Thoughts on Ozempic from the Wise Heart Nutrition Dietitians

Oh Ozempic. What a time to be alive and witnessing the new sci-fi-like rubbish from the worlds of diet and wellness culture. You have probably seen a story about *it* in the news, had conversations centered around *it* at your holiday tables, or maybe even have done your own curious digging and searching around the “extra extra!! new weight loss solution!!” BS that diet culture loves to spoon feed us on the regular.

The time has come to have a little chat about Ozempic.

OZEMPIC: What It's DOING, What It's DONE, & What We DON’T KNOW

If you are currently living under a rock or have somehow found a way around hearing about this new craze (but still somehow managed to find this blog post, lucky you!), We will give a brief overview of some current Ozempic deets and facts: 

• Originally created and FDA approved for type 2 diabetics for blood sugar and insulin level management from one shot a week
• Imitates the hormone glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) that is naturally produced in our intestines to signal hunger and fullness cues which also…
• Affects the hunger centers in the brain (specifically, in the hypothalamus), reducing hunger, appetite and cravings
• Slows the rate of stomach emptying, effectively prolonging fullness and satiety after meals

• Meant to be taken indefinitely like other chronic disease medications that have to be taken for life 
• Wegovy (higher dose) is over $1,300 for a 28-day supply, and Ozempic (lower dose) can cost around $892 for a monthly supply without insurance 
• And of course, famous people such as Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey,  and even Weight Watchers CEO have fallen prey to and shared praise for this new “magic shot”

And because of its newness on the market, there is currently very limited data on its long term effects. 

OZEMPIC: Thoughts From a Past DIET-CULTURE JUNKIE with ADHD

The first time I heard about Ozempic, I had a clear memory pop up of a short story that my teacher read out loud in my 6th grade Language Arts class. It was a sci-fi future fantasy tale of a society of people that, their whole lives, take a little gobstopper like supplement each day that allowed them to eat anything they wanted without any bodily changes. That includes no hunger, no cravings, no weight changes. 

I don’t remember the moral of the story or the existential significance, all I remember was that my ADHD quick fix, reward seeking, diet-culture hungry, pre-teen in me was mesmerized at the thought of it. What I would DO to have something like that in my lifetime. At least at that time….

FFW to present day thoughts and concerns around this new hip drug circling our media, family convos, and even doctor recommendations for weight loss. I can reflect and acknowledge that past me, like many ADHDers out there that have had their own battle with diet-culture are also prone to be…

Solution Seekers

Reward Seekers

Novelty Seekers

We want change INSTANTLY, newness REGULARLY, and when we feel hopeless, our brains can hum with a million and one solutions to our current situation that feels so NOT okay to be in (aka, being in the body we reside in). 

ON LIVED EXPERIENCE AND LEARNING: How Diet Culture Keeps Us Coming Back

So many individuals have learned through trial and many hard-learned errors that looking for substances/weight loss programs/magic shots as solutions rarely (like <1% of the time) end in the long-term “success”, wellbeing, or happiness that we are so frequently promised by those who are selling these products. But that doesn’t always make it less alluring or desirable. There is always the hope of “next time” or “this product” being the answer. 

Along with concerns of limited long-term research/ long-term effect unknowns, life dependence and reliance, and the rising popularity from other diet-culture junkies hoping for a quick-fix, one worry has got me thinking and feeling most…

When will we stop pushing/grasping for a quick-fix and become more accepting of bodies (ours and others) changing over our lifetime?

A BIG PICTURE earthly truth: Change is inevitable, and NORMAL.

Like any plant from sprout to fruit, a puppy to an old good boy, from baby to last breath, we are constantly shifting, changing, metamorphosing, and there’s little in our control to stop this momentum. 

Over our lifetime, our bodies will go through immense changes - slow, quick, big, small - and we aren’t going to like or be excited about all of them. But, we can anticipate that changes, beyond our control, will happen. For all of us.

We are moving from a “quick-fix” and personal responsibility mindset to  the slow-but-steady-process of acceptance. To pause, sit with, and be okay with ourselves exactly as we are today. 🔗

FATPHOBIA Fuels the Ozempic WILDFIRE

It is also important to name that we cannot and will not judge someone for pursuing or wanting to lose weight. We must acknowledge the validity and understandability of desperately wanting to find that “magic” fix for a body that consistently gets labeled as a “problem” in dominant culture. It makes sense to want the thing we are told we should attain at any and all costs.

And this is the answer to the question we posed above: When will we stop pushing/grasping for a quick-fix and become more accepting of bodies (ours and others) changing over our lifetime? 

We will only stop seeking the supposed “solution” when we no longer see bodies as the “problem” to be solved. As long as fatphobia is maintained as the loudest, and unquestionably accepted voice in the room, we will continue to listen to and respond to its message about what it means to exist in a larger body. 

But the quick-fix that is being sought in this weight-centric paradigm is about so much more than the shrinking of bodies. When individuals turn to shiny new options, like Ozempic, to lose weight, they are actually seeking to gain privileges only afforded to those in thinner bodies. They are seeking love, respect, kindness, and care. They are seeking to be seen and heard. They are seeking an escape from always being told that if they “only tried harder”, or “could just stick with it”, then, and only then, could they have value in this world. And THAT is the real problem… and the one that is in desperate need of a solution.

If you want to learn more about the science and research around weight-loss drugs, we highly recommend listening to the Ozempic episode of Maintenance Phase. 

If you are struggling with your relationship to your body, and want support for moving away from that quick-fix mindset, and towards long-term acceptance, the providers at Wise Heart Nutrition are available to help you! Fill out our inquiry form 🔗 today to get started on your journey towards food and body healing. 

FINAL THOUGHTS (for now)

Ozempic. There’s so much more to learn, understand, and observe from the unfolding of this new drug. As a society, we jump to find the quick-fix, or the supposed solution for a tasty reward, but this can get really sticky when we talk about the “fix, solution, reward” being weight loss.

When the Ozempic dust craze settles, we are hoping that the learning and the conversations that it has sparked will lead to even more learning, more conversations, and movement towards more weight-inclusivity and body acceptance on a societal level. 

For now, our hope for YOU is that you can find space for nourishing your own self-acceptance. We hope that you can begin to feel acceptance for exactly where you are at, in this very moment. We hope that you can open yourself up to the possibility of accepting (even if you don’t like or love) the body you reside in. And lastly, we hope that you will understand, feel, sit in, and accept the inevitable flow of change that we all experience in our bodies and our lives.