Optimize Your Protein Intake to Build Muscle with Dr. Gabrielle Lyon

Hey, J.J. here.

Can you believe how fast the holidays.

Are knocking at the door this year? One minute it's pumpkin spice season, the next you're getting your guest room ready and wondering where their wrapping paper went. And that's when I turned to Wayfair. From bedding and towels to holiday decor and last minute stocking stuffers, Wayfair has everything you need to get your home and holidays together fast. And for way less. With Wayfair, I know I can refresh my guest room in no time. Maybe I'll add a soft new comforter or a few holiday throw pillows. With Wayfair, it's so easy and everything arrives super fast. Plus, there's free shipping for any order over $35 easy and total peace of mind. So whether you're hosting, gifting, or just adding those final festive touches, Wayfair has your back. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style, every home. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever, and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives, and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything. They just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family's sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on your first order.

Welcome to Walgreens. What can I help you with today?

Hi, I need a last minute gift for a secret Santa. Something thoughtful, impressive. Not a fruitcake.

We've got Ferrero chocolates, artisan coffees, even a spa kit.

Any vibe you're going for, Whatever says, wow.

This guy's great at giving gifts.

How about this premium skincare gift set? Just needs a bow.

Will look like you planned it weeks ago.

Well, happy holidays, gifts, holiday decor, and more. The holiday road is long.

We're with you all the way, Walgreens.

Welcome to the JJ Virgin lifestyle show with celebrity nutrition expert, fitness hall of famer, and four time New York Times bestselling author, JJ Virgin. JJ is a warrior mom whose knowledge and expertise have helped change hundreds of thousands of lives. With over 3.5 million podcast downloads and appearances on Dr. Phil, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Rachael Ray, Larry King.

Love. Whoa, whoa, whoa. This show is about you, not about me. I want to help you find practical, real world ways to dial in your health and mindset so you can finally lose that weight and feel strong and energized. Stop settling for less than your personal best. It's time to find out how to look and feel better than ever. And I'll be right here with you the whole way. Hey. Today we are going to answer a question that keeps coming up and coming up and coming up. So first question I always get asked is, what the heck should I eat beyond that? And really, I wrote the Virgin Diet to help you figure out which foods work for you and which foods. And then the next question is, okay, how much? How much of the different things? And of course, Sugar Impact Diet is really written to help you figure out where sugar is sneaking in and how many carbs you should have. But the big question is that I get asked a lot is on protein. So I decided to go straight to my pal, the amazing Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, who I had the good fortune to meet a couple years ago because my other pal, the amazing Emily Fletcher of Ziva Meditation's like, you gotta meet my girlfriend, Gabrielle. I'm like, all right. So we went out to dinner in San Diego. I fell in love with her because she is just everything. And we've been pals ever since. So let me tell you a little bit about Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. She's like, first off, I'm going to read kind of the basics, then tell you the amazing. So the, the basics were, which are amazing in themselves is she's fellowship trained and board certified from Washu in St. Louis. By the way, Washu in St. Louis has the virgin labs. My brother in law, Herbert Whiting III has his retrovirus lab in Washu. Just a little aside, her fellowship training was both clinical and research based in obesity medicine, nutritional sciences and geriatrics. She has a amazing private practice in New York City. But even more amazing than that, she is the go to doc for the elite military, for the special ops guys, you know, the Seals and the Green Beret once. So that is pretty crazy. And the thing that she's known for is muscle centric medicine. So I am going to be yakking with her today about building muscle, why this matters so much, how you can do it, how you hold on to it, and a protein. And how much protein do you really need? Because we get, we get asked this all the time. So she's, she's my go to on it. Now before I dive into that, I want to do a shout out to Ashley Allen and Ashley Allen and her screen name is Ashley Allen. FIT sent a a review in to itunes. My favorite podcast. Five stars and she says, I am a huge fan of this podcast. It's nourishing, entertaining, and very educational. JJ is an incredible host and authentically dives deep into each topic with her guests. I recently just started my thyroid healing journey after years of dieting and over training. So these episodes are really helping me. Jj, I just love you and I want to thank you for all the work that you're doing. You're truly making a difference and are such an inspiration to me. Big heart. Ashley Allen, Scottsdale, Arizona. Thank you. That is so awesome and I am most excited about you doing your thyroid healing. And we've had some incredible guests on the show, of course, with Dr. Isabella, starting with Dr. Isabella Wentz. And by the way, shout out for Isabella with her new Hashimoto's Protocol cookbook. Amazing, fabulous, incredible book. So I just want to do a shout out there and I want to remind you all, we always have amazing, incredible. I know. Amazing's my word for today. All right, I admit it. It's amazing. So we have amazing show notes and Gabrielle is giving the coolest gift ever. You'll hear all about it, you'll be able to grab it and everything else we yak about@jjvirgin.com forward/muscle Dr. Gabrielle Line. Welcome to the show. I'm sorry, super excited to be chatting with you.

