A Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well with Gabrielle Lyon

0:02Who's ready to rock today, Fire Nation? JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire, brought to you by the HubSpot. Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Sales Evangelist. Today, we'll be breaking down a science-based strategy for aging well. To drop these value bombs, I brought Gabrielle Lyon into EO Fire Studios. Dr. Gabrielle is a family physician and a New York Times bestselling author. Her latest work, Forever Strong, is a new science-based strategy for aging well. And today, Fire Nation, we will be talking about muscle-centric medicine.

0:33We'll talk about not focusing on losing fat, but focusing on health promotion, nutrition diet and so much more and a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to gabrielle and our sponsors marketing made simple hosted by my friend dr jj peterson is brought to you by the hubspot podcast network the audio destination for business professionals marketing made simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly make it work a recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen listen to marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts.

1:07Is this your year? Visit Thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's a month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Dr. G, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with? Well, first of all, thanks for having me. I love this question. I think that what we can all agree upon is discipline. Everybody agrees on discipline and we agree on hard work, et cetera.

1:47I think one thing that I have noticed with success is that there really is not balance. It is not about work-life balance. It is not about creating a balanced life, at least initially. It requires full commitment and really deep immersion into what it is that you're doing. Dr. G, we're talking today about a science-based strategy for aging well. And one thing that I try to impress upon my audience, Fire Nation, is that Fire Nation, a healthy person wants a thousand things. Life is your oyster. An unhealthy person just can want one thing, and that's just to be healthy. So of course, we don't want to be in that place.

2:33We want to be in the prior place of wanting and being able to do a thousand things. Of course, we don't want to do a thousand things at once, but we want the ability and the opportunity too. So I want to talk today about muscle-centric medicine, because I've never heard this phrase before. So what the heck does it mean, and how specifically does it differ from traditional approaches when it comes to health and aging? Especially for an entrepreneurial crowd, and by the way, the majority of my patients are actually entrepreneurs. And it's really this idea that skeletal muscle is the organ of longevity.

3:08In order for an entrepreneur to exceed and excel in their business, they are going to be capped by one thing. It's not time. It's not resources. It truly is their health. And an entrepreneur will only ever go as high as their health is dialed in. You know, and I've been taking care of entrepreneurs for the last decade, and they will push and push and push until they burn out. Or they will be an entrepreneur who who is so focused on their business that they put their health and wellness last. And all of this to say, what is muscle-centric medicine? Muscle-centric medicine is the idea that muscle is the focal point.

3:50These diseases of aging that we see or hear about, like Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, these are not diseases of being overweight or overfat. these are diseases of skeletal muscle that begin decades earlier. And muscle-centric medicine puts skeletal muscle as the focal point, as the largest organ in the body, and quite frankly, the only organ system that we have direct control over. And that, from an entrepreneurial perspective, makes it so salient because it can be executed on. Fire Nation, we want things in our life that we can execute upon because there's a few things that a lot of us struggle with.

4:41And some people know they struggle with blood sugar regulation. Some people don't because they never have taken a continuous glucose monitor or something like that. But a lot of people struggle with that whether they know about it or not. Most people know they struggle with hunger control because that's just something you deal with every day in your life. It's just like, I know that thing is in the fridge. I want to eat it, but I'm going to stop because I shouldn't. So let's talk about that blood sugar regulation, hunger control, even increased mobility that can come when we optimize our muscle health.

5:14Tell us more. Skeletal muscle is interesting because it requires two kinds of stimulus. It requires a physical stimulus in the form of exercise. And primarily my interest is in resistance exercise because I care about the size of skeletal muscle, the strength, the power. And the other influence that skeletal muscle is or gains influence from is the food that we eat and primarily dietary protein. When we take a step back and we think, what are the tangible things that we're looking for? We're looking for a blood sugar regulation, number one. And why do we care about that? Because we know that swings in blood sugar can drive stress hormones up.

6:00We know swings in blood sugar can cause us to be fatigued, not mentally as sharp as we would like to be. And one would think, well, what does skeletal muscle have to do with all this? Skeletal muscle is like a suitcase and a suitcase that you can pack your carbohydrates in. As you are thinking about your dietary choices during the day, you have to think about what is the first place for glucose disposal, simply meaning where do the carbohydrates that you eat go. And the primary place for this is skeletal muscle. Now, what happens when skeletal muscle becomes full? like a suitcase. So let's say you're going on a trip for four days, but you pack for 30.

