Midlife Mayhem

Enrollment is now open for Muscle Month, my once-a-year program focused entirely on building muscle and improving body composition in midlife.

If you’ve spent years focused only on weight loss, this program will show you why muscle is the real key to metabolism, longevity, and changing your body shape.

The program includes detailed coaching on:

• muscle building in midlife

Learn more and join here:

To celebrate our new puppy Daisy, there is currently a 20% discount on my supplements.

Use code:

DAISY

This applies to:

• 5-Amino-1MQ

These are the only body composition supplements I personally use consistently.

Shop here:

⚠️ Discount expires April 1

In today’s episode of Midlife Mayhem, we’re talking about an organ that is removed surprisingly often — the gallbladder.

Many people are told the gallbladder is “no big deal” and that you can live perfectly fine without it. While it’s true that you can live without a gallbladder, it does play an important role in digestion, particularly when it comes to processing dietary fat.

In this episode, Joanne explains what the gallbladder actually does, why gallstones form, and why rapid weight loss can significantly increase the risk of gallbladder problems.

The gallbladder is a small organ located underneath the liver. Its primary job is to store bile, a digestive fluid produced by the liver.

When you eat a meal that contains fat, the gallbladder contracts and releases bile into the small intestine. Bile acts like a detergent, breaking fat into smaller droplets so digestive enzymes can process it efficiently.

Without a gallbladder, bile is still produced by the liver — but instead of being stored and released when needed, it drips continuously into the intestine.

For some people this causes no problems. For others it can lead to digestive issues such as bloating, diarrhea, or difficulty tolerating fatty foods.

Gallstones are hardened deposits that form when the chemical balance of bile becomes disrupted.

Bile is made up primarily of:

• bile salts

Most gallstones are cholesterol stones. They develop when bile contains too much cholesterol and not enough bile salts, allowing cholesterol to crystallize and gradually form stones.

Risk factors include:

• hormonal changes

One of the most surprising causes of gallstones is rapid weight loss.

When weight is lost quickly, large amounts of stored fat are released into the bloodstream and processed by the liver. This increases the amount of cholesterol entering the bile.

At the same time, people who are dieting often eat less fat, which means the gallbladder doesn’t contract as frequently. When bile sits in the gallbladder longer while cholesterol levels are rising, it creates the perfect conditions for gallstones to form.

This is why gallstones are often seen after:

• extreme dieting

Many people have gallstones and never know it.

Problems occur when a stone blocks the bile duct, which can cause a gallbladder attack. Symptoms often include:

• severe pain in the upper right abdomen

If the blockage persists and the gallbladder becomes inflamed, surgery is often recommended.

Gallbladder removal is one of the most common surgeries performed today. It’s typically done laparoscopically and patients often go home the same day.

However, digestion does change afterward because bile is no longer released in controlled bursts during meals.

Some people notice little difference, while others experience:

• digestive discomfort

Over time most people adapt, but dietary adjustments and digestive support can be helpful.

The gallbladder may be small, but it plays an important role in digestion.

Gallstones can develop due to hormones, genetics, metabolic health, diet, and surprisingly often rapid weight loss.

Understanding how the gallbladder works helps explain why certain dieting approaches and metabolic conditions can increase the risk of gallbladder problems.

🌐 Learn more about Joanne’s coaching and programs:

If you want to actually build muscle with strategy — not random reps — this is where it happens:

Hello hello. Today we’re talking about ladies’ triceps — you know… the moment you wave and something waves back. 🙄

And what makes it extra annoying is this:

You can be training hard.

And still… the back of the arm starts looking a bit loose.

Then you look at your husband / boyfriend / random man in Costco and his arms are like:

✨ tight as a drum ✨

Rude.

So what’s going on?

Is it just aging?

Not exactly — because I see this in women in their late 20s too. Aging is part of it, but it’s not the whole story.

The real answer is layered. And once you understand it, it becomes way more solvable.

When women say “loose triceps,” they’re usually describing a combo of:

1) Less muscle thickness underneath

So it’s rarely “just loose skin.”

It’s a structure issue.

And structure can be improved.

Women tend to carry more subcutaneous fat in places like:

hips, thighs, lower abdomen… and back of the arms.

