The Weight Loss Shortcut: Is GLP-1 Worth the Risk?

In this week's episode, we delve into the complexities of GLP-1 medications, a topic capturing immense attention in the realms of weight loss and health. As these drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovi, rise to fame as potential magic pills for shedding pounds, we aim to illuminate the shadows they cast. Join us as we explore the historical journey of GLP-1, from its initial isolation in the 1980s to its breakthrough realization utilizing the saliva of the Gila monster, making its way into injections.

But it isn’t just about the scientific background; we delve into the real concerns tied to these medications. What side effects should you be wary of? How do personal experiences challenge the narrative spun by the pharmaceutical world? Listen closely as we share powerful stories that underline the importance of addressing the roots of one’s health struggles—often emotional and lifestyle-oriented—rather than simply masking them with medication. 

With an emphasis on individual empowerment, today's discussion also serves as a reminder of the value of researching and advocating for your health. While making informed choices is critical, we stress that true wellness transcends the pills prescribed or the number on the scale. Fostering a holistic approach is essential to long-term wellbeing and fulfillment.

So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and join us as we unravel the truths about GLP-1 therapy and advocate for embracing healthier, sustainable living methods that nourish both body and mind. Don’t forget to check out the free resource mentioned in the episode for those ready to take actionable steps toward harmony in their lives. Let's keep the conversation going!

Download your free guide: Align Your LIfe to Create Harmony: A simple four-part framework HERE

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to GLP
• 5:00 What is GLP
• 15:30 The History of GLP
• 20:45 Side Effects to Consider
• 35:00 Personal Stories and Experiences
• 45:20 Lifestyle Changes vs. Quick Fixes

Transcript

Melissa: 0:05

So in today's episode, I've invited my sister, dawn, to come with me and get up on our smoke boxes and talk about GLP-1. Information shared in this particular episode is for educational and informational purposes only. We are not doctors, medical professionals or licensed healthcare providers, and we do not play them on television. This podcast does not offer medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any medical decisions, including those related to GLP-1 medications or any other treatments. Your health is personal and what works for one person may not work for another. Please do your own research, ask questions and make informed choices in partnership with your healthcare provider. Let's get to this.

Melissa: 0:58

Welcome to the Lemon Balm Coaching Podcast, your cozy corner of the world where we'll sip on life's lessons and squeeze the most out of every moment. I'm Melissa, your coach of the world, where we'll sip on life's lessons and squeeze the most out of every moment. I'm Melissa, your coach, cheerleader and maybe even a little bit like that mom who always has a warm hug and the best advice waiting for you. If you're a woman over 40, feeling like life's left you a little lost, aimless or downright stuck, you're in the right place. This is where your joy, your freedom and your purpose come back into focus. Together, we'll laugh, learn and rediscover what makes you come alive.

Melissa: 1:30

Because it's not too late, this is your time, so grab a cup of something warm, settle in and let's start creating the next most beautiful chapter of your life. Together, hey Dawn, hey, together, hey Dawn. Hey, I am really glad you said yes to coming onto the podcast and talking with me about GLP-1, because we've had so many conversations about it that we know who are using it and the side effects that we're seeing in the people that we love. So thank you so much for agreeing.

Dawn: 2:01

Oh, glad to be on this soapbox. Yeah, really.

Melissa: 2:05

And I know you have a, you have an invested interest in this topic, not necessarily GLP-1, but what we are using GLP-1 for now, and that's weight loss, right yeah.

Melissa: 2:21

Yeah, I have a very long history with weight issues right, yeah, yeah, I have a very long history with weight issues. Our whole family does. Really, it's it's been something you know how they talk about. The sins of the father will be visited upon the third and fourth generation. I also look at that like energy, the energy that's passed down through the generations, and this weight issue has been one that's just been plaguing our whole family for generations. Really, yeah, absolutely A hundred percent yeah.

Melissa: 2:50

So for the listeners who might not know what we're talking about, glp-1 is now like the panacea for weight loss. They are using it left and right and it's known by its pharmaceutical names of Ozempic, wigovi, manjaro what are some of the other ones? Semaglutide yeah, that's like the professional name for it, but like you'll see it advertised, you know all the people, oh, oh, oh, ozempic, you know, and Manjaro and all of those. So we just really wanted to come on and talk about GLP-1 from a health and wellness perspective, not weight loss perspective. Okay, so what is what's GLP-1? Does anybody even know? Do people really know what they're putting in their bodies?