I can't wait to be here. I'm so happy. Wonderful.

Well, believe it or not, like this is going to sound crazy to you. But we've actually not talked about protein and muscle. We've not talked about on this podcast yet. I get asked all the time, how much protein should I eat and like, how do I build muscle? So I'm like, I am glad that I went straight to my number one source for all this. But what I love to dive into and start with is you're known for muscle centric medicine and you're my go to on all of this. But how did you get into this?

I love this question. I happen to be a second generation functional medicine practitioner. My godmother, her name is Liz Galipsky, is one of the original OGs of functional medicine nutrition. And I moved in with her when I was 17 and that really changed the trajectory of my education. I became very interested in nutrition. Then I went to my undergraduate in human nutrition, vitamin mineral metabolism and that was all about protein. I trained with one of the world leading experts in protein metabolism and as an athlete it just shaped my perspective. So in a nutshell, that's how I got here.

Yay.

Well, I am happy you're here because again, you know, there is so much crazy, crazy misinformation out there about this. And before we start to talk about protein needs and why we need protein, protein, all that, let's kind of back it up and talk muscle in the first part, muscle. Why? Why is this so important on our body? And I'll just preface it by saying, you know, back when I was in graduate school and everything back then was about, okay, if you need to want to lose weight, you have to do lots and lots and lots of cardio. And I go, this doesn't make any sense. I'm down at Gold's Gym in Venice with all these bodybuilders. They're not doing any cardio. They don't have, they're really lean, you know, they've got amazing muscle. And, and I see just the opposite with all these people doing cardio. So it just blows my mind that I still feel like this crazy urban legends out there that we need to do loads of cardio. Why is muscle so important?

Muscle is the largest organ in the body. Everybody thinks it is solely for locomotion, for exercise, for moving, but actually it is an endocrine organ. What does that mean? It means it secretes things. When you exercise, you actually secrete anti inflammatory chemicals that lower inflammation in the body. So that's one aspect. The next aspect is it's responsible for your metabolism. Everybody has heard about metabolism and they hear that as you age, that Your metabolism changes. Actually it's your muscle mass that changes. So muscle is very important for your resting metabolic rate, your metabolism, essentially, it's responsible for, for the calories that you burn at rest.

So, you know, when you look at it then it's like the biggest thing that you can do to really change your basal metabolic rate. And I remember seeing a picture, one of my friends was talking about the fact that marathon runners have the same muscle mass as couch potatoes. Like, which is just a shocking statement. Right. But it makes sense because of what's happening when you're doing all that, all that, you know, cardio. It's like you're not building muscle going out on a three hour run.

Absolutely. And when you think about longevity and postmenopausal hormonal changes, the more muscle you have, the better you age.

So let's look at that then, because, you know, you see people losing muscle as they age, but they don't have to, right?

No, you don't. There is this natural decline that will happen if you are doing a ton of cardio and you're not lifting weights and you're not, not getting your protein right. So muscle can be stimulated largely in two ways. Number one, through dietary protein and number two, through resistance exercise. All of which are in our control.

Yes. Which is super awesome. Now let's talk about protein, because in terms of building muscle, I think there's this idea that, you know, what you just really need to do is just eat a lot of protein. It's like, well, you actually have to stress the muscles too. But then of course, you need to give the muscles what they need. So dietary protein, how is that, you know, how is that? What's the importance here for muscle health?

It's really interesting. Dietary protein is really the black sheep of the macronutrient family.

