Unpacking GLP-1 Medications: Nutrition Insights and Real Food Stories for Sustainable Weight Management

Are you struggling to navigate the complex world of weight management and GLP-1 medications? Join host Heather Carey as she dives deep into the realities of these groundbreaking drugs with Anna Reisdorf, a registered dietitian and founder of the GLP-1 Hub. Together, they cut through the noise, debunking diet myths and shedding light on the effectiveness and misconceptions surrounding GLP-1 medications. This episode is a must-listen for anyone looking for honest nutrition advice and healthy eating tips.

Anna opens up about her personal food journey, sharing her transformative experience with GLP-1 medications, including her initial success with weight loss and the challenges she encountered after stopping the drug. Her story is not just about numbers on a scale; it’s about sustainable lifestyle choices and finding a balance that works long-term. As they discuss the importance of mindful eating and the role of nutrition and exercise while using GLP-1s, listeners will gain valuable insights into how to approach their health holistically.

Throughout the conversation, Anna addresses common concerns regarding GLP-1 medications, including appetite suppression and potential side effects, while emphasizing the importance of collaborating with healthcare professionals. This episode highlights the need for informed decision-making in the context of menopause health and women’s health, making it especially relevant for those navigating these phases of life.

The societal pressures surrounding weight loss are also explored, as Anna encourages listeners to embrace their personal food beliefs and challenge food fads that often lead to confusion and frustration. By sharing her nutritionist insights, Anna empowers listeners to take charge of their health and well-being, reminding us that every food journey is unique.

With a focus on cooking for health and sustainable eating practices, this episode of Real Food Stories is packed with practical tips and strategies that can be easily integrated into daily life. Whether you’re interested in emotional eating, cooking techniques, or understanding the cultural influences on our food choices, Heather and Anna provide a rich tapestry of information that resonates with anyone interested in improving their health.

Don’t miss out on this enlightening discussion that promises to reshape your understanding of GLP-1 medications and inspire you to make healthier lifestyle choices. Tune in to Real Food Stories for an episode that not only informs but also empowers you to take control of your health journey!

Reach out to Ana Reisdorf, MS RD and GLP-1 Hub, click HERE

Transcript of the Show

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome back. And if you are just tuning in with me for the very first time, it’s so nice to meet you. And I’m really glad you’re here with me today. I am your host, Heather Carey, nutritionist, chef, mom, and a woman who has been around the block with food. I want to open up about real food in relation to health, weight, and our bodies so you can make peace with what you eat. Hey everyone and welcome back to Real Food Stories. I have been very much looking forward to today’s conversation with Anna Reisdorf because we are cutting through the noise and getting real about GLP-1 medications, what they can do, what they can’t, and what people deserve to understand before they even start. So we know there’s no shortage of opinions online about these drugs right now. There’s microdosing, compounded versions. Miracle claims, horror stories, though just one shot and the weight melts off, and the fear that if you start, you’re on it for life. Now, for so many women in midlife who are already navigating hormone shifts, appetite changes, and years of diet messaging, this can be overwhelming. Most people are just trying to figure out the truth. That’s why I wanted to bring on Anna, who is not only a registered dietitian and the founder of the GLP-1 Hub, but she has personally used GLP-1 medications for the last two years and has lived the ups, the downs, and the realities from the inside. She’s lost 40 pounds, came off the medication, regained weight back, and like so many women, had to make sense of what was happening in her body. Now, at the same time, she saw something else, a massive gap between what people were being told and what they actually needed to succeed. So she built GLP-1 Hub as a trusted resource where science, clinical guidance, and real world experience all meet. So today, Anna is going to help us get clarity, not hype, not the fear, just the facts. We’re going to talk about her personal journey, what she sees in her work. who these medications really help, who they don’t, and what someone should know before deciding to start. So if you’ve ever wondered whether a GLP-1 is right for you, this conversation is going to be one you’ll want to listen to all the way through to the end. So let’s get into it. Hi, Anna. So happy to have you on today. Okay. So before we even get into your story, which I very much want to hear. Can you just explain to… my listeners, what exactly a GLP-1 is and why they now seem to be the only way to lose weight. The only solution, it seems like, is you have to take a GLP-1. Speaker #1 Right. So a GLP-1 medication is a medication that increases the level of the hormone called GLP-1. And there’s actually another hormone that also goes up with one of the other medications. So they help these hormones. These hormones are naturally in your body and they rise after you eat. The problem is they only last in your body for a couple minutes. And so they’re the signal to tell your body to stop eating. But since they’re only around for a few minutes, like you find yourself hungry again, you know, an hour later, a couple hours later. So what they did way back in the day, they thought this, let’s figure out how to extend the life of this hormone in our body and it will help. people eat less. It also has benefits for blood sugar control. So that was actually originally why the medication was developed was to help control diabetes. And so they went to the tongue of a Gila monster, which is a