The Science and Safety of Weight Loss Injections

Can weight loss shots like Ozempic and Manjaro truly transform your health, or are they just a fleeting trend? This episode unpacks the mechanisms, benefits, and serious risks associated with these popular medications, providing you with an informed perspective beyond the social media hype. Discover why these drugs, initially designed for type 2 diabetes management, have gained popularity for weight loss and the significant impact they have on your body’s metabolic processes.

Join us as we dissect the underlying issues of eating behaviors and emotional responses to food that these medications alone can't resolve. Understand why comprehensive health coaching, nutritional counseling, and sustainable lifestyle changes are crucial for long-term success. We’ll also address the potential severe side effects, including the alarming risk of thyroid cancer, connected to these pharmaceutical solutions. Tune in for an eye-opening discussion on achieving lasting metabolic health the right way.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

so today I want to talk about in reference to metabolic health, and you know, people are trying to do weight loss and they're trying to, you know, control what they're eating or or such, and people are prescribing medications such as ozempic, manjaro, um, there's, you name it. There are different ones out there that are excellent. Okay, they do work. Yes, but until you understand the mechanism of action of medications or the need, these are not something that you do as a first line of a weight loss or when you're trying to understand your weight or understand why things are eating. Now I'm going to share my screen because I feel that once you have some idea, maybe, maybe in that situation, you may change your thought process of what to take. Now, I'm not one that will prescribe weight loss medications as a firsthand choice, because I'm much more into a functional and nutrition approach and changing your behaviors and learning what works for you. But the reason it's become this new thing on all of the social media platforms is because it's an easy fix. Right, everyone goes oh my God, if you get a shot, you're going to totally lose weight. Why? First off, I want you to understand what these medications are doing, so this is one of them that is so, initially, you want to know that you're. It's called semaglutatide or GLP-1, and its mechanism action is that 94% of the GLP-1s which it is a receptor agonist to the body, and it binds to that receptor, so that receptor stops the body from producing more glucose, and it kind of mediates that. Then, in turn, though, is that it's albumin binding, it has issues with the renal clearance, and then it degrades your metabolism over time, as you can see here, and then what this says here is furthermore, the similatide stabilizes against degration of the DBP4 enzyme. I'll go into that at another time, but major thing here that I want you to see is this drug, which is initially used for type 2 diabetes or really a metabolic health or pre-diabetic person, to stimulate insulin secretion and lowers glucagon or glucose dependent manner. Now, yes, in turn it may lower your glucose, blood glucose, but it secretes more insulin, which then, in turn, can actually store more glucagon or release more insulin within the body. Yes, in turn it does cause a minor delay in gastric emptying.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Now, the main thing people ask me is like oh wow, it's satay. Satay means it's a satisfying. People don't feel like they want to eat as much they used to look at a plate of food and they would say I want to eat all of it and instead they now only want half of it or a small bite. It's because your body's mechanism of action at this time has been full and it thinks it's full and then you know it chooses not to eat. But in this way, when you really look at it, there is so many other side effects that come with this and that's why it's not a medication that you're just going to say, hey, take it, let me lose all of this weight, because if you don't change your behaviors in the way of changing, so satay, it just means to satisfy it and so that you don't feel like you need more.

Speaker 1: 4:23

The main issues with this is that there's many of side effects with any medications. Will they be effective? Yes, I will use them for some individuals, but until you, it's either this with an additional counseling and workaround and health coaching, because you need more than this. A shot's not going to fix your behavior, the way that you think about food, your emotional eating response, and until the thought process and you learn that, unfortunately, these are not going to be those quick fixes. Are they amazing for the weight loss? Yeah, because it stops you to eat and your stomach feels full. They call it gastric emptying.

Speaker 1: 5:12

But guess what? Do you wanna see the amount of side effects that are contributed to this? It is outstanding and kind of really serious. Like there's a black warning box on these medications that cause tumor C, so thyroid cancer and it's right here on the very top of it Risk for thyroid C cell tumors. So that is a huge issue now and it's because this is an endocrine hormone medication. Glp-1 is affecting your hormones. So when you're improving, in sense, your glycemic number but in turn you're increasing your insulin within the body and then in turn you may have these other excess side effects, is it worth it? So it's really about gain of positive. Like most people have nausea. Gain of positive. Like most people have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, constipation. Do you want that on your regular day? That's what you want, so that you can lose weight quickly.

Speaker 1: 6:28

I just it's just not the correct way, because then your behaviors will change. Don't get me wrong. There is times when I will prescribe this medication, but there's warning. You know. There's time and effort and this is someone that needs to be with your provider for months, you know, because you need to have that conversation. But I'm you know I'm not advocating for or against, I just want people to understand why you're doing this. Most of the time.

Speaker 1: 6:51

I would say I would advocate for more of a continuous glucose monitor for a patient, so then they can be aware of what the foods are spiking their glucose and how they can change it. And then also working on their overall behavior and learning what it is to eat healthy, learning what their food reacts to and what their body reacts to, and exercise and lifestyle management. This can be due in conjunction with that, but there are so many additional side effects that if a person is not aware of it, it may not be helpful. This is my info for the day. I hope it helps and you know that's just kind of my thinking upon different metabolic health things. But as a provider and also as a overall health coach, I really feel that people need to understand what they're putting into their body in all aspects. People are so quick to put the food in, but they're not willing to do the work to stop what's going on in the overall mechanism of action, and I hope this helps a little and you guys have a good rest of your day.