Dawn: 3:37

It is a peptide that is naturally produced in your body. Yes, it's naturally produced with diet, exercise and we need it. It is a naturally occurring peptide, amino acid. I'm not sure of all of the scientific parts of it, but we have to have it to survive.

Melissa: 4:03

Yeah, glp-1 actually was isolated. Back in the eighties, a scientist named Jens Juhl Holst and Joel Habener those two together at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. They isolated GLP-1 in the human hormones. They were the first ones to identify it and they, you know, they figured out real quickly that it was a hormone that was secreted by our gastrointestinal tract. It's actually, it's actually a messenger in our digestion that stimulates insulin.

Dawn: 4:39

I was going to say originally. I believe and quote me. You probably know a little bit more than I. Do Not quote me, but stop me if I'm wrong. It was originally used in diabetics to help them process insulin and glucose and everything in their bodies.

Melissa: 5:00

Well, the problem is GLP-1, they couldn't stabilize it. They isolated it back in the 80s, but they couldn't stabilize it. They couldn't figure out how to make it, how to synthesize it so that we could use it as a medication. They realized what it did it helped to produce the insulin in response to the glucose but they couldn't stabilize it. They couldn't figure out how to manufacture it so that they could sell it as a drug. It took a while. Clearly they've done that. Yeah, but it took a while.

Melissa: 5:33

It wasn't until the 1990s that researchers discovered that the saliva of a Gila monster contains GLP-1. And that is what they were able to synthesize. They were not able to synthesize the human GLP-1. They were able to synthesize the Gila monster GLP-1. This is what I've gotten off of researchers and things like that. So this isn't like I'm not a scientist, I'm not the one who figured all this stuff out. I'm just letting you all know that this is what the process. So they took the venom of the Gila monster, broke all of its different components down and found the one that's like GLP-1. And then that's what they've synthesized and they're putting into all of our fun semi-glucoside injections. They'll clean it up, yeah, yeah, but you did mention it is a peptide. Yeah, yeah, it's a peptide. The actual peptide is called Xcendin-4. That's the one that they got from the Gila monster.

Dawn: 6:37

Okay, yeah, well, the thing is we naturally produce it. There are ways to naturally raise your GLP-1 in your system, if you care to look into it. I haven't looked into it, but there are foods that you can eat. There are things that you can do to help raise it naturally in your own body without adding gila monster spit. Exactly, and we're on a soapbox. I'm not holding back.

Melissa: 7:08

We really are. We're totally on a soapbox and I, you know, I know people who have used GLP-1 shots. I know a lot. I know a lot and there are tons of side effects. Let me pull up some of those side effects right now, just in case you don't do your own research. We want to share with you. Some of the side effects could be thyroid tumors, including cancer, pancreatitis, gallbladder problems, hypoglycemia, kidney problems, increased heart rate while you're at rest, a change in vision with people with type 2 diabetes, depression or thoughts of suicide, serious allergic reactions and even more. I mean I've heard of people are talking about ozempic face now and ozempic babies. Even these are side effects. So one of the things that I read about the shots it's the reason people are losing weight so fast on these shots is because it's they're losing muscle mass. They're not losing fat right off the bat, they're losing muscle mass to begin with and that's why you see people with the sunken face who are on the shots.

Dawn: 8:14

Well, and their butt too. It's ozempic butt, they call it where it's super, super set like extraordinarily saggy and flat. Yeah, no, no, because you're losing. Yeah, because you're first of.

Melissa: 8:25

Yeah, because you're losing muscle and then you start to lose the fat and, honestly, as we age, fat in our face is our friend.

Dawn: 8:38

Because of falling.

Melissa: 8:39

Yeah, it prevents the saggy and it prevents that hollowed out. Look, and the ozempic baby thing. Have you heard about that? People are getting pregnant who are on birth control, taking ozempic, because the ozempic actually speeds up the absorption of your birth control so that it doesn't last as long as you think it should Like. It's well anyway. Just side effects out the wazoo. Like who are some of the people that you knew on the shot and like what were some of their side effects. You don't have to share names, obviously, but like what were some of the side effects they were seeing.

Dawn: 9:18

So I know some people that are on a really, really, really low dose and they're doing well. And they've been on it for a one lady five or six months now and she's doing well. She's not lost any weight whatsoever, none. But her inflammation is better, like she's not as puffy like around you know, her neck eyes, you know that type of thing.

Dawn: 9:48

So she's sticking with it because she feels like it's beneficial for her. I know of someone I don't know her personally, but I know of someone. She had weight loss surgery but she didn't change anything. She continued to drink Diet Coke, she continued to eat chips and sugar and, you know, while the weight loss surgery didn't work for her she's unusual and so she decided to go on. I think she's on Wegovi and so she's lost all the weight that she regained and she looks good, but she still has not changed anything and she is vomiting five, six times a day, almost like a bulimic would make herself vomit when she eats. She's vomiting, yeah, and but she's okay because she's skinny now.

