An interesting tale of GLP1, Exercising & Calorie restriction

When I look back at my career and my learnings, I have always looked at the problem first and curiosity led me to the root cause. With a robust track record of literally changing anybody who I have touched – be it an athlete, metabolically unhealthy, or someone with persistent pain; I can say with confidence that it worked.

Lets discuss the most talked about and easily the most robust drugs of all time from problem first angle:

GLP 1 drugs – semaglutide, Ozempic, and the likes

  • Magnitude of weight loss
  • Positive impact on heart, kidney, and liver disease
  • Substantial reduction of inflammation (CRP levels)
  • Benefits in patients with human immunodeficiency
  • Repairing metabolic dysfunction
  • Prevention of fibrosis & its progression
  • Anti inflammatory effects on the brain
  • Trials showing benefits for Parkinsons
  • Small randomized trial slowed cognitive decline in early stage Alzheimer’s
  • Favourable impact for treating sleep apnea
  • Showed reduction in many cancers associated with obesity
  • Reduce alcohol intake, enhance fertility in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

The list continues to grow as more trials are happening worldwide.

Drawback: besides side effects in a few people, the biggest drawback in my view is the need for a lifetime commitment. But why?

My Take: If Human Body could speak then this is how it would put it – look, you can maneuver me, change my behaviour, make me work as you wish but I won’t change unless you give me what I need. Make all this work naturally and I will be with you forever.

Ques: But how can a drug work across systems from adipocytes to liver to gut microbiome to brain and yet it is not able to change the functioning?Why do we need for lifetime?

There is no scientific explanation to this because the drug predominantly increases insulin when glucose is present, slows stomach emptying and suppresses appetite. Period.

Why then?

My explanation: what if the root cause of all the above diseases that this drug is attending to is NOT THE FOOD you eat but instead the BURN. How much of the food you are eating is burnt? Maximum burn by default means the food is going and doing things that it is supposed to be doing.

Isn’t this what this drug is doing?

Root cause: In my view it has always been the ‘burn’.

No matter how many scientists or experts devalued exercising and showed food as the most important factor for good health. I beg to differ because we always see examples of people on a McDonald diet losing weight and getting fitter, a scientist showing Oreo biscuits reduced their LDL levels, half a bowl of ice cream everyday showed less cardiovascular damage over non consumers. I am not arguiging these foods are healthy. These are examples where one can conclude that a healthy body can take all this and burn it. You persist with any food, not just junk, it seems to cause issues.

Healthy beings: No matter what people have eaten or eat world over, the single most common trait in all these people is that they are either super active or exercise regularly.

Example: you look at any healthy person who exercises regularly, here is the list of common traits in all of them regardless of their diet, genes, cultures, and routines:

  • they sleep well
  • they can’t tolerate alcohol or smoking very well meaning they consume less
  • their inflammation is low
  • their liver is healthy
  • they don’t fall sick that easily and if they do their immune system handles it well
  • they don’t need supplements – so this doesn’t include people who take supplementation regularly because to me anybody needing a supplement is not healthy

However, you will see a few examples of healthy people with blocked arteries again across cultures and countries. But 99% of these people are healthy.

Good food & stress: Now compare these people to those who eat home cooked nutritious food, are teetotalers, are reasonably active, however they succumb to metabolic diseases, cancer, etc. The primary reason in my observational studies is mental stress in these people however the point am making is this number is much higher than people who exercise and still fall sick.

Ques: What’s the other thing that supports this argument?

Calorie restriction – there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that calorie restriction increases lifespan. eating less doesn’t tank GLP-1; it cranks endogenous production via gut L-cells firing on nutrient-sensing overdrive, no deficiency in sight. That’s the longevity hook mimicking famine signals without the pharma middleman, dialing up satiety, autophagy, and that sweet metabolic harmony evolution wired in

Ques: Isn’t eating less the same as eating wholesome and taking a GLP 1 drug?

I would argue 100%. Because less food

  • would require lower insulin
  • would mean lower load on liver, pancreas, kidney, etc
  • would mean lower inflammation
  • lower blockages as it would take longer to form plaque
  • good gut health
  • good sleep
  • good mobility

etc. etc. etc.

My argument – GLP 1 drug mimics calorie restriction

Ques: But why is the body not learning and what do we do to not need these drugs for a lifetime?

Because the natural way to teach our body is EXERCISE & eating optimally. Not over consuming or providing nutrition by the scale.

Summary: the world is going way too aggressive on food, nutrition, supplementation etc. Whereas this drug is proof that none of that matters that much. What matters is whether your body is able to handle the energy that you are ingesting.

GLP-1 drugs didn’t invent health, they reminded us what consistent burn unlocks naturally. Stop chasing perfect plates; start chasing perfect flux.