Sleep, Cortisol & GLP-1s w/ Dr. Holly Donahue

Are you waking up at 3AM with your heart racing? Feeling wired but tired all day? Dr. Holly Donahue, a naturopathic doctor with over two decades of experience, reveals why so many GLP-1 users struggle with sleep, and it's not the medication itself. The real culprit is what most people are doing (or not doing) with their nutrition. In this conversation, Ana and Dr. Donahue break down the cortisol-blood sugar connection, why your body might be spiking stress hormones overnight, and exactly what you need to eat to sleep soundly while on a GLP-1. If you're exhausted, not losing weight despite doing "everything right," or just want to feel better on your medication, this episode gives you the blueprint. 

About Dr. Donahue:

 Dr. Holly Donahue is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor with over two decades of clinical experience who discovered naturopathic medicine's power over 30 years ago when a customized treatment plan completely turned her life around—prompting her to leave corporate America and pursue medicine. She now helps high performers heal from burnout, fatigue, hormone imbalance, and weight issues without chasing silver bullets, addressing health at the level of body, mind, and spirit. She's the founder of Simple Health, a virtual wellness company delivering personalized naturopathic coaching and treatment programs nationwide, with her work featured on Voice America, the Health Mastery for Leaders Summit, and other performance-driven health platforms. 

Find Simple Health online: https://www.simplehealthnh.com/

Pocket Doc - https://joinpocketdoc.com/join

Simple Health Community - https://membership.simplehealthnh.app/

Vision for Health - https://get.simplehealthnh.com/vision-for-health-5-day-challenge-landing677732-1351

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Chapters

• 8:00 [Ad] Understanding Hypophosphatemia: Recognition, Diagnosis, and Treatment
• 8:26 (Cont.) Sleep, Cortisol & GLP-1s w/ Dr. Holly Donahue

Transcript

Dr. Holly Donahue (00:00)
if you're not refueling your body,

that's not going to allow you to sleep well. the GLP-1 receptor agonist is going to delay your gastric emptying and that can change how your meals are tolerated and how nutrients delivered overnight.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (00:17)
Welcome to the GLP One Hub podcast. I'm Ana Reisdorf, Registered Dietitian, GLP One user. Today I'm joined by Dr. Holly Donahue, a naturopathic doctor who helps people get to the root cause of chronic health issues. We're diving deep into sleep quality, cortisol, and why proper nutrition on GLP Ones matter more than you think. If you get something valuable from this conversation, take a minute and leave us a review on Spotify or Apple podcasts? It really helps us reach more people who

need this information. Let's get into the episode.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (00:49)
I'm really happy to welcome Dr. Holly Donahue, who's a naturopathic doctor here today. And Dr. Donahue, why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and why we're having this conversation.

Dr. Holly Donahue (01:02)
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it. I love getting the word out about what's happening in this world. So really briefly, I got into naturopathic medicine because it saved my life. So when I was in my teenage years, I had horrible menstrual cramps. I couldn't lose weight and I was depressed. And so I used a lot of my energy throughout the week to get through my life. And then on weekends I would crash. And so I searched and I searched and I searched.

And finally, it was a naturopathic doctor, Dr. James D’Adamo that actually saved my life in my twenties. So I lost a lot of my teenage years when everybody's out having fun and I'm just surviving. Right. And so that's really, truly why I got into this medicine because we needed individuals and believe it or not, I was like pioneering it. I've been doing this for over two decades now. Many people are like, you're being a naturopathic doctor. Like what's your daughter doing? Like, what are you doing?

and they had no idea. So now my goal is to get to the root cause of illness for individuals and really walk them on a health and healing journey and really care for them on so many deep levels and find the root cause. So that's really my journey and why I got into naturopathic medicine.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (02:15)
Okay, that's great. So today we're going to talk a little bit about sleep and how that connects to the GLP-1 journey and your overall health. So maybe we need to start from like the beginning. Like why, why do we sleep? Seems like dangerous and a waste of time.

