Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy • Hacker News Board

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#911

Post by mptest » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 1:54 AM UTC

anon7000 wrote: post #553

subpixel wrote: post #551

> It's insane to me that so many people need these to get off the processed foods killing them in the US The American diet is insane, full stop. However, I've just begun a GLP-1 regimen to address a willpower problem, not a nutritional problem. I'm not quite young anymore and have given lots of other approaches a shot over the years, but have persistently failed to achieve a weight that is not a threat to my health.…

And crucially, many of those bad foods can be pretty addictive. They’re quite literally engineered so that you want to eat a lot of them and buy more. So it’s not surprising many people struggle to change that habit when the food ecosystem is working against you. Junk food both tastes better and is easier to eat than home-cooking a very healthy meal. You’re not exactly set up for success here.

also remember it's pretty much the only addiction you are compelled to partake in even when "cured". No other addiction are you biologically compelled to do it (that i can think of) but for those with addiction issues and food as one of them it's often the hardest to shake because shaking addiction is easiest done simply by never touching it. Don't have that option with food. Even healthy food can be eaten in excess.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#912

Post by themk » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 1:57 AM UTC

cthalupa wrote: post #838

themk wrote: post #783

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PDCAAS is dumb when looking at multiple foods. E.g., beans and rice, when consumed together, are like, 0.99, depending on the ratio. That is, the sum is greater than the parts.

Adding rice might get you close to that for the amount of rice you eat, but 1 cup of beans will get you 16g of protein and 1 cup of rice will get you 4g of protein. So a chunk of your protein intake would still be incomplete. It's not like the ratios are perfect so that a cup of each gets you 20g of PDCAAS 1.0 protein. Doing some quick napkin math looking at the AA makeup and protein digestibility of the two, it's li…

From what you just wrote, it appears you misunderstood what I said. Just to be clear:

Red kidney beans (50g): PDCAAS = 0.88, Protein = 11.25g Basmati rice (50g): PDCAAS = 0.7, Protein = 4.5g

Red beans + rice (50g, 50g): PDCAAS = 1.0, Protein = 15.75g

Milk (500g..): PDCAAS = 1.0, Protein = 15.5g

So, from a protein perspective (according to PDCAAS), 500g of milk will give you the same amount of usable protein as the 100g rice and beans meal. There is nothing left on the table.

So, just eating kidney beans, PDCAAS would say that you aren't really getting the full benefit of the "protein on the label". But once you combine it with rice, you are getting the full benefit (according to PDCAAS).

You can't look at the digestibility of the two foods in isolation to make the calculations.

As long as you are eating a varied diet, PDCAAS is pretty pointless. If you have an eating disorder, or food scarcity issues, then it might become important.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#913

Post by dwd » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 2:38 AM UTC

Been following a whole food diet for a few years now, with one simple rule: avoid anything pre-made that has preservative or additives.

Everything is made as much as possible from scratch with fresh, frozen or dried ingredients. The only downside is most fresh ingredients need to be used within a few days (lack of preservatives/additives) - which means often making a stew using anything left-over that needs to be eaten. But throwing a whole heap of ingredients in a pot for 2 hours is a very quick/easy meal.

There are some carve-outs as we don't have unlimited time/space so items like cheese, yoghurt, anything fermented we don't make our own - but we stick to organic and preferably low-salt.

We never eat out or buy takeaway; if we feel like pizza we make and bake our own bases, and the toppings are all fresh. Bread is particularly something we never buy and have reduced our consumption: baking your own is less convenient but we eat a lot of rolled oats instead.

We don't limit snacks like chocolate (organic, no added vegetable oils) or nuts and go through an insane amount of honey.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#914

Post by 93po » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 3:10 AM UTC

sgwizdak wrote: post #576

93po wrote: post #536

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's too late. Their metabolic system has been compromised by either diet, hormones, genetics, whatever. I do want to be clear to anyone reading: there is no "too late". One's system does not become somehow damaged at some cliff of weight and eating habits. It doesn't become irreparably meaningfully physically more difficult to lose weight. What can happen is a shift in many systems that effectively make one feel h…

Sorry - I think there's complexity with insulin at play that you're overlooking. When I did caloric restriction, I was constantly battling hypoglycemic events that made me not want to exercise. I don't get that with the GLP-1s. In online discussions, people tend to conflate GLP-1 with appetite suppressants - but there's also insulin stabilization that occurs.

