#1 Secret to Aging Well Pt 2 w/Dr. Gabrielle Lyon: New Keys to Optimize Weight, Health & Longevity: Exactly How to Eat & Move

Summary

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The Jamie Kern Lima Show

Episode Title: #1 Secret to Aging Well Pt 2 w/Dr. Gabrielle Lyon: New Keys to Optimize Weight, Health & Longevity: Exactly How to Eat & Move
Date: February 10, 2026
Guest: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, Board Certified Physician, Author of Forever Strong and The Forever Strong Playbook
Host: Jamie Kern Lima

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the real “needle movers” behind aging well—especially for women—and reframes the wellness conversation around the vital role of skeletal muscle, longevity, and personal empowerment. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a pioneer in muscle-centric medicine, unpacks the science and practical tools behind optimizing weight, health, and aging. The conversation covers the explosion of GLP1 medications for weight loss, protein and nutrition, exercise, gut health, and mindset strategies that help listeners move from self-doubt to self-worth, all with tactical advice that can be acted on immediately.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The GLP1 Movement & Its Impact ([00:00]–[13:40])

• GLP1s are revolutionizing weight loss in medicine, but there is a risk if muscle and habits are ignored.
• Quote:

  “GLP1s are the most effective medication we have ever seen for weight loss. 70% of people will go off of them within two years. If they have lost muscle and not addressed their habits... they're going to be in a worse place because they're trading obesity for sarcopenia, which is low muscle mass and function.”
  — Dr. Gabrielle Lyon [00:17]

• Skeletal muscle loss is not a direct side effect of GLP1s, but a result of eating less with poor nutrient quality.
• Actionable advice: Anyone using GLP1s must prioritize resistance training and protein intake to preserve muscle (“protecting muscle is twofold: activity and protein” [14:43]).
• Quality of weight loss > Quantity: It’s not just about losing weight, but about maintaining or building muscle and better health markers.

2. Muscle as the Foundational Organ of Longevity ([03:56], [08:20]–[12:00])

• Muscle health is a “suitcase” for metabolic health—a metaphor Dr. Lyon uses to explain carb handling and chronic disease risk.
• Prioritize muscle over fat in both healthspan and “muscle span” (the time lived with healthy muscle).
• Prior athletic activity gives advantage for regaining muscle, but ongoing training is essential for health, regardless of past fitness.
• Quote:

  “It's never too late... The tissue is primed. It's ready for movement now.”
  — Dr. Gabrielle Lyon [10:50]

3. Practical Nutrition: Protein, Fasting, & Food Tracking ([18:30]–[29:15])

• Protein needs: 0.7–1g per pound of target body weight per day, for both men and women. Aim for the weight you want to be, not your current weight.
• First meal should contain 30–50g protein to stop blood sugar swings and set up “willpower for success” ([26:42]).
• Quote:

  “Protein is nature’s GLP1.”
  — Dr. Gabrielle Lyon [27:17]

• Time-restricted eating (8–9 hours per day) isn't magic, but helps calorie control and gut rest.
• Food tracking isn't necessary forever, just until you can eyeball high-quality proteins; Dr. Lyon recommends the Carbon app ([24:34]).

4. Gut Health: What Really Matters ([29:15]–[33:08])

• “Leaky gut” isn’t a formal diagnosis but signals overexposure of the gut lining, which impacts absorption and neurotransmitter production (e.g., serotonin).
• Healthy gut means you’re not bloated, and you’re not thinking about digestion.
• Gut health and muscle health are tightly connected, in both physical and mental wellbeing.
• Quote:

  “Muscle is not about vanity. It truly is a responsibility.”
  — Dr. Gabrielle Lyon [60:01]

5. Mindset: Discipline, Self-Care & Mental Muscle ([34:19]–[55:52])

• Discipline is the new self-care: Don’t dread it—practice it by building up tolerance to small frictions in low-stakes areas (like randomly skipping Starbucks pre-decided by a coin flip).
• Don’t negotiate with yourself—commit and act (“You practice overcoming this internal friction, but not within the thing that you hate” [50:46]).
• Practice neutrality—celebrate every 5th win, not every accomplishment, to avoid being controlled by successes or setbacks.

  “People... continue to do well, both in their life and in their health; one of the core attributes... was this level of neutrality.”
  — Dr. Gabrielle Lyon [52:58]

• Build “mental muscle” like you build physical muscle, by planning for vulnerabilities and training discernment.

6. Debunking Myths & Essential Medical Advice ([56:14]–[63:23])

• Biggest health myths:
  • Dietary cholesterol is not directly linked to blood cholesterol; recommendations to avoid certain foods for cholesterol are outdated ([56:14]–[57:11]).
  • Saturated fat intake guideline numbers are “made up” and eliminate healthy animal foods unnecessarily.
  • Protein is not harmful to kidneys or bones ([58:56]).
  • Women will not get “bulky” from resistance training.
• Core tests:
  • Request “metabolic syndrome” markers (body fat %, BP, triglycerides, glucose, insulin) as indicators of muscle health.
  • “Muscle is medicine; physical activity is the best thing you can do for your body.” ([63:32])

7. Action Steps & Forever Strong Playbook ([65:33]–[70:07])

• The Forever Strong Playbook is designed for practical, interactive transformation—think of it as a toolkit, not just a book.
• Key takeaways:
  1. “It's never too late to be strong. Become committed to being strong.”
  2. “Prioritize dietary protein. Plan for it.”
  3. “Commit to a daily physical activity—it could be a simple walk after meals.” ([67:58])
• If you “overindulged” (e.g., with candy), move right after (pushups, walk) to blunt negative metabolic effects and end the self-shaming cycle ([35:49]).
• Can’t change your mind? You can change your body first; action leads mindset during mental rough spots ([69:02]).
• When mentally stuck, do something physically challenging for 30 seconds (cold plunge, sprint, etc.) to break the negative loop ([70:07]).

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Memorable Quotes

• Dr. Gabrielle Lyon:

  "Muscle is not about vanity. It truly is a responsibility. And if someone says, 'I don't have time for diet and exercise because I'm too busy,' I would say, 'Then how are you going to have time for illness?'" [60:01]

• Jamie Kern Lima:

  “In life, you don't soar to the level of your hopes and dreams. You stay stuck at the level of your self worth. When you build your self worth, you change your entire life.” [Throughout]

• Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, on behavior change:

  "You practice overcoming this internal friction, but not within the thing you hate." [50:46]

• Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, on mindset:

  "Discipline comes from discernment... Once you decide something is relevant, then you can take the next right action, and then that action compounds, and then you get more disciplined because you know what action to take, and then you get freedom." [39:20]

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Notable Timestamps

• GLP1s & weight loss: [00:00]–[14:43]
• Muscle “span,” healthspan, and why past exercise matters: [08:20]–[12:00]
• Protein requirements explained: [18:30]–[19:30], [26:20]–[26:42]
• Time-restricted eating and its true benefits: [27:17]–[29:15]
• Leaky gut & gut health explained: [29:15]–[31:09]
• The muscle-mindset connection & discipline hacks: [34:19]–[55:52]
• Myths about cholesterol, saturated fat, and protein debunked: [56:14]–[59:48]
• Tests to request from your doctor: [60:39]–[62:17]
• Physical action as a “mood changer”: [68:44]–[69:07]

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Summary for Listeners

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon and Jamie Kern Lima deliver both stirring inspiration and practical science to help listeners age well, feel strong, and live their best lives. The episode’s core message: longevity, appearance, and health outcomes depend far more on maintaining muscle and metabolic health than on fighting fat. That starts with protein-first nutrition, regular resistance training, movement after meals, and, critically, the mindset of self-discipline and self-belief. Listeners, whether struggling with weight, self-worth, or fitness plateaus, are shown exactly how to take the next right step—physically and mentally.