Melissa: 10:41

Right, but that's one of the side effects of the medication is nausea. These are the like the, the mild side effects, right? Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach upset and all of that. The person that I know who, who was taking the shots TMI people, tmi, but like they missed work multiple days because they had poop running down their leg. They could not control, could not control, they couldn't control it. You have to really decide. Is it worth it Exactly? And the nausea that they were experiencing, the diarrhea, just just terrible, and it was that. It was that deciding moment. Are these side effects worth something that doesn't guarantee it's going to work? First of all, it doesn't guarantee no one no one's making any guarantees that you'll lose weight. But also, it's just like um weight loss surgery, right, If you don't stick to the protocols, you will put it all back on. You have to stay on these shots or you will gain it back. That's you know.

Dawn: 11:56

I've heard some people that said, oh, I went off of them and I haven't gained any weight back. And you know, we don't know what their dose was, we don't know how long they were on it, you know so good, I hope you never do Right, I really do. I hope you never gain it back. One of the side effects that I've heard of I've not heard anybody who's had it, I've just heard of this in some different podcasts I listen to is that they're asking people who are on any of the GLP-1 therapies, before they have surgery, to go off cold turkey for a minimum of two weeks, because what's happening is during surgery, because one of the things that the GLP-1 does is it slows your digestion really, really slow, and so you stay full longer, which is a good side effect, right, but what they're finding and this is just recently that I heard this on a podcast what they're finding is that the people who are on these therapies are going in for surgery and because they're not emptying their digestive system the whole thing here to the groin they're having severe vomiting during surgery.

Dawn: 13:17

People are aspirating, you know, during surgery they're having to stop, they're having to bring them out of anesthesia. I mean, I don't know all the things. I just know the little bit that I've heard. They're putting kids as young as six or seven on this now, but they're also putting people in their sixties and seventies. I'm sorry, I'm 59. Almost the chances of me needing surgery in the future are greater than they were when I was younger, and so do I want to go into surgery, even off of Ozempic or whatever for two weeks and risk aspirating, choking and dying during surgery now.

Melissa: 13:58

If you think about this whole thing logically, everything you said just makes total sense, a hundred percent. This, this shot. One of its goals is to slow down your digestion. That makes you feel full longer. I don't know about anybody listening, but my digestion is slow. My digestion is so slow and sluggish all the time. I have the time I have the time I feel full all day long after just eating breakfast because my digestion is so slow. I don't need any help slowing it down anymore. Yeah, but if your digestion is slow that you know things are going to get backed up.

Melissa: 14:39

Think about like when you eat right and you you're enjoying it so much and you don't want to stop and you keep eating, you keep eating, you keep eating because it tastes so good, you can actually feel the fullness up in your throat. And that's what GLP-1 is doing for people. It's getting, it's making them feel full longer because it's slowing down their digestion. But if we think about, if we think about ourselves as whole beings right, mind, body, spirit, holistically if we slow our digestion down, everything backs up. Everything backs up. And just think about this the same blood that flows through your stomach and your intestines also flows through your brain. We wonder why people are foggy when they're on these GLP-1 shots, right, because their blood is full of all these toxins that they get out of their system. Yuck.

Dawn: 15:34

A little bit of background on me and we talked about this before we started is that I have been overweight since I was, I think three is when I started gaining weight. So my weight. Just hold on just a second, yeah.

Melissa: 15:48

Everybody. She was three years old when she started gaining weight and was considered obese. Three years old, Okay no-transcript.

Dawn: 16:20

When I started the third grade I was 120 pounds. Most third graders are under 100 pounds. I lost weight and weighed myself at 325 when my baby I have two, so when my youngest was maybe six or nine months old. So there was a little bit of baby weight in there, but you know. So I was three, 25. When I turned 50 and went to the doctor for my exam, I was 300 and something like three, 12, three, 15. Um, I was having chest pains.

Dawn: 17:05

I was having pain in my left arm. I had become type 2 diabetic. He didn't tell me that at the time I was on cholesterol medication, blood pressure medication and he was about to put me on insulin. When I told him I've had enough about to put me on insulin. When I told him I've had enough. I have a nine and 10 year old and I can't do this anymore and I am signed up for weight loss surgery. And he went. So I had weight loss surgery when I was 50 and I am going to be 59 in May.

