The biggest problem in Sweden, I would say is sugar. I don't think it's it's fast food. We have created an entire culture around candy. We call it small candy, where you just you pick and choose from a a grand selection, and it's become a thing here that you eat it on Saturdays and maybe as cozy Friday night thing. So all the kids, the majority of Swedish families, they they eat candy on Saturdays and Fridays, and that's been just been implemented into our culture.
SPEAKER_01In Sweden, universal healthcare doesn't cover GLP1s for weight loss, which means people pay $500 to $600 a month out of pocket. And the biggest barrier isn't even the cost, it's finding a doctor open-minded enough to prescribe one in the first place. Welcome to the GLP One Hub Podcast. I'm Anna Reisdorf, registered dietitian GLP1 user. And today I'm joined by Emma Liddell, a 37-year-old GLP1 user from Sweden and the host of the first dedicated weight medicine podcast in the country, which has now expanded into the International Weight Medicine Podcast. We're talking about why Sweden's universal healthcare won't cover the medication, institutionalized Saturday candy day that's part of Swedish childhood, why the best part of being on a GLP1 has nothing to do with the scale, and what Americans tend to get wrong about how other countries are handling this. It's really interesting to cover this from an international point of view. And if you're enjoying the podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really helps us grow. And if you're watching over on YouTube, drop us a comment below and let us know what you think. Now let's get on to the episode. Welcome to the GLP1 Hub Podcast. I want to welcome Emma Liddell. We connected because I went on her podcast. And it was very interesting because she is a GLP1 user in Sweden. So I thought it'd be cool to get an international story here on the podcast. Emma, can you introduce yourself? Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.
SPEAKER_00Right. So I'm a 37-year-old girl in my best years. I've been using GLP1s for about a year now. And just a few months after I started on my GLP One, I realized that this is not talked about enough, at least not here in Sweden. So I started a Swedish podcast, which became fairly popular. So then I ventured ventured into the international realm and um started the weight medicine podcast.
SPEAKER_01So um so with the Swedish podcast, were is yours the only one?
SPEAKER_00Well, it was the first GLP1 podcast, and it's really the only, I would say pure uh GLP1 or weight medicine podcast. It's focused on um guests and their their experience with various weight medicine, not just GLP1s, but other kinds as well. And it's from their user experience. I I invite some experts. There's been some doctors and different experts just sharing their expertise on the subject. There are other podcasts similar, or at least they're touching on the same subject, but none like mine.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool. That's great. So it's awesome to be one of the only ones. You know what I saw today? What? All of a sudden on Apple Podcasts, there are million AI-generated GLP1 podcasts. What? Like 40 of them suddenly popped up. That is I'm so aggravated. And the picture is clearly AI. And it's even by it says like by AI company so and so. It's like, I was the only one here. People come.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But that's that's super strange because like who who would want to listen to a podcast generated by AI? How is that even?
SPEAKER_01I think they're just playing a game. Like, right, I think that the the Jew, the goodness is the personal connection. But Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and the the real experiences. That's that's what we want to share. And I mean, AI has no insight into how it feels to be needing a GLP one or living with it or with obesity and whatnot.
SPEAKER_01So I want to start with with that. Like, what made you decide to start a GLP one? Like, where did you first hear about it? Like, what is it common in Sweden? Or or tell me a little bit more.
SPEAKER_00Well, when I mean, I've been struggling with my weight my entire life, been on every diet under the sun, as most of us have. And I just I was at my wit's end, to be honest. I had I had no no way out, it felt like I was trapped. And I heard obviously about the GOP1s first in the whole Olsenpic debacle coming from the States and all these celebrities using it. And I thought initially that it was just another way of dieting for the rich and famous, and then realized that it is also coming to other parts of the world. But when I started it, it was a process of a few months before I actually got to start it, because it's fairly expensive and it's not such a cutthroat experience getting it, getting your hands on it. So also when I started, I mean now it's it's pretty it's pretty uh common. It's it's much more acceptable and accepted in society, even though media has their own view of it, of course. But when I started, there was very few in Sweden talking about it. And that's probably also why my podcast became popular, because it wasn't the few who used GOP1s at that time, they weren't talking about it because it was it was so attached to this stigma and the shame of it. So that's uh that's really about it.
SPEAKER_01And then is it covered by insurance for you?