Whether you’re new to the wellness journey or an “off-the-wagon” former athlete, the tools and truth in this episode—especially those in the Forever Strong Playbook—are accessible starting points for sustainable, empowering change.

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Transcript

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Coming up in this incredible part two episode with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, GLP1s are sweeping the country and the world. The world by storm. What do people need to make sure that they do that maybe their doctor doesn't even know to tell them to do? When they are someone taking GLP1s, they.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Are the most effective medication we have ever seen for weight loss. 70% of people will go off of them within two years. And if they have lost muscle and not addressed their habits, I would argue that they're going to be in a worse place because they're trading obesity for.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

There are so many people who like you, are changing the world in big ways and you are their doctor, you are their advisor.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Many mutual friends of ours.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yes. Yeah. How much protein should you eat? What about a fasting window? Will you get too bulky if you start lifting weights? How can you really lose belly fat and ignite a sluggish metabolism? And what are the true needle movers when it comes to aging well and feeling Your absolute best? Dr. Lyon has flown in from her busy practice in Texas to be here with you and me today and I am so excited for this conversation. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon is a board certified physician, one of the leading voices here changing how we think about health, longevity and aging. She's worked with Navy Seals, Olympians and some of the highest performers in the world and she brings that same science backed approach to helping everyone, especially women, build strength, vitality and confidence at every age. She's also the New York Times best selling author of Forever Strong and the brand new book out now called the Forever Strong Playbook. A six week science based plan to sharpen your mind, strengthen your body and get healthy at any age. And whether today you're listening for yourself or because someone that you love shared this episode with you, I want to welcome you to the Jamie Kern Lima Show Podcast family. Thank you so much for being here. And can you take two seconds and do me a favor? Please hit the subscribe or follow button on the app you're listening or watching on. Thank you so much. It truly means so much to me and you can get inspiration into your inbox from me for free. Just join my newsletter [e-mail] Also this incredible podcast episode today, it's not just for you and me. Please share it with every single person that you know who might need some inspiration today or perhaps a boost in their health or their self belief. Because what you're about to hear can truly impact mine, yours and their lives too. I am so excited for this conversation.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima Show.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Oprah, how have you defied the odds?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Her show is unlike any I've ever done. A revelation. When you listen, it feels like a hug. But your brain and your spirit and your heart is like, wow.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Melinda French Gates.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

When I look into Jaime's eyes, I feel like I am on some other cosmic level with her. I could see the light around her. She's infused with light.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Imagine overcoming self doubt, learning to believe in yourself and trust yourself and know you are enough. Welcome to the Jamie Kern Lima show.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Jamie Kern Lima is her name. Everybody needs Jamie Kern Lima in their life.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Jamie Kern Lima.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Jamie, you're so inspiring. Inspiring. Jamie Kern Lima. We are seeing a huge menopause movement and I'm so grateful for that. There is hormone replacement therapy.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yes.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

However, in order to really move body composition, you must have the foundational diet and exercise piece correct. Same with the use of GLP1s. Because what is going to happen is people are going to be a smaller version of themselves and over time, that is not going to mean a healthier version. It potentially will in the short run. But if you buy into the analogy that skeletal muscle is like a suitcase, that you open up the suitcase and you're packing for four days and everything fits perfectly. But if you open up that suitcase and even though you're only going on a trip for four days, you're packing for 14, you cannot close that suitcase, everything is going to fall back out. That's the same as with skeletal muscle. If skeletal muscle is full from eating a diet that is too high in carbohydrates and too high in calories, there's nowhere for that carbohydrates and those macronutrients to go. In essence, it stays in the bloodstream. Once it stays in the bloodstream, your risk increases for cardiovascular disease. You see an increase in triglycerides, which is fat in the blood, an increase in glucose, which is sugar, and an increase in insulin. We've all heard these terms in science. We don't want high levels of those in the bloodstream. But if you address the health of skeletal muscle and you look at that as the root of chronic disease, in part the root of chronic disease, then you can focus on that by simply going for a walk, doing some push ups and correcting your nutrition. Then when you enter into menopause, when you are faced with a life threatening challenge, your survivability has now just increased because you have paid attention to your skeletal muscle. Same with Alzheimer's. Basically, what I'M trying to get people to understand is healthy skeletal muscle requires movement. As you move, you now create more flexibility in your life to eat more, eat differently. It's not about being really rigid, but it is about future proofing your body. Because, say, for example, menopause, hormone replacement therapy is critical from my clinical perspective. We've been doing it for a long time. But will that transform body composition? For example, belly fat that a lot of women struggle with as they're going through menopause? And the answer is not necessarily in a meaningful way. You have to have the lifestyle components down.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

This is so big for so many people. And I want to dive into GLP1s in a moment. But I want to ask you one question. There are a number of people right now who maybe were an athlete in, in their teens or 20s or young adult years and they had a ton of muscle. I think about, you know, I did gymnastics and I did, you know, I lifted a lot, actually. And so now, even though I haven't lifted weights in years, I'm gonna admit this to you, my dear friend, and also the woman who, the doctor, the doctor who is at the forefront of muscle centric medicine, of the conversation about how we don't need to focus on fat, we need to focus on muscle. You're the one changing the mainstream convers and really, really getting the science in the mainstream, which is great. It's great to see so many doctors rallying around you and so many people impacted by your work. And with all that, I'm gonna say to you, I have not lifted weights in a few years.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I cannot believe it.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

But here's what I want to ask for the person that, for the person that feels like, oh, well, when I get my body comp done, they tell me I have great muscle. And for those of us that Maybe in our 20s or 30s, we had, you know, we were an athlete or we had great muscle. And so now we haven't done any resistance training. And someone who's maybe in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 30s, whatever it is, they're told their comp is fine and that they have great muscle. Does having enough. Does having. If you haven't actually done resistance training in years, but your muscle composition still looks good, is that not good?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Okay, well, first of all, it's great that you did this because you've future proofed your body. What do I mean by that? You've heard of this concept called healthspan, right? Everyone's talking about health span. There's lifespan, which is the length of Time you live. And then there's health span. And then even more important, there's something called muscle span. And muscle Spanish span is the length of time you live with healthy skeletal muscle. You see my kids training and they do it because they love it. I mean, my four year old is training to go into the seal teams, but we are allowing them to prime their muscle for metabolic success later on in life. When you are young, you create the possibility of having good metabolic outcomes as you are physically active. The fact that you were physically active when you were younger, you've primed your body and had more muscle, you are much more likely to, number one, be able to go back to the habit. But number two, your body's primed to respond. It's not something new. And in fact, I would challenge you to start lifting weights. And I guarantee, I mean, it's hard to make guarantees on other people's bodies, but that you would be really shocked by how fast your body responds. And also when you are doing and engaging in resistance exercise, we talked about muscles and endocrine organ, which simply means that it releases hormones that act systemically and locally. When you contract your skeletal muscle, it releases these myokines. And these myokines are based on the intensity and duration that you are exercising. And that is what goes and improves brain function, bone health, and a cascade of other things. So whether your body composition improves or not, number one, just the simple act of doing the training has improved the quality of that tissue.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

