SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hello and welcome to another episode of Empower Your Menopauses podcast where Julie and I talk about all things related to women over 40 when it comes to their health, happiness and hormones. So I'm Coach James Ellis, and as ever with I have with me my fellow coach Coach Julie Medesi, yes. So Coach Medecy is here as well. So today we're going to pick on a topic and pick apart a topic which is absolutely raging at the moment, and it's the use of GLP1 drugs. So these are the appetite suppressing drugs that go commercially by names like Azempic and Wigovi, but you probably know more by the colloquial term, which is weight loss jabs. So these are the drugs that started off really to help people who were extremely overweight with managing their appetite and therefore managing their weight. So we talked about people who had severe challenges when it came to um you know the potential for something called metabolic syndrome, is it which is where you become so overweight that you actually put yourself in danger of getting all manner of different kinds of illnesses. So I suppose the easy thing, Julie, is to start off. I'm sure that most people have heard of weight loss jabs by now because so many people are actually on them around the world. Um but why don't you explain a little bit about what they are, what they do, and delve a little bit more into the origins, and let's pick up the conversation from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Um so GLP1 drugs were originally designed to help people who had type 2 diabetes. What they do is they mimic a hormone your your body already produces called GLP1, which is a glucagon-like peptide, and it's something that helps regulate your appetite. It signals your brain that you're already full. So these drugs tend to slow down the emptying of your stomach so that you feel fuller more quickly and you feel fuller for longer. Um, they don't, they're not fat-burning drugs, they don't magically melt fat off of your body. Um, we'll talk a little bit more about that in detail later. But the main thing that they do is they slow down your appetite and they slow down your stomach emptying. And I I was saying I have uh I had a client that I worked with who was taking Monjaro for her type 2 diabetes, and she found that it stifled her appetite so much that she was forgetting to eat, which is a problem in in itself. Um, and I I don't know where where do you want to where do you want to head next with this? Because there's so many things we can talk about, and I know we're both fairly passionate about the subject.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Yeah, I suppose the the biggest challenge for me is you know, I think it's within everybody's rights to work with their own body in whatever way they think is the way to do it. So if somebody feels as though they're overweight or they've been prescribed these drugs, then you know, and they've got a real sort of medical challenge that needs some kind of help, um, then absolutely I'd see a real place for drugs like these. I think where the biggest challenge is is that they seem to have crossed over it for me at least, from what I'm seeing, into a lifestyle drug. So I speak to people now who, because of the proliferation of them and because of the fact that you can pretty much get these anywhere now, right? From a high street pharmacy to online to out the back of a van to people coming around and selling them out of bags in pubs. You can you can pretty much pick them up anywhere. And so what's happening, what I'm seeing now is that a lot of people are using them just because they want to lose a few pounds, so you know they might want to lose six, seven pounds, five, five kilos, whatever that may be, three, four, five kilos, and so they're using them for that purpose, so it's become like a quick fix to weight loss, and that concerns me. It concerns me for a number of reasons because a people may be injecting something into their body without actually knowing what the full effects are, and I guess that's what we're here now to discuss what those effects might be, but also it feels that at times people aren't willing to put that little bit of effort into maybe sort of like working on the things that could lead to long-term sustainable weight loss and are looking for a quick fix, and that challenges me. So it challenges me when somebody says to me, Oh, I'm going on holiday next month and I need to look better in my bikini, so I'm gonna take the jabs for four weeks. Yeah, so that's that's kind of what I think we should dig into more than else. What is the psychology behind that? And I understand some of it, some of it comes from you know from people who've wanted to lose weight for a for a long, long time and have struggled with it. But also this idea that we're looking for a quick fix, I think is something that we probably need to look at and discuss in a little bit more detail, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, for sure. And there's that mindset, and I think it fits in really well with the diet industry, right? Because like you need this thing, because otherwise you can't do it on your own. And we're we're taught to rely on external solutions to what I think is an internal issue. Because if we know how to eat well for our bodies, if we if we are if we learn to do that and we're willing to learn to do that, um, because there's a lot of difficult information to decipher when we're looking at nutrition, um, most people's bodies are different, especially when we're talking about women over 40. When you're starting into this transitional phase in your life, your body is changing, it's responding differently, and you are going to experience things differently than everyone else. So, what worked for a friend isn't necessarily going to work for you. And it's easy to get really excited about a program or a medication or a quick fix thing because you want that. You know, we we crave that result right away, but it doesn't solve the long-term issue of what is a relationship with food? How are we using food? Because food can be as much of a drug as anything else, and depending on how we use it. There are there are a lot of emotional ties and cultural ties. You know, food is a lot more than just nutrition for us. Um, so