Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

By highlighting muscle as your target for better health, you can create positive momentum focused on what you have to gain instead of what you need to lose.

Here’s a maxim to keep you motivated: the higher your healthy muscle mass, the greater your protection against all-cause mortality and morbidity.

Most Americans get more than 50 percent of their calories from carbohydrates. And our collective overeating of starchy, sugary refined carbs has had devastating effects on our metabolism—resulting in rampant obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. ... Simply put, prioritizing dietary proteins while restricting carbohydrates can reverse metabolic syndrome.

Brain scans of people in their forties revealed that a wider waistline was associated with a lower brain volume. ... One longitudinal study that measured the abdominal diameter of 6,583 individuals over time revealed that participants with the largest diameter were nearly three times more likely to develop dementia than those with the smallest diameter. This means that simply being overweight exponentially increases your risk of memory loss.

I don’t talk much about setting ‘goals’ for wellness. To me, that framework offers too much room for failure—keeping too many people in cycles of sickness when they deserve the freedom of optimal health. Instead of goals, let’s focus on setting the standards necessary for you to reach your future self who embodies strength, inside and out.

Losing skeletal muscle means losing the mitochondria that produce energy in your cells. It should come as no surprise that producing less energy leads to fatigue.

Remember, while getting older is inevitable, the health declines caused by diminished muscle mass are NOT! A muscle-centric lifestyle incorporating nutritional and movement changes can rewrite your life story.

Benefits of a protein-forward diet: balanced blood sugar, increased energy, mental clarity, decreased body fat, improved body composition, reduced cravings.

No one can accurately argue with the fact that animal products provide higher-quality protein. It’s time we stopped thinking of nutrition as either plant or animal but included both in our diet. Red meat is as old-school as it gets—the highest source of bioavailable proteins and amino acids—it’s the OG of superfoods.

Carve out time for rest and recovery. Prioritize sleep, as this is when the body grows and repairs. Nearly one-third of Americans older than eighteen fail to get the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep. Chronic lack of sleep disrupts skeletal muscle and glucose levels, as well as our endocrine systems and hormones, predisposing us to health issues that include obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes.

We humans were designed for physical movement, and our bodies are capable of extraordinary feats. Don’t think of training as an activity with health benefits. Instead, consider it as a baseline requirement for wellness and an essential component of maintaining health and protecting longevity.

By understanding muscle as the key to longevity and taking action to rebalance the effects of losing and gaining muscle, you can slow the process of aging.