So for the person who played football or did whatever sport that she did or he did, and they actually still now have good muscle comp, but they haven't done resistance training in years, that's not enough because they're not releasing myokines. They're not. So even though in our past, it's great that in our past we've built muscle or whatever, but that doesn't give us a free pass now.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

No, but the speed at which they improve, at least what I've seen from my clinical practice is their body transforms. And I just think of one patient, she's in her 60s and she had always lifted weights. And then in her 40s, she stopped, she got too busy, she had kids and a career. She started training again. I mean, she started training, we corrected her nutrition, she was of course doing the necessary hormones. And not only did her body comp change, but also her blood markers changed. And that's really where healthy skeletal muscle comes from. Again, we have to move away from this aesthetic part. But the fact that you spent time building Healthy skeletal muscle in your 30s. And for someone who was a high school athlete, it's never too late. And those individuals, it's not enough if they stop doing it. But that tissue is primed. It's ready for movement now.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Well, that's some good news today. That is some good news. All right, so GLP1s are sweeping the country and the world and the world by storm. What do people need to make sure that they do that? Maybe their doctor doesn't even know to tell them to do what when they are someone taking GLP1s.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

GLP1s. And this is an incretin hormone, and it's something that affects gastric emptying. It slows down gastric emptying. It can also affect the brain. It affects regions of the brain. They are the most effective medication we have ever seen for weight loss ever. And by the way, they're not new. They've been used to treat type 2 diabetes for, I don't know, almost two decades. They're not a new medication. They allow for a decrease in hunger and they change weight loss amounts drastically. What does this mean? This means, let's say someone was doing a, I don't know, a different kind of medication. We would see, I don't know, the Most would be 5 to 10% change with the use of GLP1s, we could easily see a 16% weight loss. 16 or higher. Or higher. It transforms people's ability to lose weight. Do I think that they are good? I think that they are good. While used with a purpose, 70% of people will go off of them within two years. Roughly 70%. And if they have lost muscle and not address their habits, I would argue that they're going to be in a worse place because they're trading obesity for sarcopenia, which is low muscle mass and function.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Is it simply that because someone goes on GLP1s, their stomach empties slower, it calms the food noise, they're no longer eating as much, and maybe they're not getting enough protein and so they lose muscle. Is that what's happening?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

There is nothing magical about the GLP1s and affecting skeletal muscle loss, which I think is important because a lot of conversation, if you look, is that it causes skeletal muscle loss. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't cause more skeletal muscle loss than a diet would. It potentially can accelerate the way in which they lose weight, which is what we're seeing, because someone is now able to do a level of food restriction that they say we're not able to have before. I do think that we're going to see research come out that actually it improves muscle quality because it can improve that intermuscular adipose tissue, the fat that marbling. I think that we're going to see that it improves intramuscular adipose tissue.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

When I hear a lot of doctors say if you go on a GLP1, just make sure you eat enough protein. So let's just say someone goes on one and they just aren't really hungry anymore. If they eat enough protein, will that prevent muscle loss?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

This is a great question. Protecting muscle is twofold. It is through activity, resistance, exercise, and that's probably more impactful than diet. If you were to say what is going to be better at preserving muscle? Is it nutrition or is it exercise? It's exercise. However, you cannot preserve muscle without protein. You need these essential amino acids to help support muscle, period. Resistance training. GLP1s are wonderful because it allows people to have mental freedom from dieting and food. And when you have that, you can then think about reorienting yourself to better choices. You do need dietary protein. When you have food restriction, the quality of the food that you eat becomes more important. And how can we think about this? I had a 70 year old woman come up to me after a talk that I had done and she said, doc, you know, I'm not really that hungry. And I was told that I should really limit my red meat consumption and my animal protein consumption. And I looked at her and I said, well, how much are you eating? And she said, well, I might eat one meal a day. And that's oftentimes what we see with a GLP one is that people are really not hungry and maybe they're eating one meal a day. I've seen this clinically and so the quality of that food matters a lot. And that would be high quality dietary protein or some kind of shake that is nutrient dense.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I think that's really important because you know, I know a lot of people on GLP ones and there's people losing weight, but they're just not really hungry anymore. So they're like, oh, I can eat some Oreos, have a Starbucks, coffee and muffin. I'm still losing weight because they're barely eating, but they're probably not getting protein or nutrition right.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And if the odds are correct, the percentages are correct, the majority of those people are not going to stand those GLP1s.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Why do 70% get of people go off of them in two years? Is it the cost or.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

It can be cost and Also, people get burnt out. If they're doing injectables, they can get burnt out.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Do they stop working or do they work forever?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I think it depends on the person.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And by the way, I think that they are tremendous and there's a way to use them. And I would use them in a micro dosing way.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Okay, explain that. You know, we're gonna dive into some of the hottest things and exactly how much protein we need. Exactly. Should we cold plunge or not? You share in the forever strong playbook. And in a lot of your work that you do support HRT, hormone replacement therapy, you do support GLP1s in your practice.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And for patients, if someone is decreasing their caloric intake, you have to get protein. And there's something called a protein sparing fast, which was used, used before people went into bariatric surgery. The idea was that they were to maintain the most amount of muscle that they could before surgery. Because again, it's not about weight loss, it's about the quality of weight loss. Dietary protein is critical. If someone is using a GLP1, you must optimize your nutrition for protein because you are not hungry. And we know that protein supports muscle, but not only that protein is responsible for the support of muscle, but also every protein and structure in your body. It's essential.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

How much protein do we need each day? Is that different for men or women? Is it different depending on the season of life we're in?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