6:49Skeletal muscle over time becomes infiltrated with fat. The substrates have nowhere to go. These substrates like clothes will be outside of the suitcase because you certainly cannot pack any more into it. And your blood sugar over time will remain elevated. You will then see a subsequent rise in insulin. We've all heard that high levels of sugar are not good. In fact, it is toxic to cells, to vasculature, to our eyes, etc. And that high levels of insulin are also not ideal. By managing the health of skeletal muscle, which by the way, exercising skeletal muscle simply by getting up and going for a quick walk or getting out of your chair and doing some quick push-ups or doing some quick squats, all of this moves glucose out of the bloodstream into skeletal muscle.

7:50And of course, when you pair this with high quality protein, you are able to stabilize your blood sugar, meaning you don't have ebbs and flows, as well as allowing your body to generate its own glucose when you have a protein forward diet. Now I'm going to give you some quick take home points to sum this all up and put a bow on it. And number one, high quality protein, around one gram per pound, ideal body weight, ideal body weight is the last time you felt great. and distributing it the first meal of the day, having between 30 and 50 grams of high quality protein. If you don't know what that is, it could be two scoops of whey protein.

8:37You can look on my fitness pal app or chronometer app. You can certainly look that up. And then when we think about carbohydrates, so that first and last meal of the day for protein, most important to dose that correctly. And then carbohydrates, not going above between 40 and 50 grams of carbohydrates per meal outside of exercise. So if you are sedentary, you really want to mitigate those high levels of blood sugar followed by a spike in insulin, and then it drops your blood sugar. We've all had that experience. So a one-to-one ratio of protein to carbohydrates is a great place to start. You will find that you have more energy.

9:21You will find that your blood sugar is regulated. And I certainly cover all of this in my New York Times book, bestseller book, Forever Strong, that is really geared and easy and actionable for everybody, whether you're an entrepreneur or a mom or someone looking for inspiration on how to get the best out of their body. So let's just say there's an example where, you know, most people wake up and they go on a walk. Maybe they have a dog, just have a routine. So they're getting moving first thing in the morning. And then hopefully they have an evening routine where they are going for a walk as well, and maybe getting some nice dusk sun to kind of get their melatonin going and their circadian rhythm in check.

10:03And they're doing the right things on kind of the bookends. And then maybe a few times a week, they're doing some legitimate weight training. Like maybe they're going to the gym or they have a trainer, they're doing some legit weight training three, maybe four times a week for like 30 minutes, pretty hardcore weight training. But then, you know, you kind of had mentions at times during the day, it's good to get up and maybe do some pushups or maybe do some squats. So let's just say in the bookend we've talked about, which is kind of like a morning walk and evening walk, what are some good measurements to do during the day about how many times we should like get up out of our chair or whatever we're doing and just do something like those pushups, like those squats, what does that look like in an ideal world?

10:43I think that number one, it really depends on how active you are. Let's assume not very active because that's most people, unfortunately. Yeah. So, I mean, you want to create an environment where you're moving. I mean, there's this idea that there's 10 ,000 steps. It's probably a good place to start. Likely, we need more than that. Number one, you have to track. And if you see that you are below where you should be, whether that means getting a treadmill desk, you know, reallocating funds to doing that. I would love to say you should do it three times a day where you're getting and walking, but every hour you should be standing up.

11:21You should not be sitting down for long periods of time. You should be getting up. You can do a couple steps. There's no perfect way to do it, but I would say as a baseline, you start with 10 ,000 steps. Ideally, it's more than that. you're getting up every hour whether it's getting up doing 10 squats getting up going for a quick walk getting up doing 10 15 push-ups you should be striving to be better at all of those things right putting a standard in place where let's say you start with 10 perfect push-ups and then in a week you try to go to 11 or however fast you personally are able to progress but in a perfect world, you would be training with weights three to four times a week.

12:06You would be spending 20 % of your activity, maybe less, doing some kind of interval training. Everyone is short on time. The more intense you can put the effort in. So if, for example, it would be a 20-second all-out effort on a bike, it doesn't have to be running, or a skier or something that you put into your home, that would be extremely valuable for your metabolism, extremely valuable for your output, valuable for your VO2 max, which is important, especially when we think about longevity. That is what I would certainly recommend. And then, of course, if someone has a baseline cardiovascular, you know, zone two type training is also beneficial.