Dawn: 17:45

So 58 plus eight plus years. And it's wonderful when you first have it. It's great because you know you can eat half an egg and be full. But you know you have to, I believe, and the doctors will tell you you have to spend the time. For the first eight or nine months your stomach does all the work. All your weight comes off. You could literally eat Reese's peanut butter cups for breakfast, lunch and dinner and still lose weight, and I've known people who have had weight loss surgery.

Melissa: 18:21

Who have done that? I do too. There was a lady I watched and she ate five M&Ms and that was her dinner. I was like that just doesn't seem right, it's not.

Dawn: 18:32

It's not so. If you don't change, you're not going to change, right? If you don't make the changes here, nothing is going to change here.

Melissa: 18:41

And that's one of the things watching your journey that's been the most inspirational is you made the changes and I know that people have said to you and I just want to just encourage oh, you take the easy way out. A surgery voluntarily amputating part of your body is not easy. No matter what the goal is right. It would be like walking into the doctor and me saying my left arm doesn't serve me anymore, take it off.

Dawn: 19:12

Well, and I did amputate. 90% of my stomach was literally removed from my body. It was an amputation. I had a sleeve surgery.

Melissa: 19:21

So it's not easy. That part is not easy, that that part is that part's that part's not easy.

Dawn: 19:26

That part is easy. No, that part is easy because insurance will pay for it. Now it's widely accepted. You can get it done almost any city you know with a good size. I mean, that part is really easy, the part that is so hard is right here.

Melissa: 19:45

The mental part, Exactly Because you have to make. You have to make changes. Lifestyle changes are the key because I, the P, the same lady who ate those M&Ms she gained all the weight back plus some. Oh yeah, it's like you said, the first several months your body's doing the work for you, but after that you have to put in the time. And what I loved about you is you started right away. You didn't wait for the eighth month or the ninth month. You figured out a way of eating for you that works.

Dawn: 20:18

I was 50 and almost like on my deathbed and so when I decided and my husband and I talked it over and we looked into options and and, and I made the decision. And it was a decision, it was a, it was a heart change, it was a turning away from everything that I'd ever done. I made the decision to change, and not only change but to learn how to live differently. How to live differently. I am not perfect. Okay. I found a way of eating that made sense to me using whole foods, real food, staying away from they call them frankenfoods. It is a low-carb lifestyle. When I eat carbs, I'm very careful about it. I just choose higher quality, better foods than I used to. I still eat peanut butter, you know. I still eat chocolate, but I choose 85% dark chocolate, which is a bitter chocolate, over milk, or like sugar-free stuff, or like sugar-free stuff.

Dawn: 21:42

If I eat sugar-free, like Sorry here we go with TMI again, because, boy, I know exactly what you're getting ready to say. So there are some really delicious sugar-free chocolates out there and sugar-free desserts, but I already had a digestion issue and then I took out 90% of my stomach, and so my stomach doesn't do this anymore. My stomach is the size of a smaller banana not a baby, but a smaller banana and literally this is all that my stomach does.

Melissa: 22:21

For those that are listening, our stomach is supposed to squeeze in all directions as it digests, but what Dawn is describing is hers only squeezes in one direction.

Dawn: 22:32

One direction and very small.

Melissa: 22:35

So the motility is reduced.

Dawn: 22:37

Yes, and I don't produce the same acids anymore. What they removed was the part of my stomach that produces like ghrelin, which is a hunger hormone, which was great at first, but now I feel it more. But that's a long story. It produces a lot of the hormones that are secreted during the digestion. I don't have that anymore, so I have to be very gentle with myself. But when I eat some of those sugar-free options, yeah it um. My stomach doesn't handle it well, and neither do the people around me, Right.

Melissa: 23:21

Because, um, those, those sugar-free, those sugar alcohols, really do a number on your digestive system. So if you have any digestive issues at all like I, have a very sluggish digestion you're missing part of your digestion. Our dad is missing a huge part of his digestion. Do you see a theme here? Do you hear a theme in our family? Anyway, if you're missing, you know, if you're having trouble with digestion, those sugar-free options are not always the best options. If you have never gone on to Amazon and read the reviews for the sugar-free Haribo gummy bears you need, because that's what we're talking about when we're talking about these sugar-free candies. Yeah, Just not a pleasant experience.

Dawn: 24:03

It is probably the funniest thing I've ever read in my life, but I know it's funny because it's true, it's so true.