The amount of protein that we need is higher than the amount of protein that we think. We have been oriented towards eating a minimal protein diet. The recommendations that we have set right now are based on the minimum protein requirements, not the amount of protein we need for optimal health. Just to give this to you, simply, I would say 0.7 grams of protein per pound of target body weight or up to 1 gram, which seems daunting for people. For example, if someone is 150 pounds, but they want to be 130 pounds, then you target that protein to roughly 130 grams. So it's about 0.7 to 1 gram per pound of target body weight.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And so that's the weight you want to be at, not the weight you're currently at. Yeah. And, you know, I think one of the. There's so many downsides to technology. One of the upsides of technology is it's not too hard just to figure out how much protein's in something nowadays, even if it doesn't come with a food label. So that's good, you know what I mean? Like, oh, I'm eating a chicken breast. Let me look up about what sizes it is, about how many grams of protein you can do that in your sleep. But for a lot of people, they're like, how do I calculate it? What do I do? There's a lot of great food tracking apps and things like that too. What are your favorite ways to track your food each day? Okay, well, we need to pause for a super brief break and while we do, take a moment to share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire. Because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration they need to hear today, to keep going, to remember that they matter, and to feel less alone and more enough, more connected, more inspired and more worthy. In life, you don't soar to the level of your hopes and dreams. You stay stuck at the level of your self worth. When you build your self worth, you change your entire life. And that's exactly why I wrote my new book, Worthy how to believe you are enough and transform your life for you. If you have some self doubt to destroy and a destiny to fulfill, Worthy is for you. In Worthy, you'll learn proven tools and simple steps that bring life changing results like how to get unstuck from the things holding you back, build unshakable self love, unlearn the lies that lead to self doubt and embrace the truths that wake up worthiness, overcome limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome, achieve your hopes and dreams by believing you are worthy of them and so much more. Are you ready to unleash your greatness and step into the person you were born to be? Imagine a life with zero self doubt and unshakable self worth. Get your copy of Worthy plus some amazing thank you bonus gifts for [e-mail] or the link in the show notes below. Imagine what you do if you fully believed in you, it's time to find out. With Worthy, who you spend time around is so important as energy is contagious and so is self belief. And I love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration. Which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter to you delivered straight to your inbox each and every Tuesday morning from me. If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each week, just go to jamiecarnlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you'll get your one on one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you if you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy and love hitting your inbox. I'm your girl. [e-mail] or in the link in the show notes do you struggle with negative self talk? Living with a constant mental narrative that you're not good enough is exhausting. I know because I spent most of my life in that habit. The words you say to yourself about yourself are so powerful and when you learn to take control over your self talk, it's life changing and I wanted to give you a free resource that I created for you. If this is something that could benefit your Life. It's called 5 Ways to Overcome Negative Self Talk and Build self Love and it's a free how to guide to overcome that negative self talk to build confidence and develop unshakable self love so that you can can dream big and keep going in the pursuit of your goals. Don't let self sabotaging thoughts hinder your progress any longer. It's time to rewrite the script of your life, one filled with self love, resilience and unwavering belief. If you're ready to take charge of your narrative, build unwavering confidence and empower yourself to persevere on the path to your dreams, you can grab your free guide to Stop Overthinking and learn to Trust yourself at jamiekernlima.com resources or click the link in the show notes below. And now more of this incredible conversation together. What are your favorite what are your favorite ways to track your food each day?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Okay, well I use something called the Carbon app and I think it's amazing if someone is interested in how to track the other thing and I wrote about this in the playbook is the majority of women don't or the majority of people they don't want to track. And this is where becoming educated about how much protein you're getting and then you don't have to weigh and measure it each time it really becomes a visual plate. And for people the first thing is understanding what is a high quality protein. Well chicken, fish, beef, eggs, whey protein, these are all high quality proteins. Lower quality proteins would be something like quinoa or a soy protein or the protein in beans, a plant source of protein. Again, this is not any kind of emotional issue. People get very emotional when it comes to protein sources, but it's called high protein source because of the amount of amino acids that says that's just it. It's just a scientific number. Hard Fast biological fact. And when you focus on high quality proteins and that becomes the first macronutrient that you eat, then you get a lot of cognitive control and it takes off a lot of the heavy load of thinking, oh my gosh, I don't know what to eat, how much should I eat and do I have to track? And the answer is, the more skilled you become at prioritizing protein, the more freedom that you have.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Should you have protein in every single meal? Should it be the first thing you eat and then you're less likely to want other things?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Yes, yes. We would say that protein at that first meal is most important because you are coming out of an overnight fast and you are primed, your muscle is primed and that first meal is around between 30 and 50 grams of protein.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Wow. For your breakfast or your first meal.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

That your first meal and it could be a shake, it could make it easy, could be eggs, it could be yogurt, it doesn't have to be complicated. But it should not be a donut or cereal or a whole bunch of carbohydrates because then you are spending your whole day chasing the ebbs and flows of your blood sugar. If you prioritize protein at that first meal, and again, I don't necessarily care when it is, you are setting up your willpower for success. Because protein is nature's GLP1.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

What do you think of fasting windows? Who are they for? It's been around forever and it's such a thing right now. Eating windows, fasting windows. What do you think of all that?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Well, I mean, I think the first thing that we do is define how long we're fasting. If you're fasting for 24 hours, I mean, I don't really recommend that, especially not for an older individual. But if you are eating in an eight to nine hour window, which is time restricted feeding, I think that that is perfectly acceptable and we see that it helps people control calories. Now, does it have some magic metabolic effect within that eight to nine hour window? It doesn't, but it allows for your gut to rest. You're not eating small meals all day long for hours. There is some benefit to an eight to nine hour feeding window.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

If you eat, let's say 11 to seven every day and by the time the next morning rolls around and you do your morning walk or your workout, are you more likely to have ketones or to burn fat if you are doing a fasting window like that?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

That is a very great question. And what you're talking about is metabolic flexibility. And at rest, our muscle primarily burns fat. But if we eat a diet that is high in carbohydrates and we're always eating not in a time restricted window, we are forcing our body and our muscle to use glucose. We do not want to do that. We want to allow our muscle to use fat. And when you're increasing your physical activity, then you use carbohydrates. What you're asking is, is it healthy for skeletal muscle and are you burning fat? And I would say if you are eating in a time restricted window and you are controlling for calories and your muscle is healthy, then your muscle is doing what it should do, and that is at rest, primarily burning fatty acids. The more activity you use, the more glucose you're going to use.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

You know, another big topic I was gonna ask you this as well is like leaky gut that a lot of people are talking about. And when people have leaky gut, things can get into their bloodstream and there's all kinds of things that can impact. What should we know about that? Both leaky gut and lectins.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Yes. Well, let's focus on leaky gut because I think that that's a term thrown around all the time and it's really important. Leaky gut is not a medical diagnosis, but it's actually something that we focused on in our clinic for over 10 years. That was some of the first work that I did. And the idea of healthy gut integrity is so visually, if you put your hands together and this is your intestine, when you have leaky gut, these gap junctions. So these are gap junctions, they open and you can detect a protein called zonulin. And zonulin would be increased if someone is diagnosed with, quote, leaky gut. And there's a whole host of reasons why someone's gut health has been affected. And when we think about the integrity of our gut, it's not about what you eat primarily, it's about what you absorb. The healthier your gut is, the more capable you are at absorbing nutrients and micronutrients. Gut health is very important. And how do you know if you've got good gut health or if you don't? You should not be bloated when you're eating. You shouldn't even think about your digestion.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Interesting. Yeah, it's such a big, big thing. And I think when I think about two, I would say two of the biggest things that I feel like are mainstream, not quite mainstream, but are going to be mainstream. I think of muscle, thanks to you, in big Part and also leaky gut. I think those are the two things where people are still. Maybe they're not even on their radar yet, and they can impact so areas of gut.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

