There's been a lot of hype recently about a new class of drugs that started out as anti-diabetic medications, but have become famous for their weight loss effects.
I remember when Statin drugs first came out. An obese coworker was talking about being prescribed one in the break room. He said 'Now I can eat whatever I want'. A hush fell over the room, until someone spoke up and said 'That's not how it works. You have to exercise & eat better too". 4x4 left in a huff.
And...... That's what people who are taking the listed weight loss drugs are doing too. They pop a magic bean & eat whatever they want. Their health declines due to an even worse diet in addition to the side effects effects of the drugs.
I don't blame them. I pity them.
It's human nature to take the path of least resistance. The natural law of energy conservation also applies, in that animals tend to expend only as much energy as necessary to survive. The pill is an excuse to do nothing. To not exercise, to not diet, to not change a lifestyle.
And as usual Big Pharma is taking advantage of often desperate, vulnerable, unhealthy morbidly obese people. Doctors are also at fault for handing pills out like candy on Halloween without holistic advice, let alone demands.
Glyphosphate, aka Roundup, is endemic in our food supply and our bodies. And it causes weight gain. But no advice is given to counter it's effects. It should be banned. Singular crop GMO foods are also to blame. They're not the most nutritious, they're the most profitable. The soil is barren except for the absolute necessary added chemicals to grow the GMO plants. The percentage of the population will essential mineral & nutrient deficiencies is growing, and the related diseases are increasing. As are Big Ag & Big Pharma profits.
What a great article… I am going to be sharing this one far and wide. It’s sums up everything in a nice, well written package. I live in Canada, and I am a diabetic… And I won’t even take this crap because it is so dangerous. I see so many people around me taking it. I know one person out of all of them who has actually lost over 100 pounds with it. And quite frankly, she looks like crap. It took her about a year and a half to lose the weight and she aged 10 years in the process. Because she lost her appetite, she essentially starved her weight off with absolutely no physical activity outside of some walking. She literally has no muscle.
As a matter of fact, I refuse to take any of the modern diabetes drugs, because they are all dangerous, and several of them have the black box warning that you talk about with Ozempic. It just absolutely baffles me that people are willing to be sick and risk their life in order to lose as little as 40 pounds in some cases.
I lost 125 pounds the old-fashioned way… Watching my calories, physical activity, and weight training. I started out with an A1C of 14 (that’s pretty bad). It took me 10 years of work, but my A1c is now normal, I am off all diabetes meds and have been maintaining a normal body weight for several years now. And to top it off… I am a 55 year old menopausal woman. I am well muscled, in good condition, energetic and most people guess my age to be at least 10 if not more years younger. I feel great.
So if I can do this… Pretty well anyone can, if you want it badly enough.
Hi ZR, greetings from fellow 5-Eyes stronghold Australia. Thanks for the kind comments and congratulations on losing so much weight and getting your glycemic control back the natural, sensible way. It's an achievement you deserve to be proud of!
The toxic chemicals that are spewed at us by Big Pharma are incredible. There are some good things in there and even some life saving things, but this class of drugs.... oof. The research on what actually works long term for people is much more about habit change and eating the right kinds of things. https://mattcook.substack.com/p/these-are-the-carbs-men-should-be
You got a nose for BS. Short story...I struggled with GERD for a period of time the Dr's had no solution for. They only said eat high fiber whole grains and take PPI's. This only made matters worse!
I stumbled upon Dr. Eades forum had a topic on this and of course he recommended low carb. I tried it and found perfect relief! (I've never been a diet cult follower BTW) I went through a short "keto" phase and lost about 10 lbs. Wondering if the diet was safe lead me to your Cholesterol book and your Grains book back around 14'. From there I bought the fat loss bible and proceeded to loose 50lbs. That book was not only sound advice but was encouraging to me. Thank you many times over.
Have you considered writing about TRT in the future? Dr's once hesitant to prescribe it now think all men need it. I have mixed feelings about it.
Hi Jordan, thanks for reading my books, and congratulations on dropping all that weight! Getting that kind of feedback always gives me a welcome dopamine hit :)
Re TRT, that's a topic worthy of an article. In short, I personally would have no qualms about using it if and when the time comes that I need it. The key word is "need". Taking it on a permanent basis means your own testosterone production will shut down, so I'd try and exhaust other options first, especially if I wasn't yet in the 'senior' category.