SPEAKER_00No, we don't have that system here in Sweden at all. So you can't have a private like healthcare insurance to cut the line, pretty much, of medical um visits and whatnot, but not medication. We have medication government covered after a certain amount of money, if it's you know necessary, uh medicine you really need. At this point, GOP walls are not considered necessities when it comes to medicine, which I think stems from not fully accepting that obesity is a chronic disease.
SPEAKER_01Sure, sure. So in Sweden, you have like government health care, and then they decide like what they're gonna cover and what they're not. And so is that why it took you so long to get on it? Because it took you a while to get an appointment?
SPEAKER_00No, actually, that's not it, because the problem is finding a prescriber, a doctor that is open-minded enough to actually see this as an option. And with time, now they're getting more and more open-minded and willing to prescribe, but there's still a lot. Like you have to be lucky when you get to a doctor. They have to really understand it. So, no, the reason why it took me some time will it was finding the right healthcare provider because we have this governmental-owned system, but then we also have private actors. The difference is that it sometimes costs a little bit, but sometimes it's not. But just when it comes to obesity-related medicine and healthcare, there are specialists that are willing to prescribe, they have all this knowledge of obesity, but you would have to pay a subscription to them. And for me, financially, that was not an option to also pay, you know, top dollar for the medicine and also pay a subscription each month for, you know, getting the recipe. And then obviously they also have more support in terms of, you know, diet um dietitians and uh maybe health coaches and and this and that. But I I just wanted the medicine. I know the dieting, uh like the the dietary preferences and uh how to move my body and these kind of things. But I needed to find someone without having to pay a subscription. So that took some time.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you were you able to find somebody in your town or like how did you go about finding that person?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I ventured into internet because we do have these online healthcare providers at this point. I would perhaps maybe maybe similar to your telehealth companies, I'm assuming, but it's not, it's still we can't get compounded medicine here, and it's I don't wanna venture too deep into this because I I'm not fully in the loop of what the telehealth companies are, but it's it's an online, you never you don't meet in person. You uh you have a chat and you send pictures and maybe video is possible. So I found it that way.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Okay. And then for the prescription, like do you well, can you share kind of what the general cost is?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, we I don't know how it is in US and and so, but we have we get the medication in pens, which you where you can click, which means that you can get like the highest dosage pen, and then you can click yourself to a lower dose, which is saving money. And that's usually why why people do it, although the medical professionals discourage this because the pen is only meant to last for so and so long, and and this way of using it exceeds it. But it's still if you if you keep it in the fridge, many of us do it that way. And I'm I'm not great with translating Swedish crowns to US dollar, but approximately we pay, say for if we would uh I don't know, do you do you do you use the medical names for it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like Osempic, whatever.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, so uh if we say Munjaro, which is separate for you guys, I think, the the 15 milligram ones is about five to six hundred dollars.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And I would say that Osempic or Vigobia is about half price.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. So it's about the same as we're paying here through the Lily Lily Direct is like, depending on the dose, $300 to $500 for the trazepatides at Boun Manjaro.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, and I mean it's it's about it is a significant amount of money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it definitely is. And so compounds are not allowed in Sweden. Is it like illegal to compound any medication or just this?
SPEAKER_00We j no, we don't have any compounding pharmacies at all. It's uh interesting.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Because here, like, we do a lot of personalized medications through the compounding. I don't know if you know a lot about that.
SPEAKER_00I've heard I've heard uh a little bit about it on my podcast, and it really intrigued me because here it's it is really super regulated. Like for instance, uh I know that the patent for semaglutide now in India is released, which technically if you can import, that would, you know, lower the cost. It's just that we don't do that. We're not gonna import from India at this point, at least of to my knowledge. We have really super strict um rules about medications and and things like that.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, so we're not supposed to import from other countries either, but that doesn't mean it's that happy.
SPEAKER_00True.
SPEAKER_01Because it is cheaper in other places. And you know, people can like we have a lot of countries that touch our country, like Mexico, you can just go down there and get it for less. You know, people do do that, you know. And I mean you have country other countries close by, Sweden too, yeah. That you could maybe if if they have that available. But in terms of just Sweden in general, because we have a pretty significant obesity problem in the United States, would you say it's comparable in Sweden or not as much?
SPEAKER_00No, I don't think it is as big of an issue here as in the States. Think that the numbers, and I'm I'm not gonna they're not written in stone here, but I think I mean we have I think they say that 50% of our population is overweight, but to fall into the range of obesity, I think it's between 15 and 20%. So I don't know what the numbers are in in the US, but I do think they're higher.
