GLP-1s: The Truth, The Risks & What Your Body Really Needs

Welcome back, Synergy listeners. Today we're diving into one of the most talked about topics in health and wellness right now, and that's GLP-1s. You've likely heard the headlines, you've seen the commercials, or maybe even wondered whether these medications or peptides are right for you. But behind the buzz is a much bigger conversation, a conversation about metabolism, aging, hormones, appetite, and how our bodies change over time. In this episode, we're going to go beyond the hype and explore what really happens inside the body. We'll discuss what GLP-1 actually is and why weight loss can become more challenging during midlife and menopause, whether these medications are appropriate for everyone, and what the future of metabolic medicine looks like. Most importantly, we're going to talk about why there is no one-size-fits-all. The future of health isn't about finding a magic bullet. It's about understanding your unique biology and learning how to support it through nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, hormones, and when appropriate, targeted medical therapies. Whether you're curious about GLP-1s, whether you're navigating menopause or perimenopause, whether you're focusing on healthy aging or simply looking to better understand your metabolism, this conversation is for you, and we're excited that you're here. So let's dig in.

Fun conversation, Kelly.

I love it.

I do too. I know what you're getting at your clinic. I know what your team is getting. I know what my team is getting in the way of questions, and we're getting them from our friends too, like our friends and our family members. So I think it's a very controversial topic. I think that it's one that we, as, you know, providers of care that are working directly with our clients, These are questions we need to be talking to them about. These are answers we need to be able to provide. So can't wait to, to, you know, really discuss with you specifically what kind of questions are you getting in your clinic about GLP-1s that you believe that people need to know?

Yeah, I love the question. And listen, we're getting questions not only at the bedside, but as Lori mentioned, friends are calling us. I had a friend last night call me at 8 o'clock last night to ask me because his Cardiologist told him he should be on a GLP-1, right? We're getting questions when we go to church, people coming up to us and asking us, "What do you think about GLP-1s?" This is a very, for some reason, a very emotional topic. Would you say that? And this conversation for Lori and I did not just start yesterday or last week or even last year. I went back through our podcast that we've done since we started a few years ago, and we have 7, podcast where we have talked about metabolic medicine and GLP-1. So I would encourage you guys, if you're listening and you're super curious about this, this conversation is evolving to some degree, but at the end of the day, the conversation is the same. It's the right tool at the right time based on what you're trying to accomplish. And quite honestly, a lot of people asking these questions don't even know what a GLP-1 is.

That's right.

They think it's a cheat, right? They're, they're— a lot of them are upset with their friends because their friends have gotten on a GLP-1 and they think they're cheating, right? So let's start there. Let's start with what is a GLP-1? Yeah.

So I like to equate a GLP-1— we call it, it's a glucagon-like peptide. That's what GLP stands for. And I like to explain it as it's a natural hormone to the body. Right? It's natural. And it basically signals the body. It's produced in the intestines, and it basically signals the body to do a couple of things. It kind of tells you you've eaten enough or you're full. And in that signaling, what happens phenomenally for people that have a lot of food noise, a lot of things, you know, eat this, keep eating, they've, you know, people who have ended up, you know, in situations historically that they have gained weight, have become metabolically imbalanced with high blood sugar, among other things, hormonally imbalanced as a result of poor signaling, chemical signaling in the body. So this GLP-1, which we're gonna talk about other ways that we can enhance our own body's production of GLP-1, so you guys are all gonna have to hang on for that, but it really is an important messenger. In the body, and it really does quiet that food noise and allow people— and it's not just food noise, it's other noise too, for other things. Like, I've seen benefits with alcohol. I've seen benefits with other addictions, basically things that, in the way of even nicotine, I've seen some improvements in people having less for whatever reason. Again, I don't know the science of that, but they have a lot of that less noise as a result of it. So it lowers— it improves that signaling, lowers desire to eat as much and tends to help people really enhance— if they are on an improvement plan in respect to their food, it helps them to actually eat smaller amounts of good things. And in doing that, it really helps them to offload body fat and control their blood sugar better.