I know. Like, why the heck is that? And then, I mean, then we're going to talk about like plant based versus animal protein too. We'll get into that. But yeah. Why the heck is it?

It's because it's the only macronutrient that is emotional. Everybody knows that too many carbohydrates are bad for you, that excess sugar is bad for you. We used to think that fat was bad for us, but we know that a moderate amount of fat is good. And then the last kind of the black sheep is protein. And it's because it has a face. It's very emotional for people and that skews their ability to make good decisions that are evidence based on versus feeling.

Based so the other side of it too is, I mean, when I look at everything, I think, all right, actually, protein's the easiest thing when you really look at it because. And I'd love to hear how you dose protein, but to me, that's the most stable thing that we have. And carbohydrates will vary, right, you know, based on what's going on. But, like, you need to get that consistent protein in. So when you look at how much protein someone needs, because again, this is like this question I get asked all the time and oh, my gosh, you read, you read the different research or not research, you read the different recommendations by all the health experts and you know, someone like, never eat animal protein. Then someone's like, you need to eat lots of. It's like, okay, okay.

And it's very confusing for people.

It's very confusing. Let's talk about first before we get into, like, how much protein, let's talk about the difference in bioavailability. Like, what's the difference between plant protein and animal protein? And then good animal protein and bad animal protein.

I am so glad you asked that.

Can you tell that's a hot button for me? I am so sick of people. You know, to me, when I look at the whole vegan versus Paleo, it's like you have a vegan pulling out and comparing, you know, saying it's, you know, meat is bad, but they're looking at factory cow meat. I'm like, well, you know, yeah, if you shove cows in close confine and shoot them up with a bunch of stuff and feed them GMO food, it's bad. That's not what we're talking about. So, okay, now, now I'm going to breathe and let you just go on your rant.

So the very first question you asked me was, why is protein important and why is it important for muscle? Well, protein is so important for muscle because if you think about it, like, feeds, like. So animal sources feed our muscle tissue. And the reason that is so important is because it's based on something called branch chain amino acids. And I don't want to get too deep into the science because I want this to be usable for everybody. But the quality of protein is determined by that very thing, which is the branched chain amino acids. Those branch chains are different in plant versus animal. For example, one chicken breast that has around 30 grams of protein, let's say that's around 4 ounces. And to get the equivalent amount of plant protein, you would need between four and six cups of quinoa to get the quality of the protein that you need because the branch chain amino acids are lower in plant protein, which by.

The way, is going to slam you over how many carbohydrates you should be eating. Just slam you. You know, that's the biggest challenge I see with this stuff. I'm like, all right, how do you get in the protein you need without going excessively high in carbohydrates or, you know, if you're trying to lower your carbohydrates, how do you get it without, like, your fat will be off the chart.

So you have to really get the good quality sourcing that we talked about and plant source or sorry, animal sourcing is of a very high quality and that could be in the form of lean meats, turkey, chicken, eggs, even whey protein that has a great amount and a balanced amount of branched chain amino acids which are necessary to feed the muscle and especially important as you age. So when you think about dosing, the minimum amount that an individual should have who is, say, over the age of 35 would be 30 grams of protein per meal, and that's between 4 to 5 ounces per meal.

Now, something we need to clarify there, because it's very different to eat lean chicken breasts versus a fatty piece of wild salmon.

Yes, absolutely.

Because you're going to have the fat in there as well.

Right.

And fish has around 5 grams of protein per 1 ounce. So you need more. And now if it's salmon, you've now double or tripled your fat intake. So I tend to choose leaner quality, leaner cuts of protein for that exact reason.

Okay, and so how, how about like, what is going to make your protein needs vary? Like, obviously I'm looking at you and you're a little bitty thing. I am not. You know, I've got like what, like 8 inches on you and you know, women versus men, athlete versus non athlete or someone healing from, say, surgery or what, what, what changes our protein needs? How do we know how much for our individual needs we need?

A great rule of thumb is 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight, assuming that you're not extremely heavy. So if your body fat percent is 18% or lower, 20% or lower, and maybe you are struggling with a little bit of weight issues or you're lean, then your recommendation, a great recommendation, is 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. So for example, me, I'm tiny, like you said, 120 pounds. My ideal body weight is around 120 pounds. Around 120 pounds. And my grams of protein is equivalent to that. And that is a great rule of thumb for anybody. The more calorie restricted you get. So if someone is on, say a diet where they're going, lower calories, the more protein you need, because you need to protect that muscle tissue.