Exercise to the extent that obese people will do usually does not a very sizable impact on weight compared to the effect of proper diet, and weight loss is very achievable with zero exercise.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#915

Post by mmooss » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 5:36 AM UTC

sfn42 wrote: post #905

mmooss wrote: post #899

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Always a fair request. I don't know it well enough or have time at the moment, but afaik it's the medical consensus: Obesity is a disease, (mostly) not a result of behavior. Eating less and/or more activity doesn't cure people; iirc bodies adjust to retain the same amount of fat, etc. under the new conditions.

I don't know where you get your science man but I'm about 100% sure what you just said is completely false. Not even remotely controversial just flat out wrong.

What I said is commonplace if you look around.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#916

Post by indecisive_user » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 6:10 AM UTC

phil21 wrote: post #901

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #876

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That makes no sense. If the average American can drive to the supermarket, they're even more likely to go more often than if they had to walk.

Eh, this is just not proven true by observing what people do though. When I lived in Europe for a couple months, my first time there I grocery shopped like an American - filled up an entire cart with a week or two worth of groceries and then everyone stared at me when I checked out. It's absolutely true that Europeans who live in walkable cities go to the market to pick up groceries a few times a week. Americans simp…

>I grocery shopped like an American - filled up an entire cart with a week or two worth of groceries

Is that really how the average American shops though? The majority of shoppers these days are in the self checkout or "15 items or less" lines with only a single basket of stuff, at least in the stores I frequent. Granted, I'm close to a city center but the store I go to is not very walkable

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#917

Post by Grisu_FTP » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 6:14 AM UTC

bsder wrote: post #895

padjo wrote: post #858

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes because people are famously good a judging their own work accurately

> Yes because people are famously good a judging their own work accurately Sorry, not going to let that slide. Just because Dunning–Kruger exists does NOT exclude the fact that people are good at judging some things. This is especially true for something like food which people have lots of direct experience with. Now, someone may not have the skill to make something taste a certain way, but that does not mean that th…

> Just because Dunning–Kruger exists does NOT exclude the fact that people are good at judging some things.

I dont think this is about Dunning-Kruger, i think this is about the emotional attachment you build to something you created and how it clouds your judgement.

for example, if i recall correctly people liked their ikea furniture more, even tho its more work and of lesser quality, because they build it themselves and thus feel better about it. Same thing probably extends to most things you can do yourself: Cooking, Growing plants, building a dirt hut in Minecraft

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#918

Post by sfn42 » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 6:40 AM UTC

mmooss wrote: post #915

sfn42 wrote: post #905

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where you get your science man but I'm about 100% sure what you just said is completely false. Not even remotely controversial just flat out wrong.

What I said is commonplace if you look around.

Yeah, beliefs commonly held by people who would rather make excuses than improve their lives.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#919

Post by indecisive_user » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 6:47 AM UTC

danielscrubs wrote: post #765

cthalupa wrote: post #702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The drugs were a precondition to them being successful in the changes or seeing the level of impact be significantly increased doesn't make it 100% the drugs. Since you brought up steroids, plenty of people take a gram of gear and look like they don't even lift. I'm not saying that someone taking anabolic steroids should act like they've worked just as hard as someone who is natural and at the same level of musculatu…

There are studies on that that showed: Steroids WITHOUT training produced more muscle mass and strength than training without steroids. Bhasin et al., 1996 – New England Journal of Medicine Belgian Blues dont really need to go to the gym, so it’s not really that hard to phantom.

That study was on untrained subjects. Steroids increase your baseline musculature, but only to a point.

You're not going to accidentally an Arnold by injecting testosterone and sitting on the couch every day.

Re: Ozempic is changing the foods Americans buy

#920

Post by indecisive_user » Wed, Jan 14, 2026, 7:10 AM UTC

mmooss wrote: post #899

sfn42 wrote: post #877

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Share to share any of it?

Always a fair request. I don't know it well enough or have time at the moment, but afaik it's the medical consensus: Obesity is a disease, (mostly) not a result of behavior. Eating less and/or more activity doesn't cure people; iirc bodies adjust to retain the same amount of fat, etc. under the new conditions.

Then how does ozempic, whose primary mechanism of action is to decrease appetite, work for obese people?

Yes, your body will compensate somewhat for caloric deficit, and yes, when you gain enough fat mass your adipocytes will divide, creating more/stronger hunger signals that encourage weight gain moreso than someone who was never obese.

But your body is not magic. If you feed it a sufficiently low amount of calories, it has to break down energy stores, e.g. fat, to make up the difference in energy requirements.