lizard that lives in the Southwestern United States. And this Gila monster doesn’t eat for like six months. And so they found that this lizard had a different type of GLP-1 medication in its saliva. So just to be very clear, the medication is not lizard spit, okay? Bioengineered it in some magical way that I don’t particularly understand and made a similar, what we call a peptide, which is the hormone, is a small protein molecule that people can use via injection. So it is not coming directly from the lizard. It is through science, they figured out how to make it. And so it is able to last in your body once you inject it for five to seven days. And that’s what causes the appetite suppression, the blood sugar regulation, the changes in the way your brain wants food and craves food. So there’s a lot of benefits that are coming down. And basically now the medication has actually been on the market for 20 years. I think people think it’s new, but the indication for weight loss is what is new. And the only thing that’s been happening with obesity over the last 30 years is an upward trend. And now finally, for the first time, because of these medications, obesity rates are going down. And so that’s why I think a lot of people think this is the only way to lose weight. Speaker #0 Yeah, because I mean, so many women, I’ll just use women because that’s who I mostly talk to, but… exercising more and eating less. And it just seems to be such a struggle for so many women. And so I think the idea that you could just inject yourself and it just makes weight loss that much easier is incredibly appealing, I think, to so many people. Why don’t we jump into your story and hear how you got into it? Because you are a dietician and Like me, you know, we were trained in a certain way to not really, I mean, I’m not sure when you graduated, but for me, when I went to school and got my master’s degree and GLP-1s didn’t exist, right? It was, we had to learn about counting calories and fat grams and everything and behavior modification and all that stuff. So tell me your story about how you… found them and what’s happening now. Speaker #1 Sure. Sure. So I actually became a dietitian because I wanted to lose weight. I wanted to figure out like what the situation was like I had before I decided to go back to school to be a dietitian. I was, I got really into fitness, counting calories, doing the things like, and I was able to lose about 20 pounds and I was in my twenties at that time. And I was like, Oh, I can help people do this and I can continue to maintain this weight. And you know, do all these things because I wanted to personally lose weight. And so I went back to school and that’s what I was going to do. I was going to specialize in weight management. And I did. And I started working in bariatrics where people were preparing for gastric bypass surgery. And I did help people lose weight either with the surgery or without. Honestly, the people who are coming through the program probably needed something more drastic because Many of them were very ill from. from their weight. So that was sort of my career. And then I had kids and stress and I’m a business owner and just a lot of things. And I just started to find it really hard to get off the sort of baby hormonal weight and it just kept getting worse. So I lost about 20 pounds on my own from my highest weight after having kids. But it was just like, I was still like probably 30 pounds over where I feel like is the right weight for me. In terms of body mass index, which has its pros and cons, but I feel like a quote-unquote normal body mass index under 25 was where I wanted to be and sort of what I wanted. And then after doing a lot of different things, I consulted with so many colleagues who are specialized in weight management. And I did the paleo diets and the keto diets and the calorie counting and the macros. And like, you know, everybody’s got an opinion on this area. Like what’s going to work? And it’s obviously going to be trial and error for each individual. But about two years ago, I started hearing this chatter about Ozempic. And it was in my dietician communities that I’m in. And it was Ozempic this, Ozempic that. And I asked a colleague about it who was working more in the space. And she was like, yeah, I mean, it definitely works. So I was like, I’m going to try it. I’ve always been like kind of an early adopter of things. And it was like a miracle. I mean, like I lost 20 pounds. in like four months, you know, five pounds a month consistently was just like amazing without any, I wouldn’t say not significant, but without any like major tracking, calorie counting, weighing things, like all the things that I had always done, eliminating food groups. I didn’t have to do any of that. And that was amazing. So I was like, cool, this is great. I got down to 20 pounds that I wanted. And then my coupon ran out for it because at the time I was paying about $500 a month and I had that was with a coupon and it was going to be $1,500 a month. And I was like, my husband will kill me. If I am spending $1,500 a month just for like 20 pounds, you know, like he’s just gonna be like, that’s not acceptable. So I got off the medication because I thought it was like something, oh, you get to your goal weight and there you are and like, you’re good. And over the next six months or so, the weight slowly came back on. And I will be honest, I wasn’t incredibly diligent. My portions just started getting kind of larger and I didn’t really notice. Because I was eating the same things, but it was just kind of gradually a little bit more here and there. And the weight kind of came back on. So I was like, okay, let me do it again. And now I know what I did wrong. And I need to be like more structured if I get off. So I lost the same weight again. And then I, because of cost, because that’s time I was able to find a compounding place, a local place, that was less expensive but still expensive. And I… Got off the medication, I was much more dedicated and rigorous about my exercise and my protein and all of these things. But I started seeing the writing on the wall. Five pounds came back after, you know, six to nine months. And then I met with a colleague of mine