Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Lots of heated opinions in this thread.
I am morbidly obese, a weight gain that began in my early 30s and ramped up significantly in my 40s following surgeries which put me into early perimenopause and caused me to develop an absorption disorder which led to a chronic B1 vitamin deficiency and serious neurological problems as well as very significant sarcopenia, until I had the muscle mass of a very elderly person and lots of fat to carry around. Just really metabolically sick in so many ways.
I’ve been working on restoring my health after choosing not to pursue weight loss surgery or medication. I studied nutritional biochemistry in some depth over the last year and have read a number of books by MDs who are focused on integrative medicine and health through nutrition.
In recent months I’ve transitioned to a plant heavy diet with a focus on phytonutrient loading my meals. I’ve purged most processed foods and take out foods with occasional exceptions since I’m not perfect and do still struggle with emotional eating.
The changes to my health have been dramatic. I’m losing weight slowly but I’m okay with it because it’s the healthiest way to lose. I’m fascinated by how focusing on feeding the bugs in my gut and building a diet all around that - but still delicious! - had shut down my food cravings almost entirely. Instead of thinking about food all the time I often forget altogether- but that comes from adhering to a daily intake of the RDA and more of fiber, with a variety of plants foods to feed all my gut bacteria which is rebuilding my health in all kinds of ways including mood, skin, hair etc.
Diet is EVERYTHING- but it isn’t about calories. It’s about the quality of foods you are putting in your body. Every day more and more science it proving this. Morality is irrelevant, but it IS true that food can cause addiction just like other drugs - neuroscience proves this. Casein is an opiate. Processed foods are scientifically designed to addict us, period.
The reason I am against these drugs is that I would rather wake up every morning and have a beautiful dump created by a fiber fueled diet and watch my body naturally release fat and inflammation via a beautiful natural diet rather than take a drug which can cause stomach paralysis and a host of other related issues that are very negative to gut health and can even result in death.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/10/05/weight-loss-drugs-wegovy-ozempic-may-be-linked-to-stomach-paralysis.html
Broccoli, on the other hand, is very unlikely to kill me. And the thing is, I love food like most people do. I don’t want a solution that destroys my appetite and makes eating a nauseating experience. I would much rather learn a new way of eating, as I’ve been doing the last several months.
My fridge is currently jam packed with produce and it’s actually getting eaten, not wasted. It will take me another year - 18 months to lose all that I’ve gained, but I don’t anticipate any issues because I don’t crave the other way of eating anymore. My brain has been rewired by months of eating walnuts and broccoli and berries etc. every single day without fail.
Oh man, I bet your farts are so smelly
. Anyway
I enjoy being able to eat whatever I want on Ozempic and still lose weight and be healthier. I don’t want to just eat walnuts and berries and probiotic foods. I hate broccoli. I still enjoy food very much; in fact, much more than I used to because I can enjoy the foods I love in more appropriate amounts with no distressing thoughts or emotions. I can sit down to pizza with my family/friends without being stressed out that there won’t be enough for me to have enough to be full, or pressure myself to limit myself to two pieces so no one will judge me. I can enjoy a few bites of cheesecake without worry that I won’t be able to stop and I’ll eat the whole thing. If I’m craving a regular coke I’m satisfied with a small and usually forget about it after a few sips so don’t have to feel guilt about having too much sugar knowing how bad it is for me.
I do fart and belch much more than I did before a fiber fueled diet, but it’s not terribly smelly at all. I’m not deluded about this, I have a very keen olfactory system and get offended by nasty farts but I find in my case at least that minimal animals foods means less smelly farts.
If you learned more about metabolic syndrome and nutritional biochemistry, you’d know that losing some weight and still eating the same crap food but less of it doesn’t point to much improved health.
There are a great many skinny fat Americans - people of normal weight who are metabolically very unhealthy and suffering insulin resistance even in the absence of overweight or obesity, and that means that on the inside there is still damage happening to the heart and other organs while you are eating pizza and cheesecake and wearing a size 8 or 10 or 12.
Size and weight are not the only indicators of health and normal weight seemingly healthy women drop dead of massive heart attacks in midlife every single day. That’s why Ozempic and Wegovy et al. are simply not the answer.
Hippocrates said food is medicine. Thousands of years later all the science is revealing that it is THE most important medicine.
Wow, you really are insufferable. I don’t understand why you are speaking as though you are a health and wellness expert because what you’re doing makes you feel great. Guess what? What I’m doing makes me feel great. But I’m not here acting like what I’m doing is the answer and what you’re doing isn’t. Who do you think you are to tell me what is working for me is “simply not the answer”? I would never say the same to you.
Most people cannot or will not adhere to a lifestyle like yours. Most people can’t afford to eat nuts and berries every single day or eat a high volume of fermented and/or fibrous foods. A plant based diet with minimal processed food is not attainable to most people in today’s food and lifestyle environment. Those people might have insurance that will cover a GLP1 drug. That’s just the reality of the late stage capitalist hellscape we live in, and I agree that it’s f*cked up. But it’s not changing in our lifetime.
Why on earth would you spend your time actively discouraging those people from choosing an accessible option to improve their personal health and quality of life, insisting that a regimen that is impossible for them to follow is the only right answer?
Furthermore, why do you assume I know nothing about metabolic syndrome? The reason my doctor and I decided to try ozempic in the first place was to treat insulin resistance, prevent worsening metabolic dysfunction and diabetes and reduce unwanted symptoms of PCOS. Why do you assume that I’m using weight as a health marker? Losing 50 pounds effortlessly has been fun as hell but that’s just a bonus.
In the year and a half since I started Ozempic:
- My insulin sensitivity has improved to almost ideal levels
- Male pattern hair loss has halted and started to fill back in
- the thick dark hair on my arms has turned much finer and blonde
- I don’t retain water and wake up with an unrecognizably puffy face
- my liver has shrunk and is visibly less fatty on ultrasound than it was before and my always borderline high liver enzymes are down as low as they can be
- lipids have improved (this is one area that I know I could move the needle more with a different diet.)
- My skin glows, I no longer have fungal acne, problems with yeast in my armpits or intramammary folds, or keratosis pilaris.
- I have more energy, I sleep better and my parasomnia episodes are much milder and more seldom
- Movement is so much freer and painless. My hips used to scream after a couple of miles walking, now I can go at least 6 before I start to feel it. It’s not an effort just to roll over in bed or tie my shoes
- My sex life is astonishingly better
Beyond that, I am happier than I have ever been and developing self-confidence I never thought I would have. Frankly, that alone would be enough for me even if I didn’t have objective markers telling me I am healthier. And I didn’t have to eat a single walnut or turn into a self-important braggart who talks about her beautiful bowel movements on the internet.
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