Episode 133: You Get Ozempic! You Get Ozempic! Reviewing Oprah's Weight Loss Special

Season 8

Apr 3

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Episode Description

In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah review the exclusively streamed on Hulu feature, An Oprah Special: Shame, Blame, and the Weight Loss Revolution. Both girls watched the weight loss feature and will talk you through all of the guests, what is recommended, and the overall takeaways. TW WARNING: ED, disordered eating, and intentional wt loss are constantly discussed in this episode, so please protect yourself first if need be. We recommend listening to this episode if you don’t feel inclined to watch the special (or even if you do feel inclined, we recommend listening to our take on it).

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Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to listen.

0:08
You get Ozempic, You get Ozempic, You get Ozempic.

Want to kick the?

Audience they show the They show Oh my God, welcome to the upbeat dietitian special where everyone gets Ozempic.

0:25
Oh, oh, oh.

Ozempic.

Auto parts.

Auto parts I love all the like TikTok Ozempic mash ups that I hear.

Like all the songs makes me laugh.

Well guys, if you haven't guessed today is about Oprah and Ozempic.

0:46
If you have not heard the news, Oprah has released a weight loss special where she has lots of guests who take various weight loss medications, struggle with their weight and the whole point is just to release the shame around the disease of overweight and obesity according to Oprah and her guests.

1:12
So we will be talking about the about that today.

A few quick housekeeping things little kick us off #1.

I have been under the weather so I'm sorry if I sound very nasally.

Actually, no, I'm not apologizing.

We don't apologize for things that we don't need to apologize for.

I'm letting you know my voice sounds weird.

1:29
Get over it.

OK.

We also are on YouTube.

If you want to watch us, subscribe over there for more video content, of course.

And then if you want to hear our bonus content every single week, you can join our Beat Deets bonus section and be a TUD butt over there.

1:48
Only 299 a month to support this podcast, so we can keep punishing ourselves through specials like this Oprah one that we had to watch.

Yes, do all those things.

Yeah, But let's get right into it.

2:05
This is going to be a long episode.

Or grab some snacks.

Our apple.

It goes on for miles, literally.

Like.

We haven't had an outline this long in a long time.

So right off the bat, let's go into the name of this special available on Hulu.

2:23
I think it's only on Hulu that I know of.

I think so, but I was wondering that too actually.

But we we both watched it on Hulu and it's called an Oprah special.

Shame.

Blame in the weight loss revolution.

I want to say one note.

I was kind of hoping it would be 3 words that would like rhyme.

2:42
That would rhyme.

Shame.

Blame in the weight loss game.

I feel like that's much better than the weight loss revolution.

That's so good.

That's too many words, so I will be renaming it.

We should be we should be hired as marketing.

We should.

Be we should pat in that right now if Oprah with Oprah's name.

3:00
So.

She tries to change it.

We thought of it first, but it's essentially labeled as like the description of the special is Oprah Winfrey to host a sit down conversation with the country's leading medical experts and everyday people around the radical impact of prescription weight loss medications.

3:20
There is a heavy trigger warning.

We will be talking about eating disorders, disordered eating, and intentional weight loss throughout this entire thing, so if those are subjects that could be triggering, we highly recommend not listening.

Yeah, and also they don't give trigger warnings, of course for the Oprah special.

3:38
But I don't recommend watching it unless you have to, like us.

There's no need.

No, you could just listen to this podcast and you'll get everything you need.

Out of it exactly.

So let's get into it.

3:54
We're gonna kind of take you through different parts to different play by play, what happens and kind of our initial thoughts.

So Oprah opens up in her little chair with her the screen behind her Oprah or the shame, blame and the weight loss game in the back.

4:13
This revolution.

And she has her little audience and in her kind of intro she starts talking about how she wants to promote body acceptance but also get rid of the shame around wanting to or not to lose weight.

Interesting opener, given what?

4:32
This is the vibes that we were giving off in our first haze episode.

It's like, where do you stand exactly on this take of everywhere a disease we?

We support everything while also promoting harmful behavior.

4:49
Exactly because it benefits me to promote that harmful behavior.

I make money off of this as Oprah, yes.

And Oprah even like, also mentions like, talking about her own personal history of like the body shaming she went through and her history of intentional weight loss and specifically talked about like it.

5:10
Even like showed clips of, like, what the media was depicting about her.

And it like, for everything we're about to say about Oprah, the way the media treated her was horrendous.

She did not deserve that.

5:26
No one deserves that type of like, let's go say behavior like.

No, no one deserves to be treated that way like the media was completely in the wrong.

That being said.

We've got a lot of thoughts.

We right off the bat, we're going to be promoting this episode.

5:44
We have a episode about the history of obesity as an OD, the history of obesity as a disease.

We're going to link it in the show notes.

So after this, go listen to that, because there's a lot that's talked about that we go a lot more in depth in that episode.

6:03
Yeah, we'll kind of touch on a few things today about like pathologizing body weight, but we do go a lot more in detail on the episode and we actually are only quite a few episodes today that we'll kind of mentioned throughout this episode today.

So we'll have quite a few episodes for you to binge after this one if you just want to keep hearing more of us talk about the issues with weight centric care.

6:27
Yeah.

So our first guest, her name is Amy.

My first note was she's from Naperville T.

Neighbors.

Oh my gosh.

People that don't know Naperville is a suburb of Chicago.

6:43
You probably know Naperville because it's a very well off suburb.

I feel like everyone knows about Naperville, which is crazy to me because like no one really knows about Fort Wayne IN.

But I feel like it's kind of the equivalent like Indiana version.

Yeah, Like in terms of like ranking of population, like Fort Wayne's big.

7:04
But like.

Everyone knows Naperville.

It's kind of funny.

Wow.

But essentially, Amy's coming on as a guest who she is, someone who has received weight loss medications as part of her care plan.

7:22
She talks, right?

I think so, yes, yes, yes, yes.

I will know as I was typing things.

I don't ever type these medications so I.

Was like, I know.

How to spell this I was.

Laughing when I saw you spell Monjaro, I was like, of course she doesn't know how to spell that.

7:40
How I sounded out, but Amy kind of talks about her history of like how she was like fat shamed at age 5 by other kids.

And I also want to know like kids are nasty.

Also, kids learn this behavior from their parents, so shame on the parents for perpetuating that.

7:59
And also shame on diet culture for perpetuating that to the parents or perpetuating that to the children generally Taking out body shape.

And now Amy's the victim of it anyway.

Amy also talks about how her brain and her body were starting to like fight against her from like age 12 all the way through her 30s, and she relied heavily on food for comfort.

8:26
Which is such a common yes story like I hear this on a daily.

Basis.

Yeah.

And especially like that young of an age, like, yes, that is unfortunately not uncommon.

It's not uncommon.

8:41
Yeah.

And then Amy talks about how, like the biggest turning point in her life was when at unfortunately, her dad died from during COVID and she completely turned to food.

As a coping mechanism like this, an incredibly traumatic event, you're going to develop some type of coping mechanism for it, especially if like you've been doing that for decades.

9:06
It makes it makes sense.

And if you think about like the diet mentality of it all too, I'm sure she has been told that she should be eating less and so compound the most emotions already being there being elevated along with likely restricting in some fashion, it makes sense that food would be the kryptonite.

9:27
Yes.

So then we kind of get to the Manjaro the.

Solution to all of this, yes.

She started Take It was recommended to her just invite some doctor.

They're the ones that prescribe it the.

9:45
Napervillian, MD.

Probably, yeah.

And she was talking about how after she lost all this weight from sorry Manjaro, all of her labs became normal.

And this is something that it's interesting to me.

10:04
I wanted to know it was like a quote UN quote, non scale victory in my mind, 'cause like we put so much emphasis on like things that aren't the scale and we talk about labs all the time.

So it was very interesting to me that she specifically mentioned her labs right off the bat, got better, 'cause I'm like, oh, I feel like someone who's working with her knows non scale victories.

10:28
Like someone is saying something along those lines, but I don't remember.

I made a note.

I was like, I don't hear her talk about any lifestyle changes if like the only intervention was Manjaro.

I didn't remember any other mention.

10:45
Besides, she started Manjaro.

She lost weight.

Labs went into range.

Yeah, I don't remember her mentioning any other changes either, but there are future guests who mention things like these meds only work with lifestyle changes.

Like, of course.

11:02
And that's why we can't even know for sure if these medications are the reason that the weight was lost or that labs improved.

Like it's highly unlikely that she's taking the medication and nothing else changed and that she lost weight that way or that her labs improved that way.

11:18
It's just so tricky.

And I guess I should have led with this earlier because I made a post recently about injectables on TikTok as I have for the last few years and whenever I do I get lots of varying comments as I'm sure we'll get in response to this episode today.

What I commented recently on my response to someone that was in my messages, not I'm not anti medication.

11:42
Like they were a little bit upset with me about how it seemed like I was saying I'm anti anyone using meds for their health.

Ever.

That's not the case.

What I don't love is meds becoming trendy, which is what's happening here.

11:57
Med should not be a trend.

Bodies should not be a trend.

And I also don't love these medications being used for disordered eating and eating disorders to treat those, which Amy, the guest here on Oprah's show, mentioned about how food was her friend, She really enjoys eating food.

12:16
It's an emotional thing for her.

And so, so many people like Amy also feel like taking something like Manjaro Ozempic is what helps them defriend food almost.

They no longer have that so-called food chatter, thinking about food all the time, which feels like a win if it's like really consuming your thoughts all the time.

12:36
You're always thinking about food.

You can't get anything else done.

It likely feels like a huge breath of fresh air to take Manjaro Ozempic, whatever it is, and no longer have that.

The biggest concern I see is the sustainability of it.

Of course, like once you stop taking them on, Jaro, Ozempic, Wegovi, whatever, those thoughts are likely going to come back unless you've healed that relationship with food.

13:00
And a lot of times too those that food chatter, when you're always thinking about food, it's so often a result of food restriction and these appetite suppressing injectables are likely going to lead to you eating even less, further suppressing what you're eating.

13:16
And so once again, the sustainability of it just isn't, isn't quite there.

So my whole point of saying all this once again is just not anti medication or anti people using medications.

I think I'm more so against the providers who are using these inpatients who they aren't even screening for disordered eating or eating disorders.

13:41
That's what I have a problem with.

And also like the accessibility of the medications when a lot of these are not even originally for weight loss, like Ozempics for diabetes management, but also like when I'm really glad you said a social media trend, because Oprah even brings up multiple times how this became popular in TikTok.

14:04
Yes.

And I'm like health advice should not be gaining traction like we utilize social media to like provide education.

Like we should not be getting medication recommendations from a social media app.

14:21
Yeah, yeah.

That's kind of crazy to think about.

And like they're aware of it because Oprah brings it up multiple She drop name drops TikTok, which was great.

Coming from her, yeah.

I'm like, how do you, you're not allowed to know about that.

14:39
They're you're too old for that.

But one of the biggest things that she also talks about, Amy talks about is the treatment in a smaller body versus a larger body.

And we've talked about this before on the podcast, like the internalized fat phobia, the thin privilege.

15:04
And Amy, just like her anecdotal like experience proves that like she was treated better.

People are more friendly to her when she her body was smaller.

And like, of course you want to be.

And like, we've also, I feel like first sixty episodes, we weren't good about this.

15:24
Now we're much better.

We're like, we're not going to shame you for wanting to lose weight because normally, like, people treat you better.

Like, yeah, I'd want to be treated better.

Of course that makes complete sense that you want people to like, you want to feel accepted.

15:42
You want people to be nice to you, crazy like you think.

That's a crazy concept, but unfortunately in this world it is.

It is.

Life is easier if you look like us, like it really is.

If your body is smaller, it's easier in so many ways.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, it makes total sense that you'd want to pursue that, that you would have a desire to get to a place where people are going to be nicer to you.

16:06
You're going to fit into a plane seat, No problem.

Clothes are going to be easier for you to access and find.

It makes so much sense.

And so once again, like we said this a million times this season, like we're learning that the problem is not the Dieter, it's this industry, this multi billion dollar industry that just like sucks.

16:25
Sucks a lot.

Yeah.

She also mentions that people are nicer to her children now too, which we'll get to a a a child guest in a minute here.

Spoiler alert.

But I mean that's just crazy.

And that she didn't even want to go to the doctor to begin with because she felt ashamed.

16:42
We've mentioned that before like how weight stigma leads to people not even wanting to go get medical care because so many providers just tell them, oh you have a cough, why don't you go lose weight?

That'll fix the issue.

So once again, like all the things that she was saying we've heard a million times, people just like her.

17:01
And that's the issue.

Like the issue is not Amy's body size.

The issue is these big issues like weight centric care and you know these pharmaceutical companies using these meds for weight loss and not being able to supply enough for those who actually need them for diabetes or anything else.

17:21
Amy's body's not the problem, but she feels like it is because she's been told over and over again that it is OK going on to our next guest.

I was having war flashbacks listening to him.

I wanted to fight this person.

17:39
So next we've got from the Cleveland Clinic Doctor W Scotch Bush.

What a name is he a bourbon like?

I know, I don't know if I spelled that right.

It's like it's like a bourbon flavored baked bean is what that makes me think of.

18:01
Have you seen they have Doctor pepper baked beans?

No.

Yeah, they're like in a can.

I haven't tried them, but I'm very intrigued.

Let's be honest, I'll, I'll buy them and I'll let you guys know, OK?

Yeah, let us know because I'm not going to try that.

So our our friend Doctor Butch, here he is, I'm assuming.

18:21
I don't think we wrote this down, but I'm, I'm pretty sure he's board certified in like weight medicine or something, whatever, whatever the certification is.

He's a Cleveland Clinic guy.

Exactly.

And he talks a bit about obesity as a disease, how weight works.

18:39
And it was funny because we keep saying this this season 2, but he was bringing up like phrases like set point weight and yo-yo dieting and like weight regain.

Like these people like.

It's right in front of them.

They know that weight loss is so hard to maintain.

18:57
They even understand why.

Like, he's an obesity scientist.

You know, like they understand what's happening here, but they still are just like pushing and fighting the good fight, as they say, to work against our body, even though there's so many built in things making it so we can't lose the weight it was.

19:21
From.

Their faces.

It was giving golo.

Literally.

Giving go low energy where they're saying all these things we've been saying, but then still recommending the thing that is not helping and his there's like a history of not helping.

19:42
Yeah.

Oh, I thought it was funny when he mentioned an analogy that I use all the time.

When you like, hold your breath while you're swimming.

When you come up from the water, you're going to be gasping for air.

Like we always talk about with food, intuitive eating, whatever.

19:58
When you don't eat enough, when you finally have access to food, you're likely going to do binge type eating.

Same idea.

So like they get it, it's right there.

He clearly like has that analogy that we also use in the anti diet world where if you're not eating enough, you're not giving your body what it needs, you're going to inhale and gasp for breath once you finally have access to it, yeah.

20:22
It's crazy.

Yeah, I I just saw something I'm talking about at the end where like I feel like the true problem just is not getting addressed.

It's like a temporary solution.

20:38
Exactly.

Just a different it's not a diet.

This time it's a a prescribed medication even more inaccessible than a diet.

Well then Oprah puts in her two cents and.

He, like, almost lost my mind at this point.

20:59
Tell them what she said.

She compares alcoholism to obesity.

Alcoholism is a very serious mental disorder, obesity like.

21:17
Listen to our Listen to our obesity episode.

You can't be addicted to something you need to survive.

You don't need alcohol to survive.

You need food.

You will die if you don't need.

Yeah.

To compare, I was like, blown away.

21:35
Like on my In my mind, this is like comparing like an opioid addict to like, a fat person.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

And then she says later, like it's wrong to shame people with obesity, but compares them to being like alcohol.

21:53
Like you're just as bad as an alcoholic.

Like, no, what's happening here is your body is telling you it's not getting what it needs.

It's a totally different psychochemical reaction than it is with alcohol.

22:10
Like, that's like a chemical compound that your body is getting addicted to.

This is just you're not giving your body what it needs.

And so it's saying, hey, I need more of this.

And so if you don't give it to me, I'm going to make your weight go up.

So that way if I don't get it again in the future, I have more weight because I need to use that for energy.

22:29
Like, it's a totally different physiological phenomenon happening here.

It's not the same thing.

But yeah, she says this over and over.

She's like, it's so wrong to shame people with obesity, but if you're obese, make sure you're trying to lose weight, though it takes most of.

22:46
That yeah, you're not.

You will be treated better and you will be healthier, like based off of all the people I'm bringing on.

That is the point that is getting betrayed.

Like, what I put here is how does pathologizing all larger bodies help release the shame, judgment, and stigma?

23:06
Like, no, You're telling people who are in larger bodies their body is bad and wrong in a disease.

Yeah.

Like, that's the shameful part of this, not their body existing as it is.

It's again, it's like it's right there.

Why?

Don't they see it?

23:24
I don't understand.

I don't understand.

And then once again, Doctor Whatever, Doctor Bush here, whatever his name is, he once again is like pulling the anti diet language out.

And he's like people in larger bodies who have this disease disease of obesity are always told to just eat less.

23:40
But that doesn't work.

Like, yeah, Doc, that's what we've been saying the whole time.

But you're giving them a medication where they're going to be eating even less than they already are?

Yeah.

And then even times like they're like, we don't know everyone's situation and I'm like, we don't, so why are we?

24:00
So you can't say your life will be better if you take this medication and lose weight.

You.

It's insane.

It's.

I want you to say this next part because when I read your note my mind.

Was like, wait, so then he says he tries to like, compare it to those in thinner bodies.

24:20
And he's like people in larger bodies have this food chatter.

They're always thinking about food.

If you're in a thin body, you just do not have that.

You don't have this problem.

That is so untrue like.

Like he people he doesn't know.

Like, yeah.

Are going to have this feeling of food addiction and like they're always thinking about food.

24:37
What do you think an eating disorder is?

Like I was going to say, has he never heard of an eating disorder like your?

Brown's thinking about food all the time, no matter if you are 100 lbs or 300 lbs.

Like you're always thinking about food if you have a certain eating disorder.

24:52
That part was crazy to me.

I'm like now we're like, like, there's a stereotype of like all people with eating disorder super thin.

Now I feel like we're going like a different direction with like all the people who live in larger bodies, they can't sit up thinking about food and all the like thin people.

25:10
They don't have any thoughts about food.

Like, do you not have any concept of mental health?

This is the same group of people who don't believe in atypical anorexia.

Atypical, you know, using the words that is currently being used in that world.

But like you're telling me that anorexia only exists in thin people, but yet at the same time, people in larger bodies have this food chatter which could easily be classified as an eating disorder.

25:40
Which is it?

Which is it?

Doc.

It's so this whole the whole, the whole time.

It was like what is happening?

I'm telling you, war flashbacks, I was like, I've been here.

I've been here before.

I know this guy.

Oh man.

25:57
OK, quick side note before we get to our next doctor.

They're talking about GLP ones, which is like another form of like medication for weight management.

We have an episode coming up for the company row ROI.

26:12
Don't even know how you say it.

I haven't done any research, so I can be completely butchering that, but they have a ton of Hulu ads, that's all I know and I'm sick of seeing them.

So we're gonna, we'll be talking a little bit more specifically about that medication, the mechanism of it, just 'cause they like to talk about it a lot.

26:29
But let's talk about our next guest.

Another doc Doctor Velasquez, I think, Another obesity specialist.

Yeah.

She's been there the whole time, like she was sitting with Doctor, Doctor Butch or whatever his name is, and then she kind of gets her own little, I guess, Q&A with Oprah here.

26:50
Yeah.

She starts talking about I can't quite remember, I think.

Oprah honestly starts talking before she's up there.

That's true.

That's Oprah.

I don't know.

I don't know.

She really inserted herself as like an expert on the disease of obesity.

27:11
Yes.

And I know she's been through so much with like her history of dieting and all of that.

I don't know.

She really was giving know it all.

Yeah.

And I feel like it's also tough because, like, that's all she knows.

27:28
Like, like, I have some.

I'm going to give her some leeway because she's not a healthcare professional.

And like, she's been immersed in diet culture for a while.

So like, what?

Like it's tough to cut out of.

27:44
But the professionals I'm like.

The biggest thing I recall this doctor saying that I was upset about, that we've kind of already hinted at, but she talks a lot about how once you stop the medications, the disease of obesity comes back, which that's what we've been saying the whole time.

28:01
That's why we don't like this being used as a treatment for the disease of obesity, because not only just.

Like the dieting?

Exactly so it's like these medications work so well.

Dot dot dot As long as you have a healthy lifestyle and you do it forever.

28:19
And then like you had mentioned before, she even said like you need to do you need to make behavioral and lifestyle changes along?

With it exactly.

So like, is it actually the medication doing anything or is it the lifestyle changes?

The medication is suppressing appetite, so it feels easier to make the lifestyle changes.

28:39
Yep.

Related to that though, Oprah had mentioned how she uses her weight loss injection, refuses to drop the name, which our money's I think it's Ozempic.

But in addition to her weight loss injection, she walks.

28:57
Slash runs no hikes.

Slash runs three to five miles a day, incorporates resistance training and quote UN quote, eats a healthy diet.

To quote UN quote, balance everything out.

So, like, that's a lot.

29:14
Of exercise like not everyone is able to do that much.

Yeah.

Also, Oprah's a billionaire.

I've been waiting to bring this up.

So I think it's very important to know her financial privileges, like the types of food I bet like she could have, like a chef if she wants.

29:34
Who's preparing all of her food?

I.

Guarantee she has someone making her meals for her.

At this point in her life, like, how much is she actually working?

Like, is she working a nine to five?

No, she's not.

She's a billionaire.

She doesn't need to work.

But here she is doing a weight loss special anyway.

29:53
This.

Is an epidemic that must be taken down by Oprah.

Yes, she must lead the way and break off her relationship with the Weight Watchers because of it.

I'm excited to talk about that later.

Yeah, but I just think it was so interesting to mention like like Oprah and this doctor are talking about behavioral changes need to be made too.

30:18
And that's like it's being advertised as just take the medication.

Right.

Like, it's true that if you take the medication and don't make changes, nothing's going to happen.

It's not like a magic thing, but like that's like you said, it's not what's being advertised.

30:36
It's kind of like you take Ozempic and boom, you're thin and life is good and there's rainbows now and the sun is shining all the time.

Very misleading.

We also discussed, I actually just thought of this, we discussed in our Ozempic episode, which we we should link that too.

Ozempic.

Ozempic.

We're talking about.

30:53
Ozempic, we're not even going to link.

It I know how damn side effects like this is barely talked about in the special.

Also, I'm gonna say this now.

There is not a single discussion of disordered eating or eating disorders.

There's not a dietitian insight or therapy.

31:11
Yep.

Those are the two that I was like, we're gonna talk about food and weight loss and there's now can be a dietitian or therapist involved.

Just the Obesity certified docs.

They know it all.

31:27
They actually, I guarantee, I guarantee you they prescribe calorie recommendations, protein goals, all of that.

Shoot, where was I going with that?

Oh, side effects.

We mentioned this in the Ozempic podcast episode too, of course, but not everyone has them.

31:47
Super severe, but they can be terrible.

I've worked with so many patients on these injectables and the side effects are like, not to be truffled with sounds miserable.

So anyway, we talk about that more than the other episode and risks and all of that, but that isn't discussed really much either in this.

32:06
There's so many, so many side effects that are.

Like when it does get discussed, like they're kind of, they kind of gaslight the girl.

Yes, Oprah.

Like, OK, we'll get there.

We're gonna get there.

But I was like a little shook.

I know.

32:23
Well, let's.

Talk about our next Yeah, I.

Was.

Gonna say this was.

Probably the worst one.

We have more innocent Maddie Maggie, 16 years old, who was put on Victoza?

32:40
Victoza, you say?

Vintoza.

Victoza.

I was like I wrote it down wrong.

No, you got it right.

You got it right.

And my initial thoughts, So like the grand scheme of things, she was gaining a lot of weight as a child.

32:57
Her family was sending her to obesity camps to lose weight and then she was put on medication to lose weight essentially and suppress her appetite.

My first thought was like, imagine looking back at this and seeing your mom say quote, something wasn't right with her.

33:17
She shouldn't eat that much.

Once again, it's the generational dieting.

So mom's also on meds does not like the way her body looks and so her mom is just like portraying that on to her daughter.

Wait, we also have a generational?

I was just thinking don't forget to add brown out to the list.

33:35
We have.

We have so many episodes.

We also have the childhood obesity one too with the AAP guidelines.

Oh my gosh.

Well, you guys are in for a treat.

Well.

We've discussed this so many times there's like it's not going away.

It's very frustrating.

33:51
But just like, yes, it's like the mom says these things, but like, it's a result of, like, the mom was being shamed her entire life, so now she's just like projecting.

Unfortunately, like, the child is going to have trauma from this.

34:07
We talk about childhood trauma all the time.

This is going to have an impact on her mental health for sure, and it's like a result of diet culture in the diet industry and like a systematic issue that is affecting everyone.

34:25
Yeah.

Her mom says something along the lines of like, this is way too much food for a child her age to be eating.

Says who?

Like we have such a messed up perception of what the right amount of food is.

We are always like especially females and young girls eat as little as possible.

34:43
If you're eating more than your friends doing something wrong, there's just no way to know.

Maybe she was eating more than mom thinks she should.

I mean, obviously she was eating more than mom thinks that she should.

Maybe she was eating possibleness regularly, I don't know, But it's as a dietitian I am very wary of if she actually was eating too much or if Mom just thought she was because mom has been trying to eat as little as possible for so long.

35:14
Yeah.

And especially with the age range she's in, she's in peak eating disorder risk.

With a bunch of bullies at school.

Like, OK, so she had bariatric surgery at age 13.

Mom said seeing my child wheeled into the ORI, was wondering if I was doing.

35:34
The We also have a bariatric surgery.

Yep.

OK.

OK.

Sorry, continue.

OK, yeah, so Mom says I was seeing my child wheeled into the OR and I was wondering if I was doing the right thing.

I wanted to note that it probably actually was really hard to, like, raise a daughter and a larger body because people are so freaking mean.

35:54
And I bet like other parents were saying things to.

Her.

Oh, for sure.

And I'm sure, like getting the surgery was they were shamed for doing that.

Shamed for probably not doing it.

But others, you just can't win.

No.

So she had the surgery at 13, She's 16 now and when she's on this special with Oprah, she's currently on Victoza.

36:14
And I gotta say it if the surgery works, which we discussed with Kirsten, why do we need weight loss meds if it works so well, if it's the gold standard?

A very good question.

Anyway, listen to that one if you want to hear more about our thoughts on bariatric surgery and also the childhood obesity guidelines.

36:35
We discussed it there too, 'cause that has been recommended is surgery for kids as they're growing stomach, yeah.

But then I I don't know the mom's name.

I like to sorry we have.

36:52
Maggie's the star here.

Sorry Maggie's mom, but the mom was talking about then how Maggie's life improved so much when she lost weight.

This is similar to what we heard with Amy.

People were treating her nicer.

Her friends were saying how pretty she looked at prom and then they were talking about how the mom was talking about how she couldn't find like Maggie, a dress or prom.

37:18
So I'm wondering the timeline of this.

Like the bariatric surgery was in when she was 13.

She's 16 now.

She's going to prom already is 16.

Dang, yeah, I didn't think about that.

Oh my gosh, not important, essentially.

37:36
Like, I remember at some point the mom was talking about how she couldn't.

I don't know if it was prom specifically or just dances.

And they've been just, like, generally fighting like clothes.

Yeah, yeah, Yeah.

It was probably that then, but she like couldn't find her dresses.

37:51
But like now, Maggie is getting all these nice compliments and even Maggie's like sitting up on the stage.

Like, so yeah, she's going to prom now and everyone's like, oh, you look so pretty.

This is so great and it just stinks.

38:08
Because again, I'm glad she feels good.

But was anyone asking her how she felt back then, first of all, or just now that she's like thin and pretty?

Everyone's asking her how she's feeling.

Also, it stinks that she felt she couldn't go to prom before, although I know age probably played a role in that too.

38:25
But I'm willing to bet that she wouldn't have felt as comfortable and excited about going to prom if she was the same size now as she was back then.

And then, Speaking of like finding clothes that fit, I can guarantee it'd be tough to find a dress that would fit you in a larger body.

I mean, it's hard to find a dress that fits for prom and smaller bodies.

38:45
Like, I guarantee it's nearly impossible for those in large bodies.

It just it sucks.

Again, the issue was not Maggie's body.

It is the people who made her feel like her body was the problem.

Yes.

39:01
OK, this next one had me shaking in my boots.

What?

This doctor told Maggie's mom.

I.

Was really like there's no way this is real.

Actually there is a way I would.

I know there.

I know for a fact it's real important.

I believe it's so much OK, so the doctor said that Maggie's risk of obesity would cause.

39:23
Oh no, sorry.

OK, that's right.

Maggie's mom was talking about how like your increase of of like diabetes and other diseases higher when you have obesity.

And Maggie's mom said that she was told by a healthcare professional that Maggie would be £500 by the time she was 16 years old and that she was going to die if they did not do something about her weight.

39:45
Fear mongering at its finest.

That is crazy.

I was little like.

Shooketh.

And like, I don't know how old Maggie wasn't.

She heard this, but like, imagine if she did.

40:01
Like, what are the implications of that?

Like, yeah, maybe she will get diabetes.

I don't know.

We don't know her family history or any of the other conditions going on in her life.

What about her eating disorder risk?

Now that you just told her she's going to die at 16 because of her weight, that's also a deadly disease.

40:19
Yeah, I literally think about, like, the correlation between like suicidal ideation and eating disorder and like hearing this conversation, I would be.

I'm so nervous for her mental.

40:34
Health.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like what?

Who said that?

Who the sad thing is, I fully believe it.

Like I know that's true.

Yes, unfortunately, because of the healthcare world we live in.

40:53
Yeah.

I just can't imagine talking to a patient like that, like as a professional myself, you're going?

To die.

Your daughter's going to die because she's going to gain 200 more pounds based off of I said it's, I said she's going to die.

Right.

41:08
Like you have no data to back that up.

No.

You have what her body looks like and that's literally it.

That's all you know about this person.

Also, there are people that are 500 lbs and aren't dead.

So like.

41:26
What are we?

Where is the science?

What is happening?

People who are that that size and don't have diabetes don't have heart problems.

No, they're just.

They're just existing.

No food chatter.

They're so healthy.

41:43
Yeah, OK.

So crazy.

Let's talk about the next one, 'cause I think this is a very good point.

Cause like Maggie's mom is in a tough position.

Like, she's probably, She's hearing a lot of like people are very critical of moms in general.

41:59
Yeah, and.

She talks about the criticism to putting a minor on weight loss medications and her quote is walk a mile in our shoes.

She continues to talk about obesity as a disease.

No one mentions eating disorder risk and no one also like mentions like long term research.

42:20
There is a mention later about research, but it's not long term.

Yeah so.

And no mention of a dietitian or therapist.

Nowhere insight, just these anecdotal stories and some doctors who are so biased.

42:35
Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

So yeah, Mom's got her own issue.

She's also on Victoza.

She's also used Wogovian Zep bound in the past.

Insurance issues are the reasons why she had to had to change, which is bringing up the whole point of accessibility to these medications also being a problem.

42:56
It just it's I'm sure it's hard for the mom and Maggie of course too.

But it's it's hard to blame the mom for like having her daughter do the surgery and take these meds when once again, of course, Maggie was like probably being bullied and probably felt.

43:12
Like you.

Want It was declining.

You want to protect your kid?

Exactly.

And you feel like that's the best way you can?

Yeah.

Especially if you're told by your doctor that she's going to die if you don't.

We also mentioned we have a motherhood episode as.

43:28
Well, Oh my God, Clear your afternoon.

You got.

It's.

Like at least seven episodes.

You guys need to listen.

Oh yeah, it also didn't mention.

43:44
Speaking of diabetes, we also have Danielle's Diabetes episode.

You.

We have so many fun things in store for you.

We are our own niche.

You know what?

We should do wait you.

I think you actually already do this on the YouTube channel.

Another reason to subscribe to the YouTube it's like like if you start here watch all of.

44:05
These episodes, it's kind of like.

That, but I think we have a playlist, we have playlists, so.

Yeah.

Watch on YouTube so then you don't have to refer to all of our descriptions and be like, where am I?

You can just go through all them there.

And then it kind of ends with Maggie just talking about how she's treated better and now that she is thinner.

44:24
Yeah.

Just kind of what how it started out.

Yeah, let's go to the next.

Part.

Let's go to the audience where?

It gets it gets juicy.

These last two segments, we thought.

It was juicy.

Now just you wait.

Yeah, we get our first, like audience participation and there someone talks about how taking the medication, weight loss, injectable change their relationship with food.

44:54
This has been.

So interesting to me.

The lingo is.

Being utilized and I feel like 'cause there is such an emphasis on, like your relationship with food, work on your relationship with food, heal your relationship with food.

Like the it's like getting almost like abused.

45:13
And this isn't on the person for abusing it.

This is on the like the the lingo being used by healthcare professionals in these weight loss spaces.

Yeah.

But we're talking about changing our relationship with food, and there's no mention of a digestion or a therapist like.

45:33
Those would be the people who could also help you achieve that without simultaneously shrinking yourself and body shaming you the whole time.

And also we have a higher chance of being more sustainable because we're actually like doing the mental work of figuring out, like, why we feel about food the way that we have for the last few decades.

45:53
Like, why do we eat pass fullness all the time?

Why do we feel like we only want to eat, quote UN quote, junk food?

Did we have the Clean plate Club growing up?

How do we break free from that?

Like, these are all things that a medication can't do for you.

They're just going to suppress the appetite, quiet the food chatter.

46:09
But then once you're off of it, that's going to come right back.

And also you're going to be body shamed by your provider the whole time, most likely, especially if you're not losing.

And they'll likely take the medication away from you or just give you more but have more side effects.

Or make you switch from like Med to Med to Med.

46:27
And you always have the worst side effects in the beginning.

I've been seeing that a lot lately.

It's like, oh, your side effects are unbearable with the Ozempic.

Let's try the Wugovi.

Oh, the side effects are better with that.

Let's try the Zep bound.

And so your body is just like taking such a toll, trying to find the right fit.

46:46
Oh, it's interesting.

I've seen it also.

I think I mentioned this earlier.

I've seen medication prescribed for someone who has gastroparesis, a medication that decreases how quickly your body digest food is given to a person who already has delayed gastric emptying, basically stopping their stomach from working.

47:13
Like the food just doesn't go anywhere, just sits there.

But at least they're not fat.

It's crazy Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers.

This is where I was like, Oh my gosh, like, so if you guys don't follow the stocks, who's on the?

47:31
Do you follow the stocks?

No.

But this isn't our realm of no so I do know.

This, yes, yes, yes.

Oprah stamped down from like the board of directors on Weight Watchers and she says it's 'cause she Oprah says 'cause she doesn't want any conflict of interests for this weight loss special.

48:00
I do not buy that for a second.

This one 4550 minute video, You're stepping down.

No, Oprah, You are taking a weight loss Med and you clearly invested in whatever that weight loss medication is.

You are jumping ship because Weight Watchers has been on the decline for a while.

48:19
Didn't work for you like you are still struggling with your weight, you say, and so you're on this Med now.

Yep.

I didn't think about her having financial ties to the injectable.

I was.

I was kind of wondering what's the conflict of interest here.

I get it now.

I would.

I would put literally all of my savings.

48:38
I'm so confident, and it's all based off the fact she's a billionaire, that she exploits people for money and just cares about money, 'cause there's no ethical billionaires in our world.

But she says she's on good terms with Weight Watchers.

48:57
To the Weight CEO of Weight Watchers face, I was What was interesting to me is she brought up like Amy.

She brought up Maggie and Maggie's mom.

She brought up both the doctors.

That one audience member was very two audience members.

49:14
Very clearly we didn't get even get to the other one yet.

I mean, there's other so many other people.

I forgot all these other people.

So many.

I thought we ended with Weight Watchers.

I forgot.

I clearly removed this from my brain.

But she doesn't bring the CEO of Weight Watchers up, which is interesting to me, I think.

49:33
You sit in your seat, I'll stand over you and put.

It on your platform.

We will not be in the same level.

I will not give you the same levels attention as the other people.

I think there was a lot said there.

49:49
I think there's a lot said, but essentially Oprah asks the juicy question, which is I'm like, this is the one good thing she has done.

She's Weight Watchers has recently started investing in weight loss medications and Oprah essentially asks, like, why.

50:05
And the CEO mentions they were missing the quote UN quote biology component.

As if they were doing so great with the psychological and what other components are there?

Like, yeah, as if their other components were something to rave about.

50:21
Like, no, your program doesn't work in any components.

That's why you have to add these medications or feel like you do.

We also have a Weight Watchers episode.

Oh my God.

We everything we've been doing has been preparing us for.

50:39
The sake You're so right.

I felt so prepared for this episode today.

I'm like, I know exactly what I want to say.

I feel good and this is great.

And we have 10 plus videos to back up everything We're.

Saying our description's gonna be so long it's gonna like Max out the text, whatever on YouTube.

50:55
They're gonna be like, what is this?

Yeah.

They're like some of these, yeah, but the CEO of Weight Watchers also mentioned releasing The shame is the theme of the episode today.

Release the shame.

But do pursue weight loss, though, because your body's a problem.

51:12
And use our program and our medications to do it.

So we can make more money.

Exactly.

No shame though.

No shame.

Which Oprah eventually does does say something like that.

She's like if you're happy in your larger body, go you or.

51:28
She did say that, like I think it was like one of the last sentences.

But it was so.

I don't know.

It was icky how she said it.

I felt like it was not sincere.

The way she made it sound, it was like, I can't believe you actually mean that, but good for you.

Yeah.

51:44
'Cause she never has felt that, She's never felt confident in her larger body.

No.

And so I'm sure it's hard to believe that anyone could feel that way.

Yeah, let's talk about our next guest.

But like, not really a guest.

She didn't get to sit.

Yeah, she was like a recording.

52:01
I think they do.

But then.

Wasn't she there for like a second though, in the audience, too?

Oh wow, I.

Can't remember, but she was very brief, regardless of how she was there.

I remember seeing one video recording and I'm like, OK, that was that was fine I guess.

And of course, she's the first nutrition professional in any capacity.

52:19
She has her masters in nutrition, evidently, and she's also an OBGYN and has the obesity medicines, you know, specialization or whatever.

And her biggest thing was she talked a lot about how sort of like the, oh, what's it called?

Like the, I guess pros and cons of treating the disease of obesity?

52:37
She's like if you if you don't treat it, there's going to be risks.

There's risks to treating it like the side effects and such.

Although she then mentioned that the the meds have rare, insignificant side effects and I put in the notes, oh hell no.

52:55
My patients are like shitting their brains out, vomiting, nausea, literally not eating all day long for days on end.

Yep.

But sure, that's rare and significant.

I think the issue is they view these side effects as insignificant because they're not eating, which is what they want, so it's like a win.

53:10
Like, great, you're losing weight.

Job is done.

Yeah.

So yeah, she was mostly like risk analysis.

That's what I was trying to say.

That was kind of like her role here, I think.

Yes, yes, that was like all that she really brought to the table.

53:26
Nothing about nutrition.

Despite dropping that.

She's a master's in nutrition.

Which obviously, I was kind of glad I was like, I don't need to hear that.

That's true.

I was like at first.

I was like, oh, and I'm like, it's probably for the best.

I don't need to hear about a calorie deficit today.

Like, no, we all know.

53:43
Yeah, we have our next audience member, Rolanda, and she's someone who stopped weight loss medications because of nausea and vomiting.

And she even saw blood.

She was like throwing out blood and this was juicy.

54:03
Doctor Velasquez gets involved and starts talk and like, Oprah's asking her like, have you tried any other medications or Lana's Like, no.

I've been hesitant to 'cause I don't know if you remember, I was throwing up blood, so I was like, this is not worth it.

54:22
And Doctor Velasquez gets involved.

She starts talking about how there isn't a history of long term chronic conditions in the data, but there is data that's 20 plus years old, but that's with diabetes management And she doesn't say that and not weight loss, but like she talks about how it's with diabetes management, with these medications.

54:44
That's where the history, the research is and it was very interesting because like it was very much giving like gas like Gatekeep girl boss and she was like you gave up.

55:00
Like there is no research essentially that shows like the short term is detrimental and you should try again.

And I like how they said if the patient has a risk factor like gastroparesis, we're not gonna prescribe the medication.

55:19
Literally not true.

I've seen so many cases, anecdotally of course of this happening where a patient is clearly not a good fit for this Med.

Also, once again, the eating disorder risk.

They are not screening for disordered eating or eating disorders before targeting starting the medications.

That is not something that has to be done.

55:36
I think it should.

I think that should be like the first thing you have to screen for, yes?

100%.

Like with the gastroparesis, or probably even an eating disorder, these obesity specialists are just viewing obesity as being riskier than any of those other conditions.

55:55
So it's like we might as well treat the obesity the biggest issue at hand here, clearly.

Yes.

Oh, your stomach stops working.

That's fine as long as you are not fat.

Good, good.

Oh, you're.

56:10
Throwing up blood.

Are you losing weight though?

Good Those that blood held extra weight.

Those red blood cells were heavy.

Oh man.

OK, more tea.

56:26
We then get the pharmaceutical reps from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly who produce various of the injectables.

I forget who does what, but one of them produces a few and then the other one produces the other ones.

Because there's so many now I.

Know.

56:42
And they talked a lot about the access, which I was interested that that was brought up, although not surprised because that's talked about a lot on TikTok once again and I feel like is this for Oprah?

Kind of mentioned TikTok again.

She was like it's becoming trendy.

What are your thoughts on this?

57:00
That's that's like us saying like it's a super junior, like Metformin.

Everyone's taking Metformin now for their depression.

You can also take Metformin for your depression, like this is a prescribed medication.

57:21
Yeah.

That's what's crazy and they're like, mentioned and Oprah's, feeding into the TikTok phenomenon.

I know.

Does does the government know?

Does she know the government is trying to ban TikTok?

Are they going to come after her because of this?

57:37
Because she's like, yes, TikTok is good because they're promoting weight loss meds.

She also kept, like, talking about those two being in the room together for the first time ever, because they're like competing companies.

Yeah.

I was like, I like.

57:55
I highly doubt that.

I also like feel like they probably both got in a like a conference like if you're doing.

In the obesity epidemic space, like they're all fighting the good fight, They think so.

I'm sure they're getting along just fine.

So dramatic, like you would have thought she, like, ended a war.

58:16
I brought Niguel and Rhonda together.

There's now peace in the weight loss industry.

Oh.

My gosh, yeah.

Those are our last ones.

I think those are our last ones.

Oh, wow.

That was the roller coaster.

58:33
I watched this while I had the flu and Emily told me don't do it because you'll just get sicker.

And she was correct.

It was a rough watch, a very rough watch, but thankfully you guys don't have to do it.

Now you just listen to this.

You just.

58:50
Heard us bitch and moan about it instead for an hour.

Yeah, so All in all like she was just playing all the sides, but none of the sides.

But like also like lose weight, your life will be better.

59:07
That was the end message.

Even though she was weirdly saying those, like, if you can find peace in living in a larger body, good for you, it came off very.

Sarcastic it really did.

And just so and genuine.

59:23
Yes it was weird.

And then again I want to point out there was not a dietitian or anyone eating disorder related insight that's not being tested for or screened for before these taking before these are prescribed.

No.

I wanted to point out my history of working in weight loss because I felt really thankful for it while watching this because I've seen all of this first hand like over and over and over again and so I can just spot the bullshit so easily.

59:54
It's helped me so much like despite.

Your trauma.

My trauma is there.

I'm exhausted and jaded at the age of 27.

I've been practicing for what like 4 years and I'm not OK.

But times like this I feel really thankful for it because.

1:00:12
I like, I know all the meds.

I know what they do, the side effects, who's getting them.

I'm very on trend there, which again, shouldn't be a trend, but it is.

And it's just like, really helped me be able to again, like spot the bullshit and hopefully help you do the same our listeners.

1:00:35
Because I know it's not always easy to spot it.

Like if I didn't have this background, I I'd be so much more quick to believe these things.

Like I remember taking oh, when was it?

Like 2-3 years ago.

I did like the certificate of obesity medicine through our Academy.

1:00:52
I soaked up every word they said about, like the different types of obesity and ghrelin and leptin and how those are all impacted and how these medications help us make sure that our ghrelin's not going too crazy.

I wasn't even questioning any of it and how fat phobic gold it was too.

1:01:12
But now I like if I were to take that certificate again, which obviously I never would, I hope it expired by now.

So I don't have my name tied to that anywhere.

Yeah, I just.

I would.

I'm thankful now I can spot these things a mile away.

That is a very nice benefit, unfortunately for you that you had to go for that, but we get to reap the benefits now and we have an expert on the inside.

1:01:40
Yeah, sadly.

So when we talk about row more weight loss meds, I've got lots to say.

Yes, but you'll have to wait for that.

But in the meantime, you have like 10 episodes.

You can listen.

To I'm so.

1:01:57
Sorry.

What episode a day?

Or if like you want to do like I don't know who's having like a 40 minute drive like an episode there episode that you can do it during your lunch.

Do half an episode to work, half an episode during lunch, half an episode driving home, and then your nightcap will be winding down with the other half, and then you'll have listened to all the episodes by the time oh.

1:02:22
My God.

And you were?

Hopefully you've been a long term listener and just have already heard all those.

That's the best case scenario for all of.

US Yes.

Why'd you like that plan?

I like that schedule.

Make a schedule.

Put US, Put US in your Google Calendar.

Yeah, listen to the Ozempic craze on April 2nd.

1:02:45
I don't even know if this will be out by then.

I.

Think so.

I don't even know.

But yeah, there's plenty of other resources to listen to, or if you want to revisit them for the drama, that's also fun.

If you want to see us upset and distressed, go do that.

1:03:06
Listen to the bonus content so we can keep producing episodes and putting ourselves through this.

We're not OK.

Not well.

But we're going to go to the bonus question now.

Listen, subscribe to the YouTube, give us five stars on every single platform or else we will become weight loss medication pushers.

1:03:30
Whoa, how dare you?

I was going to say it would become our worst version of our enneagrams.

And Emily's a murderer if she goes goes Roe.

So watch out.

For legal reasons, I am not promoting Emily murdering people.

Also, we would never turn to weight loss medications cause one that sounds sale ruppy and both of us would hate that.

1:03:53
That would be.

The worst salesman in the world.

The worst.

We always talk about this.

I couldn't be president or a salesman.

Yeah.

Nope.

All right, guys.

Thanks for joining us.

We'll see you next week.

All right.

Bye the.

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