who is a specialist in weight maintenance. She’s like, look, you can do one of two things. You can continue to really count your calories, count your protein grams, do your exercise probably an hour or more a day. Or you can just get back on the medication. And to me, and maybe it’s like with my life and the stress that I have in my life and all the other things that I want to focus on, my weight was just not one of them anymore. Like I just didn’t want to do it. And, you know, and then luckily my insurance started covering the medication. So the cost was no longer an issue. And that was two years ago that I made that decision. And I lost, you know, all the weight and maintenance now on the medication. And I just feel like it’s such a sense of freedom. Like finally, it’s not just always on my, oh, I’m going to start tomorrow. I’m going to lose weight. I’m going to track this. I’m going to buy this app. I’m going to sign up for this program. I’m going to like none of that. All of it’s gone. Speaker #0 Okay. Well, thank you for sharing your story. That’s great. I have a couple of questions now. First, tell me exactly. what happened when you first started the medication? Because I think that my listeners at least will want to know. These are the questions I think that people are confused about. What happens exactly? You start taking the medication and you just feel like eating less? You feel, tell me, you know, tell me what that feels like. Speaker #1 So usually it’s the first few days that are really the most, that you notice the most. You start eating. Because you know you need to eat and you just are eating and you’re like, I don’t really want this. Like, I’m just done after, you know, probably half of what you normally would eat. Sometimes you don’t feel hungry at all. You know, yesterday was the second day after my shot and like it was 1230 and I hadn’t eaten lunch yet. And my breakfast was like at 6 a.m. So many hours had gone by. I personally always eat three meals a day because I know that my body needs the nutrition, whether I’m hungry or not. So you just, that it just goes away. Your obsessive thoughts about food just go away. And, you know, I, my, my message really is that you still need to eat. But I think some people just ride that wave of just not eating, which is not, not the right way to go about it. But yeah, Speaker #0 I want to talk about that afterwards because I think, I think that’s where some people can go awry. Speaker #1 Absolutely. Speaker #0 Because I mean, I, I am not no judgment about taking a GLP-1, but you still have to know how to eat well. But let’s let’s talk about that in a minute. So for you, it was just you just felt like just less of an appetite. You could go you could stretch out your time between meals. Speaker #1 and I wasn’t like snacking like before about 9 30 10 o’clock I’d be hungry so go down to the kitchen and get something to eat. And then again, you know, I’d eat lunch and I’d be hungry. It was just like always, I was always hungry. And I was, I felt like I could never really manage that. Or, you know, I’d have to have multiple snacks throughout the day. Now it’s very rare that I need a snack. But I do, like I said, I do eat the three meals a day regardless. Speaker #0 Okay. So that was one question. The other question was that you said that your insurance, you, you were, had some kind of a… deal not ran out. And so you went on to a compounded medication. So you and I probably both know that, I mean, compounding pharmacies as a rule are not regulated by the FDA. And so you’re not quite sure where you’re getting your medication from. And I think, in my opinion, it’s always best to get something that’s been FDA approved. Tell me about that decision to go on to compounding because, I mean, I feel like that’s all I see. I notice on the Internet, out on Instagram, there’s compounding. I mean, all you have to do is call, you know, or make an appointment online with some unknown doctor and you can get the medication in a second. What was that decision like for you? And did you vet this compounding? pharmacy. And then you also said it wasn’t working for you. Speaker #1 No, it did work. It did work. But the prescription medication at the time was going to cost, like I said, $1,500. And that was not feasible. I didn’t particularly want to use a compounded pharmacy, but I went to a place that I had had interactions with before here in my town, and I knew the provider. And so it’s not really… completely true that compounded pharmacies aren’t regulated. There are many that are 503A and 503B that are subject to FDA inspection. And so you really want to get somebody that’s doing that. Now, that being said, there are hundreds of very shady providers on the internet. And I always recommend that somebody go to get the like Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Zetbound or Govee. prescription if they can. And now those places will sell directly to the patient. So Eli Lilly and Novonor’s both have a direct-to-consumer site where you don’t have to go through Walgreens or whatever and pay the extra price and all of that. And they have providers that will prescribe if it’s appropriate and that kind of stuff. So that’s where I always recommend people start, but sometimes the cost is… Just too much. Now, there’s a lot coming down the pipeline where the cost is coming down. I know Eli Lilly already decreased the price this month by $50. $50, $50. You know, still $300, $400. So it’s but I believe that with some of the political things that are happening, the price is coming down. So I’m not really against compounded if it’s the only way, but I am against just going to wherever for the cheapest price. Speaker #0 Okay. So that, that, that makes sense. You then also said that you, I think overall, then you went back on medication and you just, because you didn’t want to be stressing out about your weight, right? I mean, it’s, it’s stressful, right? To go up and down and I guess not be able to like figure it out, you know, and especially you’re a dietician, right? So that’s no pressure with that as well. And to take that stress away is a huge relief. What are the other like big just day-to-day behavior changes that people might notice