Ep 154 – Let’s Talk Ozempic

Dani:

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of vegan proteins. Muscles by Brussels Radio. My name is Dani, and I’m Giacomo, and this is episode 154. Well, hey, everybody. Welcome back. We hope that the beginning of your year is off to an awesome start. We had our goal setting workshop last week, and that went really well, except I got Covid, so I couldn’t actually do it. You had to do it at the last minute.

Giacomo:

Everyone was looking at me like, that’s not Dani. I’m like, yeah, it is.

Dani:

The bait and switch, everybody. Bait and switch.

Giacomo:

And I just wanted you around so I could be like, oh, yeah. Deciding whether or not I was going to be hanging out with you, as opposed to, like, the fact that we couldn’t be hanging out because you were quarantining in the bedroom. And I was like, oh, God. Yeah, it’s kind of weird. It brought me right back, right back to four years ago when, like, quarantining was a thing.

Dani:

Yeah. Unbelievably, nobody else got it. You didn’t get it. My mom didn’t get it. The kids didn’t get it. I don’t even understand how the kids were literally drinking after me that day. Unless the kids had it. We didn’t know it, and I caught it from them.

Giacomo:

I don’t know. It was, like, some weird stuff. People. One of us might have been asymptomatic or whatever, but, like, yeah, super weird. I was testing twice a day, almost every single day for, like, four days. Training. Like, I give up. I obviously don’t have it.

Dani:

Yeah. No, it was very lucky that you didn’t get it, but it didn’t kick my ass the way it did the first time. The first time I had it a few years ago, I was, like, down for the count for almost a week. That was not

pleasant. This one was more just like a. It was like body aches and fever. I actually had no respiratory symptoms whatsoever.

Giacomo:

Retired?

Dani:

No, not like I was the first time. Yeah, the whole thing was weird. But I’m grateful. I’m grateful that it wasn’t so bad, and I’m grateful that we had you to do the goal setting workshop and that it went so wow.

Giacomo:

Well. Plus, imagine if you had got Covid and we were on our way to LA for the fit expo, which is. We’re leaving, what, Thursday?

Dani:

Yeah.

Giacomo:

We’re gonna be there any day now and setting up and all that, because that would have been miserable.

Dani:

It would have been more than miserable. I wouldn’t have gone.

Giacomo:

No. But if you were already on your way you would have just been stuck at the hotel or something.

Dani:

That did happen a few years ago. I didn’t have Covid that didn’t exist yet, but I did get like the flu or something really, really badly on the plane to LA.

Giacomo:

It’s not fun.

Dani:

So by like the second or third day in LA, I was freaking dead and I still had to give a presentation. And I remember standing on the stage hugging my water bottle, which people didn’t realize was full of hot water because I was just so cold. Not fun. But that is not even close to what we’re talking about today. Before we get into today’s topic though, I want to remind you guys that we do have our twelve week vegan fat loss challenge coming up starting on February 5.

We are very excited about it. If, if fat loss was one of your goals this year, which by the way, it doesn’t have to be, just so you know. But if it is, there is no better program than our twelve week fat loss challenge. It has workouts for home or the gym. It has almost 90 video lessons every day.

Custom calculated macros by us. Weekly live calls, monthly check ins and macro updates. It is fantastic. And it’s like, got a great group and community that all support each other and lean on each other. So if you would like to be a part of it, we still have about like eight slots, I think.

Giacomo:

Just about.

Dani:

Yeah. Yeah. And those will go. So if you want in, we’ll leave the link for that in the show notes.

Giacomo:

Plus, you and I are on our own fat loss cut phase right now, so you’ll be going through it with us together in real time.

Dani:

That is true.

Giacomo:

We’ll talk about that at some other point. Check us out on instagram. Bug it. Bug Dani. Shoot her a DM

and be like, danny, like, come on. Giacomo said you should be on an IG. Live with him because we could do that.

Dani:

Yeah. In case you guys haven’t heard us talk to each other enough, we could also do that. But no, I said I was gonna share more about my cut and this and that and I’m just so bad at it. I’m just so bad at remembering to capture stuff on video and like share it. So whatever. You guys can bug me if you want.