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SPEAKER_00It's election year here. And I'm gonna be putting my neck out here a little bit and say no. Uh I don't think that that's a prioritized question at all. They have things that they believe is far more important. So no, I wouldn't say that they're they're doing much effort, uh putting much effort into that.
SPEAKER_01And then do you feel that the Swedish diet is is like a healthy diet, or is it like our diet where we like to eat fast food and drink soda?
SPEAKER_00We do have fast foods, not as extensive as in in the US, but we we do have it a lot. We do have Subway and McDonald's and Burger King and some Swedish versions of it, of course. I think the biggest problem in Sweden, I would say is sugar. I don't think it's it's fast food. It's more we have an entire culture or we have created an entire culture around candy. We have these, we call it small candy, where you just you pick and choose from a grand selection, and it's become a thing here that you eat it on Saturdays and maybe as you know cozy Friday night thing. So all the kids, they on Saturdays, every kid pretty much I this does not apply to my children, but but uh that's for other reasons. But the majority of Swedish families they they eat candy on Saturdays and Fridays, and that's been just been implemented into our culture. And then also our cultures and our gatherings are a lot centered around food.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_00But then of course we're also subject to to processed food, ultra-processed food, and I think that's an issue. We do have fresh produce as well, but we don't grow as much fruit and veggies as other countries in the US, for instance. Our c our climate is not allowed for it. So we have to import a lot, and I think that's also an issue.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it can get expensive if it has to come from somewhere else. Yeah. Yeah. Because the cold up there in Sweden is uh not really conducive to uh a lot of fruits and vegetables.
SPEAKER_00No. I mean we have a lot of trees and forests, but that's that's not edible.
SPEAKER_01Sure, sure. So in terms of your personal story, you've been on it for a year. What are the results that you've seen so far in terms of your weight and then just in terms of overall health improvements as well?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I think I've lost around 30, no wait, 40-ish pounds this year. And um that's a number. It's a it's a fair number. It's been steady, going steady. But the scale has become less and less important. And the peace of mind and the and the life quality is really what stands out for me. And I I of course I wish for a future without medicine, but I I don't know. I don't want to go back to how I had it before. So I foresee medicine being part of my life for a foreseeable future because I just I the peace of mind and the mental clarity and having the space to focus on other things than than weight loss and my weight and what I should eat and not eat, that is the freedom and the the best part about the GLP wants for me.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I agree. Like, I would also love to someday get off this medication, but like unless there's some way to erase that part of my brain, maybe like a surgery on the frontal part. Yeah, lobotomy. Lobotomy. You know, then I don't really know how to how to be without it. So what about any like health markers not scale related? Anything like, have you had any lab tests done or anything that's improved?
SPEAKER_00My lab test before was pretty pretty decent, actually. I only have this a little bit elevated, uh, you know, the bad cholesterol. It was not in like a red marker or anything like that. It was just it was slightly elevated. And that of of course that has changed. It's it's fine now. But health markers, it's it's more of what I can feel my body is capable of. And that's that's purely, purely the the weight loss of getting down and up again from from the ground, playing with my kids, walking upstairs without uh losing my breath and and things like that, and fitting in places and sitting in ways that I didn't do before, moving my body in different ways. But that is not the medicine in itself. Um it's just the weight loss.
SPEAKER_01Sure. And then so are you exercising more regularly now, or were you always an exerciser before?
SPEAKER_00I wish I said that I did or I do, but I'm I'm trying to incorporate it, but I'm just I don't want to say I don't have the time because we all have the same 24 hours a day. But I have small children and I'm running a business and I'm studying, and there's been a lot of sickness in our family, you know, with daycare things going around. So I keep starting and I don't want to call it restarting, but that's what I'm doing. I'm starting and restarting and restarting, or maybe I'll just keep going, but there are long breaks in between now. I've been fairly regular with my yoga practice. Every Thursday and every other Sunday I go to to yin yoga. And uh I'm trying to pick up my running, and for me it's it's tricky because exercise for me throughout my life has always been about punishment and burning off calories, and it hasn't been pleasure, it's been torture. So I'm trying to rewire my brain to actually enjoying it because I do enjoy running and I do enjoy going to the gym. Getting there from home, I have a really high threshold to get over because my brain is just signaling it's gonna be torture. Because it remembers that I always used to overdo it. So it was not, you know, run a couple miles, it was run however much you can, so you can't stand, or also do that and do a couple hours of gym after you've been working an entire night or or whatever it may be. So it's it's wired to dislike getting there because it thinks that I'm gonna keep punishing it. So yeah, that's what I'm working on.