once they start? You know, besides just that, like, wow, I’m just not as hungry as I used to be. Are there anything else that things that you noticed? Speaker #1 I think it’s just easier to finally be able to do those habits that you’ve always been wanting. That’s sort of the experience. that I hear from other people too, is it’s easier to eat a healthier diet because you don’t have those cravings and that constant noise about like, what should I eat? Where am I eating next? What am I going to do? Like, it’s just gone. And so you can make a better choice because you’re just like, well, I just need to feel my body. So I’m going to eat the right things. Whereas before it was like maybe more emotional, there was stresses involved, all sorts of different reasons why you were eating. And now it’s really just that fuel. So I almost feel like you become like a normal eater to some degree. And then not so much with me because I’ve always been an exerciser, but a lot of people report that they’re finally able to like do the workout because they’ve been able to lose the weight and they can like be active and do the right things. You know, I have a colleague who’s lost, I don’t know, 150 pounds and now she’s competing in all these fitness competitions and she wanted to do all of that, but it was just not possible at the weight. where she was. So I think it allows you to finally implement some of those things that you know you’re supposed to do, but there’s just all these different factors that make it so challenging and so difficult. Speaker #0 Right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So there are multiple just different little subtle behavior changes, I think, that come out of it. Now, you mentioned before that you ate breakfast, you know, But. 6 a.m. and then all of a sudden by 1230, you’re like, oh, wow, I guess I, you know, you’re noticing maybe a little bit that you haven’t eaten lunch yet and six and a half hours have passed. And, and again. You’re a dietician. We know about like, I think you said that your priority is to eat three meals a day. Mine too. I want to make sure I’m getting all my nutrient requirements during the day. That’s you and me, right? Like noticing that and thinking about that. But a lot of people are not that nutrition savvy, right? So all of a sudden they have just lower appetite. And how do you, how do you help clients or how do you advise people to have that lower appetite, but still meet their nutrient needs? Because especially for women in midlife, we have to be very careful about what we’re eating. I mean, our health depends on it. I mean, my, you know, for me, my whole philosophy is, I mean, your food is, is everything. So tell me how you… advise people or how do you even advise yourself to make sure that you’re eating well? Speaker #1 The most important thing, like I said, is I always eat three meals a day. The six to 1230, that was a little bit of anomaly. I was working on something, but I always take a break to eat. And, you know, I eat dinner with my family. So that one’s pretty easy because they want to eat. So I just eat. And then I’m a breakfast eater, just a habit that I’ve always had. But I always, always eat no matter what, even if it’s like some tuna and a few whole grain crackers, like something, because I know that if I don’t, that that will have a long-term impact. I always recommend everybody take a multivitamin, which isn’t an excuse for not eating your fruits and vegetables, but I think it can kind of help on those days where you really have a low appetite. And if you can’t get anything in, which some people as they’re adjusting. their doses and that kind of stuff are getting used to the medication. At the minimum, a protein shake, if you can at least sip on it, you know, something on those days. And then people get very, seem to get very stressed out because the medication starts to wear off during the week and your hunger increases. And I try to tell them that that is not a bad thing. Like people want to be just like never, ever hungry again. But I welcome that towards the last few days of the week. Because that’s when I really get to eat and get those nutrients that I need. Because like the first couple of days, it can be challenging, you know. But I don’t know. I’ve been seeing a lot of people like shortening their time between their doses. So they like never get hungry. And like that is just a bad idea. So those last three days, I make sure I get all the fruits and vegetables. vegetables and all the protein and all the things and all the extra calories. And I’ve been able to lose 40 pounds doing just that. So you kind of play a little bit with how the medication works. And if the hunger comes, don’t freak out that the medication is not working. I think people just, I don’t know. Speaker #0 Yeah. Well, I can imagine that if you are kind of plagued with that food noise and then suddenly… it shuts off. And then by the end of the week, it starts to come back. I mean, I could, I could understand the fear that you’re going to gain weight back or you’re going to all that, all your effort is going to be for nothing, but how you have set it up with yourself sounds like, I mean, that makes sense to, if you’re going to be eating less at the beginning of the week to maybe make up for it a little bit more at the, by the end of the week and without the fear, right? Cause you have proven that you are. You have lost 40 pounds and you’ve kept it off. And so something’s working. Speaker #1 I think it’s an opportunity. Like my body needs nutrition and it’s an opportunity to do that. Speaker #0 Do you advise people to make sure they are always getting enough protein or fiber or hydration? Because it sounds like at the beginning of the week, some people can just completely lose their appetite. Speaker #1 Yes. So I always start the meal with protein. So I say, okay, what’s the protein for this meal? And ideally 20 to 30 grams for a meal, but that might not happen the first couple of days. And then the second step is always fiber, preferably fruits and vegetables, meat, whole grains too. I’m not an anti-carb person at all. I think you really need carbohydrates, especially if you’re going to want to maintain your energy levels