Giacomo:

Well, what are we talking about today, daddy?

Dani:

We are talking about a super hot topic right now. Like one that almost every one of my clients has asked me about. People have hit me in the DM’s that don’t even know me, asking me my thoughts on this. It is about Ozempic, the new miracle weight loss drugs that are out there and what we think about it, what we think you guys should know and just, yeah, all of the kind of nuanced thoughts that we have on it. So even though Ozempic seems like it’s new, like, people have just started talking

about it in the last couple of years. And we’re not just Ozempic. We’re going to talk about, you know, Ozempic, Munjar, like, all of the different ones, we’re going to consider them all basically the same for the purpose of this conversation. But these drugs have been around for almost 30 years, used to treat diabetics.

Giacomo:

Exactly. Diabetics have actual problems with insulin production and regulation as opposed to what people are using these weight loss drugs for. Now, they weren’t weight loss drugs. They just discovered that a side effect of them was, in fact, weight loss. And then, like anything else, they hung with that idea, and they were like, well, what if we just dose this

thing in large doses? Will people lose a lot of weight and then we can market, then we could sell it. And that’s what’s been happening as of recent for the past couple of years.

Dani:

But again, even though everybody’s talking about it now, doctors have been prescribing it off label for 20 years for weight loss. It’s only been, I think, FDA approved to be prescribed for weight loss in the last few years.

Giacomo:

Gotcha.

Dani:

So what I mean by doctors using it off label. So drugs are approved for certain things. So I’ll give you an example. There is an antidepressant medication on the market that is prescribed for depression, sometimes anxiety. I believe those are approved things, but doctors sometimes prescribe it to help people quit smoking.

Giacomo:

Oh, okay.

Dani:

So that would be an example of prescribing it off label.

Giacomo:

Gotcha.

Dani:

So these weight loss drugs have been prescribed off label for weight loss in obese patients for a long time.

Giacomo:

Gotcha. Now, before we get too deep into how people are using these weight loss drugs, and we’ll talk about the other ones, too. So let’s start with talking about what exactly ozempic does in your system. Now, traditionally, the diabetic drugs that are out there that help people with type two diabetes are ones that literally secrete insulin or glucagon. Am I saying it right? Glucon.

Dani:

Glucagon.

Giacomo:

Glucagon. Thank you. This drug is a glp one agonist, which means that it does not secrete insulin. It just encourages the production of insulin, which, by the way, this hormone no one has a deficiency of GLP one. So it’s a little different in that regard. So, yeah, it encourages your body to secrete insulin, which tells you basically that you are eating. It tells your brain you’re eating. Right. And it also gives you a signal in your GI tract that you feel stuffed.

Now, weak ov is the exact same thing. It’s the same medication as Ozempic. The only difference is it’s being prescribed in larger doses specifically for weight loss. Correct. And then finally, Manjari is also a GLP, one agonist, but it acts on two hormones. It’s also a GLP or Gip. Don’t quote me on that. But the second hormone that it acts on actually slows down the digestion of food in your digestive tract. So it’s a twofer.

Dani:

Yeah. So it’s very interesting. I think, that the reason we’re, like, hearing about it so much now is because the FDA approved it all being prescribed for weight loss, which is new, but specifically in obese patients. Right. Like, they need to meet a certain criteria, or they should need to meet a certain criteria in order to be prescribed it. The whole thing, the whole conversation about this is so fascinating to me, and I don’t think I’m gonna have the opinion that most people

are probably expecting me to have here, but. Oh, well, that’s my opinion. We’ll get to it. But it’s important to know that this may. These. This class of drugs, these incretins, which is, like, the class of drug that they’re in, these may end up being, like, the most profitable drugs of all time. It’s yet to be seen, but I don’t doubt that for a second. And every company out there is working on their own version of it right now, every single drug company is working.

Giacomo:

On plans to make one, beginning this conversation, and then I want to see where the conversation takes us. Do you see this drug having any inherent value or practical use in the field of medicine? As far as being prescribed? Do you see this as a positive in any way long term?