That’s not bad. That’s biology.

A big player here is a fat-storage enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL) — it influences where fat likes to settle. Hormones shift its activity around the body, which is why fat patterning changes across life.

And here’s another huge detail most people don’t know:

Some women store more fat inside the muscle (intramuscular triglycerides).

If you’re lucky enough to store more inside the muscle, you can look “firmer” even at a higher body fat.

If you’re more subcutaneous (hello, my fellow “pinchable” girls 🙋🏻‍♀️), arms tend to show it more.

Now men?

They tend to hold more fat viscerally (deeper in the abdomen), not as much in the back of the arms — which means their arms can look tighter even when they’re not particularly lean.

Again: rude.

Midlife adds a few extra ingredients:

✨ Estrogen decline

So if muscle drops a little, fat stays the same (or creeps up a bit), and skin recoil isn’t what it used to be…

The triceps become the little truth-tellers of your physiology. 😅

They’re basically waving like:

The triceps are a large muscle.

And I’m sorry, but:

Light kickbacks + tiny dumbbells + 20 reps forever

As we get older, we need:

✅ progressive overload

Men maintain triceps thickness more easily because they press heavier, carry more upper-body mass, and hit triceps hard through compound lifts without even trying.

Women often avoid heavy pressing because:

they fear bulky arms

they worry about shoulders

they focus almost exclusively on lower body

they “sprinkle in” upper body like seasoning

And then wonder why the back of the arms look… soft.

You can’t spot-reduce fat.

💪 increase muscle thickness

And if you’ve dieted hard in the past or lost weight quickly without maintaining muscle?

Not because your body hates you.

Because muscle is the scaffolding under the skin.

Lose the scaffolding… and everything looks less “held up.”

Women are judged more harshly for arm appearance.

We notice it.

And it’s easy to think:

To an extent, bodies change — and we don’t need to be at war with ourselves.

But also?

This is physiology.

Which means: it can get better.

A lot better.

These podcasts are a preview of the conversations we’re having inside the program.

Muscle Month is not a bulking program. (I would rather lick a gym floor.)

📅 Starts March 29

If your arms (or glutes… or knees… or metabolism) are giving you “feedback”…

And I’ll show you exactly how. 💪✨

If this episode speaks to you, and you know it’s time to better understand food, muscle, metabolism, and the way your body actually works, Joanne’s once-a-year Muscle Month program begins March 29.

Muscle is finally getting the attention it deserves — but most people still miss the mark. They know muscle matters, but they don’t really understand how to build it, support it, or eat in a way that makes the whole process feel purposeful and sustainable.

Muscle Month is designed to change that.

Inside the program you’ll get:

10 live coaching calls

full access to Joanne

a full content library with one year of access

coaching on the science, nutrition, training, and practical side of building muscle

This is a fun, high-value month that gives people a completely different understanding of what it takes to build muscle, support body composition, and age well.

Learn more at MuscleMonth.com

Joanne’s new website is now live: JoanneLee.com

If you’ve been wondering where the products went, they are all there on the new site.

To celebrate the new website, there is currently a 20% discount on 5-Amino-1MQ and SLU-PP-332.

Use code: DAISY

20% off expires April 1

In this episode, Joanne dives into one of the most misunderstood topics in body composition, behavior change, and modern health: appetite.

Most people think appetite is simply hunger. It isn’t.

Appetite is shaped by biology, yes — but also by childhood, routine, identity, reward, stress, environment, and repetition. In this episode, Joanne breaks down the difference between hunger, appetite, and cravings, explains how highly palatable food trains the brain to want more, and explores what really happens when appetite is artificially suppressed.

She also shares her own personal experience as a former professional bodybuilder who trained herself to eat large amounts of food for the sport — and then had to relearn her eating behavior after retirement. What once made perfect sense became tangled with identity, shame, and the belief that she was simply someone with a big appetite she couldn’t control.

This is a powerful episode for anyone who has ever felt ruled by food, confused by cravings, or frustrated by the sense that their appetite is just “who they are.”

