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Is food your vice? Is food your drug of choice?
On this week's episode of the Harmony With Food Radio Show, we talk about food addiction, Weight Watchers, weight loss drugs, and a better solution for weight loss.
Food Addiction
We were programmed to survive long stretches without food as hunter-gatherers, but we now live in a world where we have food at our fingertips 24 hours a day. Much of that food is unhealthy and processed, made with GMOs and artificial ingredients that affect the microbiome and cause weight loss resistance.
Fake sugars can cause hyperinsulinemia, which means that you are secreting too much insulin. This can happen because when we eat sweet foods, our body releases insulin to lower our blood sugar. But with artificial sugar, there's no spike in our blood sugar so the insulin has nothing to do. Excess insulin can lead to weight gain.
Many of these foods are chemically engineered to get us addicted. Engineers adjust the food to act on our brain's pleasure centers so that it keeps us addicted and coming back for more. Food addiction is just as real as drug and alcohol addiction.
I work with many people who have food intolerances. In fact, as many as 1 in 7 people have food intolerances that are creating inflammation in their bodies, and a lot of them don't even know it. For some people, getting rid of those foods is easy once they know they are causing symptoms. For others, they can't give up the food even when they know it is bad for them, because they are addicted.
Weight Watchers & Weight Loss Drugs
I've talked about Weight Watchers before, and if you've been around for a while you know that I'm not a big fan. Why? Well, the dirty little secret the diet industry doesn't want you to know is that the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is.
When you go on a plan like Weight Watchers, where you have to count, weigh, and ruminate about food every day, you wind up feeling deprived, and you lose muscle mass, which slows down your metabolism. This means that once you're off the plan (and you will go off of it because it isn't sustainable), you wind up gaining back more weight than you lost in the first place. You need a plan that you can actually make a sustainable lifestyle.
Weight Watchers Acquires Sequence
Weight Watchers has recently acquired the telehealth company Sequence, which will allow them to prescribe weight loss drugs like Ozempic. That's frightening to me because Ozempic was originally made for people who have Diabetes, especially Type 2 Diabetes. In Type 2 Diabetes, your pancreas isn't working as well as it used to, and you start hypersecreting insulin.
Now, people have seen the Ozempic commercials where they say you may also lose weight on the drug, and they are going to their doctors and asking for it even though they don't have Diabetes. Diabetes is a serious disease that can affect everything from your brain to your toes. And if it isn't treated correctly it can be so serious that you can lose part of your leg or foot because of it.
With their acquisition of Sequence, you'll now be able to join Weight Watchers, do a telemedicine session, and get prescribed a prescription drug that was created for Diabetes, even if you don't have it. While that may help you with weight loss temporarily, it's not something I'd recommend to my clients.
A Better Way to Lose Weight
When it comes to weight loss (and health in general) I believe that there is no "one size fits all." I've seen huge success through the testing available in my Biounique Boutique program and in my Your Diet Do Over online course.
Your Diet Do Over is perfect for you if you are looking to lose weight, improve your energy and overall health, and ditch dieting for good.
If you'd like to dig a little deeper, I recommend working with me through the Biounique Boutique. Did you know that your gut microbiome, food intolerances, and micronutrient levels can all affect your ability to lose weight? Through cutting-edge microarray technology, we can do testing to figure out exactly what you need to do to overcome weight loss resistance and start feeling better today.
Not sure which program is right for you? Click below to schedule a free call with me!