Dani:

Right. So that’s where we get into my.

Giacomo:

Whole opinion, and same here. We’ll get into that.

Dani:

But, yes, I do.

Giacomo:

Gotcha.

Dani:

I think that there is a lot of value in this particular drug, but I think properly. Yeah. Which. That’s the whole thing. Don’t stop listening now and go out there and get your doctor to prescribe ozempic, because, you know, there’s a really good chance if you’re listening to this podcast, I’m not even I’m not talking about you. So we’ll get there.

Giacomo:

So it’s like the wild, wild west right now. You have Hollywood parties where people are like, oh, let’s as a group, all buy Ozempic for 1300 a month and take it for the next two months and see what happens.

Dani:

So we’re going to go there. I guess we’re just going to go there first. Let’s just dive right in. Yes. This is the problem where I see it being a net positive is there are people, a lot of people. I actually relooked up the statistic yesterday for this podcast. About 75% of Americans are either overweight or obese.

Did you know that? 75% doesn’t surprise me at all of America? It does surprise me. I thought it was like, I guess I thought it was like closer to 40. I mean, I haven’t looked it up in a really long time. And I know that Covid really changed that number a lot, but that’s a staggering number.

Giacomo:

Look at the food system. We’re all set up to fail.

Dani:

I agree. Completely agree. But that doesn’t change the fact that there are a lot of people out there suffering with all of the complications that come from obesity and all of the tremendous risks. And I know this is still kind of taboo to talk about, that there are inherent risks in being obese, because I think you should love yourself at whatever size you’re at.

You do not deserve shame no matter what size you are at. But I also think it’s important to be honest about the fact that there are risks from being obese, especially for a long time.

Giacomo:

And you get so deep in it that a behavioral change isn’t necessarily possible. Not saying it’s impossible to change your habit and behavior without the use of a supplement or a drug like being prescribed ozempic. But if you use properly in that kind of way, it could be the thing that jump starts you as long as you change, right?

Dani:

There are risks. There are risks to being obese. There are also risks to these drugs. So the question then becomes, which one is riskier?

Giacomo:

Well, think about it, for one, and these are the facts. This type of way of prescribing these weight loss drugs is brand new, and the results are unclear. We don’t know if there’s going to be a risk of pancreatic cancer or thyroid cancer bacteria.

Dani:

See, I’m going to disagree with you there, because these drugs have been around for 30 years.

Giacomo:

We don’t have the clinical trials to see if they’re causing anything. You know, the science behind it is not there.

Dani:

I’m not sure. I didn’t actually look to see if there have been any studies 30 years. But, I mean, there have been human beings taking ozempic for 30 years. I don’t care if it’s for weight loss or for diabetes. They had to go through clinical trials. So just not for weight loss specifically.

Giacomo:

We got to gather the data properly and find out what’s going on to really know the risks. But to your point, what’s the risk of obesity? Death.

Dani:

Right, exactly. And that’s. That’s my point. So this is where I also, you know, I come down on the side of bariatric surgery for certain people right now. Surgery, to me, it has huge risks. Right. Like you can die on the table.

Giacomo:

Oh, yeah.

Dani:

Humongous risks. But there’s also humongous risks and poor quality of life in staying obese forever. And the thing about these people who consider things like bariatric surgery, they have tried everything, and that’s the hard part. They were not success.

They maybe could have tried certain things better. They maybe could have used some help, because I do believe behavior change is possible. But sometimes you’re so far down the path of obesity that, well, even when you walk, what if you can’t walk anymore?

Giacomo:

Exactly. So no matter, you could say mind doesn’t matter, but if your body is continuously fighting and working against you, you’re sometimes fighting, losing battle, no matter how headstrong you are.

Dani:

Right. And I know people like this, and it’s just, it’s very hard to see. But, I mean, there are lots of people who are obese that are still perfectly mobile and able to do lots of things.

Giacomo:

On the flip side of the coin, da, there are lots of people that are looking for a quick fix or not interested in doing this properly.

Dani:

Yes.

Giacomo:

And.

Dani:

But we’re not there yet.