The truth is:

the difference between hunger and appetite

why appetite is often a learned behavior

how appetite begins forming in childhood

the role of repetition, routine, and emotional associations

why highly palatable foods change what you want to eat

the difference between appetite and cravings

where cravings come from — and why they often fade faster than people think

what happens when we artificially crush appetite

why appetite suppression without education can backfire

why a silent appetite is not always a healthy appetite

how food preferences can change through repeated exposure

Joanne’s personal story of going from bodybuilding-fuelled eating to having to completely relearn her relationship with food

why the goal is not to have no appetite, but to build one that is calm, informed, flexible, and supportive of your goals

Appetite is not just a biological signal. It is also shaped by memory, habit, identity, reward, and environment.

Cravings and appetite are not the same thing. Cravings are more specific, more targeted, and often linked to recent repeated exposure.

Highly engineered foods do not just taste good — they train the brain to expect a level of stimulation that makes normal food seem dull.

Artificially reducing appetite may reduce food noise, but if it is not paired with learning, structure, protein prioritization, and behavior change, it does not teach someone how to eat well long term.

And perhaps most importantly:

Hi, I’m Joanne Lee Cornish, body composition coach and slightly obsessed with being an outlier in midlife and beyond.

I offer one-on-one coaching, seven group coaching programs throughout the year, and a 10-month mentorship program. You can find all of that — and a lot more — at JoanneLee.com.

contact [email protected]

text/WhatsApp 208 918 3692

If this episode gave you a few ah-ha moments, share it with someone who needs to hear that appetite is not fixed, food behavior can be changed, and a calmer relationship with food is absolutely possible.

If you want to understand your body in a way most trainers never will…

👉 www.musclemonth.com

(And Why Your Glutes Aren’t Growing)

As promised — today we’re talking about quad dominance.

And I hear this constantly.

Usually from women in their 30s and early 40s:

“I’m squatting.”

Then in women late 40s, 50s and beyond, it sounds slightly different:

“My knees ache.”

Same root issue.

Different stage of life.

Quad dominance means your body prefers knee extension over hip extension.

Translation?

You drive movement from the front of your leg instead of the back.

So when you squat or lunge, the quads take over…

This isn’t because you’re doing something “wrong on purpose.”

It’s structure.

And women are especially prone to it.

Women generally have:

• A wider pelvis

Add in:

• Sitting all day

Now the hips are less stable.

And when the hips lack stability?

The body seeks stability elsewhere.

Enter: the quads.

Your body will always prioritise joint safety over aesthetics.

If your glutes aren’t stabilising properly, your quads will step in to protect you.

They become overactive.

The glutes step back.

You squat very upright.

All of that biases the quads.

Now — is that bad?

No.

If it’s intentional.

I deliberately train quads this way sometimes.

But if your goal is glute development and you’re accidentally feeding the dominant muscle?

You’re reinforcing the imbalance.

And wondering why your backside won’t grow.

In younger women:

• Thicker front thighs

Sound familiar?

In midlife, it shifts.

Now it’s less about “my thighs are too big”

• Sore knees

Because as we age, fast-twitch fibres decline.

Legs lose muscle first.

If quad dominance has been present for years, the imbalance becomes even more obvious.

If your knees cave in when you squat…

That’s not a stance width issue.

That’s glute stabilisation failure.

If your glutes can’t stabilise the pelvis and femur, they can’t become prime movers.

If they can’t control the joint…

They can’t grow effectively.

So your body protects you by shifting load to the quads.

Again — not laziness.

Protection.

I once met a woman proudly telling me she hip thrusts 580 pounds.

But she “can’t deadlift because of her back”

That’s not strength.

That’s compensation.

If a hinge hurts your back and a squat hurts your knees, the glutes aren’t doing their job.

You can’t skip foundational mechanics and just load a single movement heavy and expect balance.

The body doesn’t work that way.

Quad dominance isn’t permanent.

It isn’t genetic destiny.

It’s positioning, instruction, awareness, and repetition.

You have to:

✔️ Shift load backwards

Not every woman should squat the same way.

Proportions matter.

Structure matters.

Posture matters.

For me, weights are paintbrushes.

You can create anything.

It was never about lifting the heaviest thing in the room.

It’s about shaping the body intentionally.