Yeah. So what you're saying is we naturally produce GLP-1 in the gut. There are things that diminish our ability to produce, like poor lifestyle, poor diet, stress, changes in metabolic function, even perimenopause and menopause. Let's just be real. And then the shot is using a GLP-1, right? And there's different variations of GLP-1 injections. We'll talk about that a little bit later, too. But it is something that your body can natural— naturally produce. It's something with giving the injection that gets enhanced. And it is synthetic, but it does get enhanced at improving that signaling to Lori's point to the brain that, hey, I'm full. It does slow down gastric emptying time and motility. So we do have to be careful with that. But to your point, it does like slow down kind of other hedonistic urges like alcohol, sugar, other addictive type personality things that may show up for people. We have heard that it does diminish those to some degree.

I think the question though, and I love that you brought it up earlier, is like, why has it created so much— I feel like I can equate it to camps. There's a camp over here that is absolutely, this is, you know, this is a good thing, right? And over here, this camp of it's a bad thing. Why has it been such, in your opinion, why has this created so much emotional charge?

I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out. And I'll ask patients that are coming at it from that direction, like, help me understand what bothers you so much about this tool, right? And I don't know that they can even articulate it. You know, it's just like it's bad medicine is kind of what I've heard back from some. And I think that, you know, it is a bit of a miracle molecule in what it does, right? It's how we choose to use that molecule or when we choose to use that molecule that can make the biggest difference in how it's going to affect any given person. So I think as prescribers, we do have to be super careful that we're not just blatantly, blatantly using it for everyone. Right. And we're not really addressing the foundational reasons why they may have low GLP-1 production and utilization. Right. We've got to be addressing that foundation. So I think prescribing without addressing those to me should be— I mean, we should have a standard there.

100%. Yeah, absolutely. So what I hear you saying is that, you know, the foundation's the foundation, really working with individuals to understand what is going on in their body to make them metabolically imbalanced, helping them, bringing them to a place of understanding what their body actually needs, right? Lower that inflammatory burden to allow their own body to get back into balance. You know, because a healthy body composition by and large is a byproduct of living well. We know that. And being in balance, like, we know that. So sprinkling in these other modalities can be very effective in the right person at the right time in the right amount.

That's right. The other thing I think that we have to be careful with is I just feel like if we're prescribing without monitoring body composition, what are we really doing, right? Because it's not about the weight. And if we're just focused on weight, a lot of that weight could be lean mass if we're not really supporting protein, not only intake, but protein absorption and utilization, right? And then also moving our body, making sure that we're stimulating that muscle for muscle gains. If we can have some muscle gains, that would even be better. And so—

And that's a reasonable concern Yes. And when people raise that, that is a reason.

That is a very reasonable concern.

So if you're out there, I mean, again, and there are certain populations of people that are at greater risk of what we call sarcopenia, right? So that's that muscle wasting. So there are people that are at greater risk of that. So in those populations, you have to be even more keen and you got to be careful, right? You have to judiciously use these tools. Specifically in certain populations. And monitoring is key in metrics because if you are just looking at weight, that's when you're going to see gaunt, a gaunt look, bitemporal wasting, nutritional deficits. People are truly not just losing muscle, which, by the way, is the organ system of longevity and the currency of health, which is very scary to lose that. But In addition to that, when we're eating less and not eating the right things, because that's what's happening to people as well, they're eating less and they're still choosing to eat the wrong things, bad food, processed foods. So then they're becoming nutritionally depleted, depleted as well. And on a cellular level, cells die when they don't have the energy that they need, the nutrients that they need to run. I mean, go back and listen to our last podcast on mitochondrial health. The body needs those mitochondria. Those powerhouse of the cell needs so many nutrients to run.

