A quick reminder before we get into it: there's still time to enter the US Wellness Meats $175 grass-fed meat giveaway tied to my June Featured Chef spot. The contest closes June 14, so if you missed last week's email or haven't entered yet, here's the link. It only takes a minute and there's no catch.

Now, on to this week.

Something I read while we were traveling has been sitting with me since and I wanted to share it with you. It's actually a perfect follow-up to last week's conversation about why high-quality protein matters so much, because it gets at the why underneath all of it.

Sarcopenia, the progressive loss of muscle mass and strength, went from affecting 35 percent of study participants to zero.

Not reduced. Not improved. Zero.

A 2025 study in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health followed 74 older adults through a 12-week progressive resistance training protocol combined with nutritional counseling. In the intervention group, sarcopenia prevalence dropped from 35% to 0%. The control group, the ones who didn't train or change their nutrition, actually got worse over the same period.

It's a small trial; seventy-four people is not a sweeping conclusion. But it adds to a large and consistent body of evidence pointing in the same direction: resistance training combined with adequate nutrition is one of the most powerful tools we have against muscle loss with age. Not a drug and not a procedure. Lifting and eating enough protein.

What strikes me most is that sarcopenia is still widely treated as inevitable, something you manage rather than something you can actually push back against. Studies like this one keep making the case otherwise.

I think about this every time I'm in the gym when I'd rather be in bed. The compound interest on consistent training is real. Muscle isn't just aesthetic. It's the tissue that keeps you independent, functional and metabolically healthy as you age. It is, genuinely, medicine.

If you've been waiting for a reason to start (or restart) strength training, I hope this is it.

As always, hit reply and let me know what you're working on. I read everything and I always write back.

Have a great weekend, Cheryl

P.S. I have a few coaching spots open right now. If you've been wanting accountability and a personalized plan built around your goals, your hormones and your actual schedule, let's talk.