The Hollywood Diet 48-hour cleanse. The raw generation skinny cleanse. Dr. Kellyann’s 5 day cleanse and reset kit. The list of the overnight diet super fixes is quite long and infamous. And the list of those who have advocated for it is just as long. But those were yesterday’s news.
Now we have a class of diabetes drugs that can help curtail appetite and make claims of losing vast amounts of weight in relatively short periods of time. Claims by famous actors and comedians have stated that semaglutide brands like Ozempic, Wegovy or Rybelsus have had life changing effects on health and appearance. And today these drugs have been in increasingly high demand and are being used recreationally all over—in no small part due to the celebrities advocating for its efficacy.
But why have we—as a society—seen a huge spike in obesity over the last few decades?
There are many reasons. But the one I like to focus on is centered around how much and how long we work and how much time we spend on our mobile devices. Constant stimulation via mobile phones with social media, news information and anything else that perks our emotional responses coupled with high stress levels of work equals a formula of sympathetic (fight or flight) response that doesn’t get enough parasympathetic (rest and digest) response.
But why the weight gain? High levels of anxiety and stress induce the body to produce adrenaline and cortisol to allow the body to stay alert and continue on the current course—despite a strong desire to stop. So the body and brain get no opportunity to take a break and get back to baseline; no time to heal. Add in a lack of exercise and two major responses occur:
—cortisol levels remain elevated and testosterone levels decrease.
—cortisol stimulates sugar cravings and results in not-so-good eating decisions.
Hamster wheel created. A decade or two passes and we have lift off into the obesity class.
Enter the current Ozempic craze. It seems to be about as close to the Nutty Professor as there is. And although I realize that many of us would give up most of our life savings to be first in line to go to sleep one night as Sherman Klump and wake up as Buddy Love, there is often a price to be paid.
I could go on to what semagutides do from a biologic and molecular standpoint, but it’s pretty boring. Suffice to say that it initiates more sugar to be burned and tells the body it isn’t hungry (even when it is). Specifically, semaglutides are meant for the population that is clinically diagnosed as type II diabetic. Are those who are not type II diabetic abusing it?
As for side effects: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and other serious but uncommon major issues. The list is pretty much garden variety for a major drug.
But most damaging that I see is the unknown. It hasn’t been able to be studied in a long-term clinical analysis. Most of the studies encompass one year. We don’t know long-term effects. Is it pernicious in its later effects?
It certainly seems safer than fen-phen (fenfluramine and phentermine). Fen-phen was a drug found in the early 90’s which was approved as an anti-obesity treatment.
But fen-phen caused horrific complications in many and death for others. It was pulled from the market in 1997.
While I do not see the same fate for semaglutides, I do believe taking shortcuts to get to a desired aesthetic appearance or avoid our relationship with food and exercise is a bit of a deal made with the devil. Ultimately, do semaglutides address our overwhelming inability to withdraw from electronic devices? Do semaglutides help us balance work and introduce more exercise and healthy living?
To me, it cheats the reward for naturally improving body composition through hard work with exercise and disciplined decisions with diet and sleep. It cheapens lifestyle choices that become proof of respecting the bodies we live in. It also does not change our mental approach toward a cleaner and regenerative world.
For as long as science has been tracking human physiology, drugs and shortcuts have always been at the forefront of ways to quicken results. But, there aren’t any panaceas or magic lamps. Usually the parable
Ultimately, our bodies have responded best to nutritional diets that sustain muscle and lean tissue acquired through resistance training and challenging aerobic work. Concurrently, our brains work best when they are supported by physical work. Exercise produces the release of good feeling endorphins such as dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine that help combat depression, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and more.
Our bodies are meant to move. Our minds are meant to feed off that ability to move.
Medicine and drug treatments are meant to assist us in getting to our desired goals. The big question is what are those goals? I’m not here to say that there isn’t a place for Ozempic. There certainly is. But a dependency on that to a point where we don’t address the problem?
The bottom line is our relationship with food has to improve. Our understanding of the benefits and love for exercise needs to be explained better and constantly reinforced. We must take some breaths and learn how to mitigate stress and anxiety and not simply act out to momentarily appease them only to have a bigger disaster looming.
Leading a healthy lifestyle and a respect for the foods we put in our bodies should be incumbent on us to understand.
Because our minds and bodies don’t need more 48 hour cleanses. We don’t need any raw cleanses. If we listen closely, all the mind and body want from us is to understand what their point of view is. Only then can we slowly make changes that make us happy to be living in our vehicle and mainframe that we call our body and mind. – CT