And what about if someone is, say, recovering from, you know, surgery or an accident, something like that, does that shift things?

That absolutely does. So that would increase the protein need. And you could have an extra 40 to 50 grams to really of high quality protein. So we're not talking about plant based protein. An extra 40 to 50 grams on top of what your ideal body weight would be. If you're going through a surgery or an illness, that should really be your focus. Macronutrient.

What about as you age? So we are losing it as we age?

I'm not.

No, you are definitely not.

I am not losing it. I'm just like every year I go, it's like, okay, well now 55 is the new 30. But are people losing it as they age because of inactivity, because of hormone shifts? What is going on that's making them lose muscle as they age?

Well, as individuals age, there is a decrease in your sex hormones, and that definitely affects muscle tissue. There's also something interesting that happens called anabolic resistance. And what that means is that as you age, your body and your muscles become less efficient at utilizing the protein that you ingest. Changing the first of all, the amount of protein you eat at one meal is essential as an individual ages having any less than 30 grams of protein per meal, and the ideal is going to be between 30 and 50. And this is really interesting because it's independent of if you're male or female or your size. The overall amount of protein is dependent on your size, but the amount at one time is independent. So what that means is that as you age, no matter what you're male or female, your protein need would be between 30 and 50 grams per meal to overcome that anabolic resistance. That happens as we mature.

And you're saying per meal. So I want to bring that up because is there an upper limit as to how much you can assimilate at any one time? Is this something that you want to make sure that you're getting it distributed throughout the day?

What's important here in terms of any. You absorb all the protein that you ingest?

Yeah. Because that was a big, you know, it's like, I know we're going to.

Talk about some myth busting.

Yeah. But I look at, I look at Old myth busting that there used to be one of the big myth busting things or myths in vegetarian and veganism was you had to like eat these exactly this, like combine everything at each meal. And then the other one was like, don't eat over this amount of protein at a meal cause your body won't assimilate it. So very complicated, very complicated. You're like, you know, it's like you get fearful at a meal. Like what happens here? You know, it's like, it's ridiculous.

So in terms of distributing over time, that's actually key. If you're eating two meals a day, then your amount of protein per meal needs to obviously be higher. I typically have individuals either eat two to three meals depending on the person, and it should really be scheduled four hours apart. Four to five hours is ideal. It allows for that muscle to reset and then you get an optimal stimulation so that you can continue to build muscle as you age.

Yeah, I remember I actually helped, I used to work with pro boxers, believe it or not. I have like had bizarre, a bizarre background in, in health. And I used to work with a lot of sports guys. I worked with the US Olympic swimming team. I work with pro boxers. And then I helped Superman get his muscle. And when I did that, I was having them eat every four hours and making sure that they got enough muscle in. But I think now, and I love that you brought that up because this idea that, well, you know, I think we're both anti snacking this breakfast, lunch snack, absolutely ridiculous. But I love that you brought in two to three meals because you don't need to eat three meals necessarily. So that's the other piece of it, right?

That's absolutely right. It's challenging to get enough protein in, especially if you as you age. But if you, you know, when I think about protein, I think really protein over carbohydrates and protein over fat. Protein has so many excellent qualities. And it's not just about building muscle. It increases the amount of fat that you burn in your body. It helps your immune cells, it helps repair your gut. It does all these amazing things. So if I had to pick one thing to eat, I would err higher on the protein than I would the fat or the carbohydrates.

So any other weird myths that we could bust out there that come to mind besides the ones I brought up?

How about this one? Protein is bad for the bone.

Oh yes. What about protein? Bones and kidney. Bones and kidney.

So bone is actually made from protein. Those individuals that consumed higher protein throughout their life had highest bone density. That's a massive myth. And the other one that I hear all the time is protein is bad for the kidneys. In fact, we know that if you have good functioning kidneys, protein actually helps increase their efficiency.

Where did all this come from?

The myths or the science?

