Hi Dr. Jordan, I hope you’re well, and thanks for being available for all of these questions. It really makes a difference for me and I’m sure for many others.
I have a quick question about the refractory period. If I eat a meal that doesn’t have enough protein to generate MPS (say, it only has 10g of protein, for example) does it still kick off the beginning of a refractory period? Do I need to wait three more hours after that before eating my next protein-containing meal to ensure an MPS event occurs?
Thanks for the message and I hope you’re well. If the meal had a considerable amount of carbohydrates and you were not previously fasted you might generate a MPS even if it’s low on protein. On the other hand, if you didn’t produce a MPS then you’re basically waiting on blood levels of amino acids to drop back near normal. How long that takes depends on a bunch of things, you know?
That all being said, I continue to advise folks that micromanaging their MPS bouts is probably an exercise in futility and most meals should good doses of high quality protein.
Yes. I totally understand about the micromanaging thing. It’s just that sometimes for social/family reasons it’s time to eat a meal, and there isn’t always a way to make it have enough protein in it to generate mps. I guess the practical question is really can I add to a previous meal to make the protein totals get up there by having another meal soon after. Like, going and getting a protein thing within an hour after eating. Or is that futile, and I’d be better off just waiting another 3 hrs to eat again in that situation.