Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

It is an organ system.

When you contract skeletal muscle, it releases these peptides and these compounds called myokines, just like the thyroid releases thyroid hormone, just like when the heart beats, it pumps blood.

Skeletal muscle beyond movement has a whole host of metabolic effects that make it, number one, under our voluntary control.

We choose whether we contract it.

We choose whether we do a squat.

We choose whether we attempt those push-ups.

And because it is under our voluntary control and the sheer mass of its body weight and size, it makes muscle the most incredible lever to pull for health and wellness, especially on the mission that you're on, Liz.

Muscle, from a metabolic component, let's open up there because for the listener, they probably haven't thought about muscle's effect on specific parts of metabolism.

You hear about muscle and it's important in, quote, overall metabolism.

You will hear people say, well, the more healthy muscle mass you have, the better metabolism you have.

What does that mean?

Healthy muscle at rest.

When you're sitting on the CERFA, healthy muscle at rest burns primarily fatty acids, which is interesting because that's its fuel source.

When you think about elevated levels of cholesterol, elevated levels of triglycerides, these are all markers that when you go to your primary care doctor that they would measure.

And when my patients come to Strong Medical, which is our, we have a telehealth clinic, we always look at the markers like triglycerides, fasting insulin, fasting glucose.

These are markers of muscle health.

And that's what it means when muscle impacts metabolism.

The mismatch of muscle health and activity plus the diet that you are eating is

is what will change those biomarkers and put you at risk for diseases of what they say chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, like cardiovascular disease, like Alzheimer's.

To simply say it, what you eat, meaning the carbs, the fats, the proteins, are mismatched with your muscle health.