Dr. Holly Donahue (02:29)
Yeah, I love this conversation because many of my clients are high level executives and leaders, right? And they're like, why do I need to sleep eight hours a night? I have so much to do. I'm only on this earth for a short period of time. And the reality is, that sleep is so healing.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (02:41)
Is this?

Dr. Holly Donahue (02:45)
And believe it or not, we're talking about GLP-1s in sleep today. And if you're challenged, like losing weight, feeling bloated, exhausted all the time, and your hormones are imbalanced, and keep in mind, when I hit menopause, I never had a problem. Most people in menopause are having all these challenges because they're not sleeping deep enough, they're not balancing their hormones, and if you're not sleeping, you guys, cannot heal.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (03:09)
Mm-hmm. Yes, absolutely. So what causes difficulty sleeping? Like, where does that stem from?

Dr. Holly Donahue (03:17)
Yeah, one of the major pieces that is a driver is cortisol, right? So we all know cortisol, we need to have some stress. Good quality, small amount of stress is key, right? So cortisol and sugar, they go hand in hand. And so really in the morning, it's not elevated, but you should have a higher amount of cortisol when you wake up in the morning. And then as it drops off around two to four PM, I say you should have a little bit of bleep.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (03:22)
and

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (03:46)
then it drops off and melatonin kicks in. What happens consistently is people run on cortisol 24/7 telling their body they're not safe and they are completely stressed out. And guess what? When you don't eat and your blood sugar drops, it has to be normalized. What comes into the rescue? It's cortisol. And so that nervous system dysregulation and that cortisol drive

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (03:59)
Mm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (04:12)
being on 24/7 is not healthy. And so getting that balanced is 100 % key.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (04:16)
Yes.

So I hear a lot of people on GLP-1s, somebody told me the other day they had had nothing but coffee and bone broth for two weeks. Would you assume that a person like that is possibly spiking their cortisol by not eating correctly?

Dr. Holly Donahue (04:35)
100%. So we know how the body works and the body works. It's a calories out calories in model. Hold on for a second. And a hormonal response model. So it's not just calories in calories out. It's also hormonal response. If we are not feeding our body the right amount of nutrients on a deep, deep level,

Our body will not function and you will wake up in the middle of the night. So if you're waking up, let's say between two to four AM on a GLP-1 and your heart is racing and your mind is suddenly on, or you feel hungry and shaking, that's not random. The bone broth that this individual was eating and not eating enough protein.

and balancing their blood sugar is really what's waking them up in the middle of the night, right? And so it's kind of like, I use this example that's so simple, but so aha with patients, would you take an eighth of a tank of gas in your car and try to drive a thousand miles, You would not because your car is gonna break down. Guess what's gonna happen with your body? It's gonna break down.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (05:41)
Mm-hmm.

Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And I think that we've decided to chase thinness over health. And what you've just said is like, eventually you're gonna hit a wall and it's gonna be very difficult to crawl back out of that. Yes, it doesn't matter what you weigh at that point.

Dr. Holly Donahue (05:59)
Absolutely.

Exactly. so, you know, many people don't realize like when they start these medications, what do they do? They decrease our satiety, right? They make us not hungry. They slow our gastric emptying, right? They slow our digestion. And then they can also believe it or not cause constipation. Well, those are all key for us to actually sleep soundly.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (06:21)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (06:26)
Right? We've got to get the toxicity out with the bowels. And many people are like, wait, what? Yeah. Like if the colon's not empty, you're reabsorbing nutrients. And I'm sorry, it's not a fun conversation, but you're reabsorbing putrefaction. Right? So if you're slowing that down and now you're constipated, whereas your bowels were in a really good place. I know naturopaths love to talk about this. You're not emptying the toxicity out of your body, right? Then when you're not feeding your body the right amount of proteins, fats, and minerals,