Giacomo:

No.

Dani:

So I don’t know of surgeons that are giving people who don’t, who are not obese bariatric surgery. So this is where these weight loss drugs become something different, because clearly people are prescribing these drugs for people who don’t need them.

Giacomo:

In a free country like this, if you really want to find something, you’ll find a way anyway. huh.

Dani:

Bariatric surgery, you could die on the table. It is a tremendous, it’s very invasive. There’s a huge recovery period. And the problem a lot of times with these surgeries is it might force you to eat less afterwards. But eventually, most people kind of go back to their old way of eating most.

There are risks with the weight loss drugs. It kind of forces a good amount of behavior change for the entire time that you’re taking it. So I feel like there’s an opportunity for behavior change there.

Giacomo:

Yes, but it also is heavily weighted on you changing your behavior around your eating habits, which is no guarantee. But if you have the right things in mind, like, let’s say you have your PCP and you get your levels tested. You have your nutritionist or coach or RD, and you’re changing what’s in your pantry, you’re changing how you’re eating.

That’s cool. But if you do not focus on getting more active in training, you’re going to wind up losing the same amount of muscle as you lose fat. That’s the way that works.

Dani:

That’s actually a huge problem. That’s. Well, don’t even get me started on ozempic face. Ozempic butt, ozempic finger, all of it. That’s what weight loss does. Okay.

Giacomo:

Gotcha.

Dani:

Every time I hear somebody say something about that, I want to choke them and be like, what do you think weight loss does? Like, yeah, fat leaves your face, and then you look like you have some skin. Cause you do. Doesn’t matter how slow you lose it, if you lose enough, you’re gonna have loose skin there. That’s not ozempic face. That’s weight loss face.

Giacomo:

There you go.

Dani:

Okay. Rant over. Where was I going with that? Okay, so one of the problems that we are seeing with these weight loss drugs is it blunts your hunger. It tremendously blunts your hunger, which, you know, for a lot of people, actually, I think that’s the draw, which I’ll get to later when we talk about people who are not obese, but because it blunts your hunger, people are eating much, much less.

And if these people are not prioritizing eating protein during that time, they are losing significant muscle mass. So then when and if they ever come off of this drug and they start to gain weight back, they will actually have increased their body fat from where they started and decreased their muscle mass. So if you are not careful and you’re losing muscle, and this is true of anybody, whether you’re taking weight loss drugs or not, if you’re losing weight and you’re not doing

things to make sure you’re not losing muscle, you’re going to end up with sarcopenic obesity, which. Sarcopenic obesity is just skinny fat. It’s when your weight is appropriate, like your height and weight, your bmI, all of that reads as normal, but your body fat percentage reads as obese. So think about that. So a lot of people, I’ve seen these, like, ozempic diets and diets, and there’s, like, nothing to them whatsoever.

It’s just like vegetable soup and an apple and this or that. Like, no, no, no. If you’re going to be on a deficit because of ozempic, you have to be eating protein, or your muscle is going to disappear, and you’re going to end up in a worse position than you started.

Giacomo:

Exactly. And there are some unpleasant side effects when it comes to ozempic, like, because you have that stuffed feeling in your GI tract. You also wind up experiencing some GI issues, the normal ones that you would think about, like constipation or diarrhea or sometimes even stuff like vomiting and this and that.

So there are some unpleasant side effects to consider, and then think about the length of time that you’re on it and what you’re doing to your GI tract. And again, that’s where the complications can come in. This is where you weigh out the risk versus the reward.

Dani:

There are some pretty major side effects of ozempic, and up to 50% of people experience them. So 50% of people will experience nausea. That’s the most common symptom. Um, muscle loss, we just talked about. That’s a, that’s a side effect. Dehydration, which can be very dangerous. Right. It seems to increase the chance of a particular kind of thyroid cancer in mice. I don’t think we’ve actually seen this in human beings yet, but still, like, it raises an eyebrow.

Giacomo:

That’s where the jury is still out, because the evidence isn’t quite gathered yet.