Yeah, that's what I hear. Some people say that they need the GLP-1s in order to help them eat better, to make better choices. But oftentimes, if we have not worked on improving their palate so they actually like the vegetables, they actually like the protein, and they feel satisfied on those things to some degree from a palate perspective. Sometimes I find that they still default back to junkier food, convenience foods, right? Because metabolically, they think they can get away, they think they're getting away with it because their blood sugar's not dysregulated and they are seeing changes on the scale. But there's a price that they're paying metabolically speaking when that's going on. So I'd say anybody that you are, if you are on a GLP-1, really make sure you are prioritizing your proteins, making sure you are getting diversity with your vegetables so that you're nourishing that gut microbiome over time. Really, really important.

Yeah, for sure. So what are some things, you know, we get asked the question, what are some things that we can do to naturally enhance the production of our body's own GLP-1?

Yeah, so I just mentioned one of them, and that's diversity of your food. The fiber in our gut microbiome feeds specific bacteria that make your GLP-1s. So we wanna make sure that we are feeding that gut microbiome in a way that's diverse. Meaning diversity in color, diversity in variety. I've got one patient and the only fruit that she eats is apples. And I'm like, "Okay, well every week buy a different variety of apple." Like, start there with variety and let's build variety from there, right? Start where you are, right? If you know for sure you're not gonna eat X, Y, Z, think about what will you eat and diversify there and then build from there. But diversity, I think, is gonna be key when it comes to fiber intake. There are some fibers on the market now that are built toward combinations of fibers that are built to feed the right gut bacteria. Gut bacteria. So I think that's fascinating. We have been utilizing those and have found some, some things to do there. We have Calocurb, which is a hops extract out of New Zealand that stimulates your own body's production of GLP-1, which I just absolutely love. I think any time that we can utilize a modality that helps you make your own even better. And the good thing about that one is it actually does reduce appetite. It does. You can tell pretty quickly that it does reduce appetite. So that's a fun tool to use. What else can you think of, Lori, that would help with your own natural production and utilization of GLP-1s?

Yeah, well, I think about even supplement— supplemental use of certain probiotics. So for people that really do have a hard time while they're working on getting their fiber intake up, taking things specifically that have like Akkermansia, a specific strain of probiotic that naturally increases GLP-1 as well. I think about anything that a person can do truly to balance blood sugar as a whole, getting the body in balance as a whole, the big picture, right? So eating regularly, timing, eating quality foods like your protein, keeping your blood sugar nice and stable, bringing in whether that be that eating window. I think sometimes people are nibblers throughout the entire day, and we don't really recommend that. Eating set meal times and making sure within those meal times that we're getting a nice rounded plate with good quality protein and fats. And to your point, fiber. And I think that most people have no clue how much fiber they're even getting in their diet. You ask them how much And I rarely have a situation unless they've been challenged by someone else to log their food that they even know how much fiber they're getting in. How much fiber do you recommend?

And okay, so baseline, assuming, you know, we just have baseline health, a minimum of 25 grams a day. And that does not sound like a lot, but let me tell you, it is. Um, and so I would encourage you to log your food for a minute, 3 or 4 days, maybe a week, and just see how much are you getting in. Whatever you're getting in, gradually increase over time. Do not go the next day and eat 25 grams of fiber. You're not going to like me very much if you do that. And so, you know, gas, bloating, those are, those are real things. Your gut microbiome is going to have a party when you add fiber. And so gradually increase your fiber, ideally 35 grams. That would be like an ideal world. I would love it if people could get 35 grams. But let's start with 25 as the benchmark, work up from there as you can tolerate. And just recognize if you can't tolerate fiber, there's a reason. So let's go back and treat the reason why you can't tolerate that fiber. There's a reason, especially if you're going up slowly, you should be able to slowly increase that fiber intake.

So what do you think about the relationship of some of the other things like exercise and ensuring good sleep?

Okay, so exercise is my favorite topic, right? So go for it. So this is the thing, um, exercise is a beautiful way to improve insulin sensitivity, meaning your pancreas produces this beautiful hormone called insulin. We need it to stay alive, we need it to have energy, but we have trained our pancreas to overproduce insulin because the demands that we have put on our pancreas Okay? So most of us—

The standard American diet for anybody sad.

