While Ozempic was designed as a drug to treat type two diabetes, it’s recently been adopted as something of a controversial weight loss tool.
That’s because semaglutide - the unbranded name for the medication - can help regulate your appetite, as it slows down how quickly food gets digested.
However, this comes with a number of widely-reported side effects, with Ozempic’s official website listing nausea, diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting and constipation as issues users may face.
According to one expert, there may be a way to simulate the weight loss associated with Ozempic and other similar drugs by simply altering your diet... and no, we don’t just mean eating less.
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Dr Jesse Pines, a practicing physician and ‘expert in healthcare innovation and wellness’, told Forbes that ‘glucagon-like peptide 1 agonists’ like Ozempic and Wegovy ‘mimic the action of GLP-1, an endogenous hormone produced by the gut’s L-cells released when you eat’.
As GLP-1 increases insulin levels, it reduces the liver’s sugar production, in turn slowing digestion and reducing appetite.
Dr Pines explained: “Here’s what GLP-1 drug-makers don’t want you to know. Simple foods can increase your body’s own GLP-1 levels for a tiny fraction of the cost.”
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He believes there are four things that can boost GLP-1 naturally, which may help people avoid those pesky side effects.
Soluble fibre
As Dr Pines explains, this is the version of fibre that is ‘dissolvable in water’ and ‘forms a gel-like substance in your gut and is not absorbed’.
When it passes into your colon, it is fermented by bacteria in your stomach, producing short chain fatty acids, which ‘stimulate GLP-1 production’.
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Examples of foods rich in soluble fibre include oats, beans and legumes, fruits like apricots, oranges and mangoes, vegetables like broccoli and Brussels sprouts.
Lean protein
Dr Pines also recommends eating more lean protein, preferably plant-based, as proteins are generally the ‘most satiating macronutrient’ - think beans, edamame, lentils, nuts and seeds, or eggs, chicken, fish and beef if you’re opting for animal sources.
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“This is caused in part by the effects of GLP-1,” he said.
“Protein breakdown products stimulate GLP-1 through binding to calcium-sensing receptors on the gut’s L-cells.”
Healthy fats
Foods high in good monounsaturated fats (olive oil, avocados and almonds, for instance) and those high in polyunsaturated fats (fatty fish like salmon, walnuts and tofu) are ‘potent’ stimulators of GLP-1, Pines said, adding: “In a study of people with Type 2 diabetes, there was a higher GLP-1 response following a meal that contained olive oil compared to butter - which is high in saturated fat and less healthy than monounsaturated or polyunsaturated fats.”
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Polyphenol-rich foods
Dr Pines believes you’re also best favouring polyphenol-rich foods, as some polyphenols can boost GLP-1 by either ‘directly causing the L-cells to increase secretion or indirectly through gut bacteria’.
Spinach, green tea, apples, celery, asparagus, coffee and berries are all good examples of foods high in polyphenols - which Dr Pines says also ‘improve lipid profiles, reduce blood pressure and can lower insulin resistance and inflammation’.
In short, boosting GLP-1 through food poses a much more natural path you can take, with Dr Pines also pointing to a 2017 study that found ‘some positive effects’ on the impact of soluble fibre on weight loss.
However, the doctor also points out the ‘one downside’ to dietary approaches is that these ‘sometimes don’t work as quickly or dramatically’ as the likes of Ozempic.
Topics: Food and Drink, Ozempic, Health
Jess Hardiman