Dani:

Yeah. And it also causes gastoparesis, which is the food moving through you more slowly, which, you know, there’s muscles in your digestive tract. And I feel like if they’re not exercised properly with enough food, they might slow down, like, forever. They might be weaker. Whether you’re taking it or not, I’m not sure.

Giacomo:

Well, then there’s the idea of you have this aid that is putting you, I don’t want to say starvation mode, but it is putting you in starvation mode. Like, you.

Dani:

It could, well, starvation mode isn’t a thing. You can be starving.

Giacomo:

Correct. And it can put you into a place where you could be starving, but you don’t actually feel like you’re hungry at all, which is crazy. And now you’re just not eating.

Dani:

There are other drugs that do that also, by the way, but bear in.

Giacomo:

Mind whatever drug you’re taking. Once you stop doing that and your hunger is actually there, if you haven’t changed the way that you are eating, you’re going to wind up craving what would usually spike your insulin, like eating lots of sugar or just eating lots of food, for example. Like you haven’t changed your habits.

Dani:

Yeah, exactly. So if you’re not very hungry, if you ate kind of poorly before, if you were not eating very nutrient dense foods before you started taking this, and now you’re only, like, a third as hungry as you were before, you can literally be only eating junk.

Giacomo:

Yeah. You can take, for example, the person who had bariatric surgery, and they can’t fit a lot in their stomach, but what do they, do they have, like, the most sugar laden soda that they possibly could?

Dani:

I don’t know if they do. I mean, I’m sure some people do, but I know that with bariatric surgery, they stress the protein thing to death. Like, that’s one of the only things you have afterwards, is, like, protein shakes by the sip.

Giacomo:

So here’s a question. They’re doing that with the people who take these weight loss drugs.

Dani:

So here’s the thing, right? There are definitely doctors out there that existed that are prescribing these drugs responsibly and with guidance they exist. The problem is everybody and their brother is opening up little offices to not do that, to give these to anybody who’s willing to pay for them and send them on

their merry way. The place that I get my eyebrows done, there’s a nurse in the basement.

Giacomo:

That does these, like, so the education isn’t there. It’s being overprescribed. It’s being overused, essentially and legally.

Dani:

Like, I thought this was like some black market thing that people were going out and getting like, no, no, no. Any nurse practitioner, I mean, that’s what it looks like to me, can prescribe this stuff. So you can literally go to the salon and have somebody there who will inject you and put you up on a plan for these things. Now, it’s very expensive, which is another problem, actually.

Honestly, at this point, I don’t think it’s a problem because I think it’s a barrier to entry for a lot of people who shouldn’t be using it. Where it’s a problem is people that actually need it. But, you know, they’re right. That’s a different topic. The United States healthcare system and insurance and all of that. But, you know, because so many people who do not need it, like, matter of life or death are taking it.

The people who need it can’t get it, because there have been so many shortages. Like people who want to lose ten pounds are abusing this drug, and people who need it to stay alive are not able to get it because it’s being used up by other people. That’s terrifying.

Giacomo:

It is. So where do we go from here?

Dani:

Well, let’s talk about the people who are using it that shouldn’t be using it, because right now, I’ve come down pretty hard on the side of no, I think these drugs are a positive for people with obesity, especially morbid obesity, who have tried everything, and they feel like they’re at the end of their rope and they don’t know what to do. I think these can be really helpful, especially in jump starting their weight loss and helping them build motivation, which then, hopefully,

again, if they’re working with a good doctor, they’ll be working on behavior change as well. And one thing I’ve heard about these are drugs is, well, once you start taking it, you need to take it forever, or you’re just going to gain the weight back afterwards.

Giacomo:

I don’t know how much I believe that. I think that has more to do with mindset than anything. If the patient is unwilling to make real sound changes and they’re just eating less in general and not exercising in a scenario like that, then, yeah, they probably do have to take it forever. Cause they’re gonna go back to it. They haven’t learned anything, right?

Dani:

I mean, again, I’m not sure, but I feel like if somebody lost 300 pounds, they’re probably going to be able to taper these drugs down to either the lowest dose or nothing, and hopefully mostly maintain where they’re at. Where I do not think people are going to have success with this. Are the tons of people abusing it to lose ten pounds or lose 20 pounds?