The standard American diet, poor sleep, stress response, those things increase your production of insulin. And insulin, if we're making too much, will cause us to store fat amongst many other things. It tears up our joints and our cartilage. Like insulin is a bad player if it's out of control. It misbehaves terribly if it's out of control. So we can use exercise throughout the day to improve our ability to receive insulin better at the muscle site. So a lot of exercise snacks, like a 10-minute walk after breakfast or after lunch or after dinner, can go a long way of stimulating insulin receptors. But we still have to deal with downregulation of insulin production, right? So what we put in our bodies matters. But Lori also mentioned sleep. So making sure that we're getting sleep and we're getting good quality sleep, meaning we're getting deep sleep, we're getting some REM sleep, and that we feel rested upon awakening so that we're getting enough sleep, right, over time. Not every night's going to be beautiful, but the best we can when we can. And so sleep, if we're— if it's dysregulated, will drive up insulin production too. We'll be more trigger-happy to overproduce insulin if we're not getting adequate sleep. And then stress response. So we're going to have stress. Stress is part of living. We need stress. We don't need not to have stress. Right? We don't need too much stress. We don't need to be, you know, living on a wing and a prayer, but we need to figure out how to help our body modulate stress. And movement can be part of that. Sleep can be part of that. Meditation can be a big part of that, getting the brain back into balance so that we can, you know, rock through stress just fine. Those are the things that I think of when I think about controlling for insulin. And then let's face it, going through menopause, changes in estrogen drive up insulin. So addressing your hormone dysregulation as you go through perimenopause and menopause is really foundationally important to helping your body not go off the rails when it comes to insulin.

Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, what we're saying is that the choice to add GLP-1s into your wellness plan isn't a good choice or a bad choice. You know, I think that polarized way of thinking can be extremely dangerous. It, it is a tool in the toolbox that should be used again at the right time in the right amount for the right person to move the needle of a person's wellness plan or trajectory.

Right?

And in microsteps. And sometimes that's in the short term because we get asked that all the time. It's like, if I go on this, how long are you recommending? Or if my cardiologist, you mentioned it earlier, they're recommending it for me, how long do you think I'll need to be on it? And my response back is it's always about why are we using this? What's the purpose? What are we doing this for? Is going to drive, and what your body's response is to it, right, drives how long we're going to remain on it. So it is not a go on it and stay on it for all people. Now there is a sub— there is a subgroup that may need it longer, you know, people that have an undercurrent of metabolic dysregulation, insulin resistance. Those individuals, regardless of the amount of activity— and I mean, I can raise my hand, you know, right here, you know, familiarly, a big Italian family and I'm not just talking about number, you know, big Italian family. I mean, there are some cultures that just have a tendency towards more of that. You know, we were talking earlier today in our, in our Mindshare mastermind group, um, just about first gen and second gen, um, Americans, you know, being more likely. But you know, when I think about that, there are subsets of individuals that may need to have this as a part of their plan long-term, but their dosing should change. It's not a set it and forget it either. But there are others that it's a short-term tool to move the needle in the direction towards wellness, to give them for a time, again, what we're looking for. Maybe that's reduction of that food noise, stabilization of that blood sugar, the things, and they may be able to come off of it and transition to something like a, a kello curb and, you know, getting their gut microbiome improved. And there are some that if you haven't exhausted every effort and worked with a qualified healthcare practitioner to improve your overall metabolic picture, please start there. Please start there. Because if, and, and I've seen it, and, and Kelly, you could probably speak to this as well, is I've seen where people have not done those foundational things. They have been placed on that product. They ended up either having side effects which they had to come off, and they were very difficult side effects that didn't just— when didn't end when they stopped it. For many of them, they got put on it and it didn't make a difference at all, and they spent a lot of money and they didn't get a result. How often do you see that?

I mean, I think that's, that's more common when we have people in the community coming to us kind of late in the game. After starting and they see changes and maybe they're even regaining on it, right? They got— maybe they lost in the beginning and then they didn't change diet, they didn't change lifestyle in any way really, and then they're starting to regain even on maximum dose.