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (06:50)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (06:56)
then your glucose can just really drift and lower during the night. And in the early morning hours, your liver glycogen storage is depleted, right? And so now your blood sugar and your body releases these stress hormones, usually epinephrine and cortisol, right? In order to raise your blood sugar. So you need protein.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (07:19)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (07:22)
vegetables, which I drive carbohydrates more than simple carbs, because simple carbs are sugar, sugar to the body. It doesn't know the difference between sugar as opposed to simple carbs and then healthy fats. And if you don't have that, then this physiologic response that you're getting is normal because you're driving the body and it just can't drive anymore.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (07:45)
Right, right. So let's talk about some of the sleep issues that can come up if you're not fueling your body correctly. So what are some of the patterns that you're seeing with people that are struggling with high cortisol or maybe not fueling themselves correctly while on a GLP-1?

Dr. Holly Donahue (08:00)
Yep.

So I have five that I've seen as a pattern. Middle of the night waking, right? Difficulty actually ⁓ falling asleep. Their sleep is light. It's not as deep. Deep REM sleep is healing. We have different levels of sleep. Early morning waking with fatigue is a big one.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (08:06)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (08:22)
And

then this wired but tired feeling all the time, right? Because they just can't shut their nervous system and their cortisol off. So it's that wide awake, that heart racing, you know, they're just not getting deep sound sleep.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (08:32)
right.

So if let's start maybe with the first one, if you're having trouble falling asleep, what should you look at in terms of your lifestyle?

Dr. Holly Donahue (08:46)
Yeah, so you want to look at what happens on a GLP-1 is your appetite is low, right? We just talked about that. Your meals are getting smaller. The first thing to drop off that I speak to patients about is their protein and their healthy fats drop off first.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (09:03)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (09:03)
right? And they're going to go crave and they're going to eat something like a carbohydrate or a bread or a pasta. So when the body doesn't have enough stable fuel coming in, especially like we just said, the proteins, fats and minerals, then your glucose, your sugar can drift during the night. And in the early morning hours, that's when you really need the sugar.

So your body is saving you by waking you up as your sugar falls. So the body releases the stress hormone, like we talked about the cortisol, right? And so what we actually want to do is I say to patients before they go to bed to get deeper sleep, you want to eat more protein or a healthy fat, and you need to figure out what works for you, right? So if you're not refueling your body,

that's not going to allow you to sleep well. Does that make sense? think I answered the question correctly. And then, the GLP-1 receptor agonist is going to delay your gastric emptying and that can change how your meals are tolerated and how nutrients are delivered overnight. Right.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (09:57)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Dr. Holly Donahue (10:13)
And then the last piece that I think of is that fullness feeling. Sometimes you have reflex or nausea, right? Again, that is being increased by your under-fueling of your nutrition because you're not feeling hungry, right? So we're shutting that messaging off, but we're not giving the body what it needs.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (10:34)
So do you recommend to get that protein or fat like how soon before you're planning to go to bed or what is it like a pattern that you should go for during the day?

Dr. Holly Donahue (10:44)
Yeah, so that's a really good question. So I work with patients and I say like, I want to create their blueprint with them, their strategy that works for them, right. But just general to help the audience out is I would eat protein at dinner that anchors our nervous system. And

I would eat real quality protein like an animal protein, unless you're vegan, vegetarian. I won't necessarily go in there deeply, but like a really good protein. And then I would actually add my healthy fat to, to that actually helps slow your glucose curve down. like an oil, a raw olive oil, an avocado, nuts, cods, salmon, those are really good, healthy fats. And then.

If you're waking up hungry on the other side in the morning, I would have right at bedtime a small protein and a healthy fat as a bedtime option. So it's almost like we have to tweak with what our body needs, because believe it or not, we're all different individuals. And then lastly, know what your electrolyte balance is, because we know that being on GLP-1s, we unintentionally lower these intakes, so we end up dehydrated.

and then we have these electrolyte shifts that can actually worsen our sleep quality.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (12:02)
Okay,

so how do you know if you're electrolyte imbalanced?