Dawn: 24:09

So, anyway, I, because of my weight loss surgery and that decision to make changes, I've been able to keep most of the weight off, which is highly unusual A lot of people. If you don't make the changes, you gain the weight back. Now, two and a half years actually, just over two years ago, it's like two years and two months now our brother died from colon cancer Again a digestive tract issue, Something that our family struggles with. Right before that, my mother-in-law died. While Chris was actively dying, my oldest son ran away.

Melissa: 24:56

He came back before I got home, so everything I hear you saying is stress, stress, stress, stress, stress, stress with capital stress, yes, With capital S Yep, and so I started a journey of gaining.

Dawn: 25:11

I had a nervous breakdown, ended up in the hospital, gained a little bit more, and I worked with you as a coach not as a sister as a coach for six months and kind of learned some things about myself. And I'm at the point now it's been several months since we worked together, but I'm at the point now where, okay, I'm ready. You know this stuff is gone. I've worked through these things and it's time to move forward, and so I'm using the tool that I was given in weight loss surgery of a smaller stomach and the things that I've learned over these years, and I'm on a downward trend now and so I'm starting to feel better. And you know we're talking about GLP-1 therapies and a lot of the girls that I know that had weight loss surgery that it didn't work for them.

Dawn: 26:07

They didn't make the change here and here, or here, and they just, you know, the magic pill that they did of surgery isn't working anymore, and so they're looking for a new magic pill.

Melissa: 26:24

Yeah, well, I think it's important to remember when we're talking about GLP-1 is this is one isolated hormone, one isolated hormone in our bodies. Yeah, and hormones? I don't know if we talk about this enough. Hormones are just messengers. Yeah, they're not the problem.

Dawn: 26:47

No, they just tell your body parts what to do.

Melissa: 26:50

Nor are they the solution. They're just messengers, and with this GLP-1 shot they are placing way too much pressure on this one hormone to accomplish a lifestyle goal.

Dawn: 27:07

Well, in a lifestyle goal is exactly what health is, Not weight loss, right, Health? I know some skinny people that are fat. You know they're not healthy. They're not healthy. Their bodies are not healthy. They, you know, they carry it in their face, their neck, you know whatever. Have I thought about GLP-1? Well, when I first started hearing about it, man, that sounded good. That really is a magic pill. It's even more magical than weight loss surgery. Yeah, and look, you could get it. So, Bakhtir, you don't even have to have a prescription for this. You don't have to ever see a doctor.

Melissa: 27:47

Well, I thought it was very interesting. You know they have all these commercials out there. Now we go V. Oh, is that hers, All these commercials?

Dawn: 27:56

Yeah.

Melissa: 27:58

They're targeting women with hers, yeah, anyway, all these commercials, well, this morning, okay. Targeting women with hers, anyway, all these commercials, well, this morning, okay. So first, all of these other companies talk about it being a compound and semi-glutide, glp-1, all this stuff, ters epitide, yeah.

Melissa: 28:14

I heard a Mount Jaro commercial this morning. They never once mentioned semi-glutide, they never once mentioned GLP-1, but they made it sound really, really appealing, but they did not tell you what it was that they were going to put into your body. So marketing, marketing, marketing. It's all about marketing, oh my gosh. And they are making hand over fist. And here's the other thing that's really interesting Until 2033, until 2033, the company Novo Nordisk exclusively manufactures semi-glutide formulations. They are the only company allowed to produce this formulation.

Dawn: 29:02

So this company out of india is getting, oh my gosh so one of the one of the um uh podcasts that I was listening to or watching on on youtube or something, uh talked about that and the whole the whole conversation that I was listening to was not only do they own the rights, they are they pharmaceuticals Like, so the whole. You know are recommending children as young as six get on this because of the obesity epidemic in this world. Their goal because once you go on this, their goal is for you to be on it your entire life. So your six-year-old child who's chubby or even like I was I mean 86 pounds in the first grade, I was 40 pounds heavier, I was morbidly obese A lot of different reasons for that that we'll never know all of. Instead of teaching that child a healthy lifestyle, they're convincing their parents to put them on this medication for 75, 80 years, yeah, yeah, their entire life.

Melissa: 30:32

Well, and we don't know all of the long-term effects yet of this medication, because it's really just now becoming Well, it's new, yeah, in the timeline of history it's new.

Dawn: 30:44

Yeah, but you can choose to just blindly do what your doctor says, or you can say I'll make an appointment for a couple of weeks. Yeah, Let me look at it.

Melissa: 30:57

Well, you know, talking about make, you know, listening to what your doctor says. I did that. I did that for years. I did that for years. I just did what they said.