The myths. I mean, the myths on bone health. I'm assuming the bone health one came from the people being concerned about the acidity of protein. But I would assume that that is very easy to offset if you're eating vegetables like you should be.

Absolutely, absolutely. And we know that the acid alkaline story isn't really true, that the body does a very good job at buffering. And if you're eating any kind of green vegetables or a green drink, then that really does offset it. The other thing that people talk a lot about is that protein causes cancer, and that is 100% not true. In fact, there's never been any data to prove that that has been done in humans. Or, you know, when you look at the statistics, the statistics, if you actually look at the papers, it's not true. I'll give you an example. There is something called a risk ratio, right? And that just means that the higher the number, the more likelihood that it's correlated to cancer or that thing. Smoking and cancer has a number of 12, right. Protein and cancer has a number of 1.3. In order for anything to be considered significant, it has to be two or above all that in saying that protein absolutely does not cause cancer. There's never been any evidence that shows that or indicates that.

So let's flip back over to muscle, because obviously diet's key here, but someone wanted to make sure as they age that they are not losing muscle that they're holding onto or building muscle or as they're trying to lose body fat. What are some tips you can give them around that?

Do resistance training? I think that you can do it three to four days a week is a great place to start. There is science that shows it doesn't actually have to be heavy. As long as you are putting in effort and going to failure as you age, that's really important. This is research out of Canada McMaster University, which is phenomenal. They have recently published a study that shows that as long as you are putting in effort and to failure, then you still get the benefits of protecting your muscles, protecting against sarcopenia. So three to four days a week of either heavy lifting, heavier lifting, or lighter load, more repetitions.

And, you know, I get asked all the time. So I'm glad you said it that way. People like, how much weight should I lift? I go, whatever you can in good form, you know.

Right.

I mean it's like there isn't a weight. It's the weight that you can't, that you can lift. And I, I like to have people work in the 8 to 12 repetitions. I always say if you can't get to 8, lighten it up. If you get past 12, make it heavier. Because when I was doing my graduate work, I had to build muscle as quickly as possible. Well, you have a lot of muscle.

You really do. You've been training your whole life.

So you. Yeah, well, this was for people I was bringing in. I was bringing in students and I had to help them put on muscle as quickly as possible. And that was definitely the range that seemed to help the most. So.

And then having protein after your training session because the blood is now in the muscles so the nutrients can actually get to the muscle. So after you weightlift then having a protein meal is absolutely ideal. And this is where shakes come in in an excellent way. So individuals who don't want to eat after they train still get the amino acids.

Yep. That is my favorite recovery is to use a supplement, a shake supplement after your workout. It's like, because it's just so easy to do. So I love all of this and I'm also super excited that you have a, an amazing gift for everybody. It's really cool and I want you actually to describe it. You're going to give out your lion protocol, the four week optimal protein nutrition program designed to reset your metabolism. So what are they going to get?

They are going to read this and know exactly how to plan out their protein meals. They're going to have from the beginning to the end how their day looks. There's some recipes in there, reasons why muscle is important, how to eat it, how to eat it over the day. It's really a great program based in.

30 years of science and it's free to everybody.

It is free. That's right.

Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for that. So you can grab that@jjvirgin.com muscle I know we went through a lot of things here too. I'll put an optimal list of great clean animal protein. I hope that's one of the key takeaways here, is that what, what you eat, like I always say, you are what you eat ate and got to make sure that we're eating clean animal protein. It is non negotiable, like I just did A TV show today and the host was saying, oh, but the grass fed and finished beef is so much more expensive. I go, because it's worth it. Like, you can't eat the other stuff. It's garbage.

Yes.

Can I get an amen on that? So again, you can grab all of this@jjvirgin.com forward slash, muscle. And Gabrielle, thank you so much for all your amazing information today. I so appreciate you.

Thank you.

So after the break, I'll be answering a listener's question, so stay with me.