during this whole thing. And then hydration, of course, because the medication can change people’s ability to sense thirst. So I try to drink at least three of those big Stanley cups of water a day at a minimum. And then if you’re having any side effects or anything, sometimes people have vomiting or diarrhea or constipation, to really push those fluids and maybe even add a little bit of electrolytes or something just to be sure you’re not getting dehydrated. Speaker #0 Okay. What about movement? I know you mentioned one of your colleagues lost weight and then was able to have more movement and, you know, fitness and everything, but how important is movement and strength training when you’re, when you are on a GLP-1? I’ve heard that that’s especially important to maintain your muscle mass because you could end up losing a lot of your muscle, right? When You lose weight. Speaker #1 Yeah. And I will say that that. at the beginning when the first time I did it, I wasn’t focused that much on strength training. I was kind of lackadaisical about it. And I started really seeing like this got like super flabby in my arm. My kids were like, why is your arm like that? You know? And so it’s, I think, just as important, if not more important than the protein piece, because you’re in a calorie deficit without anything. People are expected to lose 40% of their muscle mass or more on these medications. So if you are not trying to maintain that in some sort of way, you’re going to have potential problems later in life with mobility, getting around like just day-to-day activities. So that is a huge concern is that people are like, oh, well, I just want to lose weight faster. I don’t want to bulk up. I don’t know. There’s a lot of myths around that. And you absolutely have to have it. So this, in the last couple of years, I’ve adopted doing a workout called Legree. It’s a hope. very intense form of Pilates. And I got, I got the arm back. So it’s not, it’s not jiggly anymore. But with between the protein and the, you know, workout, it’s just really, really necessary. And even my husband was commenting, we were at the beach. He’s like, your legs look really muscular. I was like, well, thank you. Speaker #0 So, so yeah. So you’re concentrating on, on making sure that you maintain your muscle mass because I mean, even we lose muscle just from aging. And so we really want to maintain that. So, well, then let me transition now into just the side effects of the GLP-1s. Is losing, you said 40% muscle loss? Speaker #1 If you just do whatever, yes. Speaker #0 If you just do nothing, it’s going to go after your muscle. Is this because you’re just eating less or is this because of a mechanism from the medication? Speaker #1 It’s nothing to do with the medication. It’s just weight loss. And the weight loss is often pretty rapid. So I think that, you know, people can lose a lot of weight in a short period of time on this medication. You may have seen somebody who seems to have transformed like overnight. And when that happens, you lose muscle mass because your body is like, whoa, where are we going to get what we need from? And it’s going to eat whatever it is, right? So that can happen with any type of weight loss. It’s not something specific about this medication. It’s just this medication makes you lose weight faster than you probably could on your own. And then people are in too big of a calorie deficit, right? They’re like, or they’re trying to do additional diets on top of the medication. Like I see some people, oh, I’ve got keto. I’m on this. I’m on that. Plus the medication. Don’t do any of that. Or they’re, you know, and they’re just not getting enough protein. And their calorie deficit is too big. So they’re losing a lot of muscle. And that’s a big concern for me. Speaker #0 Yeah. So, so. Okay, so big side effect is losing muscle. That can happen on any severe diet, long-term diet. And if you’re on these medications long-term, right, then you have to be especially mindful and careful of maintaining your muscle through exercise and through increased protein. Yep. Sounds like. Any other common side effects? I mean, I’ve heard, you know, nausea. Tell me about those that I haven’t, I think at first when these first came, became like a big deal, that seemed to be a big side effect. Now I don’t hear about that as much, but you tell me as the expert. Speaker #1 So nausea is always, is probably the number one. Speaker #0 I will say it’s like the first day or so you’re always just like, I don’t really want to eat that because like, you know, nothing. At least for me, it hasn’t really been severe. Another very common one is constipation because the medication slows down the transit of the food through your digestive system, which is why you don’t feel like eating because you have food in your body still. And people are not hydrating enough. And then when you eat fewer calories, you don’t have as much bulk. to like push that food through. People are also not eating enough fiber. They’re maybe not walking enough. And so you really have to be proactive about the constipation issue on this medication. And so if you are struggling with constipation, I would recommend that you see either a doctor or a dietician to like figure out what the issue is and how to address that. Because there are people that have been hospitalized for constipation. Like it can get really bad. um so you want to get ahead of it you don’t want to just like let it go um and then some people have diarrhea for some reason you know and it’s like that’s their main side effect and every once in a while i have i throw up on medication i very very unfortunately took my shot as we landed in paris this summer right as we landed i was like oh let’s go out to eat g like let me get my shot and we’ll go and the next day i ended up throwing up on the louvre which is was very devastating to me because I respect their monuments, but bathrooms are trash cans in their city. So like, I’m sorry. Speaker #1 Oh no. Yeah. That’s hard. Speaker #0 It was very terrible. My husband, my child said that was the most embarrassing day of his life. And I’m like, well, sorry. Speaker #1 I can imagine embarrassing for you. And yeah. Speaker #0 And that was what you