That's interesting. Why do you think leaky gut? Is it because people are suffering from a lot of GI issues?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yes. And I think that for so long, there's never been a connection made at a mainstream level between your gut health and every other part of your being.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Ah, there we go.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Your gut health and your mental health, your gut health and your physical health, your gut health and your moods and.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Your gut health and muscle.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And your gut health and muscle and similar muscle. Right. I think at the mainstream level that. That hasn't been part of the conversation until. Until your work. Till everything you're putting out there that like, oh, wow, muscle is. Impacts everything.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Yes. I. I want to touch on something that I think people don't recognize. Gut health and gut integrity is very important. And like you said, gut can improve you if your gut is healthy. The majority of a serotonin, which is a happy neurotransmitter, is made in. Primarily in the gut. And did you know this? Which is very. Most people don't think about it and very unusual. You can make compounds, something like urolithin A, which is a postbiotic. If you eat pomegranates or berries, your body. Well, only 40% of us will make a compound called urlithin A in the gut. And that actually improves the health of mitochondria, which. Mitochondria is. They are the powerhouses of the cell. It's where we get our energy. It's why we feel that we have improved endurance and strength. It's really. It comes down to the health of our mitochondria and just making a muscle gut connection. Urolithin A is kind of that connector. It's just one example. But it's a postbiotic made in the gut that then goes and affects the mitochondria and health of skeletal muscle.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Wow. We have a healthy gut. 40% of us. Yeah. I feel like in 2026, for me, two of my biggest goals are muscle and gut.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Hey. So I know this doctor. I do, too, that would be very committed to helping you with this transformation. Because my job. Because my job is to help take care of people that change the world. Truly, that is my privilege.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And you do. I mean, I barely got to brag about you in the intro, but there are so many, so many people who, like you, are changing the world in big ways. And you are Their doctor, you are their advisor.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Many mutual friends of ours, yes. Because it's so important. And you know, we're talking about this from a perspective that is about health. Yeah, we're talking about it from a muscle perspective and a nutrition perspective. But really, if an individual wants to be the best version of themselves, the common denominator for how they can do it, for how big they can show up in their life, is going to be their health. You cannot overcome that. If you are not taking care of your health, then you are never going to be able to show up in the way fully that you need to, because it's just the way that it is.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Mm. Yeah. Yeah, I feel that. I feel that. And there's days. Can't even believe I'm telling you this, but I know you love me, so it's okay. There's days where I'm like, I eat the worst food. Like the other day my kids had all these Swedish fish. I don't even want to tell you how many Swedish fish I ate, but I felt awful the rest of the day. Like I had like brain fog. So it's true. If we're not taking care of our health, it impacts how we show up. It impacts, you know, if we even are playing full out or even enjoying the day. Really, honestly, you make a really good.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Point because of that, you know, high carbohydrate Swedish load, it probably affected your blood sugar. And you see that with brain fog. And then you're hungry. The rest of the day you're chasing this hunger. And you know when you're using the.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Example of muscle and like a suitcase, you only pack for four days and your muscle, you want it lean. And you, you know, when you pack for 14 days, you're eating all kinds of carbs and this and that. Da, da, da, da. Your suitcase is overflowing. That you packed for. Your muscles are filled with all this stuff. They're full. They can't process the new stuff. I was thinking like, oh, sometimes I feel like I'm like packing for Armageddon or I'm like packing for like.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

But you could have done push ups right after. And if someone is thinking, okay, well, what can I do if that happens? Go for a walk or use movement, leverage your skeletal muscle to help recorrect and rebalance yourself right away.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Right away. So if you down a bunch of.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Candy, if you do, I'm not saying that you should, of course. And we're going to talk about that. There are predictable vulnerabilities. And how do we account for those. But let's say you do, because we all do, including myself. Do some push ups. Go for a walk. If you take immediate action and then control that narrative in your mind, right?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

It's.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

You just had a moment and then you take an action. You'll improve your metabolism, you'll improve yourself metabolically, but also you'll stop any kind of internal narrative shaming, which is really important.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Oh, that's good. You know when we were talking earlier when we were walking outside and I was like, I'm like, do you eat all the recipes in the playbook? Because they're good. I'm like, you eat them? You're like, yeah, I eat them. Of course, I created them. And so that's exciting because you can eat really, really, really well and besides a whole bunch of candy and still get that joy. But can you talk about that? Because when it comes to mindset, I love that you go so deep in this book in the sense of you talk about things every one of us can relate to, which is like, okay, feeling horrible that we judging ourselves that we just downed a whole bunch of candy. And you talk about mindset solutions to that. Can you talk about just. Just big picture because you say discipline is the new self care. Discipline is the new self care. How can we love some discipline in our lives versus dreading it and actually look forward to it the way we might look forward to other forms of self care?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Well, you know, I put the mindset chapter in there because the average person, and I was just thinking about myself and my girlfriends, they probably have 27 diet books, 27 fitness books, 27 health books. What is the disconnect between the information and the action? I spent a lot of time thinking about it, and people will not take action if they're interested, but they'll take action if they are committed and they are educated and then inspired. And this is what pushes people to take action. And I wanted to be able to clarify how people were thinking for themselves. We track our nutrition and we track our training, but very rarely do we build a program to build mental muscle. I think that that's the real disconnect. The first thing that we have to plan for is, well, and this is a little bit out of order is weaknesses. I think that we always play to our strengths. But people have experiences like you had about the Swedish fish. It shouldn't be surprising. So next time you have Swedish fish, we should have a plan in place because it will happen and it's predictable. And if you build a plan prior, then you are much less likely to go ahead and unconsciously go about something that is going to be harmful for your health because it's coming. And so you plan for everything else in your life. And we all plan for things in our lives, but we do not plan for our vulnerabilities or where we will go off track. And we can do that.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Is that a secret weapon to discipline also? Oh yeah, having a great yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

So discipline comes from discernment and discernment is this ability to understand is this thought relevant or not? Is this information relevant or not? And you can very quickly determine if it is or if it is or if it isn't. Once you decide that something is relevant, then you can take the next right action and then that next right action will compound and then you will get more disciplined because you know that action to take and then you get freedom.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I'm curious. On behalf of anyone listening who may also dread exercise, we need to pause for a super brief break. And while we do, take a moment to share this episode with every single person that you know who this could inspire. Because this conversation can truly be the words and inspiration they need to hear today to keep going, to remember that they matter, and to feel less alone and more enough more connected, more inspired and more worthy. Who you spend time around is so important as energy is contagious and so is self belief. And I'd love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration. Which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter to you delivered straight to your inbox each and every Tuesday morning from me. If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each week, just go to jamiekernlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you'll get your one on one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you. If you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy and love hitting your inbox. I'm your girl. [e-mail] or in the link in the show notes.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I am so excited for this book. You know why? Because it's going to save so many people.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

It's going to save people.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Were the your new beautiful book worthy? Get this book.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

This book.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I'm telling you it's a book that can change anybody's life who picks it up. Anybody who's ever felt that they were not Good enough didn't measure up. Something's missing in your life. I have to tell you. It's powerful. It's happening. It's worthy.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Imagine what would you do if you fully believed in you. I went from struggling with facing non stop rejection to founder of IT Cosmetics, a billion dollar company by learning how to overcome self doubt and believe I am worthy of my hopes and dreams. And I'm sharing how you can too in my new book how to believe you are enough and transform your life. If you're ready to truly trust yourself and break through that barrier of self doubt and know that where you come from or even where you are right now doesn't determine where you're going, then Worthy is for you. It's time to go from doubting you're enough to knowing you're enough. It's time to step into all of who you are and into the person you were born to be. And it's time to believe that you are worthy of it. Because in life we don't become what we want. We become what we believe we're worthy of. Join the Worthy movement today by grabbing your copy of Worthy anywhere books are sold. Then head to worthybook.com now for free gifts including my five part course on becoming unstoppable and my 95 page worthy workbook action plan that teaches you how to implement the tools from the book and into your real life right now.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Worthy is groundbreaking.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yo Worthy. You are worthy. This book is going to change lives. This book literally will teach you how to actually feel worthy so that you can have the strength, you can have the confidence.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