Hey, jj, Virgin here. Okay, real talk. So often the holidays sneak up on me, travel, gifts, hosting, you know, all the things. And suddenly it's like, wait, who spent what and where? And I know I'm not the only one who's looked at a bill in January and thought, wow, that escalated quickly. If you want to keep your finances under control this holiday season, you need to be using Monarch. It's rated the Wall Street Journal's best budgeting app of 2025. Monarch is the all in one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean interface on your laptop or on your phone. Monarch lets you link everything and gives you real time visibility so you're not shocked later. Right now, I've been checking the holiday spending category so I don't accidentally start the new year with that dreaded debt hangover. And honestly, just seeing everything laid out is already helping me stay more aware. This season. Monarch does the heavy lifting. It links your accounts in minutes, gives you smart categorization and super clear visuals. Yes, that end of your reset could be a real goal this time. Don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use the code virgin@monimal.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with.

The code Virgin Ray Ban Meta glasses come with open ear audio so you can listen to your favorite music without blocking out the world around you.

Hey, Meta, play Gorgeous. Here's Gorgeous by Doja Cat.

You can also ask Meta AI questions.

Hey, Meta, when's Doja Cat's next concert? Doja Cat is playing at the Los Angeles theater next Tuesday.

Sweet Ray Ban Meta glasses. Available at Ray Ban stores and other authorized retailers.

Welcome back. This is the time where I answer a listener's question. And this one came up when I was doing Facebook Live. You know, I grab a lot of these from my Facebook and Instagram lives. I like to simulcast that. So join me over at JJ Virgin on Insta or JJ Virgin Official on Facebook. Facebook. I try to go on a couple times a week and I'm have some, have a bunch of fun guests on too. So it's good time. Come join me. Anyway, someone jumped in, was like, all right, what do you eat for protein? So here's what I do. You know my, my trifecta is clean protein, healthy fat and fiber from loads of non starchy vegetables and a little bit of slow, low impact carbs. And so my typicals are this. I do my bone broth protein powder, my JJ virgin all in one protein powder. And we'll put the smoothie recipe for this in the notes where I throw in some green, some avocado. Sometimes I throw in some berries. I tend to not do that though. My, I put cherries in for my hubby, he loves those. But I tend to do coconut milk and a little bit of green banana for the resistant starch, a little avocado. I keep that frozen. It works really well. And then my bone broth protein and some ice. And then what I really love to do is swirl in some almond butter. Salty, love that combo. Sweet and salt. So that's one of the things that I do. And then the other thing I tend to do is have a salad on a regular basis. Now I the protein sources I tend to eat the most are and what we like to do is make protein. And then I'll have the leftover the next day is pastured pork. We'll do like once a week. Wild salmon or halibut. I try to do fish a couple times a week. Pretty much the fish I eat are wild salmon or halibuts and then scallop shrimp, lobster or crab. My favorites. There are these like big stone crab claws that I dip in ghee. Grass fed ghee. Oh my gosh. I will do chicken. I think chicken's the hardest find thing to find. Really clean. But pastured chicken. And then while grass fed beef, I feel the best getting grass fed beef in a couple times a week. But I do very clean grass fed and grass finished beef. And so that's where I tend to eat my protein. And then I if I'm cooking some at dinner, we like to make some that's leftover for the next day. Makes it easy peasy. So a lot of times lunch is a salad with that and then I'll throw in some nut cheese or some nuts. And so I get my healthy fats, my protein, loads of non starchy vegetables, easy. And then dinner is always some kind of slow, low carb wild rice, some squash, some potato and then some loads of non starchy vegetables. Cauliflower, rice, brussels sprouts and broccoli are kind of our go tos. I love shaved broccoli that's stir fried and then some kind of protein and that's it. Man. That's how simple this really is. I just get really clean protein and I keep it in the freezer. Shout outs to my buddies over at Vital Choice for my wild fish, the best wild fish anywhere. Amazing. And we'll put some of the resources of the protein sources that we really like in the show notes and how to get them. There you go. So it's easy for you to do. All right. I want to remind you again jjvirgin.com muscle to grab those show notes and I would love to shout you out on the next show. So if you haven't left a review yet, please do. And if there's something you want me to yak about or a guest you want, just let me know and I will go hunt. Hunt them down. All right. It's been great. I so appreciate you. Bye.

That's all for this episode of the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show, which marks another step towards a healthier body and mind. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the show and we'll talk to you next week.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Boeckle, author, blogger, and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week I tag all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately. And I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and visit our website what Should I read next podcast.com to find out more.