When you understand biomechanics, you stop “working out” and start building.

That’s when it becomes fascinating.

That’s when it becomes addictive.

That’s when frustration disappears.

Inside Muscle Month we cover:

• Quad dominance

You will understand more about building muscle than most certified trainers.

Not as an insult.

Just as reality.

📅 Starts March 29

👉 www.musclemonth.com

Once it’s gone, it’s gone.

And if you’re tired of training hard without shaping the result you want…

This is where that changes.

See you inside. 💪🍑

If you’re ready to build muscle properly — including glutes that actually fire — join me here:

👉 www.musclemonth.com

And if you’re supporting your metabolism alongside your training:

⚡ 5-Amino-1MQ & SLU-PP-332 available at

I keep hearing the phrase “lazy glutes.”

And honestly… it makes me twitch a little.

How can the strongest, most powerful muscle group in your body be lazy?

It can’t.

But it can be badly recruited.

And that’s where most people go wrong.

Because here’s what I see over and over again:

You’re squatting.

But your hamstrings cramp.

And your glutes? …not so much.

That isn’t weakness.

That’s mechanics.

Your glute maximus is a powerhouse. It was built for:

✨ Sprinting

When was the last time you sprinted?

Exactly.

We sit.

Hours of sitting shorten the hip flexors, lengthen the glutes, and tip the pelvis forward.

Your nervous system adapts to whatever you repeat most.

So when you go to the gym after sitting all day, your body doesn’t suddenly switch patterns. It keeps using what it’s practiced — hamstrings and lower back instead of glutes.

That’s not laziness.

That’s adaptation.

Most people live in anterior pelvic tilt — hips tipped forward, lower abs disengaged, glutes already at a mechanical disadvantage.

Try this:

Stand up.

You’ll feel quads.

Now gently bring your pelvis back underneath you.

Boom. 🔥

Glutes switch on.

That tiny shift is massive.

If you squat and lunge in anterior tilt, you’re training around your glutes — not through them.

As we age:

⚡ Fast-twitch fibres decline

And here’s what most people don’t realise:

Your glutes are one of your largest glucose storage tanks.

When you shrink them, you don’t just lose shape.

You reduce:

• Insulin sensitivity

This isn’t just about leggings.

It’s metabolic.

Feeling isn’t required for activation.

But if:

– Your hamstrings cramp in bridges

Something is off.

Most people never reach true hip extension.

They arch their back to fake it.

Real hip extension means your thigh moves behind you and your pelvis comes through under control.

That last 10% of the movement?

That’s where the magic lives.

Great exercise.

Common mistakes:

Too heavy too soon.

The exercise isn’t the problem.

The execution is.

And the devil lives in the details.

Nobody builds muscle accidentally.

The people walking around with strong, developed glutes did not stumble into them.

They had strategy.

Once you understand this, training becomes fascinating.

Every rep has purpose.

That’s when it becomes fun.

Inside Muscle Month we fix:

✔️ Pelvic positioning

No random reps.

📅 March 29 – April 25

And if you’re serious about metabolic support alongside your training:

⚡ 5-Amino-1MQ & SLU-PP-332

Weak glutes aren’t lazy.

They’re under-recruited.

Fix the recruitment… and everything changes. 🍑💪

Hello hello — welcome back to Midlife Mayhem.

Quick update first:

🔥 Muscle Month is back on.

This is my favourite program to coach because we build muscle properly. And after today’s topic, you’ll understand why that matters more than ever.

Think of your skeleton like a savings account.

You do most of your depositing before age 20.

👉 Up to 90% of adult bone mass is built by 18–20.

Bones respond to load.

Lift. Jump. Sprint. Carry.

Muscle pulls on bone — and bone gets stronger.

No load? No signal.

Childhood and teenage years are the aggressive investment phase.

Modern kids:

Move less

Sit more

Scroll more

Bones don’t respond to scrolling.

If little gets deposited early, withdrawals later become dangerous.

Especially for women.

When estrogen drops:

Bone breakdown speeds up

Rebuilding slows

10–20% bone loss can happen within 5–7 years post-menopause

Layer in:

Low muscle

Chronic dieting

Low protein

Vitamin D deficiency

High cortisol

Sedentary habits

And bone loss accelerates.