The lessons in this book and the strategies will change your life. You will never be the same again after you read this book. Jamie's book Worthy is a must read. It is going to inspire you, empower you, give you the hope that you need and the kick in the rear end that you deserve.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Jamie's book Worthy is incredible. The gifts are going away but they're all free right now on worthybook.com.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Now more of this incredible conversation together. I'm curious on behalf of anyone listening who may also dread exercise like me or who just does not want to do and I have to do it in the morning. I have to do it in the morning.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

But is there a reason think about this. Why if you were to examine why do you dread the exercise? It's probably never that bad. It's so beautiful here, right?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

It's never that bad. And I always feel better after and you know, and having taken care of a Parent for almost a decade who lost her ability to. To move. I just really try to focus on. I get to. I don't have to. I get to. But what I find is I do. So I do my workouts first thing in the morning. If I don't, I will dread it all day long. Literally all day long. So I want to ask you, because you have impacted millions of people. So many people I know just celebrate your work and have talked about the impact it's had on them personally, and so many people, everyone listening, knows, have shared that. But what are the keys to discipline when we don't feel very disciplined? Like, what are the keys when we're like, you know what? I would so much rather just chill on the couch or just stay working on my laptop for another 10 million hours because I find we can be disciplined in the things we inherently like or maybe disciplined in the patterns that currently exist. One of my patterns is just working way too much. Like, okay, you do work a lot. I do work a lot. God, that's great. I love it. I enjoy it. Okay, but what do we do for the person who wants to start this? Who wants to start the six week plan that's in the playbook, which I say I have to love, Six weeks feels, like, doable.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

It's like, okay, yeah. And that's why we picked six weeks.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

So you picked six weeks.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Yes.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Okay, how do we start? For the person that's like, I do not want us to, but I know I need to. I know I need to. Right? No one's gonna do what they don't want to do. But for the person who's decided they want to do this, they want to incorporate, you know, focusing on their muscle. They want to incorporate making a decision to age well, maybe they're learning all kinds of things on this podcast, which I'm learning live by the way I feel all the things that you said, I feel now educated, and I also feel inspired and I want to do it. So. But for the person who struggles with discipline in an area that they just don't inherently like or don't have habits doing, what do you say to them?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

The first thing I say is, what an opportunity. This is such an opportunity to further sharpen themselves and that people are not necessarily motivated to exercise. I don't. There are days. Are you kidding? But I am already committed, and so I never have to rely on if I want to or not. We do not want you in a place where you are relying on motivation that is cognitively taxing the first thing someone needs to do is say, okay, I'm going to be committed to this. I need to get someone's buy in. And if they say yes, then we start practicing discipline. Not in food and exercise. We do not practice building the discipline muscle in the area you hate. Are you ready for it? Say, for example, you love going to Starbucks. And so what I'm going to tell you is ways to create friction in your life that you're going to become more tolerant of. Do you like Starbucks?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I do.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Heads, you flip a coin. Heads, you get to have that Starbucks. Tails, you don't. That would be annoying if three days in a row you were at Starbucks, you purchased the Starbucks and you flip heads three days in a row, or whichever, to not get this Starbucks. This generates a small amount of friction that you have to begin to tolerate uncomfortable just a little bit. And that's one way that you begin to create friction. And there's various ways of friction. There's emotional friction, there's physical friction, there's mental friction. Physical friction would be. My husband hates doing anything related to dishes for one hour a day. We pick a task, and we don't do this every day. We pick a task that he absolutely doesn't like to do. No phones, no distractions. He's fully committed to doing that one task. And over time, it builds this muscle up where once we have a plan in place, it's not about thinking, am I motivated or not.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

It's about that you've now built this muscle of when I decide something and commit to it. It's what I do.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And there's no narrative about it.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

You don't negotiate with yourself.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

No.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah. That's so good. I've never heard this before. I've never heard it put this way. And I think this is really genius because I'm imagining how I'd feel if I'm going to get my Starbucks coffee or whatever it is.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

It's annoying, right?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And I've just decided if I flip a coin, I get it. If I don't, I don't. And what's going to happen is I flip the coin and let's say it says I don't get it. And my first thought will be like, should I ignore the coin today? Or maybe I'll start negotiating with myself. Which a lot of us do this. We think like, oh, I have committed to going to the gym three times a week, or maybe I've committed every day to doing a morning walk, but actually, I kind of don't feel like I'M gonna start tomorrow. I'm gonna start my diet tomorrow. Those are all these ways we negotiate with ourselves. Cause maybe that muscle of I'm not negotiating with myself isn't built yet. And you're saying, oh, here's some ways to add discipline into our lives. And I love this so much because I'm imagining. I want everyone at home to imagine this with me. And you could do, you know, it could be anything. It could be like every day you put your favorite jam, your favorite as ever jam on your toast with your butter. And maybe you love it so much and you're like, okay, you know what? Three days this week, I'm gonna flip a coin if I get the tails, I'm not having that today. And then you don't negotiate with yourself. You just make that decision and then you apply that later to like, okay, I've decided I'm going to do resistance training twice a week or three times, whatever it might be. And you don't negotiate yourself.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Right. You practice overcoming this internal friction, but not within the thing that you hate. And this could be anything. It could be you are someone who loves listening to loud music and having your coffee. Flip a coin today, you get that music or you don't.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And then over time, when you start getting good at applying the decision without negotiating with yourself, without talking yourself out of it, then do you start applying it to the things you don't like?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Yeah. And can you imagine that again, there's not this initial friction of, oh, gosh, I hate going to the gym. I've already had you practice a million different ways to add friction and proven to you that you can overcome that.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah. And then you just make the decision, you're already committed. This isn't a negotiation. I'm committed.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

You're committed. And then you practice discernment. If you are hearing a thought in your mind that's like, oh, I should do this, it's just noise. The brain is an organ, and the brain produces thoughts just like the muscle produces myokines and the thyroid produces thyroid hormone. But the brain producing thoughts doesn't mean all of them are relevant. It's just doing what the brain does. When you recognize that you can practice a level of discernment that is this a relevant thought or not? And then you take the next right action and you have a plan to do it. And what is largely missing in the health and wellness space and the connection between action is actually practicing building a strong mental foundation. Because we hear things, but it doesn't allow us to Practice discipline or practice thinking a different way, because we don't have a playbook for that.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