Giacomo:

The other thing you have to look at is, statistically, that six months later, a lot of people are gaining the weight back. And I think there needs to be a lot of education about what happens after the fact. When your insulin is no longer secreting and your GI is no longer having that stuffed feeling, what do you do then, when you’re experiencing those kinds of feelings?

When you’re back to normal, you’ve lost the weight, you feel the reward of a different body. Maybe you even introduce good habits while you aren’t ozempic. But what are you doing after the fact?

Dani:

Are you talking about people who needed it or didn’t? Let’s say both no, because I think it’s a different story entirely.

Giacomo:

You think they’re, you know, you have to, they’re still going to have the same feelings of not being on ozempic after the fact that they have to worry about. I’m not debating that they shouldn’t take it.

Dani:

Yes, but they’re going to require so many fewer calories. Somebody who weighs 400 pounds probably needs to eat like 6000 calories a day to maintain that. If you get that same person down to 200 pounds, they’re only going to be hungry, you know, for 3000 calories. Could they still eat 6000? Yes. Then they will go right back to where they were.

Giacomo:

Fair enough.

Dani:

But I think that it’s different. What I am seeing is a lot of people who are already a perfectly healthy weight or maybe they just have like a little bit of weight to lose and they are going and getting this shit prescribed to them or not. You know, I still think there’s lots of people who are getting it that are not getting it prescribed to them or they have a shady doctor or something and then they’re getting down to what is a body weight for them that is too low for them to maintain.

That’s what I see when I look at a lot of the celebrities, right? Like they were already fine. They were already, not just fine, most of them were already thin by normal beauty standards, but they just took it because they could afford it and it didn’t make a difference to them that way. But now they’re like kind of unnaturally thin.

Giacomo:

Yeah.

Dani:

You know what I mean?

Giacomo:

And they’re influencing others to do the same.

Dani:

Of course they are. Why? Nothing. But then when they stop taking it, if they stop taking it, they will not be able to maintain that because that wasn’t a sustainable weight for them in the first place.

Giacomo:

Right.

Dani:

So, and they’re going to have the same problems that the obese people did where they’re, yes, they lost weight, but it’s likely going to be muscle. Like there’s going to be a lot of muscle loss and then

when they gain it back they’re just going to be more skinny.

Giacomo:

Fat. Yeah. If you’re already reasonably healthy and you get to the place where you’ve lost a lot of weight and now you’re either thin or lean in a better scenario. Where was I going with that? Well, think about it. If you get to that, like that’s, that’s hard to maintain. There’s discipline to learn how to get there and to maintain that. And if you’re using an aid to do that, then you’ll have learned not much about how to maintain that. So I agree.

You’ll wind up exactly where you are and maybe even worse. And on top of it all, you’ll have learned disorder. You’ll have promoted disordered eating habits as opposed to learning how to be, whatever, leaner or thinner, if that’s your thing. I don’t know why that would be a thing if you listen to this podcast, but who knows if that’s your thing, you can get there, but it requires a lot of effort, a lot of work, a lot. It takes time.

Dani:

I mean, I believe that everybody has a set, a body weight set point and a body fat set point for that matter. And when we try to push ourselves below that especially quickly, which is what this does, you’re not going to maintain it. Like, no matter what you do, you’re not going to be able to maintain it. And you may very well suffer the consequences of malnutrition as well. Cool. You’re ten pounds lighter, but now your hair’s falling out like crazy.

Giacomo:

Well, where’s the reward to eat healthfully when you’re already getting what you want? On the surface, you’re losing weight. What do you care? You’re losing body fat.

Dani:

Well, if we’re just going to go on vanity metrics here, there’s lots of bad stuff that happens when you’re malnourished that is visible to others. Your skin gets crappy, your hair gets crappy, your nails get crappy, you can, skin can start turning colors on a deeper level, of course, you can start suffering vitamin deficiencies that deeply affect your ability to use your muscles or your brain or your organs. Like, malnutrition is not cute.

Giacomo:

No.