GLP-1 medications reduce appetite and body weight.

They work.

But physiology doesn’t care about marketing.

Lose weight rapidly → reduce skeletal load → reduce bone stimulus.

Add:

Low protein

Low calories

Muscle loss

No resistance training

Now you’re accelerating bone loss.

Is it inevitable? No.

But it requires intention.

And most people aren’t being coached on this.

We already have drugs like:

Prolia

Fosamax

And new osteoporosis drugs are in development.

Why?

Aging population.

I am not anti-medicine.

I am anti-ignorance.

Awareness changes behaviour.

Build muscle.

Nobody builds muscle by accident.

Gyms are full of people who never change because they have no strategy.

Muscle building is a skill.

And muscle protects bone.

Bone isn’t cosmetic.

Hip fractures in older adults dramatically increase mortality within a year.

This is about:

Mobility

Strength

Longevity

Quality of life

Your bone bank is a 40-year project.

You can’t go back to 14.

But you can start now.

If you want to:

Build muscle properly

Protect your bones

Train with strategy

Stop guessing

Join me.

📅 March 29 – April 25

Muscle does not happen by accident.

And neither does strength in midlife.

See you inside. 💪🦴

🔴 Red Light Therapy — The Bit Nobody Explains Properly

Red light therapy is not one thing.

People hear “red light” and assume a face mask, a mat, a sauna, and a $3,000 panel are all just different price points of the same thing.

They’re not.

They are doing different jobs in the body.

And if you don’t understand that, you either overspend…

So here’s what actually matters.

When we talk about red light therapy, we’re really talking about specific wavelengths of light interacting with your mitochondria — your cellular batteries.

That part is the same.

What changes?

This stays relatively superficial.

It’s brilliant for:

✨ Collagen stimulation

✨ Skin texture

✨ Wound healing

✨ Post-procedure recovery

That’s why face masks work.

They’re not nonsense.

But red light alone doesn’t reach muscle tissue in any meaningful way.

This goes much deeper.

Now you’re influencing:

💪 Muscle recovery

🦵 Joint irritation

🧠 Nervous system regulation

😴 Sleep quality

🙂 Mood stability

This is where things become systemic.

If your goal is skin?

If your goal is recovery, inflammation reduction, deeper sleep, better resilience?

Different again.

Saunas use heat.

Heat improves circulation and sweating.

Helpful? Yes.

Sauna = heat adaptation

Completely different mechanisms.

A small mask treats a small area.

And mitochondria don’t live just in your face.

If you want:

Better sleep

Whole-body recovery

Nervous system calming

Systemic inflammation reduction

Surface area exposure matters.

This is why Kevin and I ended up with the larger setup.

What started as scar support turned into something much bigger.

Yes, his healing was remarkable.

But what surprised us most?

The sleep.

That’s not magic.

That’s improved cellular energy and lower inflammatory load.

Red light therapy is a support tool.

It enhances recovery.

But it does not replace intelligent training.

If you’re not:

Stimulating muscle properly

Eating adequate protein

Managing recovery between sessions

No amount of light will create the body you want.

We start March 29.

This is not random workouts.

Inside Muscle Month we cover:

How muscle actually builds in midlife

How to stimulate it properly

How to protect your joints

How to recover intelligently

How to create a body that gets stronger — without the bulk

Red light can support recovery.

Muscle changes your metabolism.

If you want to build the foundation properly:

👉 www.musclemonth.com

Let’s build the body that doesn’t need constant fixing.

Joanne 💪

Today we’re talking about:

Why women mysteriously stop growing leg hair as they age

Why your estrogen patch might feel like it “stopped working”

And why Taco Bell Supreme has sent my client to the ER every single time she eats it

This is not a shock-value episode.

At some point — usually late 30s or 40s — many women notice:

No stubble

No sandpaper phase

Weeks go by… and nothing grows

It feels convenient.

Leg hair growth is driven by androgens (testosterone + DHT)

As ovarian and adrenal hormone output declines, the signal weakens

Hair follicles are signal-dependent, not loyal

Growth slows → hair gets finer → follicles go quiet

This process is called follicular miniaturization.