I've seen that quite a bit, and it breaks my heart because they also come in with a very strong emotional burden too. Uh, they got a little taste of what it felt like to be in more comfortable clothes, smaller clothes, being able to get around better. And now they're gaining on that same dose and wondering what happened. So what do you tell them?

Well, we back up a little bit first, do testing. Let's see where we are. Let's see what's going on underneath the current of metabolic dysfunction and really start repairing from that standpoint. And close, just handholding and reassurance that we're moving in the right direction with the— with the steps that they're taking. But it's not an easy conversation because you're right, it's a pretty emotional conversation and they're pretty hard on themselves in that regard. Yeah. What did I do wrong? Yeah.

Like, what did I do wrong? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to say that too. Yeah. And much like the HCG conversation many years ago when, you know, people were going on HCG and on very low calorie diets and, you know, they were much harder to treat too, because when the body has been yo-yoed,, you know, up and down with body weight and calorie deprivation and all kinds of change of diets, it does become harder and harder to convince the body to give up that comfy warm blanket of cellulite fat.

Yes, you said it well. Not that we were prescribing HCG, but we got to see that in the community and kind of what landed on our door. And that was 12 years ago. You know, that we saw that happen quite a bit. So I get the question a lot about, you know, why did the things that I used to do in my 30s, and they worked beautifully, high-intensity exercise, restricting calories during the week but eating what I want to on the weekends kind of thing, how come that stopped working for me in my 40s? Do you get that question a lot? Like, they're so frustrated because they're like, I'm doing the same thing. I'm not doing anything different. And I've gained 15 pounds in a year. Like, they're so mad because they're like, I haven't done anything different. Like, this has been my lifestyle for the past 10 years, and all of a sudden, I've got 15 pounds I don't know what to do with.

Yeah, that's so common. It should actually be on the wall as a mural because people are gonna be like, oh my gosh, they said that to you? Do people say that to you all the time? Yes, people say that all the time. And it is frustrating, let's be honest. Like, it is very, very frustrating. That unfortunately what worked for us in our 20s and 30s doesn't work as well in our 40s, absolutely doesn't work well in our 50s, and it just goes downhill from there if we don't figure it out, right?

Yes. So it's kind of like learning to take care of yourself. If I had— if I could turn it back and say, we need to be teaching these skills in our 20s and 30s so that when we hit our 40s, it's not such a dramatic, like, shift that we have to make in our mindset and in the way that we have set up our lives. You know, we set up our lives in a certain way and they're on autopilot and we're just hanging on day to day, hoping we can get through another day sometimes. And so I think we would be a lot more thoughtful about how we are setting up our lifestyle. Is it reasonable? Is it supporting me? You know, that's a question to ask yourself. Is your lifestyle supporting what you're trying to accomplish with your health? And do you feel good about how you're showing up every day? With your coworkers, with your family, with your kids? You know, does that feel good to you? And oftentimes the answer to that is no. You know, we're feeling depleted, we're feeling disenchanted. And again, what we used to do and worked is no longer working. So what do you, what do you say to those subset of patients?

Yeah, I think the same thing. You know, the same rules apply. It's you have to really understand what's metabolically happening to the body and let's face it, hormones change dramatically, at least in the 40s. But the reality is we're seeing it a lot earlier because of what's happening in our environment with environmental toxins and plastics and heavy metals and all the things. And so the first thing is acknowledging that what you're feeling is real. Like, what? It's not going to work. It's not. And it's going to change basically every decade. Like, how we do what we do is going to have to change. The core principles don't change— eating whole food, farm to plate, moving our body, getting good rest, mitigating stress. But how and what we have to do to do those things is going to have to change. And I think it first starts with an inventory. You just said it is doing an inventory of where are you currently at? How is it making you feel? Does it align with what you want? Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. You know, I feel like there was that superhero in all of us in our 30s, like, we can do it.