Dr. Holly Donahue (12:05)
I would say that are you getting cramping at night? ⁓ There's obviously lab values like magnesium, potassium, calcium that we're looking at.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (12:08)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (12:15)
It's actually, it's really hard to know your electrolyte. Are you thirsty all the time and not drinking? Right? So it's like trying to get that hydration in and I always suggest a pinch of Himalayan sea salt because we need salt with water, but many of us are drinking so much water. We're actually hydrating so much, but we're not refilling our electrolytes.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (12:36)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I see that too. It's like people are so focused on water and not enough with the electrolytes. So one of the indications of GLP-1 is that it helps with sleep apnea. Have you seen that some of your patients who are using it for that maybe are sleeping better?

Dr. Holly Donahue (12:40)
Mm-hmm.

Well, so if we think of, if I think of my general knowledge of sleep apnea, when you lay down, you're actually, it's hard to explain, but like when you actually lay down, like all of your, especially if you have a larger neck, right? All of that weight comes into the neck. And so as you, and that like tightens your trachea, so the breathing is hard, right? So what I noticed as people lose weight and their body comes back to physiological balance, right?

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (13:12)
Okay.

Dr. Holly Donahue (13:22)
I see that patients are sleeping more soundly and getting rid of the sleep apnea on that physiological level, but I haven't dug deep into that myself, but just in general, that's what I see. And I also see people that aren't on GLP-1s that as they lose weight, they sleep better.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (13:40)
Right, right. So maybe it's just the breathing and the pressure that's coming from the extra weight.

Dr. Holly Donahue (13:45)
I think so and the pressure coming up into the neck on the trachea.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (13:48)
Right, right, absolutely. So you mentioned cortisol quite a bit and there's a connection between cortisol and your blood sugar and all of that. So GLP-1's lower blood sugar, does that cause your cortisol to increase if your blood sugar gets too low or is it, like does that make it worse?

Dr. Holly Donahue (14:06)
Yeah. So I think of like, if GLP-1s are slowing our digestion, they're altering our circadian rhythm, our normal circadian rhythm. Like I talked about as cortisol up here. then it drops off, right? So if you don't eat, ⁓

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (14:13)
Mm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (14:21)
Your cortisol is going to spike to help bring up your blood sugar. Cause your body's like warning, warning, warning. Right? So that's the cortisol is your friend, but it becomes your enemy if it's spiking. So when you're not eating enough food, again, your body thinks it's in an emergency state. so your cortisol spikes to bring up sugar, to bring your body up to speed. Is that, can I answer a question correctly? Yeah.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (14:43)
Right. Yeah. Yes, definitely.

And where does exercise play a role? Cause I know that exercise is like a healthy stress, right? But I think you can maybe overdo it and spike your cortisol too.

Dr. Holly Donahue (14:56)
Yeah. So when my patients like I can use myself for an example that I have shared quite frequently recently, I lost my dad in March of last year and I'm a hardcore exerciser. Like I do hard heavy weights, like, ⁓ you know, I do cardio three to four times a week. I even love orange theory, right? But when I'm balanced, so honestly, like, that hardcore exercise, that heavy weight lifting when I was

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (15:00)
Yeah.

Dr. Holly Donahue (15:24)
I

grieving, grieving in stress, right? I could not push my body, nor did I want to. So I pulled back on the type of exercise I did. And let me tell you, I did a lot of walking last year, right? I still did the weights, but if I was typically doing 25, 50 higher weights, I was more in the 15 to 20 kind of.