SPEAKER_01Trying to trying to reframe that fitness and exercise because it it does make you feel good. Yeah. But I get it. I get it. You know, when you've been so long you had to do it, or else you wouldn't, you couldn't miss it, or yeah, that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it became a must instead of a I feel good doing it.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. That makes sense. So, what about the other people in your life? Have they been accepting of this or does anybody know? I mean, you're you have a podcast, so I assume they know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I I I had to be fairly open about it since and I've been in in various newspapers because of the podcast and and and whatnot. So I could not I could not hide that fact that I was using it. Initially, people were hesitant, and I i i it it stems from a lack of knowledge and just just remembering the Olympic debacle, thinking it's something new, thinking it's something we don't have research on, thinking it's dangerous, not understanding obesity, I don't know. That's probably the things. But as I've been losing weight, feeling better, becoming a better person, I would say, happier, lighter in my mind, I mean, and as a person, I think that they've just gradually moved towards if not liking, but at least accepting it.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And has anybody started a GLP one because of you?
SPEAKER_00My mother, actually, my mother has. I don't think she's still my grandmother, but uh we talk about it a lot, and she has. And she just got she listened to my podcasts and and got really intrigued by. The function of it. And she's also struggled with weight her entire life. And I mean, we did weight watchers together when I was 10. So like it's really been uh a life full of dieting for her, too. I still I I don't think her food noise and things are as extreme as mine has been, but she's still I this I still think she benefits from the the usage of the ELP1.
SPEAKER_01Does she have any health conditions related to her weight or anything?
SPEAKER_00No, no. She never got as big as I I did either. So she she kind of caught it. She was on an upgoing trend weight-wise, and she kind of wanted to stop it before it got too extreme and dismanaged to do that.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. I know a lot of like both of my in-laws are on a GLP one. I'm certain it's because of me. Uh my my dad's wife is on a GLP one. So it's like there's just like a lot. I think I'm inspiring all the people. I think uh Eli Lilly should give me some money or something.
SPEAKER_00Sponsor you with free medicine.
SPEAKER_01Sponsor me, Eli Lilly. Are you listening?
SPEAKER_00You have to send a sponsor sponsorship request to the to the CEO. I'm doing such good uh commercials here on my podcast. I'm advertising heavy here for you.
SPEAKER_01That's right. So what about your kids? Are have they noticed anything? I know that they're much younger.
SPEAKER_00They're really young. Uh they I don't think I don't think uh they have noticed at all. Actually, my oldest said to me the other day, he was like looking at my tummy after I I was changing clothes or whatever, and he's like, Why is it not getting smaller, mommy? Because I s I told him when his his little brother was born that he asked why I had such a big tummy, and I told him, like, because I had I had a baby and it's it's gonna go away. So he looked at it and he was like, Why is it still big, mommy? And I just shrugged and was like, I don't know. This is how I look. Not a big deal. I know it's smaller, that's not the point. But no, I don't think that they I don't think that they reflect on it. And we are doing we're really working hard, me and my husband, to not have food or weight or any of this be an issue. We're really trying to not put value into it.
SPEAKER_01So how do you approach that with them? Do you just stay neutral when you talk about weight or different people have different bodies? Like, how do you approach that with them?
SPEAKER_00It hasn't come up at all. Like we I'm not I'm not talking about weight in front of them, at least not in in the language that they understand. If we talk about something they shouldn't, we do it in English. And they're still so small that they don't they don't get it. But it's it's it's not something that is talked about in our household and food. I don't want to transfer my disturbed relationship with food to them. So we don't have good or bad food. We talk about it in terms of energy, what makes you play longer, and some things that they've noticed themselves. If they eat a lot of sugary stuff before they've actually eaten any food, they they don't feel good. They they get a little nauseous or their tummy aches, and and we talk about it is because you you didn't have food. You just and you know how we eat for for taste some things and we eat for energy, other things. Like we drink water when we're thirsty, and we drink juice because it tastes good. So that's kind of how we were trying to frame it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's cool. That's great. My kids uh know the word GLP1 very well just because of like a weight, like they don't think they need it or anything like that, but it's just a kind it's just all the time, you know. GLP won't have GLP1 no.
SPEAKER_00So they just think it's just part of their own.
SPEAKER_01But how old are your kids? 10 and 8.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because mine are um five and almost two, so it's not part of their life yet.