I'd get my testosterone levels measured first to see where they're at. The test would include total T, free T and SHBG.
If my total T were low, I'd be looking at training, diet, sleep, stress and see if any of those could be impacting my hormone levels. Insufficient calories, overtraining, poor sleep can all lower testosterone.
If total T was mid-range or high but SHBG was high thus causing free T to be low, then I'd be looking at what I can do to lower SHBG.
If the initial tests showed low T that could not be ascribed to any obvious dietary or lifestyle cause, I'd go back for a thorough blood work up that included things like LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol. If any of those things were out of the normal range, I'd try and address that first.
Often however, especially with all the ways we've found to wreck our bodies and pollute our environment and food supply, T just drops as we age.
If I decided to go with TRT, I'd be looking at testosterone enanthate injections (standard dose is 200 mg per fortnight) or testosterone cream from a compounding pharmacy. The creams are applied daily, so an advantage there is you don't get the peaks and troughs that occur with fortnightly injections.
I'm surprised you didn't mention check Iron overload :-) when I lost 50 I was only 26 years old. For the first time I had a faded 6/5 pack without flexing but I plateau'd bad at the point. I wanted to go further so I double-down on diet and exercise. Bad idea! I started getting lightheaded on standing nearly fainting if I didn't move slowly. Mild cold temps became incredibly intolerable even painful. Libido disappeared completely. My heart rate and BP was low. Dr wanted treat me for bradycardia. Low T was all they could come up with. I looked fit did everything they say to do for good T levels but it was piss poor low. My principal is to only take drugs that cure and avoid drugs that treat. I said kiss my ass to the T shot. I found my symptoms matched an anorexic. Never even crossed my mind you can be anorexic at 2000 calories a day. I read overtraining isnt real its just an excuse for the weak willed.
Figured I'd have to be much leaner to have this problem. Even after scrapping the calorie restriction and exercise. It took months for those symptoms to clear. I had to say bye bye to the 6 pack. I can't figure out how the natural bodybuilders get so lean without getting the anorexic crash. My body just up and quits whenever I get 5 of the 6 abs showing I've learned to live with it and not chase the vanity.
I remember when Statin drugs first came out. An obese coworker was talking about being prescribed one in the break room. He said 'Now I can eat whatever I want'. A hush fell over the room, until someone spoke up and said 'That's not how it works. You have to exercise & eat better too". 4x4 left in a huff.
And...... That's what people who are taking the listed weight loss drugs are doing too. They pop a magic bean & eat whatever they want. Their health declines due to an even worse diet in addition to the side effects effects of the drugs.
I don't blame them. I pity them.
It's human nature to take the path of least resistance. The natural law of energy conservation also applies, in that animals tend to expend only as much energy as necessary to survive. The pill is an excuse to do nothing. To not exercise, to not diet, to not change a lifestyle.
And as usual Big Pharma is taking advantage of often desperate, vulnerable, unhealthy morbidly obese people. Doctors are also at fault for handing pills out like candy on Halloween without holistic advice, let alone demands.
Glyphosphate, aka Roundup, is endemic in our food supply and our bodies. And it causes weight gain. But no advice is given to counter it's effects. It should be banned. Singular crop GMO foods are also to blame. They're not the most nutritious, they're the most profitable. The soil is barren except for the absolute necessary added chemicals to grow the GMO plants. The percentage of the population will essential mineral & nutrient deficiencies is growing, and the related diseases are increasing. As are Big Ag & Big Pharma profits.
What a great article… I am going to be sharing this one far and wide. It’s sums up everything in a nice, well written package. I live in Canada, and I am a diabetic… And I won’t even take this crap because it is so dangerous. I see so many people around me taking it. I know one person out of all of them who has actually lost over 100 pounds with it. And quite frankly, she looks like crap. It took her about a year and a half to lose the weight and she aged 10 years in the process. Because she lost her appetite, she essentially starved her weight off with absolutely no physical activity outside of some walking. She literally has no muscle.
As a matter of fact, I refuse to take any of the modern diabetes drugs, because they are all dangerous, and several of them have the black box warning that you talk about with Ozempic. It just absolutely baffles me that people are willing to be sick and risk their life in order to lose as little as 40 pounds in some cases.