expected. Digestive issues are the main side effect. But most of them I think are manageable. Speaker #1 Are you seeing people just going long-term without support? I mean, it sounds like an individual’s benefit to work with a dietician while you’re taking these medications. Speaker #0 Yes. I mean, it’s a little scary that people are just able to freely get it. While I’m for increased access and the costs coming down and for people who really need it to be able to get on it. I mean, the lack of support is just a little bit scary, especially long term. Or it’s fueling the misinformation, you know, so it’s like somebody is like, I went to the hospital for constipation. Like that is something that never needs to happen if you’re getting the support and the, you know, treatment that you need. Or just… the muscle loss or all of these side effects that we see, many of them are preventable if you’re working with somebody. So there’s a lot of, oh, it froze my stomach. But a lot of those sort of like lawsuits are that people misusing the medication, going up in the dose too much, just a lot of crazy stuff happening on there. And that’s why I’m just like trying to lend my voice of reason a little bit to like maybe counteract some of this. But I get it. Like I get you are desperate to lose weight. But we got to like reel it back a little bit. Speaker #1 Yeah. So let’s so why don’t we let’s talk about that, the Internet. And, you know, because it just seems like it’s I mean, I see just these GLP-1 companies targeting young girls. They look absolutely beautiful and thin and like they do not need to lose weight. You know, and they’re advertising, you know, they’re on there. I needed to lose five pounds or I want. And. So let’s just, let’s go a little deeper into that. Let’s just first talk about microdosing. That’s something I see a lot. Can you explain what that is? Because it sounds like the healthier alternative to, because GLP-1s, you know, like injecting yourself and can, I think, sound scary and, you know, people don’t like needles and, but all of a sudden. So microdosing sounds like just a little baby dose, you know, just to sort of take the edge off. What is microdosing, a GLP-1 exactly? And what’s real? What’s the hype? Speaker #0 Right. So microdosing is taking a small dose of GLP-1, right? Less than what is prescribed or the like recommended amount that, you know, that like is the way that the medication is supposed to be followed. Now, there are… benefits to this medication outside of weight loss. The literature is not quite… as like robust. So there’s indications now for like liver health. So people that have liver disease, it seems to help with that. Inflammation, you know, brain health, a lot of different potential benefits. And so people who want those benefits are interested in doing microdosing. Like I have a friend who’s a super health person, personal trainer, this and that, and she has strong history of Alzheimer’s. So she looked into microdosing to maybe help prevent with that. She does not need to lose a single pound. Now, there is not really evidence to support that like in a robust way as it is for diabetes. But you know how people, they like want to jump on the latest, newest thing. So while I don’t think microdosing is like bad or wrong, it still goes under the same umbrella. It’s like you need to work with a provider. You need to be accompanied by somebody who knows what they’re doing and knows what they’re talking about, not like just some random online doctor or who knows if there are even doctors at some of these places. So you just really got to be cautious. But there are many, many indications kind of coming down the research pipeline about potential benefits with medication outside of just weight loss. Speaker #1 Would you lose weight? I mean, you take a certain dose. would could you imagine taking less, like a tenth of the dose that you take and still losing weight? Because that’s what I think of a microdose is like a tenth of the normal dose. Speaker #0 Possibly you could. You possibly could. If you’re a person who really doesn’t need to lose weight, then I might look for other alternatives to find those health benefits that you’re looking for, which is why you need to go to a provider. But yes, you possibly could lose weight on microdosing. you mentioned some of those companies that are marketing towards normal weight people. And I’ll be honest, every time I see those ads, I report them to Facebook. Speaker #1 Oh, good. Speaker #0 Like you should get sued. And then I will report, report harmful information every single time. Speaker #1 Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, what do you think about those, those companies or, or people who are just using GLP-1s for and vanity weight, you know, like the last like five pounds. I mean, what’s, do you recommend that? I mean, is. Speaker #0 I don’t because I think that sometimes those last five pounds aren’t really going to make a difference in how you look or your health or anything. I live in kind of a high end area here in outside of Nashville and everybody uses them for that reason because they can, because they can afford it. And. I think that social pressures kind of put them in that direction. But I still think that it’s not what they’re meant for. It’s not for, oh, I have a wedding in two weeks. Let me lose five pounds. It’s a drug. It’s a medication. You need a prescription for it. It’s not some willy-nilly sort of diet pill. But people do treat it like that. And so I don’t really know how to. change the way our society like looks at weight and your value as a human and I know it’s all wrapped up in sort of this diet culture thing and it’s unfortunate but like Speaker #1 I don’t know yeah just back to microdosing for a second would you be able to get a microdose dose of JLP1s from a medical doctor is this something that’s just being marketed on the internet um Speaker #0 you could Yeah, you can get a microdose from a medical doctor because some medical doctors are using compounds so they can adjust the dose based on the patient’s needs. Speaker #1 Okay. Oral medications of GLP-1s versus injection, what’s the deal with that? Because I know for some people who are afraid of