Weight Loss Drugs: how do they actually work and is there an alternative?

Continuing the conversation, since there seems to be so much interest, on weight loss drugs, have you ever wondered how they work?

What is the exact mechanism used by a weight-loss drug?

The core aim is to help balance your energy. To achieve that, they activate a hormone known as GLP-1 or glucagon-like-peptide.

GLP-1 stimulates the pancreas to release insulin and reduce glucagon.

In simple language, it makes you feel full and you stop eating.

A GLP-1 drug, which you and I call a weight-loss drug, does the same thing. It makes you feel fuller faster, prompting you to eat less.

So why can’t you do the same thing naturally?

The quick answer - of course you can.

What you are trying to do is to make yourself feeling full, while eating the same or preferably fewer calories.

This is easily achieved when you eat foods that increase satiety. So, for example, if you eat a meal that has protein, it will make you feel full.

If you include good fat, it will make you feel full. If you eat food rich in fibre it will make you feel full. If you eat a balanced meal, it will make you feel full. All of this is fairly simple to do.

So then why do we struggle so much?

Again the short answer is because we are not eating the above. Instead, we consume hyper palatable foods, with excessive sodium.

We consume foods laden with sugar. We drink more water than we need to, because someone on the internet told us to.

Collectively, it reduces satiety, takes our sodium and sugar levels out of balance, made worse by drinking too much water.

Obviously, the outcome is frequent bouts of hunger. Yes, you guessed right. We try to solve the hunger with more hyper palatable food.

Its called hedonic pleasure, a treadmill you cannot get away from.

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