Melissa: 31:05

For so many reasons, right, part of it's, part of it's our generation. You know, we grew up in a time where we didn't run to the doctor for everything. So if we did listen to what they had to say, but now we have to go to the doctor for everything, your kid can't go back to school without a doctor's note. I mean, like it's just a, it's, that's a machine for another conversation. But you know, I listened for years and years and years. And then I got to that point where things were wrong and I'm going to my doctor and they're going we don't know, we can't figure it out, I don't know what's going on with you. And I got to the point where I just said I'm not going to, I'm not going to listen to them blindly anymore and I'm going to make my own decisions for my, for my wellbeing in my body. And my doctors did not like that, but I did it. I fired them, you know. I just didn't go back. I fired them. I didn't go back because they weren't listening to me.

Dawn: 31:59

I did buy into that and I uh, I've I've had depression for many, many years. But it was found after my son was born, after my baby, my youngest, and he is almost 19. And so I started taking Effexor. Anyway, most people never, ever come off Effexor, but when I and I didn't tell you, I didn't tell anybody but when I was coaching with you I made the decision to come off of it, even though I was coming off of a nervous breakdown because I had started, like learning about some of the toxins and even another month or two before I told people I had done it. Yeah, don't trust doctors anymore. Trust your body, listen to your body. Don't just jump on medicines, don't just hop on every train that goes by.

Melissa: 32:59

But we don't know how to listen to our bodies anymore. You've learned, I've learned, dad is learning, but we don't know how to listen to our bodies anymore. You've learned, I've learned. Dad is learning, but we don't know how to listen to our bodies and we start the process of ignoring what our body needs. We start this process as infants now, yeah, because we want to get our kids on a feeding schedule, we want to make you know, and then we sit them down at breakfast, lunch, dinner what if they're not hungry? What if they're not hungry? What if they're not hungry? At dinner, and we teach our kids to ignore the signals from their body, starting from infancy. Now, sure, I did it. We all do that. I did it. Yeah, I wanted my kids on a feeding schedule to make my life easier.

Dawn: 33:42

Yeah, so dinner snacks so that they're not grumpy while you're trying to cook dinner for everybody.

Melissa: 33:47

I mean you know, learn, learning how to listen to your body is a huge, huge, huge, huge part of what I do with my clients.

Dawn: 33:56

Well, the thing about the GLP one is it turns off your body signals. Absolutely it's, it's more of learn.

Melissa: 34:04

It's more ignoring what your body needs, and that's that's really what it comes down to. They are giving you a chemical that tells your body to stop doing what it should normally do which is digest your food, which is digest, your freaking food. Now imagine I mean just imagine 10 years from now. All these people. They're going to be so unhealthy bedtime Because I don't already absorb enough nutrients.

Dawn: 34:52

So can you imagine if I were to add, like a lot of weight loss patients have done add whatever name brand will go Vimanjaro to an already because I don't have a stomach to absorb the nutrients. Can you imagine what that's doing to them? But nobody knows yet. Like you said, the long-term. Nobody knows what that is yet.

Melissa: 35:18

It makes me wonder and, like I said at the beginning, I'm not a doctor. This is just my sister and I talking. I wonder how people are going to end up with diseases like Crohn's disease, these major digestive disorders that their bodies just don't even function anymore as a result of turning off all the receptors.

Dawn: 35:38

Yeah, yeah, I don't think people realize either because of what I've learned as a weight loss patient as a way of eating coach, because I did go into the coaching for a while just to try to help people understand that and then with our brother passing and just trying to figure out why, I mean our brother was 55. Yeah, you know, um 84 days't diagnosis to death.

Dawn: 36:07

People don't realize what your digestive system is. Just a short history, chris. Our brother, uh, didn't want to have an invasive where they go up through your behind and look around with the camera colonoscopy. So he ordered a test online, the Cologuard test. The thing is, those particular tests only look for certain markers that are found in just a certain type of cancer, and so the type of cancer that he had was not a colon cancer. It did not have the markers of a regular colon cancer and because he didn't have the invasive colonoscopy, they couldn't see it. It was a different type of cancer that settled in his colon.

Dawn: 37:01

We don't want to have a colonoscopy because of the fear or whatever. We don't want to have a colonoscopy because of the fear or whatever. But you know, there are things that we need to do to protect our bodies, and that's one of the things. Another thing is learning how to recognize signals. There were a lot of signals that he missed, so we need to know how to recognize them. And if we're taking something like GLP-1, but by taking that and turning off those signals, it's not a risk for me, it's not something that I'm willing to take.

Melissa: 37:36

There is no magic pill.