so why are we eating? How are we eating? What are we eating? And do we want long-term health, or do we want to just be thin? Because those are two very different things. And healthy doesn't always mean skinny, and skinny definitely doesn't mean healthy in in most people's cases. So if you're if you're doing something to get that quick fix, what is that going to do to your long-term health? We don't know that because the studies aren't there. There are plenty of studies that show some of the risks and side effects, which we'll talk about later. And yes, again, I would never shame someone for doing this, but if you decide to go down that road, I would stop and ask, why? What is this? What am I looking to get from this? What do I think it will fix? And what am I willing to do in the long term to make this not the lifestyle I have to keep going back to and buying this and getting, well, it's a bit, I don't want to overuse the word, but to get hooked on it for life. Because based on the numbers that we've seen, and we've done research about the industry itself, the industry is doing the best they can to create lifelong customers in this.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Yeah, and that's like I mean that that's no different to any other element of the diet industry, right? Whereby you know people go on a really extreme protocol, they lose some weight, as soon as they go back to normal life, they put that weight back on. And that is exactly how the diet industry works and has worked for many, many years. Rather than working on long-term sustainable habits, it works on quick fixes that involve some kind of huge calorific restriction or some kind of restriction of various food groups. And what we're seeing here is pretty much that same thing repeated with the injection. So, again, a lot of this is anecdotal evidence from talking to people who are actually on the drugs rather than just looking at what the people in white coats are saying when they're trying to do the research into these kind of things. But I know several people who've said to me they went on the drugs, lost a lot of weight, and then as soon as they came off the drugs, they've put the weight all back on, and that is because one of the recommendations about taking the weight loss jabs overall, which seems to be ignored by almost everybody, is the fact that they're meant to be used in conjunction with some kind of coaching or education programme around what can work when it comes to long style uh long-term lifestyle change that can um that can actually affect somebody's weight. So while you're you're on the drugs and you're using them as a short-term stop gap, then you can put the levers in place which will help you manage your weight long term moving forward. And that's not what we're seeing. And really, the truth is that once again, you know, like any other extreme calorific restriction, the challenges that occur with extreme calorific restriction that come onto the body don't need tons and tons of research into the weight loss drugs themselves, because we see it on any kind of rapid and sustained rapid weight loss programme. So it's things like muscle loss and bone density loss, which is especially challenging already for women who are in the menopause transition, right? We know that rapid weight loss often includes muscle and bone loss, we know that less muscle slows your metabolism down, and we know that that fall in estrogen that occurs during and after the menopause transition also contributes to both of these things. So if you're losing weight but you're sacrificing muscle and you're sacrificing bone mineral density at the same time as well, then that is a real challenge later in life for women. And that's one of my one of my concerns there would be that that long-term potential effect that it could have on somebody's health is not being explained properly. We already know that due to the natural protective effects of estrogen on bone mass, when they stop, 50% of women over 50 are going to have a fracture at some point due to reduced mineral uh bone mineral density. And so you're kind of layering on another risk on to that. And once again, I think you're absolutely right, it's not up for up to us to shame anybody who's on these drugs. If you really feel like you need them, that's absolutely fine. By me, it's your body, you do what you want with it. But I do think having some kind of informed content over what the potential long-term effects for you moving forward is something that I feel is not being discussed enough because everybody's focusing on the glamour side of it, the social media side of it, that immediate effect of I've lost loads of weight, whether it's been promoted by a celebrity or some or somebody that you know, your mate down the road, that is overtaking the conversation, and they need to be honest conversations about what is actually taking or what the actual long-term risks could be. And I'm not advocating here that you know we don't know enough about them and somebody's gonna grow a third head after being on weight loss drugs, but we do know for sure that one of the things that comes from rapid weight loss is muscle loss, so sarcopenia, and we do know that um muscle loss and rapid weight loss can have an effect on bone mineral density. So for me, that is probably one of the biggest challenges that people just need to think about before that before they're doing this, and if any if nothing else, you know, think about what happens after the jabs. You want to take them short term to achieve some short-term weight loss, okay. But what what happens afterwards? And the something can only happen afterwards if you're willing to put a little bit of work into you know what your relationship with food is, whether you're exercising or not, what's on your plate, what does your diet consist of. They're all really, really important things for me.