That's what my body needed. So when we talk about exercise and movement, I always say to my patients, I want them to check in with themselves. If they're tired and fatigued or their body feels fatigued, pull back on the exercise, right? If you're not feeding your body enough nutrition and protein and healthy fats like you possibly are doing on a GLP-1 because you're not, it's not your fault, but you're not trained in the nutrition piece like we're talking about here, you don't want to drive

and raise your cortisol because your body's gonna get more fatigued and your nervous system is gonna get more fatigued. And so that push and push on that nervous system, that cortisol stress.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (16:21)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (16:26)
Again, we're taking ourselves out of our body and just being like, I have to do this to lose weight. I have to do this to be thinner. I'm told I have to exercise hard. And the truth is, is how about if we say, let's get in the flow of who we are and get into the balance of what our body needs today.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (16:44)
Mm-hmm, yeah, I think there's a lot of stress and pressure, especially I hear from patients, I'm paying so much for this medication, I don't wanna lose this opportunity, right? So they're just, they don't wanna not do the right thing because, or what we think is the right thing, but it might be not the right thing.

Dr. Holly Donahue (16:54)
100%

That's correct.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (17:04)
So you've mentioned the nervous system a couple of times. Are there other things you can do besides obviously eating your fats and proteins and exercising moderately to help regulate that cortisol in that nervous system?

Dr. Holly Donahue (17:16)
So good.

I love this question. It just gave me chills because the truth is that we're taught to push and push, right? So I'm in the winter months here in New Hampshire. So going off and taking my shoes off is probably not an opportunity to ground myself. But first thing in the morning, if you can, for me, I just get outside, don't wear sunglasses, hope the sun is out and get

your circadian rhythm balance because that is natural for you, right? Having your same sleep cycle, go to bed the same time every night, wake up the same time every morning is nervous system regulation because your body naturally finds its circadian rhythm, right? We also talk about deep breathing. Like what's the first thing when we're

When we're born into this world, we breathe. What's the last thing that we do when we leave this world? We stop breathing. Breath is free, you guys. It doesn't cost you anything. So why not like breathe like every hour? Just do some deep breathing like in for four, exhale for six. Do the opposite. That brings down your cortisol.

And it balances your nervous system. And sometimes I feel like a broken record because I talk about this all the time, right? Even like stretching, you know, I'm not asking to go into yoga poses, but stretching and listening to your body. Right. And then of course you're eating your water, your hydration, not stressing the body out keeps the nervous system balanced. Right. So your body strikes that cortisol spike.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (18:50)
No.

Dr. Holly Donahue (18:55)
doesn't get what it needs. So those are basic. I talk about it as a seven pillars of wellness. Those are basic for your body to actually function.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (19:00)
Okay.

Right. So what about cortisol and weight? Because people say, you know, if you have high cortisol, you don't lose weight. Does the GLP-1 override that or maybe not?

Dr. Holly Donahue (19:12)
Yeah.

No, I wouldn't say, would say there's obvious, oftentimes there's a mismatch with the nervous system between your stress signaling and being on the GLP-1 right? Because the GLP-1 talked about what the main functions do, right? And the biggest thing is like saying, I'm not hungry. And then you're all proud that you're not hungry and that the food noise has gone away, but then your body's like, but I need food.

but I'm losing weight, right? So again, it's not helping the cortisol. It's actually probably hindering it. If we talk about the pieces that we talked about, you know, difficulty falling asleep, that wired, but tired feeling, you know, that low energy in the morning, like that's one of the things people come in on GLP-1s they're fatigued, they're exhausted.

right? Because their body is pushing so much and when you're pushing so much your cortisol thinks like the whole key about cortisol, you guys is to make your body feel safe, allow it to feel safe, allow it to feel grounded to live in a body that you love every single day. Right? And then there's going to be times when you're like, I got that message. I'm a little stressed. Okay. I'm back down again. ⁓ I'm going to go for that run, but now I'm back down. I'm balanced. Right? That's how stress should work, but it shouldn't

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (20:23)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (20:35)
be on that constant push push cortisol drive. Does that make sense?

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (20:39)
Yes,

absolutely. What about you mentioned micronutrients a couple of times. So do you recommend any micronutrient supplements? Where should people get their micronutrients from?

Dr. Holly Donahue (20:45)
Mm.