That's so good. And you have people that go, oh, this diet's popular. That's happening. This people, meaning myself and a whole lot of other people. Oh, this is. But building that strong mental foundation when it comes to discipline.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I have another one for you.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah. Oh, I want to hear it.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I don't know if you're going to like this one.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Okay.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Celebrate every fifth win. Don't celebrate everyone. Oftentimes we and people are going to be like, gabrielle, that kind of sounds negative. No, because what we're building is a level of neutrality. You know, as I think about when I was writing this playbook, what did the people that were most capable do? What were the attributes and characteristics that they had? Because I think part of being a good doctor is to be able to do the obvious, which is recognize patterns of disease, but being an effective doctor is recognizing patterns of people. And it is such a privilege to care for people. And then you see this separation between those that continue to do well both in their life and in their health. And one of the core attributes that really struck out to me was this level of neutrality and a way to practice neutrality, which means they never get too high and they never get too low. And there are ways to practice neutrality. And one of those ways is to not celebrate every win. Every fifth win you acknowledge. And again, maybe that sounds negative, but imagine what that would do if you do not celebrate every win. When something goes well, you acknowledge it, and then it's just not a good or bad thing. But then you allow yourself to celebrate that fifth win, and you're like, okay, I'm so proud of myself on this. You become less accustomed to the external environment and also the internal noise of your brain.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Do you experience less joy?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

No. You find that you can actually turn joy on when you want to.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And it's not wind dependent.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

It's not wind dependent. And that's exactly right. Because joy and happiness, it will never come from anything external or anything that you do. And then you think about really delegating your time. Delegating is the wrong word. Really focusing in on your time. And, you know, I'm talking about this as actions, but they have physiological effects on people's bodies. And that's what we're really control for. We're really controlling this ebb and flow of dopamine, drive and motivation we're talking about for the mainstream. What are the actions and the framework that we can put in place now. But what it's really doing is it's exercising our brain and putting a mental framework in place where we are controlling our dopamine, our drive and motivation on the back end, by our actions on the future end.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Which makes it less likely that I would want to sit on the couch and eat some Swedish fish for instant. Whatever. For instant feeling good and put it on the back end. Okay. All right. If you could erase. If you could just erase one piece of mainstream health advice from the past decade or even past 50 years, what would that be?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

That's easy. That dietary cholesterol is bad for us. And I know that that kind of throws a wrench in things, but people will go to their doctor and they will say, my doctor told me not to eat meat because it's bad for my cholesterol. That has been taking dietary recommendations for cholesterol, for the most part, has been taken out of the guidelines. It was taken out in 2015. There is very little relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood level cholesterol.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Wow. Because so many people think like, oh, I have high cholesterol. I need to stop eating foods with cholesterol.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Right.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And you're saying that they're not necessarily correct.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

They took it out of the guidelines, the recommendations. Do you want me to give you another one? So that way you can pick and choose which you'll cut in.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

We'll keep them all.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

But think about it. Someone think about it. Someone goes to their doctor and they go, I want to be healthy. And the doctor says, okay, well, eat a low cholesterol diet. No, that's not gonna work. And it's also taking out a bunch of healthy foods. That's number one. The other myth I think that we have is that people think saturated fat is really bad for us, and it's really been overblown. Our bodies make saturated fat. Just so we're clear. And in the dietary guidelines, it's set at 10% saturated fat. But because it's set at 10% saturated fat, which is essentially a made up number, it eliminates almost all animal based foods. For example, do you believe an egg is healthy? Yes, it is. It's great for choline and fat soluble vitamins. But according to the guidelines, because an egg has 18% saturated fat and an egg is small and the amount is little, it would not be considered a healthy food. And so these recommendations have allowed kind of the system to weaponize our food.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Coconut would be another one. Right?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Exactly. And nearly any kind of animal product.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

When you think about the biggest myths about protein and resistance training, building muscle. Okay, what myths do you want to just, like, debunk right now?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Number one, protein is not bad for the kidneys, and it's not bad for bone. Our bone is made of proteins. That's number one. That's probably one of the biggest. You've heard that, right? I don't want to eat too much protein. It's bad for our bones. It's bad for our kidneys. That is not true from a resistance training standpoint, ladies, you're not going to get bulky. It's never going to happen. And it's never too late to start. One more myth is that people will say, I've never lifted weights. And I'll say, but do you have a toddler, Jeff luggage? You've lifted weights your whole life. You've just never had a structured weight training program.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

For the woman who feels like. For a woman who feels this narrative around aging is limiting her in terms of her confidence, whether she's in her 20s or her 80s, what would you say about that?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Aging is inevitable. There is nothing that we can do about that. But strength is a responsibility, and it's not a luxury. It's coming for all of us. And we have way more agency over how we want to age than we ever recognized before. And that starts with muscle. Muscle is not about vanity. It truly is a responsibility. And if someone says, I don't have time for diet and exercise because I'm too busy, I would say, then how are you going to have time for illness?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

So good. That's so good for someone who's like, all right, I'm gonna get my health on track. What test should they ask their doctor for when they walk in? And maybe they just go once a year to the doctor. But what blood test should they ask for? And exactly what should they say?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Okay, well, number one, hopefully now your doctor is going to recognize the importance of skeletal muscle. It's coming. And number two, the markers that we think about Metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is greater than 30% body fat, elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, glucose, and insulin. Those are not indicators of adipose tissue. Those are indicators of unhealthy skeletal muscle, because muscle is the primary site for our metabolic sync. When you have unhealthy skeletal muscle, you have elevated levels of triglycerides of glucose and insulin. So all an individual has to say is, please test me for metabolic syndrome. Then please tell the doctor that you recognize that this is actually a test for the health of your skeletal muscle, because muscle is the focal point and why we have all these chronic health issues is there's a mismatch between our nutrition and our muscle health.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

If a person says to their doctor, I want to be tested for metabolic health and the doctor says why? What do they say? And how do I ask this? How can it seem appropriate for maybe a doctor that's maybe not that sophisticated on these kind of things?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Well, the good news is those are foundational markers that should be in everyone's blood panel. And also there is a ton of access to at home test kits, direct to consumer blood. We have a whole telemedicine clinic that we can read their blood for them. They don't have to come to Houston. And I don't want to say they should change doctors. But if your doctor is not beginning to focus on your metabolic health, then we have a problem. Because your metabolic health is a precursor for all these other diseases of aging. Because you don't want to wait till you get cardiovascular disease to fix it. You don't want to wait till you get diabetes. These things don't just happen. There are indications early on.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

And a lot of times, you know, when people get those things, then they're just medicated for those things versus fixing. That's right, the metabolic.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Can you imagine? Muscle is medicine. I could not give you a better pill that would transform your entire system other than physical activity. I couldn't because muscle makes up 40% of your body weight. Can you imagine when this organ system is inflamed, it creates a cascade of problems. On the flip side, if this tissue is healthy, it's anti inflammatory, it's good for bone, it's good for brain, it is critical and it's under voluntary control.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I'm inspired, I am inspired to pay attention to my muscle and even just think about it. I have to tell you, I would not be shocked if maybe every day of my life, since Maybe I was 11 and probably started dieting somewhere between 11 and 14, I have thought about weight, body, body issues, fat, cellulite, all those things. The number of days I've thought about muscle. Very few. Very few. And this is so eye opening and so inspiring and so empowering and so freeing and so exciting. So I'm grateful for that and your brand new book that's out right now that everyone should go pick up. The Forever Strong playbook. A six week science based plan to sharpen your mind, strengthen your body and get healthy at any age. There's 60 recipes, illustrated workouts inside the illustrations, even have Dr. G's tattoos on them, which I love for the person. And I know there's groundbreaking science in it. Exactly. What to eat, how to exercise. What would you say to everyone listening on what they can expect when they pick up their copy and what it's going to do for them in their life?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Well, I wrote this book because I wanted it and it provides a space for them to write and to think differently and construct a life that is by their choice. And it's a book of freedom, really. It's a book of mental and physical freedom. They'll know exactly how to think, how to eat, how to move, how to recover. And I believe that it is going to change people's lives. I feel. You know, I wrote another book called Forever Strong.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yes.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