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And and uh everywhere I read any research about this, the the there's a large percentage of that weight loss that does come from muscle and and lean tissue. So we're not just saying this to say, oh, come and hire us as coaches, but you you really need to consider working with someone who can guide you in that area, because if you don't, it's it's accelerated by these drugs. And that's an important part of the informed consent, and one of the reasons why we get so concerned about that. The other thing is we're finding that a lot of people, and again, the research backs this up, that people are um becoming nutrient deficient because the appetite is so significantly reduced that they're not eating enough of the right things. And given our, you know, again, not accusing anybody or or slamming anybody, but given our society's need for a quick fix, we need to grab a quick meal on the go, we're too busy for this or that. We're grab we're people can often eat foods that don't have any nutritional value, and it contributes to that. And I know in another podcast we talked about the fact that there are things like ozempic face and you know degradation of the teeth, uh, just like the bones, because we're not eating enough, we aren't getting the enzymes in the saliva, we're not getting the minerals that we need circulating through all the different parts of our body that nourish the tissues. And so that's why it's so important to understand how to eat and how to move your body in a way that's going to support what these drugs are doing for you rather than just relying on them to do all of the work. You know, in in my mind, um, I saw a quote just saying, you know, losing your weight, losing all the weight you want, and doing it with sacrificing your muscle is like taking the engine out of the car to make it lighter. It just doesn't, it doesn't help in the in the long term. And we're we want people to have good nutrition, we want people to have nutrient-dense foods so that your body, when you stop these drugs, can your body can relearn how to produce enough of this on its own because you do produce it naturally, yeah, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, and so um and and it's appetite suppression and nutrition aren't the same thing, uh and quite often conflict with each other, right? If you're not getting enough protein, if you're not getting enough micronutrients, if you're not getting enough fibre, then loads of things can layer on top fatigue, hair loss, nutrient deficiencies, digestive problems. Uh you mentioned before zempic teeth, you know, a really under uh reported side effect of things that actually mimics the kind of challenges with uh acidic balance in the mouth that occur when somebody has an eating disorder, right? So there's lots and lots of areas here that could be picked apart, but for me, educating is the is it is the key one. We've been talking a lot about gut health recently. So do you want to delve a little bit into how gut health is affected by being on GLP1 agonist medications and what that actually does?

SPEAKER_00 16:17

Sure. Um, because it slows your gastric emptying, right? It slows the emptying of the food from your stomach. And in some cases, people have experienced paralysis of the digestive system because of these, if they're not dosed correctly. But your gut motility is really, really important. Your gut lining is really, really important. It's one cell thick. And when your body doesn't produce enough of the right bacteria, when you don't have the right microbiome, as I'm sure you've heard the word before, which are all the organisms in that digestive tract that help food digest and be properly processed into your body so that you get the nutritional value out of it and everything else gets discarded. Um, it it affects your body's ability to do all of those important tasks. And when when people already are starting, usually without a healthy gut, this can exacerbate those problems. And we end up with leaky gut, which means there are gaps between the cells and the gut lining, uh the villi in the gut lining, and things can get into your body and into your bloodstream that were never meant to be there, which which triggers inflammation and all sorts of other things. And some of the common side effects of these drugs are constipation, nausea, and bloating. And I don't know about you, but those aren't really things I want to experience on a daily basis. But they again, a lot of women we work with are already frustrated because they have issues with their gut, because they can't have normal bowel movements, whether that's being constipated or or always on the other end of the spectrum, you know, feeling bloated, feeling that weight. And I I've even talked to a couple people who've been on the jabs and not actually lost weight. So being educated about how to get enough fiber, about how to look after your gut health, which really should be the first thing you focus on healing, staying properly hydrated, making sure you're supporting all of the microbiota in your gut, that um that becomes even more important when you're when you're on these drugs, because it that determines your immune system function, it determines cognitive health, it determines mood, it determines a lot of other things in your uh that go on in your body that that we really do need to focus on and think of. And that's one of the reasons why we're so keen about gut health these days, because it drives everything.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

And you know, within all this, it might sound that we've been a little bit negative about all these medications. I think it's worth noting as well that there are lots of people who actually benefit from a GLP1 agonist, right? People who've got who are severely obese, people who've got uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, people with metabolic complications, even those of my have tried every single thing from a lifestyle point of view, but just can't get through it. But it's important as well to notice to note that medication needs to be a tool rather than the entire strategy, and I guess that's where and again, this is not an advertisement for our services, it's an advertisement for working with somebody, if need be, who can help you with that what I'd call the coaching gap between sort of like taking the drugs and what happens afterwards, because the thing that we're seeing is that the lifestyle guidance isn't really happening for a lot of people. You know, there'll be some some companies who say, you know, you've got to do a regular check-in and they do it online with a camera so they can actually see what's going on. I was speaking to somebody the other day who