Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/24/compounded-semaglutide-is-dangerous-eat-oatmeal.html
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This sounds unnecessarily judgmental. How about we stick with indicting the US healthcare system and the capitalism that has gotten us addicted to the worst possible dietary habits instead of making assumptions about why people want or need to lose weight?
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And eating less isn’t really a solution for most people that would like to lose weight.
I’m naturally slender (I can’t do weights and put on muscle, just won’t happen, no matter what I eat with it, it’s how I’m built) but if I eat oats I will get very hungry and probably pile on fat. I’m the kind of coeliac that reacts badly with oats and porridge just makes me starving.
People are strange and their shapes are complex interactions with multiple factors.
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This is especially true when you consider how much of our current health crisis is due to the epidemic of obesity. Losing weight is of more than cosmetic importance for many, many folks.
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I don’t have that problem, and I love oatmeal, but for some reason, it triggers my GERD almost as bad as donuts. And I eat it plain. No sugar, no milk, no butter. Just plain oatmeal. So I just don’t eat it anymore.
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I am someone who has tried to lose weight for years, being hungry, and feeling shitty from being hungry. Some people are able to meal plan, count calories and do all that other bullshit to help them maintain or lose weight. My adult ADHD brain does not grant me that power.
Semaglutide is a fucking miracle drug. No way I can afford $500-$1000/month for the real deal though. Since getting on the compounded version I now weigh less than I have in over 20 years. My side effects include no more daily bouts of IBS if I eat before noon, no more migraines (not sure why since I read increased migraines could be a side effect but I’ll take it), no more dizziness from my blood sugar tanking when I forget to eat. The constant hunger and desire to eat I have felt my entire life is all but gone.
If you are one of those people whose bodies aren’t constantly telling them to eat count yourself lucky. Obesity isn’t all about self control and choosing to eat oatmeal. It’s complicated. If you want to try semaglutide do your research and find a provider who doesn’t use the questionable salt form of the drug. I for one am planning on staying on it until I lose another 20 pounds, which at my current rate should be by the end of the year. If I can get off it then without putting the weight back I will, but I’ve already decided that if I have to pay the $200/month I am now for the rest of my life I will. Gladly.
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I’ve been taking rybelsus, a semiglutide, for about 10 years now. My A1C was peeking at over 11. It is now slightly under 6, which is the low end of what is considered pre-diabetes.
So, keep in mind the scope and context of this study.
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I’ll just leave this here
Kat’s Poocakes recipe
1 banana
1 egg
1 c rolled oats
1 c milk
1/3 c ground flax seed
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional, other nuts also tasty)
1/4 c melted butter
dash of vanilla
1 t baking soda
dash of salt
Combine thoroughly, cook like pancakes. Add more milk for thinner pancakes, add less milk for thicker cakes. Tasty with fruit in it, they just need to cook a little longer. Chocolate chips in it are also fun, but messy. Can use thicker oats, just let soak in milk for a bit before adding the rest of the ingredients.
Then enjoy going with the flow 
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The thing that gets me with the eager semaglutide discourse in the “healthy living” media is the baffling lack of reflection about weight-loss drugs and obesity.
“Hey, we invented a drug to solve the health problem we caused!”
Very few words seem to be spared on the origins of the obesity epidemic. We as a society don’t seem to be eager to identify whatever changed in the mid-seventies that led to progressively growing obesity rates. To be sure, I can’t speak competently to the current academic discourse, but it seems… kinda important? to understand where modern obesity has come from.
“Hey, we invented a drug which we don’t understand how it works to solve the problem that we clearly caused based on the data and which we also don’t understand how we caused it.”
This isn’t to dismiss the intrinsic value of the drug, or the value that it brings to people who are finding success with it, but the eagerness with which it’s being pushed to the market is… disheartening, in light of our profound lack of understanding of the problem.
(Disclaimers, I am not a doctor or public health expert.)
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Ehhh, way more complicated than that. And hugely multifactorial, from increased sedentary living to fucking up our microbiome with foods that are only technically foods, to overuse of antibiotics and other metabolism-screwing meds, to increased stress levels leading to cortisol over release, and other even more esoteric causes. And this class of meds is another way of screwing with our metabolism, don’t get me wrong. There is no easy answer that doesn’t essentially say we need to go back to the lifestyles of the 1800’s. But this is a help, for the moment at least.
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Poop Like a Champion
I think we all know who the pooper champ is!
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This almost feels mean…
First, society shames you for being overweight. Now that we’ve got an (imperfect) tool to help with that, society shames you for doing whatever you can to stop being overweight?
Damed if you do, damned if you don’t?
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Yup. You are supposed to wait for the organ damage to start before doing something with medication. /s
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Welcome to Boing Boing.
I’m glad it’s working for you, and it bears repeating that weight loss, diet, migraines, and IBS are all complicated, and health and weight control is not a meritocracy, good people have health problems for poorly understood reasons. The assumption that we’re all equivalent furnaces, and the amount of calories we consume is the end all be all of nutrition should die in a fire.
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Not only do I remember that SNL Colon Blow commercial, but I also remember staying up late and noticing that the local NBC affiliate had gone off the air for the night broadcasting a still of the giant pyramid of cereal bowls.
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… putting sugar in everything?
like, literally everything?
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Wait! Is that a thing? I never knew!
When I ate porridge it would be with ground up flaxseeds and nuts to give it texture and some fruit (like chopped up apple usually as it was to hand). Plain was fine but obviously with my inability to digest it my body seemed to prefer it with other things in it.
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