grow older.
Monica offers a more grounded way to think about protein: match your intake to your age, sex, and activity level, and treat the current RDA as a floor rather than a goal.
nutritionovereasy.com/calculator

Join us for a live show taping on September 17 in New York City. Details at wellnessworkshere.com/live.

New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!
Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips.
Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com
Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

References
The hallmarks of protein and amino acid restriction in aging and longevity: Cell Press Blue
Low Protein Intake Is Associated with a Major Reduction in IGF-1, Cancer, and Overall Mortality in the 65 and Younger but Not Older Population: Cell Metabolism
New Horizons: Dietary protein, ageing and the Okinawan ratio | Age and Ageing | Oxford Academic
Dietary protein intake and all-cause mortality: results from The Kawasaki Aging and Wellbeing Project - PMC
The impact of dietary protein intake on longevity and metabolic health - PMC
Protein Intake and Frailty in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies - PMC

Related Episodes
699 - Are we eating too much protein? Or not enough?
847 - Does a high protein diet accelerate aging?
865 - The new food pyramid: progress or paradox?
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878. A tick bite you may not even remember getting can leave you unable to eat a hamburger, a slice of pizza, or a bowl of ice cream. That's alpha-gal syndrome, and it's turning up far outside its original range.
Alpha-gal is a sugar molecule found in the cells of most mammals but not in humans. When a lone star tick injects it under the skin, the immune system can start treating it as a threat. After that, beef, pork, lamb, venison, and sometimes dairy or gelatin can trigger a reaction three to six hours later, which is a big part of why this food allergy goes undiagnosed for years.
Today, Monica breaks down what the research actually shows:
Why the lone star tick's range is expanding into the Midwest, the Northeast, and eastern Canada
How alpha-gal syndrome differs from Lyme disease, and why they get confused
What the CDC's estimate of 450,000 cases means, and why the "1 in 4" figure circulating on social media isn't measuring the same thing
What a diagnosis means for your diet, including collagen, gelatin, organ meats, and why tolerance varies so much from person to person
Why symptoms can be worse on some days than others
Whether the condition is permanent, and what happens to antibody levels over time
How to lower your risk of tick bites, per the CDC
Where gene-edited GalSafe pigs fit into the picture

New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!
Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips.
Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com
Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

References
About Alpha-gal Syndrome | Alpha-gal Syndrome | CDC
Nearly One in Four Adults in High-Risk States Have Alpha-gal Antibodies Linked to Tick-Borne Meat Allergy | Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases

Join us for a live show taping on September 17 in New York City. Details at wellnessworkshere.com/live.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eight glasses a day. An ounce per pound. A pinch of salt in your water. Everyone has a hydration rule, and most of them came from somewhere other than the research.

This live episode was recorded in front of an audience at the Friends of the National Arboretum in Washington, DC (@fonarboretum), with an outdoor yoga session led by Bikram Yoga Works (@bikramyogaworks). Thank you to both for making the night possible.

Monica Reinagel, MS, LDN, answers listener questions about hydration and explains what the research actually supports. She breaks down the four phases of hydration, which are intake, absorption, retention, and distribution, and explains why sodium and glucose work together to pull fluid out of your digestive system and into your tissues faster than water alone. That mechanism is exactly what an electrolyte drink mix like Liquid I.V. is built around, which is why it can be such a useful tool when you are sweating hard, training, traveling, or just trying to keep up on a hot day.

Monica also covers how much water you really need each day, how much of it you already get from food and other beverages, and how much fluid and sodium you lose through sweat.

Plus, she takes listener questions on whether sugar free electrolyte drinks work as well as the sugared kind, how to think about sodium guidelines when you are sweating heavily, whether it is possible to drink too much water, whether a pinch of salt or a squeeze of lemon does anything, whether coffee and tea count toward your daily fluids, what apple cider vinegar in your morning water actually does, and whether reverse osmosis water needs minerals added back in.

Topics include hydration, electrolytes, sodium, healthy habits, nutrition myths, viral nutrition claims, sports drinks, caffeine, and evidence based nutrition.

The science of hydration, presented by Liquid I.V. @liquidiv #paidpartner

Use the code 2026ND on liquidiv.com for 20% off your first order.

Special thanks to Friends of the National Arboretum and Bikram Yoga Works !!
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877. L-theanine, an amino acid found in tea leaves, is having a moment with longevity enthusiasts and menopause influencers alike, promoted to calm anxiety, clear brain fog, improve sleep, and slow aging. But does the research hold up? In this episode, Monica breaks down what the studies on L-theanine actually show about attention, sleep quality, stress, and cellular aging, and why a cup of coffee or a short nap might do just as much for your focus.

This is the expert roundtable on healthy aging that Monica participated in with USNWR that triggered this episode on theanine.

References
Cognitive and affective effects of L-Theanine: a systematic review and meta-analysis of 31 randomized trials | Molecular Psychiatry
The effects of L-theanine consumption on sleep outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis - ScienceDirect
L-Theanine Extends the Lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans by Reducing the End Products of Advanced Glycosylation
l-theanine: From tea leaf to trending supplement – does the science match the hype for brain health and relaxation? - ScienceDirect

Related episodes
594 - How sleep affects weight gain
834 - The Truth About ‘Cortisol Belly’
848 - Your questions about coffee and health
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876. There's no vitamin F or G. After E, we jump straight to K, and that quirk is a hint that this nutrient is more complicated than it looks. Vitamin K isn't one thing. It's a whole family of compounds -- K1, K2, MK-4, MK-7 -- that come from different sources and do completely different jobs, from blood clotting to steering calcium into your bones instead of your artery walls.

In this episode, Monica untangles the confusing terminology and gets to the question listeners keep asking: does a vitamin K2 supplement actually protect your bones? She digs into what the research really shows, including a widely cited meta-analysis that lumped together two very different kinds of studies, why the prescription-strength results don't tell you much about the low-dose supplement in your cabinet, and whether the food and gut bacteria you already have might be doing the job on their own. Plus, the truth about taking vitamin K with your vitamin D.

New to Nutrition Diva? Check out our special Spotify playlist for a collection of the best episodes curated by our team and Monica herself!
We've also curated some great playlists on specific episode topics including Staying Strong as We Age, Diabetes, Weight Loss That Lasts and Gut Health! Also, find a playlist of our bone health series, Stronger Bones at Every Age.
Have a nutrition question? Send an email to nutrition@quickanddirtytips.com.
Follow Nutrition Diva on Facebook and subscribe to the newsletter for more diet and nutrition tips.
Find out about Monica's keynotes and other programs at WellnessWorksHere.com
Nutrition Diva is a part of the Quick and Dirty Tips podcast network.

Related episode
713 - Can vitamin K2 prevent osteoporosis?

References
Efficacy of vitamin K2 in the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials - PubMed
Dietary intake of menaquinone is associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease: the Rotterdam Study - PubMed
Vitamin K2 and D in Patients With Aortic Valve Calcification: A Randomized Double-Blinded Clinical Trial | Circulation
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