switched medications or switch switched provider of medications specifically because she didn't want to have to do that filming of her recording her her weight um on on the camera. So so the accountability was leaving the conversation totally for her, despite the fact that you know there are many suppliers of these drugs, some might come from from your from your doctor, some might come from a pharmacy. There are people who are doing this ethically and honestly and doing it right, and they are trying to add in that that coaching element to their clients or or the use of the drugs, and they are trying to make sure there's some accountability there, but when you can just switch on a whim to another provider who might be lower cost or cheaper or might be cutting corners somewhere, that is a challenge, and so you know, having that support of a strength training programme, making sure your protein's right, making sure you're having enough varied nutrients in your diet, making sure that you're trying to take care of your gut, working on things like behavior change, sleep, stress regulation, all the things that we talk about so often that are so important towards general good health tend to be missing from from some of the programs. Not from all of them, but but from some of them.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Well, and the more this spreads, and the the easier it is to get from people who aren't necessarily educated and how to how to use them properly, um, this becomes more of a concern. And and it's something that we're not seeing as a requirement for people who sell these drugs, which is why we're we're raising the issue. Um, because let's face it, just because you lose weight doesn't automatically make you healthier. If you don't have a healthy lifestyle, your metabolism could still be needing support. You you if as We've said probably a hundred times by now, you know, when you're losing muscle, it affects your your body, it affects your hormone health, it affects your um your nutrient status, if you will. And without understanding how to support those things, we aren't necessarily getting healthier just because we're losing weight. And and I think I think that's a really important point to remember. Because again, you know, if all you want to do is lose weight, okay, I guess, you know, we wish you well and hope the best for you. But if you really want to live a long, healthy, and vibrant life, these are considerations that that really should be taken. Um, especially because you already produce GL1P1 naturally, there are lots of ways to support that.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah. That you know, GLP1 is a natural hormone that's released in in your gut, and it helps uh it's released when you eat and it helps regulate fullness and appetite cues. You know, it helps regulate when insulin's released, your blood sugar balance, whether you recognize how hungry you are or not hungry. So lots and lots of ways to actually support that naturally. So I think we should talk about those, and I think we should also dip in a little bit because one of the things that we're seeing increasingly now is there are a number of supplements that have natural ingredients in them that can help you um produce GLP1 naturally, anyway. I know that I was talking to uh you know one of our favourite collagen brands, Pura, they've produced their own GLP1 supplement, and I've heard some really good things about that. I think they did a study that showed a 40% reduction in appetite by supplementing with that. And I know that um Arbon, another uh company that we know, and we work with some coaches who use their products, they've introduced their GLP 1 um helpful supplement a couple of weeks ago and they sold out within within minutes of it. Three months ago, it was gone within minutes, so they're they're waiting on more on more products. So there are some natural supplements that you can take as well. But let's park those for a little bit. Let's talk about the natural ways that you can actually support GLP1 then. Hand it back to you on that one.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

Well, protein, protein, protein. How many times do we talk about protein? It's it's so it's so important for for women over 40, especially, but it's important for human beings generally. Most of us don't get enough. We're not talking about eating Fred Flintstone size steaks on platters, we're talking about getting the enough protein that your your body needs, and that varies by person, of course, by your size and activity level. But protein um stimulates your satiety hormones like GLP1. It keeps you feeling fuller longer because it digests more slowly. So, therefore, it's going to go through your digestive tract more slowly and keep you feeling fuller. Most of the people we work with, we've done protein challenges with our clients before. And pretty much without exception, everyone who's increased their protein intake has seen their sugar cravings plummet. Um, I think that's a good testament to how it how it works. Fiber, of course, gut health, gut health, gut health, gut health. We have to have a healthy gut. This is absolutely critical. Fermentable fibers are really important. Um, they are going to help produce short chain fatty acids, which stimulate GLP1 release. So keeping your gut healthy, having that healthy amount of bacteria, the good bacteria that support good health is really important. And, you know, James has already talked about insulin and blood sugar balance. That's a that's something that really can go off kilter once we start into this phase of life because estrogen has protective effects on our blood sugar balance. Um, so that that's important. And most of the time, those who eat a sugary breakfast are going to notice that they're ravenous by mid-morning or certainly by lunchtime, because sugar does that. We have spikes and crashes in our blood sugar and it disrupts our hunger hormones. We have a whole training on that in our in our club about insulin and glucagon and how those how those two play together. So when we get better stability, more fiber, more protein, and better balanced blood sugar, it's going to help us feel satisfied for longer. And then, of course, we've got all the lifestyle factors. Do you want to delve into some of those, Jason?