Same biology as scalp hair thinning — just a very different emotional reaction.

Hair growth is a non-essential function.

When your body stops prioritizing hair growth, it’s often signaling:

Lower thyroid output

Reduced circulation

Insulin resistance

Hormonal downshifts

Which is exactly why “I lift weights and eat protein” is not enough to build muscle in midlife.

(Yes — Muscle Month teaches exactly that. More on timing below.)

This came up within an hour of recording.

You start HRT → feel great → months later → bloodwork drops → symptoms creep back → “My patch isn’t working anymore.”

Here’s the truth:

Hormones are keys.

If the lock stops responding, it doesn’t matter how many keys you send.

Active decision-makers

Highly responsive to variation

Easily bored by repetition

When you place your estrogen patch in the same spot over and over, receptors can:

Downregulate

Reduce absorption efficiency

Become less responsive locally

Rotate thoughtfully:

Lower abdomen → opposite side

Upper outer glute → opposite side

Change regions every 2–3 months

This respects receptor biology, not just convenience — and many women see steadier bloodwork as a result.

This one’s funny… until it isn’t.

My client:

Eats Taco Bell Supreme

Vomits violently

Ends up in the ER

Repeats the cycle

This is not food poisoning.

Processed meats, cheese sauces, tomatoes, seasoning blends

Common trigger in midlife, estrogen-dominant women

Worse with gut permeability issues

Symptoms can include:

Nausea

Vomiting

Dizziness

Rapid heart rate

ER-level reactions

(If wine suddenly wrecks you now — same category.)

Soybean oil, canola oil, stabilizers

Increase gut permeability

Let things into the bloodstream that don’t belong there

Your immune system sees that and hits the panic button.

Even without celiac:

Gluten increases zonulin

Zonulin loosens gut lining

Onion/garlic powders + spices irritate an already inflamed gut

This can trigger mast cell activation and full-body reactions.

Estrogen slows bile release

High-fat meals require strong bile flow

Sluggish bile → nausea → vomiting

So no — it’s not Taco Bell.

They all point to the same truth:

Midlife isn’t about being fragile —

You can’t ignore:

Receptor biology

Gut health

Hormonal context

Metabolic signals

And you definitely can’t eat like a 22-year-old with a bulletproof liver anymore.

Muscle Month has been postponed.

Not because I don’t love it — but because it requires:

Me at home

My full gym

My full attention

And I refuse to run programs half-present and stressed.

👉 New target start: end of March

(You now have extra time to decide if building muscle properly — not accidentally losing it — matters to you.)

New website: joannelee.com

Supplements are live on the site

Programs are always rotating — check what’s open

You can always email me: [email protected]

If you enjoy this podcast, please consider Muscle Month. I simply can’t do topics like this true justice in a short podcast. Muscle Month is where I teach the actual physiology behind muscle building, fat loss, and long-term health—properly, in context, and without fear-based nonsense.

It was only a few years ago that we lived through the protein panic.

Fear-based documentaries told us protein was going to kill us and that we should avoid it at all costs. Films like Forks Over Knives painted protein—especially animal protein—as inflammatory, cancer-causing, and reckless.

At the same time, I was in a constant verbal battle with would-be clients asking me to write “new” vegan diets while also wanting to build muscle.

(Yes. Build muscle… while eating leaves.)

It was a fun time to coach.

But seriously—people became genuinely terrified of protein.

No explanation. No accountability. Just a hard pivot.

So if you feel confused, cautious, or unsure who to believe—you’re not wrong. You’re watching what happens when badly handled science gets turned into marketing.

This episode breaks down the three biochemical villains that were used to scare people away from protein:

TMAO

IGF-1

mTOR

Here’s what actually matters.

The scary headline:

“Red meat increases TMAO, and TMAO increases heart disease risk.”

What was conveniently skipped:

TMAO production depends heavily on gut bacteria and fiber

Fish contains ~66× more TMAO than red meat, yet is consistently linked with better cardiovascular outcomes

So no—TMAO is not a simple “protein = danger” equation.