12:55And that could be, you know, The current recommendations are 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity a week. Fire Nation, we have a lot more to talk about around this topic. We're going to talk nutrition, diets, and so much more when we get back from thanking our sponsors. Are you ready to start your year off with increased revenue, faster growth, and record-breaking performance? Well, a powerful sales platform can make it all happen. And for that, there's the all-new Sales Hub from HubSpot. Sales Hub is an all-on-one platform, thoughtfully built with the tools and insights you need to communicate on a personal level with every lead, prospect, and customer.

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15:14At thrivetimeshow.com, see testimonials of how Clay Clark's proven business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 clients to increase profitability dramatically. Clay's proven business coaching program is month to month and less money than hiring a minimum wage employee. Sound too good to be true? Go to thrivetimeshow.com to see 2 ,000 plus documented client success stories because Clay only takes on 160 clients. He personally designs your business plan for you. Then Clay's team of talented designers, videographers, web developers, workflow mappers, and accounting coaches will help you to implement that proven plan.

15:48See over 2 ,000 verified success stories and schedule your free one-on-one 13-point assessment with Mr. Clay Clark himself today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Knowledge will not attract money unless it is organized and directed through practical plans of action. Become the next success story. Schedule your free 13-point assessment today at Thrivetimeshow.com. Dr. G, we're back and a lot of people, and I've been in this camp before, believe me, They think they need to focus on losing fat, but you actually want our focus to be on health promotion. Tell us more. Yeah. I mean, for the last 50 years, we have focused on the obesity epidemic.

16:33And quite frankly, I don't think that we have an obesity epidemic. We have a midlife muscle crisis. And when we are constantly focused on what we have to lose rather than what we have to gain, we don't make major improvements. I have a great example on this. I mean, I was so good in my 20s and early 30s about doing cardio. I mean, I would do so much cardio. I really had pretty low body fat as a result, but my back was always a mess. It was just a mess. I mean, it was really chronically bad. And looking back now in my 40s, like it's so obvious what my problem was is my muscles. I had no core muscles.

17:16I had no stabilizers. I was just throwing my back out at the smallest, littlest thing. And then now that I weight train three to four days per week, I'm very active. I'm doing all the right things to have great core, great stabilizers, great muscle distribution. It's been unbelievable. I literally no longer have any back issues. I thought I was going to be dealing with this for the rest of my life. So you need to think about this Fire Nation. This is so key for you to realize what you can do when you're doing the right things. And I did mention we're going to talk about nutrition. So what specific type of diet do you recommend to increase muscle?

17:52We talked about the proteins in the mornings and the evenings, but let's get really dialed in here. Yeah, I think it's really important to recognize that skeletal muscle, I love that you said that about your back. It is this endocrine organ. When we exercise it, it secretes myokines, which travel throughout the body and help regulate our immune system, help with energy regulation, what we use and what we eat. Also for mobility and strength, which is exactly that's been your experiences. How do we become so bulletproof and so capable, physically capable that we and our bodies are not a distraction?

18:34which all of those things can be addressed obviously through physical activity and then the next piece of the puzzle is the thing that 100 of people do and that's eat 100 of people there's so much noise in the nutrition space right now one we have to pay attention to foundational principles and those foundation principles are eating for the health of our skeletal muscle, not to look jacked and tan, but to protect this organ of longevity. Because as we age, the skeletal muscle becomes much more difficult to maintain. And eating a protein forward whey, which is really about high quality protein, and high quality protein typically comes in the form of animal based products, whether it's whey protein, lean beefs, chicken, fish, eggs, dairy.

19:32It's called high quality protein because it's based on the amino acids. These amino acids we eat for amino acids. There are essential and non-essential amino acids. We eat for the essential amino acids and they are found in the appropriate ratios for humans. High quality proteins make the appropriate ratios of amino acids for humans, whereas plant-based proteins make the appropriate ratio for plants. And we must understand that when I talk about one gram per pound ideal body weight, so if you are 150 pounds and that is your ideal body weight, you can shoot for 150 grams of protein. It certainly can be a little bit less than that.