Yeah. So if you are listening to this and you're falling into this, like, oh my gosh, they're talking to me right now, just know it is not lack of willpower. No one's questioning your willpower. It's a change in metabolic landscape. And if we can look at it that way, if we can look at, my landscape has changed, like I'm not where I used to be anymore. And how do I navigate this? It's all about helping you navigate, helping you see it, take that inventory, navigate like what's gonna be the next best step, right? Sometimes it is a GLP-1. Sometimes it's working on that foundation just a little bit more in order to help you work more efficiently. But it is a common time in our 40s, early 50s, is when we start losing the capacity for that GLP signaling to happen because of hormonal shifting and landscape shifting. So there's no shame in that if that's what's happening to you. And Lori mentioned our environmental changes. Endocrine disruptors are huge, and that means that there are chemicals in our environment, substances in our environment, hormones in our environment that change the way our hormones communicate, and they're changing them in a way that's unreasonable. They're not working together. They're creating kind of this milieu of inflammation and disorganization. We're less efficient. So we have lack of efficiency in our metabolic system that will cause weight gain and will cause extra stress on the body, quite frankly.

So I get asked all the time, are there specific tests that diagnostic tests that would be important prior to starting on any form of, of GLP? And, you know, yes, the answer is a very loud yes. You know, we should diagnostically be looking at labs that more predictively look at your health. And that's the real challenge between traditional medicine and the labs that are done there. A typical CBC chemistry panel liver enzymes, like, yes, those are important, but really looking at other hormones. You mentioned earlier adrenals and stress mitigation, but adrenal health needs to be looked at, thyroid and metabolism, because that's also a time when hormones as a whole go wonky. Right. We're talking about thyroid, adrenals, pancreas. So that's blood sugar, that's stress mitigation and stress response, and that's metabolism. So all of those hormones and our sex hormones need to definitely be looked at. But I think the one thing that traditional medicine, unfortunately, they have access to it. I think that there's this, this thinking that they don't have access to some of these lab tests that functional medicine does. All of us have access. The reality is, is that a lot of these tests are not covered by insurance and therefore do not come up in the conversation within your traditional medical visit. But we do have to look at gut microbiome The average female gains anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds per year to year and a half with a completely disrupted gut microbiome. And that can be doing a lot of things right, but your bacteria— you have bacterial overgrowth, or you have low commensals, or you're not digesting and absorbing your food, or you have inflammation in that gut wall lining, like all the things. So I truly believe that doing some proactive labs, looking at your level of inflammation— it's not if you're inflamed, it's to what degree you're inflamed. I do believe that looking at your gut microbiome is really important too. What other testing, or are there other tests, or, or other, um, tests within a blood test that you would recommend?

Yeah, I think you hit it on the nail. I think that the other thing that I would look at is nutrient status. You know, what is B12? What is ferritin? What is vitamin D? You know, we're looking at fat-soluble, water-soluble, and minerals, right? So it kind of gives you an idea, like, are there micronutrient absorption issues. Like, is there an area of the gut that we should be more concerned about based on where their nutrient deficiencies are coming from? You know, where are we starting the conversation with them? And oftentimes I do find, you know, even in our younger population, low B12, you know, low, very low vitamin D. And we've had the vitamin D conversation during COVID I thought we were kind of all on the train that definitely we need to optimize vitamin D and assess vitamin D frequently, at least twice a year, measure your levels and see where you are. So that you know what you need. And so those are things I think about in addition to everything you named. You know, we're always looking at adrenals, we're looking at thyroid, we're looking at gut microbiome, we're looking at sex hormones. I mean, that gives us a really good comprehensive view on, you know, where are we, so that as we're making decisions on what tool is the best tool, we have better clarity on what's actually going to work.