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Well, yeah, it's no surprise that the cornerstones of good health are the cornerstones of good health for a reason, right? So all the things you've mentioned protein, fibre, varied plants, you know, th as many plants as you can, 30 different plants a week if you if you can, all those things will help you balance blood sugars. When you balance your blood sugars, most of the rest of your hormones tend to sort of like start fitting back into place naturally anyway. And then so on the top of that, add in our old favourite, some physical activity. So do some movement, getting some decent sleep because that helps regulate your appetite hormones, and eat some some real food and try and reduce your stress. So all those things that you already know how to do, or or you know what you should be doing, rather, yeah. So lots of protein, eating healthily, working towards blood sugar balance, moving more, reducing stress, helping with sleep, all those things are gonna help raise GLP1 naturally. So it's not a magic formula, you know, nobody's coming along with a magic wand here and saying, you know, this is something you've got to do that's any different to what you would already know to do if you're on these if you're on these drugs. And obviously, then there are these various supplements that are now coming out that will have some ingredients in that will help stimulate natural secretion of GLP1. So they should help you reduce your overall appetite as well without necessarily being such a massive reduction in your appetite that it's going to actually deprive you of some nutrients. And you know, there are more and more of these natural um supplements coming out that can help the GLP1 production uh as we speak. I think I think the last count I looked, there's like four or five at least that I'm aware of that are out there that can answer.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Well, and and different things when we're looking after our gut health, different things like specifically targeted um probiotics and prebiotics and digestive enzymes, and there are some simple supplements we can take to actually support the gut and as well as the production of GLP1s in in our body. Because I my concern, again, it's it's not so much about okay, we're we're learning about these drugs as we go, yes, they have some benefits for certain population. Um, whether they should be used by everybody on the planet, I very much doubt. And and whether they should be a go-to uh solution for weight loss, I I don't personally agree with. But again, those who choose to use it, we are we are here as coaches wanting to support you through that so that you do it in the healthiest way possible with the best long-term results that you can get that possibly, because we don't want you to become completely disconnected from your relationship with food. When we rely on that external thing, I'm just gonna take this jab or take this pill. We stop thinking about how we're eating, why we're eating, what we're eating, those kinds of things that we talked about earlier. We never really develop the lifestyle skills we need to be healthy long into our late life. And and I don't know about you, but I don't want to have to rely on a medication indefinitely. That's a huge cost of financially, it's a huge cost emotionally, it's uh it's just a huge cost all the way around to our to our health generally, I think.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

100%. So I think we've probably just about covered it to death there, right? 30-minute mark for the pod as well. So let's throw an end to it there. I suppose there's a couple of things to say, really, is that first of all, if you've got any concerns or you've got any questions about this and you want to talk to either myself or Julie Direct, we'll pop our emails at the end of the episode in the um in the notes, and then just drop us an email. We're happy to jump on a call for 10-15 minutes and chat through what your options may be. That doesn't have to be working with us, it can just be if you want some advice about where we think you should go, what we think you should do, and what else might help. One of the other things that can certainly help is our newly launched gut reset course. So, this is a gut health reset, two levels to it: level one, level two, four weeks, or an additional four weeks. Um, it's food first, it's gonna help settle digestion, restore a healthier microbiome, all those kind of things that can actually help with um producing GLP1 naturally. So if you're interested in that, then head to gut reset uh gutresetcourse.com. We'll pop all the details of that in the show notes as well. So I think that's it for this week. Unless you've got anything you'd like to add, Julie.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Um, I don't. I I guess the only the only other thing I would say is again, we're not we're not trying to to bash anyone who uses these. We you know, we respect your choice and your autonomy in in decisions about your body and your and your lifestyle, but we really do care about your long-term health and your well-being. And that's why we're so passionate about this and why we want to support people in any way we can through this this and every other phase of life that that we can, but certainly if you didn't make the decision to use these medications to to give you the support that you need.

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Fabulous. Okay, so that's it for this week, then. We've been coaches James and Julie from Fabulous Beyond 40. Stay strong, stay fabulous, and we'll see you next time. Take care.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

Bye, everybody.