SPEAKER_01Do you guys remember my conversation with Beth a while back, the one that became one of the most popular episodes? Well, Beth is from Tide Wellness, and that conversation is the reason I'm comfortable telling you about them today. So many people lose weight on GLP1, feel amazing, and then six months later, they're back to where they started because the program ended or the provider disappeared, or they were never set up for the long haul. But Tide Wellness is built differently. Licensed providers who actually adjust your dosing as your body changes. A real care team you can message when you hit a plateau or have a question or need help. Nutrition guidance designed specifically for how GLP1s change your appetite. And if you've got questions, you can book a consultation and actually talk to a provider, a rare find in this space. If you're looking for more than GLP1s, they also do microdose GLP1 programs, hormone therapy, longevity peptides, and the kind of support that matters when you're trying to feel your best long term. Tide is built with support by a team that really cares. Go to tidewellness.com backslash GLP1 hub and use the code GLP1Hub50 for $50 off your first month. Again, it's TideTy D E wellness.com backslash GLP, the number one hub, and the code is GLP1Hub50. So in terms of GLP1 access in Sweden, do you think that it'll get better as maybe there are more doctors or more understanding? Like, where do you think is this is going for the people in Sweden?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, the more users that we have and the more people trying to educate, because we are becoming a fairly big community now of people actually advocating for obesity and food GOP wands. I think that the medical uh professionals will ease into understanding it. And then I think that it will get easier to to get access to it. I'm pretty sure. Um and if if not, there's always there's always someone you can turn to to get the help that you need, but it should be readily accessible for anyone, anywhere. But I think that will take some time.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. And do you think that this is pretty comparable experience for other countries, either in Scandinavia or in Europe overall?
SPEAKER_00I don't know, to be honest.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00I would assume that Denmark would be more liberal about it, considering semaglutides from there or the original. But I I don't actually know to be fair. It's not it's not talked about a lot across the borders, so I can only speak for Sweden.
SPEAKER_01Right, right. Yeah, because I I know that like in Mexico, I think it's over the counter. So just get it. And then in Canada, they don't have a lot of it, like because they have the socialized health care too, so it's very, very limited who can get it. And they have compound. So it's just like interesting how just across the border.
SPEAKER_00And and we also have we also have criteria here. Like it's not not anybody, even if you have the right doctor, not anybody can go and get it prescribed. There are pretty hard criteria. You have to have a BMI of 30 or over, or you have to have a BMI of 27 uh 230, 27 to 30, and some kind of related illness of like high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes, or actually that's that's a separate thing, but you know, something that is related to um to your weight, sleep apnea or something.
SPEAKER_01Those are also technically the rules here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But no one follows them.
SPEAKER_00Is that so? I didn't think that that was the criteria theory, actually. I thought I thought it was more open-minded because I know so many that has it, even though most of them are actually getting them from telehealth companies. But I there's so many that are taking them from other for other reasons as well, not just weight loss, inflammatory reasons or chronic diseases or whatnot. Here that's not happening.
SPEAKER_01There is there's plenty of doctors who will prescribe things off label for things for other illnesses, but the criteria for GLP1 prescription should be that. But because of the financial incentives, you can get it from any med spa in my town, anywhere you want. Whatever weight you want, doesn't matter. So there's just a big financial incentive to prescribe it. So anyway, awesome. Well, Emma, where can people find out about you and your podcast if they want to listen in Swedish or English?
SPEAKER_00The English one is the Weight Medicine Podcast on Instagram. And then we have the Swedish podcast, which is Vichtmedicine Podam. So if there are any Swedish listeners, they can find me uh and my Swedish podcast on that Instagram handle as well. And then you can also check me out on my uh website, literal creation stuff, you know, look into me and what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, awesome. Well, thank you for bringing this like international perspective here to the podcast. I think it's cool to hear what what's going on in other places and the experiences that people are having all around the world. So I appreciate you being here.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for having me. It's it's been really nice.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for listening to this week's episode of the GLP1 Hub Podcast. I hope you enjoyed learning about the GLP1 experience from a different country because everyone is having a little bit of a slightly different experience and access and all of those things. And if you want more support along your GLP1 journey, make sure you are subscribed to the Steady State newsletter that I put out every Tuesday with all sorts of advice about nutrition and weight loss, maintenance, and all the things that you need to know along the way. So you can find the link to sign up for that down in the show notes below. And I'll see you in the next episode.