I lost 125 pounds the old-fashioned way… Watching my calories, physical activity, and weight training. I started out with an A1C of 14 (that’s pretty bad). It took me 10 years of work, but my A1c is now normal, I am off all diabetes meds and have been maintaining a normal body weight for several years now. And to top it off… I am a 55 year old menopausal woman. I am well muscled, in good condition, energetic and most people guess my age to be at least 10 if not more years younger. I feel great.
So if I can do this… Pretty well anyone can, if you want it badly enough.
Hi ZR, greetings from fellow 5-Eyes stronghold Australia. Thanks for the kind comments and congratulations on losing so much weight and getting your glycemic control back the natural, sensible way. It's an achievement you deserve to be proud of!
The toxic chemicals that are spewed at us by Big Pharma are incredible. There are some good things in there and even some life saving things, but this class of drugs.... oof. The research on what actually works long term for people is much more about habit change and eating the right kinds of things. https://mattcook.substack.com/p/these-are-the-carbs-men-should-be
You got a nose for BS. Short story...I struggled with GERD for a period of time the Dr's had no solution for. They only said eat high fiber whole grains and take PPI's. This only made matters worse!
I stumbled upon Dr. Eades forum had a topic on this and of course he recommended low carb. I tried it and found perfect relief! (I've never been a diet cult follower BTW) I went through a short "keto" phase and lost about 10 lbs. Wondering if the diet was safe lead me to your Cholesterol book and your Grains book back around 14'. From there I bought the fat loss bible and proceeded to loose 50lbs. That book was not only sound advice but was encouraging to me. Thank you many times over.
Have you considered writing about TRT in the future? Dr's once hesitant to prescribe it now think all men need it. I have mixed feelings about it.
Hi Jordan, thanks for reading my books, and congratulations on dropping all that weight! Getting that kind of feedback always gives me a welcome dopamine hit :)
Re TRT, that's a topic worthy of an article. In short, I personally would have no qualms about using it if and when the time comes that I need it. The key word is "need". Taking it on a permanent basis means your own testosterone production will shut down, so I'd try and exhaust other options first, especially if I wasn't yet in the 'senior' category.
I'd get my testosterone levels measured first to see where they're at. The test would include total T, free T and SHBG.
If my total T were low, I'd be looking at training, diet, sleep, stress and see if any of those could be impacting my hormone levels. Insufficient calories, overtraining, poor sleep can all lower testosterone.
If total T was mid-range or high but SHBG was high thus causing free T to be low, then I'd be looking at what I can do to lower SHBG.
If the initial tests showed low T that could not be ascribed to any obvious dietary or lifestyle cause, I'd go back for a thorough blood work up that included things like LH, FSH, prolactin, estradiol. If any of those things were out of the normal range, I'd try and address that first.
Often however, especially with all the ways we've found to wreck our bodies and pollute our environment and food supply, T just drops as we age.
If I decided to go with TRT, I'd be looking at testosterone enanthate injections (standard dose is 200 mg per fortnight) or testosterone cream from a compounding pharmacy. The creams are applied daily, so an advantage there is you don't get the peaks and troughs that occur with fortnightly injections.
I'm surprised you didn't mention check Iron overload :-) when I lost 50 I was only 26 years old. For the first time I had a faded 6/5 pack without flexing but I plateau'd bad at the point. I wanted to go further so I double-down on diet and exercise. Bad idea! I started getting lightheaded on standing nearly fainting if I didn't move slowly. Mild cold temps became incredibly intolerable even painful. Libido disappeared completely. My heart rate and BP was low. Dr wanted treat me for bradycardia. Low T was all they could come up with. I looked fit did everything they say to do for good T levels but it was piss poor low. My principal is to only take drugs that cure and avoid drugs that treat. I said kiss my ass to the T shot. I found my symptoms matched an anorexic. Never even crossed my mind you can be anorexic at 2000 calories a day. I read overtraining isnt real its just an excuse for the weak willed.
Figured I'd have to be much leaner to have this problem. Even after scrapping the calorie restriction and exercise. It took months for those symptoms to clear. I had to say bye bye to the 6 pack. I can't figure out how the natural bodybuilders get so lean without getting the anorexic crash. My body just up and quits whenever I get 5 of the 6 abs showing I've learned to live with it and not chase the vanity.