My goal as a naturopath getting to the root cause my goal as a naturopath is that you get it from your food. Right. We do know now, excuse me, that our food sources are not as good as they used to be. Like our nutrient balancing. So

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (20:57)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (21:07)
Believe it or not, people fall over when I say this, I say eat 12 varying types of vegetables a day, organic, non-pesticidic. And people like, I can't do that. I'm like, really? And they start to look at their salad and they're like, I've got four or five in there. Or they start to look at a soup and there's got four or five in there, right? So that's really my go-to. And if I can't get it there, then definitely a supplement.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (21:30)
Okay, okay. So there's nothing specific that you're recommending for your GLP-1 patients in terms of supplements or anything.

Dr. Holly Donahue (21:36)
You

Not at this point unless I see something off with them.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (21:43)
Right, right, okay. And what are some other sort of issues that have come up with metabolism or anything like that with the GLP-1 patients? Are you having any other concerns?

Dr. Holly Donahue (21:55)
Yeah, one of the biggest

is protein and muscle. So one of the biggest things is people don't lead towards protein when they're hungry. We mentioned they lead towards a carb or a sugar. GLP-1s do not muscle waste. GLP-1 have receptors on every single cell, right? We know that they're helping in so many different ways and including autoimmunity is what I've seen.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (21:57)
Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (22:18)
But what most people are doing is they're cutting out their protein. And so if you're not eating enough protein, your body needs those amino acids to function. And if you're not replacing your body with amino acids that it needs, it's gonna go in and catabolically mean it's gonna break down your muscle so that it uses it to function. so muscle wasting is not...

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (22:40)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (22:44)
A result of taking a GLP-1, it's the result of a GLP-1 but not eating enough protein. So it's very key for those of you that are on GLP-1s, I think I've said it enough, to eat balanced nutrition on so many levels. And you as an RD, 100 % know that. I mean...

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (22:56)
Right, absolutely.

Sure, so

once you lose that muscle and you have to stop the GLP-1, is there no hope for you to keep that weight off or what do you think?

Dr. Holly Donahue (23:10)
no,

not at all. Again, like I'm teaching people how to eat the right amount of foods while you're on a GLP-1. You want to be on a nutrition plan. You don't want to just stop eating to lose weight because we know that's breaking your metabolism. It's ⁓ disrupting your hormones. Cortisol is part of your hormones. If you're in that cortisol push, you can't build progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, and all your hunger hormones because it thinks it's stressed all the time.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (23:17)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (23:40)
So the key is to actually eat a balanced meal, but maybe you're eating less. So I'm being facetious, but maybe you used to eat like this and now you eat like this, right? That's what I think is beneficial and us educating that you still need your protein. You still need 50 to 75 grams of fat. You know, I suggest your protein.

Number is what is your ideal body weight if you know what that is, say it's 140 pounds, describing a number, no judgment, and you should eat 140 grams of protein a day.

A minimum would be a hundred. A maximum would be 140, right? So that is hard to get, but you can get it. And then you should, you know, 50 to 75 grams of a healthy fat and the rest of your calories should fall into your carbohydrate intake, whatever calorie base. Again, most people are trying to run on four or 500 calories still. it blows my mind.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (24:19)
Thank

Me too. ⁓

Dr. Holly Donahue (24:40)
Like the average female's

calories should be 16 or 1800, especially if they're working out.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (24:46)
Mm-hmm, I think there's a lot of fear or maybe people feel empowered by the medication because it allows them to just not eat anymore, not be controlled by the food and they're like, I can eat so little. I can live on bone broth. It's like not a good idea. Do you have any long-term concerns with the widespread use of this medication, especially now that we just got the Orals in and all these things?

Dr. Holly Donahue (24:57)
Yeah. Yeah.

