Decoding Disease with Dr. Rue
Learn to see your body through a different lens.
There comes a point where you begin to sense that what you are experiencing cannot be fully explained by symptoms alone. Patterns repeat, progress feels incomplete, and something deeper is asking to be understood. I’m Dr. Rue, a naturopathic physician focused on chronic illness and integrative oncology, where the work is not about chasing conditions, but about observing the terrain in which they arise.
In this space, we explore how the body adapts, how systems communicate, and how environment, metabolism, and lived experience shape what you feel day to day. The body is not random, and it is not working against you. It responds in ways that reflect its internal and external worlds. As you begin to understand those responses, your relationship with your health begins to change.
These are quiet, intentional conversations designed to bring clarity without removing complexity. If you have ever felt that your experience does not fit into a simple explanation, you are not alone. This is a place to listen more closely, to reconnect, and to begin seeing what may have been there all along.
Decoding Disease with Dr. Rue
It's More Than Muscle | Ep. 055
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Many people think of mitochondria as little more than the body's energy factories. But that description barely scratches the surface. If mitochondria were only responsible for powering muscles, their importance would end when movement stops. Yet their influence reaches far beyond strength, endurance, or physical performance.
Mitochondria are woven into nearly every conversation happening inside the body. They help shape how cells respond, adapt, communicate, and ultimately survive. When mitochondria flourish, the effects can be felt everywhere. When they struggle, the consequences rarely stay confined to a single tissue or organ. The deeper scientists look, the more one question emerges: what if mitochondria are not simply supporting life but also helping to direct it?
Decoding Disease with Dr. Rue
Decoding Disease with Dr. Rue
LinkedIn | YouTube | Instagram | X | New Legacy Natural Medicine
Imagine you're watching a power lifter. The room goes quiet. They step up to the bar take a breath grip the bar and somehow you feel it too. Your shoulders tighten, your jaw clenches, you almost stop breathing. Part of you is thinking there's absolutely no way they are lifting that. And then somehow the weight starts moving slowly, painfully, but it moves. And it's incredible to watch. Now let's go to the opposite extreme. An Iron Man athlete. Swimming for miles, cycling for hours, running a marathon. Most of us get tired just watching them. You watch and think, how is that even possible? How can a human body keep going for that long? And what's fascinating is that both athletes are doing something extraordinary. But they're solving completely different problems. The power lifter needs maximum force right now. The Iron Man athlete needs energy hour after hour after hour. And that raises a fascinating question. What do their mitochondria look like? Because if mitochondria produce energy, surely they can't be doing the exact same thing. And here's where it gets interesting. A giant bodybuilder may actually have fewer mitochondria per unit of muscle than the skinny endurance athlete. Most people never see that coming because we look at muscle and assume bigger means more energy. But endurance athletes are solving a completely different problem. They're asking their bodies to keep producing energy for hours. So their muscles become packed with mitochondria, not a little more, a lot more. Thousands upon thousands of tiny power plants working together. That's one of the reasons they can keep going for long periods after most people have hit a wall. The bodybuilder is solving a different problem. They're not asking for hours, they're asking for seconds. Maximum force, maximum output right now. Same mitochondria, different assignment. And that's the remarkable part. The mitochondria doesn't care what looks impressive, it goes where energy is needed. The body invests where demand exists. Which means the mitochondria landscape of a bodybuilder, as well as that of an IMN athlete and that of a sedentary office worker, can look very different. Not because their mitochondria are different, but because their lifestyles are different. Now let's talk about the brain. Because this may even be more impressive. Your brain makes up about 2% of your body weight, yet it consumes roughly 20% of your energy. That's astonishing. And much of that energy is being used at the synapse. The tiny space where neurons communicate with one another. Every thought, memory, idea, and connection costs energy, which is why mitochondria are often cluttered near synapses. That's where the work is happening. That's where the energy is needed. So when you're learning something new, studying for an exam, solving a problem, or trying to connect a hundred different ideas together, your brain is creating enormous energy demand. And the mitochondria are right there supporting that work. In other words, mitochondria go where they're needed, whether that's a muscle fiber or a thought. And before anyone gets too excited, no, unfortunately, overthinking does not count as cardio. Trust me, a lot of us would be much leaner if it did. And perhaps that's one of the most remarkable things about mitochondria. They are always paying attention to one thing where is the energy needed most? And then start investing accordingly.