Dani:

So, yeah, what would you say to somebody? This is probably the area where I see the most sort of push for this in my own circles. I’m not seeing people who are already like quite thin being like, oh, I wonder about ozempic. What I am seeing is mostly women, unfortunately, but certainly guys too, who are a little bit overweight, just a little bit overweight.

You know, they’ve just pushed into that overweight category and they are dieting and they are exercising and they’re not seeing results. And to them, this ozempic, what we’re hearing from a lot of people who are taking it are that it quiets the food noise. That’s what they’ve dubbed it, food noise. And I actually deal with a lot of food noise.

Giacomo doesn’t seem to. Food noise is like when you’re sitting on the couch or you’re sitting at your desk or whatever and you’re trying to do work. But, like, there’s just chatter in the back of your mind that’s like, get a snack, go eat a snack. Remember that you have those cookies left in the back of that cabinet. You should go get it and eat it.

And it’s just like this in the back of your head all day. And we only have so much willpower, right? So most of the time we say, hey, stupid voice, shut up. I don’t want to do that. But sometimes we just stand up and walk over to the cabinet. We don’t even know why we’re just there. And a lot of people who are taking ozempic say that food noise goes away. And they’ve some, I mean, people are brought to tears because they’ve never experienced that in their life.

And I imagine that’s probably a pretty nice feeling. So if you’re somebody who’s a little overweight, you know, maybe you have 35, 40 pounds that you’d like to lose, and you’re trying and it’s not working, and it’s because you keep, like, occasionally self sabotaging yourself like that. What do you say to those people? This is where I think it’s the trickiest. So I’m curious.

Giacomo:

Well, the noise goes away, but what happens when you stop taking the drugs? Your intention is to not be on it forever. You don’t think that noise is going to come back? You don’t think you need to be comfortable sitting with that noise? I got news for you. You say that I don’t seem to experience that kind of food noise, but it’s something that I’ve experienced most of my life.

It’s just something I’ve worked on a lot, and maybe I’m just not as forthcoming about what I feel about it when I’m focused on my client or focused on feeling empathy for someone else or having the discussion with whomever. But it’s something that you legit have to work on. It’s a habit. You have to train your mind and fix your life style, your environment. You have to set up an environment like the right kind of foods in your pantry and refrigerator, the right kinds of planning and

prepping around meals, the right kind of discipline, all of it. You have to find other things to focus. This is not something that you can just snap your fingers and change in two to six months like you can if you take and go weight loss job, it’s not going to happen. Yeah, it requires, I mean, requires a lot of effort.

Dani:

I think I mostly agree with you. I do think, and I think we’re going to see more of it in the coming years. We are, I think, going to start to find out the genetic differences that make people more inclined to obesity and what makes them less inclined to obesity. Because I think this is part of it, this food noise I’m talking about. I think it’s part of it, and I don’t know what that is or what that’s called, but if a GLP one agonist is making the food noise in your brain, in your mind go away,

don’t you think that physically there was something different between you and maybe somebody who doesn’t experience that as much like I think there probably is, and I don’t have any answers. I just think that it’s interesting.

Giacomo:

I agree.

Dani:

You know, I would advise that particular person that we’re talking about to not go this route. That is what I would advise. I agree with you. I think it’s not sustainable. I mean, right now, it’s like $1,200 a month to do this. Who could possibly afford to do that forever? And if you don’t work on those things, your habits, your lifestyle, your mindset, as soon as you stop taking it, I do think you’re going to revert back to where you were.

Giacomo:

But if you’re much further away from that point, and this is something that works as a stopgap measure, and then you get to a closer to that place, then, yeah, I agree, you’re more likely to be able to stick to it, whereas it will be harder for you to get there in the first place. Like, if you were a dude sitting at 300 pounds and all of a sudden you got to 200 pounds and you did it because it was epic, you’d be much more likely to maintain 200

pounds. But if you were a dude who was 200 pounds, you got to like, say, 185, and now you took Ozempic to get to, like, 175, for example. Like, yeah, that wasn’t, that wasn’t good.

