I’m an optimizer at heart. Health, wellness, productivity, energy. If there’s a way to improve it, I want to know about it. The idea of being able to do more, feel better, perform at my best? Sign me up.

But I also have a strong preference for real, whole foods over synthesized things when it’s actually possible. Not because supplements are inherently bad, but because I’d rather get nutrients the way our bodies are designed to process them — from food.

So when everyone started talking about creatine for women — not just for building muscle, but also for energy, reproductive health, and even mood — my first question wasn’t necessarily “does it work?” It was “can I rather eat my way to optimal levels?”

Turns out, that’s also the wrong question. Or at least, it’s more complicated than I thought. (Like so much of life, sigh.)

So let’s get into it.

Technically, yes. If you eat meat or fish most days, you can probably cover your baseline needs from food alone. But most women don’t eat that way.

About 71% of American women consume less than the optimal amount from food alone. And even if you do, there’s growing evidence that hitting baseline needs might not actually be optimal for energy, reproductive health, and athletic performance.

The commonly cited minimal dietary requirement for healthy adults is about 1 gram of creatine per day.

Why should we care? Because women eating more creatine had fewer irregular periods, fewer reproductive health issues, and fewer pelvic problems.

Your body gets creatine in two ways: your body makes it and you eat it.

What you make: Your kidneys and liver produce about 1 gram of creatine per day from three amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine.

What you eat: Creatine only shows up in animal products. Here’s what you’d get from typical servings:

Between what you make and what you eat, you need to cover about 1.6-2 grams daily. That’s how much your body uses and excretes. Eat meat or fish regularly, and you can probably hit that target.

So why is this even a question?

Women make about 20% less creatine than men. Women also tend to eat 30-40% less creatine than men. With a smaller buffer, cutting creatine-rich foods more easily pushes women toward suboptimal status.

When you eat less, your body tries to compensate by making more. But it can’t fully keep up.

Vegetarians and vegans have 20-30% lower muscle creatine than meat eaters, even though their bodies are working overtime to produce more.

Making creatine is metabolically expensive. It’s one of the biggest drains on your body’s resources.

It takes a huge amount of resources. Making creatine uses 40% of your body's methyl groups. These are the same resources needed for DNA function, brain chemicals, and liver health. When you're making lots of creatine, other important processes lose out.

It requires specific amino acids. Your body needs glycine, arginine, and methionine to make creatine. If you’re low on any of these (common with plant-based or restrictive diets), you can’t increase production.

There's a limit to how much you can make. Women make about 20% less creatine than men on average. And even at full capacity, your body can only make about 1 gram per day.

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If you want to get more creatine from diet, here's what works:

🥩 Eat meat or fish most days. One to two palm-sized servings of beef, pork, or salmon per day covers your dietary needs.

🥄 Support your body’s ability to make creatine. Get enough complete proteins and B-vitamins (especially B12, folate, and choline) to help your body run the reactions needed for creatine production.

💪 Don't skip strength training. About 90% of your creatine lives in muscle. Building and keeping muscle gives you more storage space.

For vegetarians and vegans: Even with great nutrition, research shows your body probably can't reach normal creatine levels without eating actual creatine. Supplementation becomes less about optimization and more about filling a real gap.