20:18Um, the evidence would support anywhere from 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kg. And, um, that would be 0.7 grams upward to one gram per pound, ideal body weight. Um, one could certainly do that math and determine what they would be having, but we eat for these amino acids for muscle health. And in particular, one would say, okay, well, where does the 30 to 50 grams of protein come from? And that comes from this idea that protein is made up of 20 different amino acids. And each one of these amino acids has unique and diverse biological roles. Primarily for muscle health, we are looking for one of the amino acids called leucine.

21:08And you don't have to remember that. But what you do have to remember is when you get 30 to 50 grams of high quality protein at one meal, you reach this threshold that stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is a biomarker for muscle health. And as we age, the body becomes less efficient at utilizing this protein. And that is why it becomes important to dose protein appropriately and have an increased amount of protein to maintain that mass. Fire Nation, it can sound like a lot, but when you get into a rhythm, when you figure out what's right for you and how to do this the correct way in one day, then you can just start replicating this and really get down pat and get into that rhythm.

21:54Now, again, there's only so much we can talk about on a podcast episode like this. And we had mentioned in the intro, your book, Forever Strong, which is a new science-based strategy for aging well. So tell us more about this book. What does Fire Nation need to know? Well, this book is a game changer. This is the first book of its kind. Its first week, it outsold Arnold Schwarzenegger and Atomic Habits. The world is ready for a new perspective and a new paradigm that goes beyond this idea that we have an obesity epidemic and that we truly need to shift the focus on what we have to gain, which is skeletal muscle.

22:33And within that, we will gain health and wellness. And this book is an evidence based book. It is written for everybody. It is written for someone who knows nothing about science. I know we kind of talked a bit heady from a science perspective, but this book is a book that is reader friendly and it will change the trajectory of aging, whether it is for your parents or your spouse. It changes the conversation. Fire Nation, for a lot of us, the conversation needs to be changed. So if Fire Nation wants to get their hands on Forever Strong and be forever young, what is your recommendation for us? Where do we go?

23:16What do we do? You can head on over to wherever books are sold. It's available on Amazon. It's available, again, wherever you get your books. Just Google Forever Strong. I'm Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. If people are interested, they can go to my website. I also have a podcast and I have a great newsletter and a YouTube channel where I provide a ton of free content. And remember, especially for the entrepreneur, you will only ever go as high as your health. We have a full concierge clinic where we take care of people of all different domains, whether they are moms, entrepreneurs, etc. And you can find this all on my website, which is DrGabriellLyon.com.

24:01Did you record the Audible book yourself? I did. It was my favorite experience out of the entire book experience. I don't know if you did that for yours, but... I would be embarrassed to be a podcaster and not record my own Audible book. So I make sure that when people say they're podcasters and they have a book, I always call them out if they don't record it themselves. Because you got to add your own personality. there's a great opportunity to add a couple things in the audible book that's not in the actual book just because things happen and you know you kind of go off on these little riffs so fire nation you've just gotten a master class today on staying forever strong a new science-based strategy for aging well and you're the average fire nation of the five people you spend the most time with you've been hanging out with Dr.

24:53G and JLD today. So keep up the heat. And for everything that we talked about today, links, all that jazz, eofire.com, just type Gabrielle in the search bar and the show notes page will pop up. And Gabrielle, Dr. G, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Dr. G for sponsoring today's episode. And And Fire Nation, over the last decade, I've interviewed more than 4 ,000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, and I've created a revolutionary 17-step roadmap to your financial freedom and fulfillment.

25:32I put it all into my first traditionally published book, The Common Path to Uncommon Success, personally endorsed by Seth Godin and Gary Vaynerchuk. The Common Path to Uncommon Success is the step-by-step guidance that you need to achieve the lifestyle of your dreams. visit UncommonSuccessBook.com. I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Marketing Made Simple, hosted by my friend, Dr. JJ Peterson, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Marketing Made Simple brings you practical tips to make your marketing easy and more importantly, make it work.

26:08A recent episode on whether vulnerability is a superpower in business is a must listen. Listen to Marketing Made Simple wherever you get your podcasts. Is this your year? Visit Thrivetimeshow.com to see testimonials of how Clay Clark's business coaching has helped over 2 ,000 entrepreneurs to dramatically increase profitability. It's a month to month and less money than an average minimum wage employee. Schedule your free consultation today at Thrivetimeshow.com.