Honestly,

my biggest long concern is exactly what you just said. People are not eating food. You know what I mean? You can't drive your car without gas. You guys like, how can we expect our bodies to function without the proper nutrition? And so I always tell my patients, even before the GLP-1s came in where they were at, even my diabetic patients that were on them when they, you know, they weren't as widespread and sold.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (25:15)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (25:36)
as much as they, especially during the holidays, they ramped up their sales. You need to think about the health and the investment of yourself. Your best investment is your health. And how do you do that? That's why my company is called Simple Health, not that I'm putting a plug in for my company, but health does not have to be difficult, but you've got to get it in check. I...

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (25:48)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (26:00)
I say even before these GLP-1s came in, when my patients come to my clinic, my first visit is two hours, I tell them, don't focus on the weight. The weight is going to fall off. When we balance your hormones, we get rid of the toxicity, we do all the systems that work for you. And when you ask like, are there weaknesses in there? Am I suggesting supplements? If it's coming back on a panel that there's a weakness,

Supplements are only used if there's depletion to get repletion in, but my goal is to get you off of those supplements and get you on nutrition because that's really how we were put on this earth to function, right? But we're over-functioning so much eating little calories. Now we're taking an injection and an oral, which can disrupt us even deeper.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (26:35)
Mm-hmm.

Yep, yes, absolutely, absolutely. I think it kind of allowed sort of ⁓ a dramatic step in the right direction for us to now start looking at our health in a deeper way, right? Because the obesity was really holding a lot of people back from even being able to think clearly in any sort of way. But now I think we have an opportunity to really have better health overall.

Dr. Holly Donahue (27:10)
Yeah. And the biggest thing that I see, ⁓ Ana with the obesity was that they were, nobody was really helping people with the nutrition piece and the chronic disease piece. Right. And so it got out of control, you know, and this is probably a conversation for another time, but the food that's in the grocery stores are not much of it is not food that you can actually digest.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (27:23)
Mm-hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (27:33)
So it was up against us. And I don't know about you, but I grew up in like low calorie, low fat, right? And fat does not make you fat and cholesterol is a sugar problem. It's not a fat problem. And we've known that for a long time. So if we can change people to feel their best, like you said, and get them on the GLP-1, which I'm seeing, and they're feeling better, then let's now keep going.

to take good care of your body so it works like a well-oiled machine or vehicle or what, I mean, our bodies are meant to move. Our bodies are meant to eat, but quality food, not high sugars.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (28:12)
Absolutely, absolutely. think it's an opportunity. That's kind of how I'm looking at it too. But we've got to get past this dieting hurdle and get past the special K diets that we all did back then. So Dr. Donohue, where can people find out about you and connect with you for your practice?

Dr. Holly Donahue (28:28)
Yeah. So, ⁓ my website is simplehealthnh.com. And that's probably the best way to connect with me. And I don't know when this is airing. am running a vision for health challenge next week. And I do actually do metabolism reset challenges once a quarter. If you want to jump in and really go deeper with like the work that I'm doing, cause I'm showing up and I want to heal chronic disease. So those are like the best ways to get in contact and connect with me.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (28:39)
Hmm.

Dr. Holly Donahue (28:57)
⁓ and then I'm sure you're going to put things in the show notes as well to connect, but yeah, that's the best way. And I just love what I do. And I'm just grateful that I get to see people on this healing journey. Cause I knew what it was like to be really, really sick.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (28:59)
Yes. ⁓

Yeah, absolutely. I can feel that you're very passionate about it. And I thank you so much for being here today and I'll be sure to put all that info in the show notes.

Dr. Holly Donahue (29:18)
Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (29:20)
Yeah,

no problem.

Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD (29:22)
Before you go, I just want you to know that you don't have to figure all this out on your own. I share a lot more support outside of this podcast from practical nutrition guidance to real life strategies for appetite changes, plateaus, and side effects. The best place to start is my free newsletter where I share resources like meal plans, side effect tips, and weekly insights that you won't hear on the podcast. And if you're looking for ongoing guidance

my GLP One Hub membership is where we go deeper with daily education and help adjusting as things change along your journey. So you'll find links to everything in those show notes. Thank you for being here and I'll see you next week.