Real Food That Can Mimic Ozempic’s Success
Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists are taking the world by storm promising quick weight loss, and they were even promoted during the recent Olympic games (not by athletes mind you, just by advertisers of the games). Some people who’ve taken them like Oprah, swear that they’ve positively transformed their lives, while others have had to stop taking them because the side effects (nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and constipation) have been too severe to continue. In the podcasts I’ve listened to on Ozempic it’s very intriguing to listen to “successful” individuals for whom the drug has had a very positive effect. They describe how they are just not hungry anymore and have the willpower to eat less food including hyperpalatable ultra-processed and/or fast foods. However, you must continue taking this expensive drug forever to maintain weight loss and experts are concerned as to what will happen with potential weight gain rebound after going off the drugs, if known side effects or unknown long-term effects surface, making staying on the drug unstainable.
But what if there was some “natural” way to mimic Ozempic’s success?
This summer, whether you’re looking to lean up, or just not overdo it at weekend barbecues, I’m sure all of us would benefit from having an extra bit of will-power to choose better foods and limit portions of more indulgent choices.
Dr. Casey Means MD, a physician trained at Stanford University School of Medicine and an expert on metabolic health says that there is.
In an incredibly informative Andrew Huberman podcast I listened to, Dr. Means challenges North Americans to focus on incorporating specific whole foods in our diet that significantly improve our body’s natural abilities to produce loads of GLP-1, naturally stimulating our satiety signals, ultimately reducing cravings.
Dr Means explains that special cells lining our small intestine called “L cells” are just waiting to bind with the things in our food that then stimulate these L cells to make the same satiety hormone, GLP-1 that make drugs like Ozempic so successful. She suggests that when thinking about our food choices, we have the power to get our bodies to make “hoards” of GLP-1 (our satiety hormone) by doing one of 3 things:
1. Choose foods that stimulate our body to create more L-cells
2. Choose foods that give each L-cell the ability to produce more GLP-1 than they typically would
3. Choose foods that inhibit DPP-4 – which is our body’s chemical messenger that rapidly degrades GLP-1. The longer GLP-1 hangs around in our systems, the longer we feel “satisfied”, so we want to inhibit DPP-4
Foods to Eat to produce more GLP-1 producing L-cells:
Eat More Fibre: think steel cut oats, barley, beans, peas, lentils, apples and pears, raw nuts, and seeds, as well as pretty much any veggie you can get into your mouth!
Eat Colourful Fruits and Veggies = More Polyphenols, which also will ultimately produce more L cells. Polyphenols are also found in colorful herbs and spices, cocoa, teas, vinegar, legumes and nuts and seeds.
Eat Low-Sugar Fermented Food = such as kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, kefir, Kvvas or low sugar kombucha (35 cals/bottle) also increase L cell production. Note, if you know where to find Kvass, let me know. This podcast was the first time I’d heard of this drink made from fermented beets and I’d like to try it!
Get each individual L cell to be able to produce more GLP-1 –
Eat more Thylakoids
Thylakoid containing foods include veggies like Spinach, Kale, Collard greens, Broccoli, Cabbage, Lettuce- a good goal to shoot for would be the equivalent of 100g/day of one of or combo of any of these foods
Eat more Valine and Glutamine containing foods (these foods have also been shown to enable L-cells to produce more Glp-1
Valine and Glutamine containing foods are many of our proteins include meat, turkey, eggs, seafood, fermented soy products, protein powder
Finally, aim to eat more foods that Inactivate DPP-4 which basically breaks down GLP-1.
We want our naturally produced GLP-1 to hang around in our bloodstream for as LONG as possible. DDP-4 inhibitors include Black beans, oregano, rosemary, guava, berries, cranberries, sweet peppers, and Swiss chard.
So how do you put this into actual practice? As a very basic starting point, go back to my post from a few weeks ago and consider taking on 800g challenge or aim to eat 6 fistfuls of veggies and fruits EVERY day. That’s it. No other foods off limits. It’s funny, I 100% recognize that we will all splurge on non-wholefoods some of the time, but what I work towards with ALL my nutrition clients is that even when they splurge (i.e., Burger and fries or Pizza) I still want them to include a salad or other veggies in the meal. I’ve seen it work in practice, but now I know there’s actual biochemistry behind it too!
If you want more guidance in putting this into practice, then stay tuned for more news about our NEW 6 wk. late September Body Transformation Kickstart that will be a combo Nutrition and Training program.