needles and don’t like injecting, does oral GLP-1s, do they work? Speaker #0 There is only one FDA-approved oral medication, and it is only for diabetes at this time. Now, I believe that Novo Nordisk is launching their oral Wagovi Q1 of 2026. So very, very shortly, there will be FDA-approved oral medications on the market. And I heard that they’re only going to be $149 a month, which is a great, significant cost decrease from the injections. Now, There are a jillion places selling drops, oral pills already, patches, God knows what else. None of those things work. Because none of it has like what the exact, there’s like a binder that it needs in order to be absorbed. And the only people that have that patent are Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which is why that is the only one that I recommend. So none of that is effective or works. I have a big concern coming with the orals because they’re going to be easy to share, right? You can’t share your injection. They’re going to be easy to pass around. People, there are indications for possible liver damage from them if they’re used inappropriately. So while it’s really exciting that they’re going to be cheaper and easier to use and people are going to be able to access them for, you know, those that don’t want to inject themselves, it’s also terrifying. Like, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Speaker #1 Yeah, that’s actually a really good point. I never even considered that. But that’s… that they could or double dose on something right if it’s not they don’t think it’s they’re losing enough weight or well that’ll be um interesting to to say i just gotta scream louder from my platform don’t do it yeah don’t do it right um are glp-1s causing i mean i’ve heard about other side effects like aging, you know, like ozempic face, you know, where like people look like they’re aging or their hair is thinning or, or, you know, other side effects like that. Is that from the GLP-1s or is that just from weight loss itself? Speaker #0 I think it’s too much of a calorie deficit, not enough protein, and then the weight loss itself. So yeah, people, when they were like more overweight, their face was fuller and then there’s not the fat and stuff there anymore. And And, you know, your face kind of. goes down a little bit. So you may look a little older. And then the hair loss is from lack of protein, lack of nutrients, and not enough calories. So people really, that’s why, you know, I really recommend you take it very slow, as slowly as possible. And nobody wants to hear that. But two to four pounds a month is ideal. You know, you want to get there faster, but it’s going to come, you know, with a lot of… other side effects and possible consequences for your health. So while those things can definitely happen, you know, it’s really just because you’re maybe going a little fast. Speaker #1 Well, how do you control that, you know, when you are taking the medication? And how do you tell someone, just lose two pounds a week or, you know, or two to four pounds a month? Or how does that? How does that work when they’re just losing their appetite and just don’t really want to eat that much? Speaker #0 Right. So keeping the dose low, people are very excited to go up, up, up, up, up in their dose. So if you are losing two to four pounds a month and you’re on the lowest dose, like there is no reason to increase. Right. So that’s the first thing is keeping that low and then forcing yourself to eat. Unfortunately, like if you are really losing five pounds a week or. consistently, and you’re just losing a lot of weight, you want to try to slow it down by eating more calories. Like that’s the really the only thing that I can, you can concentrate your calories, you know, kind of like I used to work in a nursing home. We have to do that for older adults. Sometimes add fats to their diet, you know, have the meeting ice cream, like whatever to get them the calories, at least something that they need. So they don’t waste away. I mean, all of that would sort of apply to try to slow down that weight loss a little bit. Speaker #1 So again, it sounds like it’s so important to be working with someone, a dietician, an nutritionist, just to make sure that you are eating correctly and well. It sounds like so important. I mean, you should not be on these without getting support because you can get yourself into so much trouble. And I could see that just, oh, let me just lose the weight first. And then I’ll think about that stuff later, you know, or I’ll lose the weight. I’ll go off of the medication. I mean, it just probably can get you into a cycle of a lot of, you know, other side effects that you didn’t realize. Speaker #0 Or, and then you could have just a bad experience on the medication where you didn’t need to, right? Especially if somebody really needs this medication and they’re like, oh, well, I couldn’t stop throwing up. Well, maybe it was what you were eating or maybe you went too fast or maybe, you know, there’s so many factors here. really needs to be personalized. And that’s the direction a lot of practitioners are going is like the personalized healthcare, which is really cool, but we’re not really there yet. And I just think dieticians need to be a critical part of this journey. Speaker #1 Yeah, definitely. It’s, it’s, it doesn’t sound like it’s even an option. I mean, it sounds like it should definitely be go hand in hand. I know that you tried, well, you, you were, you went off of your medication because of money. I’m sure there’s a lot of people who are on them and think, let me see if I can just go off of this and just do this, you know, do this without it. And then maybe realize like you, you know, you started just slowly gaining the weight back. Is there a smart way to taper off? I mean, can people get off of these drugs or do you feel like they will be on them? Do you feel like you will be on this medication the rest of your life? Speaker #0 I personally, for now, don’t plan to get off. I would like to lower my dose, but my insurance, for some reason, doesn’t cover half doses. It only covers full doses. I don’t know why. So at some point, I will have to. figure that out. But for now, I don’t plan to get off