Diet Disaster

There's this trend, certainly here in California, but it's going throughout the entire country that now in order to lose weight, celebrities and non-celebrities are using these diabetes drugs, in particular Ozempic. And that costs, on the open market about $900 a month, on the black market about $625 a month. It lowers blood sugar levels, so that's great for diabetics, but also it cuts your appetite so you don't eat and drink as much. And there's this trend that all these people are trying to get, ozempic so that they can lose weight. some of the side effects, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. And there's one person who was quoted in this story, in thecut.com. It's kind of like being on a very low dosage of Adderall without that crack feeling. I mean, come on. And probably, and there's a couple other diabetes drugs that are doing the same thing. And it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, especially since when you stop taking it, your hunger comes back. So you're talking about a lifelong drug, to lose 10 pounds or 15 pounds, or 20 pounds. And how this has gotten this kind of traction, Komodo Health, who tracks healthcare data for 330 million patients, notes an uptick in people with no prior record of diabetes receiving these drugs, a fourfold increase here in California alone. What do you think?

Sally: Phil, I I think this is very upsetting. We have come a long way with body positivity and our culture becoming more attuned with health rather than the size of our bodies. This is reckless on the part of the drug maker, those who prescribe it and those who are taking the drug. It could create supply issues for diabetics that really need it. The cost of the drug is an issue. We already have a really high cost of diabetes drugs in this country for people who really need it. So, you know, I think this is a major issue. And those in the food world, that have already been talking about body positivity and health and using people like plus size women like Lizzo to represent Instacart. I encourage them more to stay on that trend, you know, to help those people learn how to eat healthy with actual food and not taking drugs like this.

Phil: And changing your behavior. I mean, the funny thing when I read this story is, whenever something happens, there's another effect that you wouldn't expect. So in New York, there's this dermatologist, Dr. Paul Jarrod Frank who has coined the phrase Ozempic face, meaning the aging effects that sudden weight loss can have. So basically what Dr. Frank is doing is treatments to smooth and contour the newly wrinkled and the use of injectable fillers to re-plump the newly sunken face. So, you know, besides losing the weight and spending 900 bucks a month, what you're also gonna have to do is get plastic surgery because you look like hell. So, I, I don't know. I agree with you. I think it's totally antithetical to what we're trying to do as it relates to health and wellness. Food is medicine. It just doesn't make sense. 

Phil: And for a lot of these people to be taking this just to lose weight. And yes, I understand we're in a social media world where everybody wants to have great pictures of themselves on Instagram and Facebook and so on, but this is dangerous stuff.