Dani:

The risk, that wasn’t worth the risk, you know, because these side effects, they are, you know, they’re, it’s not like, oh, side effect of sudden death. It’s not like that. But I actually forgot to mention one of the side effects that I think is kind of a big deal because of that gastroparesis, the slowing of the digestion, it also thickens the bowel wall, which can lead to bowel obstructions.

That is freaking dangerous. So for me, all of it comes down to are the benefits worth the risk? And I

think that for some people, I think it totally, totally is. But I think for most of, I mean, anybody who’s asking me about it, I don’t think it’s worth the risk.

Giacomo:

And know where you’re going to. If you’re going to a wellness spa where someone is selling you on it without you even looking for it, and then they’re willing to just give it to you on the spot and not give you any outside referrals and say you need to consult with doctors X, Y and Z while you’re taking this.

And here are things you need to do on your own and sign off that you’re going to do this. If that’s not happening, that you should just go run, scream in the opposite direction, even if you’re like, oh, crap, I got my hands on something. Actually, no. Yeah, like, take care of everything else.

Dani:

If you are pursuing this path, you’re totally right. This better be in a doctor’s office, not in a med spa somewhere. So that’s where I’m seeing it most common. I mean, we know some people actually, who, again, had like 20 or 30 pounds to lose, and they took this. And I mean, yeah, they lost weight, but it is nothing. I mean, in my opinion, it’s not a great look because clearly they lost muscle.

Like significant muscle. So there’s that. Plus all the risks. Like, for those particular people, it was not worth the risks. And they may very well be having side effects. They could be, you know, have diarrhea every day that we just don’t know about, or they’re nauseous all the time. I don’t know. But I do think that in the grand scheme, not in the short term, not for people who shouldn’t be on it, but I think for the people who need it, I think it is going to be a life saving drug.

I think it’s going to be absolutely life changing. Life saving. I guess I come down mostly on the side of this is ultimately a good thing because of where we’re at right now with 75% of Americans overweight or obese. If it was not that way, you know, I still would want those people who really needed to have it. But I. I certainly don’t think drug companies would be working like crazy to make it.

Giacomo:

Well, in an ideal scenario, we would be spending the several trillion dollars that we’re spending in the pharmaceutical industry for, let’s keep it real here, profit. Yeah, we would be taking some of that money and actually changing the food system, too. Wouldn’t that be nice if we could do both? Right?

Dani:

It’s like, it almost feels like the food system and big pharma are in bed with each other because they, it’s like one of us creates, one of them creates the problem that, you know, we work so hard to get away from, but the other one offers the solution and it’s, it’s really, the whole thing is a bad system. The food system is really awful. And I do, I mean, we should be putting a ton of money into that.

We should be holding these giant corporations accountable all the time, but we don’t. So in light of the way things actually are today, I think it’s going to be a helpful thing and I think it’s going to be very interesting to see where the research goes in the future and what we actually learn about differences from person to person. Person.

Giacomo:

Yeah, I think so too, actually.

Dani:

But you know, if you’re listening to this podcast, if you listen to muscles by Brussels radio, there is a high likelihood that you should not go down this path. But we want to know what you think about this. This is a very hot topic. There’s still a lot to be learned, right.

Giacomo:

And I’d also love to know what kinds of conversations you’ve come across around others experiences with Ozempic or desire to take it and what they’ve learned. I’m definitely curious to hear how other people are talking about this that we haven’t been exposed to. It is our industry and we do focus on this stuff and we actively look for it, but that doesn’t mean we catch every conversation. There’s got to be a lot out there that we’re unfamiliar with.

So talk to us. Let us know what your experience has been around this drug and what people are saying. All right, everybody, thanks so much for tuning in to another episode of vegan proteins muscles by Brussels radio. Stay in touch with us on socials. Eganproteinsselsbybrussels hit us up with an email by hitting the contact button on veganproteins.com. and lets keep this conversation going once again.

Dani:

My name is Giacomo and Im Dani.

Giacomo:

And we’ll talk to you soon. …

Giacomo:

You couldn’t even pick me up.

Dani:

Taking me for granted again.