because I’m going into perimenopause and I just would prefer not to have that on my plate, like the weight issue with that. There is this, right now, the standard recommendation is that it is a for-life medication. I don’t know how much influence that is coming from the pharmaceutical companies for that recommendation. I do know there are many people trying to do research on how to get people off the medication. There’s one study that I looked at from Denmark where they very slowly tapered the people off the medication while giving them very intense lifestyle counseling. And over a period of six months, they were able to get the people off and they maintained the weight for a year, which is better than the other trials where people tend to gain back 80% of the weight within that year. So it was a very dramatic result, what they were able to achieve. but But that’s only one study. So it just really hasn’t been around long enough to say, OK, like, what do we do? Is it forever? Is it not? But the recommendation right now is that it’s obesity. Is it chronic disease that needs chronic treatment? Just like you wouldn’t just stop taking your diabetes medication or your blood pressure medication. Speaker #1 Do you feel like there’s any long-term safety effects from being on it? I mean, so far, have you… as they’re been any research done on that? Because they have been around for 20 years. Speaker #0 There really hasn’t been much. There’s a couple of things about vision, right, that it can cause changes in vision or vision loss, but it was mostly for people with diabetes and diabetes causes vision loss. So what the cause was is still not really clear, but there really hasn’t been in the 20 years it hasn’t been and it’s what the only thing that I see is more and more and more benefits, like the liver health, the potential prevention of cancer, like just people not wanting to drink alcohol anymore because of how it changes your dopamine, your brain. There’s just more benefits. And the medical community is just stoked about these GLP-1s and all the things that are coming with it. So I’m going to a longevity conference next week. And that’s… the entire, like there’s days and days dedicated to the future of GLP-1s for health and longevity. Speaker #1 So do you see a future, do you envision a future where almost everyone is on this medication? I mean, is there, yeah. You’re nodding your head. Speaker #0 Yeah. I mean, for the obesity rate to go down for the first time in what, 30, 40 years, like that’s crazy. Speaker #1 Well, I was going to ask you that. That was my next question. Has there been updated data on obesity rates in this country? Speaker #0 For the first time ever, it’s gone down in the last year. So it’s got to be this. It’s doing something. It’s changing everything. Speaker #1 What’s the big takeaway then from all of this? And thank you. I mean, you’ve given us a ton of information and answered my millions of questions. What’s the big Thank you. takeaway for just a woman in midlife who has been struggling, would you recommend that they try to change diet and exercise and do all of that first and then jump on a GLP-1? Or would you say at this point, just get on the GLP-1? Speaker #0 I think that for any woman who’s already been struggling, they’ve probably already tried. Nobody is like sitting around like, oh, I’m just. Gaining weight, it’s fine. It’s no problem at all. All of them have tried and some of them a lot and for years and years and years and done all of these different things. And so at this point, I do. say, you know, this is a solution that works. So it’s worth trying, you know, but the main takeaway, I think it’s like, really, I’m pro-GLP-1. I think it is wonderful. It’s changed my life. I think it is like a literal miracle, but it’s not a joke and it’s not like a flippant, like, oh, it’s no big deal. I saw somebody online say, oh, it’s just a peptide. Your body makes peptides. There’s no, there’s no issue. That’s literally just not true. There’s plenty of things that are in your body that maybe aren’t like dietary, like cholesterol, many functions, positive ones, also bad. So I think that people are just so excited about it that they’re not considering the long-term health impacts, how to use it safely, the fact that you need to eat food, your body needs nutrients, what the long-term effects are. They just are obsessed with it. oh my god, I’m finally losing weight. So I’m trying to kind of reel it back a little bit. Like, how can we do this? Yes, let’s support you losing weight, but let’s also support you being healthy when you’re 80. Speaker #1 Yeah. Well, so then tell me about your GLP-1 hub. That sounds like a perfect resource for people to just get very credible information. Speaker #0 Right. So my vision was to do exactly that, to provide credible information. And so I have a website, GLP-1hub.com, and there’s articles on there and different resources that people can download and get for free about what to eat. And then I have a YouTube channel where I do weekly video helping talk about different topics. So what to eat, what not to eat, alcohol, sleep, all sorts of things I cover on there. And then I have a podcast where I interview other experts, mostly dietitians and physicians, about… GLP-1 and we’ve covered like GLP-1s in cancer, GLP-1s in heart health. So I just try to bring different points of view and perspectives. And I also interview GLP-1 users on the podcast. So kind of sharing their personal experience on the medications. And for many of these people, it’s been like life changing. Speaker #1 I mean, that sounds like, you know, if you have questions about GLP-1s, we talked a lot. in depth today. But I mean, if you want to even just get more perspective, your resources sound perfect. Anna, thank you so much. I really appreciate all your information and telling your story. And it’s, I know this will be hugely helpful for my listeners. And thank you again. Speaker #0 Thank you. Thank you. Speaker #1 And as always, if you loved this podcast, please consider gifting me with a five-star review. It is so helpful for me to get the word out on real eating, our real bodies, and real food stories. Thank you so much and have a great week. Bye for now.