Soluble fiber (can reduce TMAO production ~60%)

Cruciferous vegetables & sprouts

Resveratrol, garlic, berberine

B vitamins, probiotics, vitamin D

Translation: protein wasn’t the issue.

IGF-1 supports:

connective tissue

heart tissue

brain health

The fear came from animal studies suggesting lower IGF-1 may relate to longevity—without explaining that centenarians typically have normal IGF-1 but reduced sensitivity to it.

Key facts that got lost:

Resistance training raises IGF-1

Adequate protein supports IGF-1

Fasting naturally lowers IGF-1

Translation: IGF-1 isn’t something to eliminate. It’s something to cycle and balance.

mTOR is the pathway required for:

muscle protein synthesis

repair and recovery

Protein (especially leucine) and resistance training help activate it.

Yes—chronically elevated mTOR without balance can be problematic.

Your natural counterbalance is AMPK, activated by:

exercise

fasting

glycogen depletion

You’re meant to move between these pathways.

Translation: mTOR isn’t the enemy. Misuse is.

A small amount of real science was:

oversimplified

taken out of context

weaponized with fear

And in many cases, the loudest voices had financial incentives tied to plant-based products.

Protein was never the problem.

The real issues were always the unsexy ones:

ultra-processed food

lack of fiber

inactivity

metabolic imbalance

If this episode made you think “Oh… that explains a lot”, Muscle Month is where I teach this properly—with structure, timing, and application.

You’ll learn how to:

eat enough protein without fear

trigger muscle-building pathways correctly

stay lean while building strength

stop trying harder and start getting results

👉 Join here: musclemonth.com (or joannelee.com)

It won’t be back for a long time

In today’s episode, Joanne dives into two simple, misunderstood products — one for skin and one for muscle — and explains why what something does matters far more than where it comes from.

This is a practical, science-backed conversation about cellular biology, not marketing hype.

MUSCLE MONTH STARTS IN LESS THAN 2 WEEKS!  www.musclemonth.com

Joanne shares her personal experience using niacinamide powder as part of her nightly skincare routine — a product that costs less than $10 and has quietly delivered some of the best skin results she’s had.

In this segment, you’ll learn:

What niacinamide (vitamin B3) actually is

Why it’s a cellular support nutrient, not a cosmetic trick

Its role in NAD⁺ production, cellular energy, DNA repair, and inflammation control

Why niacinamide improves:

Skin barrier strength

Hydration retention

Redness and reactivity

Texture and overall resilience (over time, not overnight)

Joanne also explains why she prefers niacinamide in powder form, including:

Greater stability

No unnecessary fillers

Fresh activation every time it’s mixed into a serum

Complete control over dose

She discusses her experience using niacinamide from The Ordinary, a company known for simple, single-ingredient products without inflated pricing or marketing noise.

Find it on Amazon for under $7 https://a.co/d/aWfMIJr

A listener question sparks the second half of the episode:

If complete proteins come from animals, how can a plant-based amino acid supplement be high quality?

Joanne breaks this down clearly and practically.

You’ll learn:

The difference between whole proteins and isolated amino acids

Why plants are considered “incomplete” at the food level — but not at the amino acid level

How amino acid supplements are produced using fermentation and purification

Why once isolated, amino acids are chemically identical regardless of source

Why muscle tissue does not care about labels, only:

Total essential amino acids

Leucine content

Proper ratios

mTOR activation

Muscle protein synthesis

This segment is especially relevant for:

Midlife adults

People with gut sensitivities

Those struggling to hit protein targets

Anyone losing weight and trying to preserve muscle

Whether it’s skincare or nutrition, the mistake is the same:

People judge the source instead of understanding the biology.

Cells respond to:

Vitamins they recognize

Amino acids they can use

Not branding, not buzzwords, not price tags.

AMINO ACIDS for under $20 https://a.co/d/1TpEODX

If this episode resonated, Muscle Month is where these concepts are taught in depth and applied correctly.

🗓 February 16 – March 14

If you want to:

Preserve muscle during weight loss

Understand leucine, mTOR, and protein strategy

Stop guessing and start training with intention

👉 Learn more and join here:

Supplements & education

YouTube videos on amino acids, muscle, and metabolism