Melissa: 37:37

I hate, to be the one to tell you. There is no magic pill. No, there's one thing that works, and it's lifestyle change. And it's not about calories in, calories out, it's not about working out seven days a week. It is literally a lifestyle change and finding the lifestyle change that works for you. Because, yeah, not this not one size fits all. There is not one size fits all of diet, and when I say diet, I mean way of eating. So there's not one size fits all of diet, and when I say diet, I mean way of eating.

Melissa: 38:07

So there's not one size fits all of diet and exercise. We have to have the way that works for us individually, and you know what there's. Maybe GLP-1 is working for you. I just like Dawn, I'm not willing to risk it. With all of the things that I always have going on in my body, my digestion already being slow enough. Knowing my family's history my brother, my dad, my sister I'm not willing to risk it.

Dawn: 38:39

Well, and the girl that I was talking about before, that had weight loss surgery and now she's re-lost all of her weight and she, she feels great but she's literally puking constantly, four or five, six times a day. How does that feel?

Melissa: 38:54

great and, like I said, the person who was missing work because they had poop running down their leg constantly and no control over their bowels.

Dawn: 39:04

Yeah, that's not feeling good to me. No, um, and you know, as a, as an obese person since I was three, the thing that we think makes us feel good as being skinny, um, fitting into that size clothing, um, having people you know say, oh, you're so thin. I mean, is that what you're feeling good about? Because vomiting while you're at work, right after you eat, when you're about to go on a phone call or a Zoom, or walk into a meeting, or having to leave a meeting, because, I mean, I had a girlfriend that did that while she was pregnant. She had that E nemesis, yes, right. So she vomited a lot, you know, and as soon as she was done being pregnant, it went away. That's understandable to say to somebody oh my gosh, I'm having a really bad morning sickness, I'll be back, but oh, I'm taking Majora, I need to go vomit.

Melissa: 40:07

Yeah, it's not the way to start a call.

Dawn: 40:09

Yeah, I don't. I don't get it. I'm sorry, it's a soapbox, so I'm just.

Melissa: 40:13

It is a soapbox, but you and it is a soapbox and lifestyle change is the key. But it's more than lifestyle change, because you can power through anything for a while but eventually you'll end up kind of shifting backwards into old patterns. So really the key is figuring out the pattern. Figuring out the pattern and adjusting the pattern. Like what is it that keeps you going back to the old pattern? What is it that keeps you running back to the things that have you, you know, stuck on that weight loss cycle, weight loss, you know, wheel.

Dawn: 40:54

Well, tom and I my hubby, you know we sit down and watch TV after everything's done, like you know. After I'm done making dinner, he's done with work, we've sat down as a family, whether it's just the two of us or the four of us, whatever Then I go into cleaning the kitchen and making coffee, making lunches for the boys, blah, blah, blah. Then we sit down and watch TV. Well, we had gotten into a habit of having a scotch or a bourbon and a quarter of a cup of peanuts. Then it became a half a cup of peanuts, half a cup of peanuts, and then it became a half a cup of peanuts, half a cup of peanuts, and then it became just peanuts, not even any scotch, you know. So I realized at Christmas like okay, this is really getting out of hand. So now I'm having a cup of tea at night.

Melissa: 41:42

Yeah, and it's, it's, it's, it's making those realizations, stopping long enough to make those realizations, to not be judgmental over the whole thing, but go, oh, wow, isn't that interesting. We already ate your bag. Hmm, yeah, we might want to look at what's causing that, like, what is it? What is it that made me want to eat a whole bag of peanuts? What is it that made me want to eat peanut butter every day? We joke about that a lot, but like, what is it? What is it? More than likely. More than likely, it's old programming, old wiring in your brain. Habits, habits, old wiring and old programming. Absolutely, they keep us stuck. Yeah Well, do you have anything else to say about GLP-1?

Dawn: 42:28

Do your research. Yeah, just if nothing else, if your doctor says, let's put you on this, go, let me just go home and do some. Can you give me one of those flyers or what's the website? Just read the side effects and see if you really want to go through that. Do even the smallest amount of research? Yeah, you know, I mean, there is no magic pill. It's on you and and as awful as that is to say it's on you, it's your decision in the long run, awful as that is to say it's on you, it's your decision in the long run to either I hate to say it go blindly and do whatever somebody tells you to do, or to stand up and say just hold on a minute, let me think about it.

Melissa: 43:18

One of the things that we haven't talked about is the amount of weight that people are losing. They're losing about 30 pounds. That seems to be the average weight loss on these shots and the commercials. I've lost 30 pounds. I've lost 30 pounds. I lost 32 pounds, 31 pounds, 34 pounds. It's all right around that 30 pound range and the reason that people, from what I understand, the reason that this, this, this shot, is so, so popular now is because hollywood started using it several years ago, when uh fast weight loss fast weight loss for a movie role.