But I feel so passionate about this book. It's not just a book you pick up with a bunch of words. It has pictures and places. It's an interactive playbook that I spent so much time thinking about because at the end of the day I believe that we can all be stronger together and I am just one voice. It is going to take so much more than one voice. It is going to take a movement, a Forever Strong movement, a cultural shift of empowerment.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I love that in the book there's a lot of prompts that help you think about your own mindset and there's questions that you know, when you get your book home, your playbook home, you'll write in your own answers to some of your obstacles, some of the things that you want freedom from. I mean it's really, it goes so much beyond what to how to exercise and what to eat, which is in there as well with you know, the latest research and science based plan which I think is so, so helpful. But it's just this whole 360 playbook.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

360 playbook transformation tool. And that's what I want.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

People can use muscle to pull the lever of their mind and also use their mind to pull the lever of muscle. It's this bi directional relationship. And ultimately how do we become the best version of ourselves?

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Having had the gift of getting a sneak peek copy of the book as well, I feel like I can answer this. But for you, what would you say to the person listening are maybe two to three things that are the most important takeaways from the book that are going to impact their lives right away and why they should pick it up. No matter their age, no matter their current lifestyle, no matter their current whether they're like me and they have not been lifting weights for A while or anything else.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

It's never too late to be strong. Become committed to being strong. Number two, prioritize dietary protein. Plan for it, we need it. And number three, pick and commit to a physical activity. It doesn't have to be crazy that you're going to do every day. It could be as small as going for a 10 minute walk after a meal. You have to make these choices for yourself rather than choices made for you later on in life.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

I love the example you gave of, okay, if you ate all the Swedish fish, but then you actually do push ups right after or you go for a walk or whatever, here's what happens in your body that changes. Fascinating.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And also, you might not be able to change your mind about it. You might be disappointed or you might be upset at yourself. And I might say ignore the narrative. And you may or may not be able to do that, but you 100% of the time can take that next physical step.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

And so it's leveraging muscle when perhaps the mentality is not there.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah. That's so good. That's so good.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I'm gonna give you one more, one more tip. Use this or not. But oftentimes people get really hooked into say they get triggered and they are very hooked and in a dark place. I would say, and this is in the playbook. Pick something physically challenging and it doesn't have to be a run. It could be go into the cold plunge. It could be do a max out sprint on a bike or a treadmill or a row or pick your poison. It is impossible to be consumed about what is going on in your head for those 30 seconds. And it allows a space for freedom just if you're listening or watching. Try it. It is impossible to be locked into any kind of negative thought when you are pushing your physicality. Again, cold plunges, it can be very uncomfortable. And it's just a little glimpse of freedom that you can begin to develop over time.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Do you always feel so much better after you work out?

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

I have never heard someone say, I feel so much work, I'm a bad guy. I feel so much worse after I did that.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I love that saying, like, you know, you want to change your mood, change your body, like just start moving, which is good. I've always heard, you know, that correlation I've never heard or understood at the level you've explained it today in this conversation. And then even deeper in your playbook at just how many areas it impacts and why and why we need to do it. You know, and that's just. It's eye opening. It's gonna help so many people and inspire so many people. And I'm so grateful for you and your leadership in this space, your championship of health of women and men. There are so many men who are huge thought leaders in our country that call you their doctor and also their advisor. But I just want to thank you for your care. It's been a gift also to see you and get to know you as a friend outside of any of this and to get to know your heart, but also to watch how committed and strong you are at championing other people, their health, their wellness, and really, you know, the topic of muscle as the key to longevity, as the organ of longevity. And congratulations just on how mainstream this is going and how many people you're impacting. I'm honored to be one of them. And just thank you so much for being on the show.

[Dr. Gabrielle Lyon]

Thank you so much, Jamie.

[Jamie Kern Lima]

Remember, this episode is not just for you and me. Please share this with every single person that you know because it can impact and change their life, too. And if you love today's episode, please click on the subscribe or follow button for the show on the app you're listening to it on or watching it on. And if it added value to your life, if you could, please give it a rating or review. We love a good 5 star. I would be so grateful. And again, please share this episode with everyone you believe in. Share it with another person in your life who could benefit from it. Maybe someone you know is making a change in their health and their fitness or in their life right now. Please post this episode and share it with others online or in your community who just might need the words and tools and lessons in this episode today. You never know whose life you're meant to change today by sharing this episode. And thank you so much, so much for joining me today. Before you go, I want to share some words with you that couldn't be more true. You right now, exactly as you are, are enough and fully worthy. You're worthy of your greatest hopes, your wildest dreams, and all the unconditional love in the world. And it is an honor to welcome you to each and every episode of the Jamie Kern Lima show here. I hope you'll come as you are, heal where you need, blossom what you choose, journey toward your calling, and stay as long as you'd like because you belong here. You are worthy. You are loved. You are love. And I love you. And I cannot wait to join you on the next episode of the Jamie Kern Lima show in life you don't soar to the level of your hopes and dreams. You stay stuck at the level of your self worth. When you build your self worth, you change your entire life. And that's exactly why I wrote my new book Worthy how to believe you are enough and transform your life for you. If you have some self doubt to destroy and a destiny to fulfill, Worthy is for you. In Worthy, you'll learn proven tools and simple steps that bring life changing results like how to get unstuck from the things holding you back, build unshakable self love, unlearn the lies that lead to self doubt and embrace the truths that wake up worthiness, overcome limiting beliefs and imposter syndrome, achieve your hopes and dreams by believing you are worthy of them and so much more. Are you ready to unleash your greatness and step into the person you were born to be? Imagine a life with zero self doubt and unshakable self worth. Get your copy of Worthy plus some amazing thank you bonus gifts for [e-mail] or the link in the show notes below. Imagine what you do. If you fully believed in you, it's time to find out. With Worthy, who you spend time around is so important as energy is contagious and so is self belief. And I'd love to hang out with you even more, especially if you could use an extra dose of inspiration. Which is exactly why I've created my free weekly newsletter that's also a love letter to you delivered straight to your inbox from me. If you haven't signed up to make sure that you get it each week, just go to jamiekernlima.com to make sure you're on the list and you'll get your one on one with Jamie weekly newsletter and get ready to believe in you. If you're tired of hearing the bad news every single day and need some inspiration, some tips, tools, joy and love hitting your inbox. I'm your girl. [e-mail] or in the link in the show notes. And please note, I'm not a licensed therapist and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional.