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How long til we're all on Ozempic?

asteriskmag.com

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Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#91
post #55
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> big improvements for animal welfare Is it? It might reduce the amount of animals killed, sure, but it won't improve the well-being of the ones that are still raised.

It also reduces the number of animals that suffer if the suffering is more important to your ethics.

Maybe. There is some evidence that the decline in fertility rates are associated with overweight and obesity. Social and biological factors leave having children more difficult when one is outside of a "normal" weight range. If everyone is on Ozempic, they might have more children, requiring more overall food and harming even more animals in the process.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From my understanding GLP-1 agonists can actually modulate the reward pathway reducing people's appetite for toxic diets. We're not socially caught up yet to this information. I suspect there are folks who believe that regardless of similar outcome (reduction of toxic diet), that changing diet without medication is superior to those who change their behavior through pharmacological intervention. It's like the pre-199…

You can literally do the same thing by eating a healthy diet for 2-4 weeks.

Do you have the time to seek out and keep healthy food? Can you afford it? Do you have the executive function and impulse control etc to bring to bear the necessary self discipline?

You’re making some pretty casual assumptions about people’s abilities.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#93
post #48

This article seems to frame things in such a strange way. Maybe instead of trying to get everyone obesity medication, we can instead educate society so we all understand nutrition and diet and can combat the ever-persistent forces of corporations pushing unhealthy food on us?

Educating people will hardly work. Bans on junk foods at government level might.

In EU they banned the sale of oral tobacco (snus), which is safer than smoking tobacco. Snus once had cancer labeling but that was generally considered not-very-true and labeling was removed. Tobacco smoke causes cancer. Drug bans also built many overfilled prisons and likely contributed to the invention and spread of harmful drugs such as crystal meth and fentanyl. This is a one sided view of course. I like William Blakes work, "Auguries of Innocence".

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#94
My god no.

I'm 42 and I've never taken more than the odd painkiller or antibiotic here or there - less than a pill a year on average I'm sure.

The last thing in the world I want is to be permanently on some drug that alters how my body works. I hike, snowboard, go to the gym and eat sensibly. That's all the "weight control" I need.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#95

This article seems to frame things in such a strange way. Maybe instead of trying to get everyone obesity medication, we can instead educate society so we all understand nutrition and diet and can combat the ever-persistent forces of corporations pushing unhealthy food on us?

Do you think overweight people don't know why they're overweight?

There are plenty of obese people that understand nutrition just fine, there are obese people who understand it well enough to have lost significant weight and gained it all back.

Clearly there is something else going on that we haven't grasped yet.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#96
post #4

It's a pretty sad thought that everybody will be on a drug that keeps weight in check while most people will still eat a basically toxic diet. Weight is certainly an important factor but there is more to a healthy life.

From my understanding GLP-1 agonists can actually modulate the reward pathway reducing people's appetite for toxic diets. We're not socially caught up yet to this information. I suspect there are folks who believe that regardless of similar outcome (reduction of toxic diet), that changing diet without medication is superior to those who change their behavior through pharmacological intervention. It's like the pre-199…

> GLP-1 agonists can actually modulate the reward pathway reducing people's appetite for toxic diets.

There are also studies out showing that people just up their sugar intake, so I think the results on how it affects peoples diet is still pending. From what I've seen, people are eating less, but more of it is junk food and sugar.

I can absolutely see why people would want to be able to just take a drug and start losing weight, it's hard. My concern is that it takes more than a low body weight to be healthy. You still need exercise, and while that's not an effective weight-lose solution, it is something that most would add when trying to lose weight, and now they're missing out on that part. Arguably exercise is more important than your weight.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#97

I don’t want this to come out insensitive or from under the rock, but why is taking a drug a novel & cool idea (all of a sudden/recently) as opposed to good old fashioned working out and not eating more than what you need? okay, this drug is all kinds of great and it’s the next best thing since green grapes, still not eating more and workout is better than taking drugs that effect your brain right? Are doctors requir…

Because not everyone has willpower and discipline. People who do have those strengths often think it is just as simple as saying, "Just take care of yourself", but it is not that easy for many people. High blood sugar also increases cravings, which makes it even harder, bringing on a downward spiral. This drug can help break out of that spiral and fix the craving/willpower problems.

I don't think it's just people who have willpower and discipline, it seems to me that for most people it doesn't take as much willpower and discipline to stay at a reasonable weight. These arguments make it sound as if everyone who is at a reasonable weight is there through large amounts of willpower and discipline, but most people I know don't need to exercise X times per week and constantly watch what they eat to keep that weight.

It's much easier when you can trust your body feedback and rely on your regular hunger signals, but for most people who benefit from Ozempic for weight loss if they just trust their bodies they will get fat.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#98

My biggest fear is either there will be long term negative consequences to Ozempic et al, and a huge swath of the population will be dealing with issues 30 years form now - OR - there will be some long term positive consequence to using Ozempic et al, and I'm not getting any of the benefits because I'm not overweight.

Well, the negative consequence on the value of willpower is pretty obvious. "In what measure" is the real question.

You have the completely wrong take on this. Dieting destroys your relationship with food. Basically every adult woman exhibits some level of disordered eating because of it— "girl dinner" is both funny because it's true and sad.

Being able to lose weight while continuing to eat is a wonderful thing. There is no virtue in spending your willpower making your body do something it desperately doesn't want to do. That's some puritan shit.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because not everyone has willpower and discipline. People who do have those strengths often think it is just as simple as saying, "Just take care of yourself", but it is not that easy for many people. High blood sugar also increases cravings, which makes it even harder, bringing on a downward spiral. This drug can help break out of that spiral and fix the craving/willpower problems.

what you say is mostly true, but I will point out that it does not break any spiral. It’s frequently reported that as soon as you stop taking Ozempic, the weight comes back immediately. so unless one resolves the underlying problem, you will be on this drug for life.

That's not unique to Ozempic and (while I know you didn't make this specific argument, but others in this subthread have) is a piss poor reason to tell someone they shouldn't give it a try.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#100

My biggest fear is either there will be long term negative consequences to Ozempic et al, and a huge swath of the population will be dealing with issues 30 years form now - OR - there will be some long term positive consequence to using Ozempic et al, and I'm not getting any of the benefits because I'm not overweight.

Well, the negative consequence on the value of willpower is pretty obvious. "In what measure" is the real question.

You know the way that software bloat expands to consume increased computational speed?

We're about to see the nutritional equivalent.

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