Melissa: 43:53

and you know what? For a hollywood star, 30 pounds is a lot. You know these hollywood female, you know these actresses probably weigh 110 pounds. 30 pounds is lot, but for somebody who is 325 pounds, 30 pounds is not going to make that big of a difference. I'm sorry to say that this is our soapbox 30 pounds for someone who is over 300 pounds is not much. And then they still have a lot of work to do after that.

Dawn: 44:25

Well, and you've got to find a way to rebuild that muscle. Yeah, you do, and that's hard. Yeah, it is. Building muscle is hard and in order to build muscle you have to have the good quality protein. But if your digestion is messed up from that protein takes a lot of space in your stomach and your digestive system because of how your body processes it, how your stomach out loud here. But you know, if your brain has been told for six months or however long you're on the Manjaro or whatever it is, that you're already full and you don't need more, how difficult is it going to be to eat enough natural high uh uh high metabolic protein? How hard is it going to be for your body to eat that and digest it? It's going to take, I would think, months after coming off of that stuff to be able to eat enough to rebuild that muscle.

Dawn: 45:42

I don't know that as a fact. I'm just thinking because I'm learning how the body works right.

Melissa: 45:46

Yeah, but I think it's also so important to remember that you are mind, body and spirit. You're not just body, and GLP-1 only targets the body. It's not targeting the things that make you work as a human the spirit and the mind.

Dawn: 46:05

So a weird analogy, but this is something I was a hairdresser. I became a hairdresser in 1982. People would say, oh, you know, does anybody know somebody who does this kind of hair or that kind of hair, who specializes in this or that? And I would say find somebody in public that you like the way their hair looks yes, public that you like the way their hair looks yes, ask them where they went and try it, see if you like it. So for me, the way of eating that I found I was watching this girl who was a weight loss patient, who was drinking this coffee. That looked amazing and I'm like, oh, I can still drink coffee. Sent her a message and she goes this is what it is, you know, look it up for yourself. So I looked it up and I started reading about this way of eating and what this coffee was it's just a protein coffee and reading about that. It's natural foods, natural fats, natural carbs. You know it's, it's low glycemic index. It made sense to me. So I tried it and I liked it.

Dawn: 47:06

Some people might look at carnivore and go, oh, I could do that. Give it a try, rather than put a GLP-1 in your body that your doctor just goes oh hey, I got some coupons, because this company gave me coupons and I can get it for you for $75 a month right now. So why not try the carnivore? Why not try the keto? Why not try the Atkins? Why not try something healthy first and find one that you get? I understood the way of eating that I'm following. I understood that you should eat real food, not processed, not boxed, not bagged. You know, try that first.

Melissa: 47:47

This isn't what your body wants. Your body wants to function, your body wants to be healthy and and this shuts it off. This shuts off your natural intuition, your natural ability to understand what your body needs. So, like Dawn and I were both saying, it's really about shifting your lifestyle and shifting your mindset. And I do have a free gift for you, something that can help you get that mind, body and spirit back in harmony again. It's called Align your Life to Create Harmony, a simple four-part framework. And this guide is for you if you've spent years giving to others and now feel disconnected from yourself. Is for you if you've spent years giving to others and now feel disconnected from yourself. Or maybe you're struggling to align your whole mind, body and spirit, or maybe you're ready to reclaim your inner alignment and sense of purpose, or maybe you want to feel more at ease and flow with your life. So just grab your free guide today. I'll put the link in the show notes and you can begin aligning your life and creating harmony so that you can take your first step toward a life in alignment. Thanks for tuning in today. See you next time.

Melissa: 48:57

Thanks so much for spending a little time with me today on the Lemon Balm Coaching Podcast. I hope you're walking away with something that sparks joy, hope or a fresh perspective for your journey. If you loved today's episode, let's keep the conversation going. You can find more inspiration, coaching tips and resources over at my website, lemonbalmcoachingcom. Don't forget to follow me on social media for encouragement and updates, and you'll find me on Instagram and Facebook at Lemon Balm Coaching. And hey, if you're looking for a supportive, uplifting community of amazing women just like you, come join us in the Reignite your Flame Facebook group. It's a safe, welcoming space where we share, grow and cheer each other on, and you can find the link on my website or just search for Reignite your Flame on Facebook. Remember, honey, just be yourself. The world needs what only you have to offer. Take care and I'll see you in the next episode.