And at no time, as a clinical provider who truly— Kelly and I both say this very loudly and repetitively, and, and I'm hoping all of our listeners understand how important this is. At no time is it appropriate to risk a person's overall health and well-being for the sake of weight loss. At no time is that appropriate. So when you think about the lab test that one should have and you think about what GLP-1s or any weight loss drug that's ever been on the market or will be in the future right, is all of them do impact the volume of food eaten. And if volume of food is decreased, and in addition to that, not eating the right food, and you have a digestion and absorption issue, and you already have nutrient deficiencies, you already have a cellular problem because you need those nutrients for healthy cells. When cells die, you die. When cells die, you die. So at no time is it appropriate to utilize those things without having those things looked at regularly.

Regularly. Yeah, I so agree with that. The other question I think, Lori, that we get is, are GLP-1s safe? Now they've been around for what, 30 years now? 20-plus years, right? So they've been used in the diabetic arena for many, many years. So there's a lot of research behind the utilization and the safety of GLP-1s. And so I would say for the most part they're safe. But again, it goes back to you're the patient, you are one-on-one. Like, is this appropriate for you? Because any medication given at the wrong dose, wrong time, and for the wrong reason could be unsafe.

Absolutely. And add to it, where are people buying them from and getting them from? Because sourcing of any product is also very important to look at. You know, there are unfortunately right now, because of access to them, there are many that are buying them online. And, you know, many companies unfortunately are not doing potency studies and they are not looking at the cleanliness of product. And I'm going to say a I, you know, if that is where a person is getting them from online and you have not done a significant amount of due diligence, I would urge you to stop, talk to a provider of care, and talk through, you know, getting them in a cleaner way. So I think, you know, to your point is there are many things that's, That's such a broad question, and that's why I both, you know, as you brought it up, my eyes got really big, right? Because how— because we can answer that question, right?

There's so many factors to take into play. So what Lori is saying is if you're getting those from a provider online, or maybe even just ordering them directly from a vendor online, that's going on to testing for potency and purity and making sure that the results that you're given are actually results and not just you know, something that got generated by AI. We're seeing a lot of things. We're seeing a lot of things come into the office in that regard. And so safety first, you know, safety first. And your long-term health is not— um, we don't want to compromise that over— you know, we don't want to compromise your safety over weight loss, to Lori's point earlier.

Yeah. No.

So as we're wrapping up, is there anything else you feel like we really need to get into before we wrap up today, because honestly, we could spend a full entire day digging into the conversations that we've had with you guys regarding GLP-1 use. There's a lot that we could be talking about more, and we probably will be having another conversation as things are evolving, because this, this conversation is constantly evolving as far as what's available to the consumer.

Mm-hmm. It's about to evolve really quick. Because, you know, there's more, you know, chatter government-wise too. So, you know, hang on, stay in the conversation very much. Be an educated consumer. You know, you guys are the CEO of your health. And at the end of the day, back to what Kelly just said, is ultimately you control everything that goes in. So if you're injecting or you're taking something by mouth or you're applying something to the skin, know where it's coming from and work with a qualified practitioner who, in addition to that, you know, is integrous. I think that one of the things you mentioned earlier that I, I feel like is really important to go back to is that this is part of the conversation. We've been having this conversation for a long time, and I really want to urge people to go back to specific podcasts. And either maybe we could put those in the show notes, or maybe you could go through a couple of them. I remember a couple of them off the top of my head. I know Jim Laval was on here a couple of times really talking about GLP-1s, but specifically just blood sugar and insulin connection and its relationship to disease and inflammation and inflammaging.

So yeah, let me give you guys some dates for, for our listeners. So we had Jim Laval on March 20th, 2024. That was the release date. That was a really good one. We had him back November 11th, 2024. We had one on Protect Your Kidneys where we got into some GLP-1 conversation on March 17th. That was a release date. We had one on April 20th, 2025 with Jim Laval. It's been a year since we've had him on. We really need to give him a call. Yes, we had one on peptides specifically, November 17th, 2025. We had one on oxytocin and food cravings that I thought was really good, February May 29th, 2026, and we have one released May 4th, 2026 with Sarah Kennedy from CalaCurb. We talked a little bit about CalaCurb today. So those are all ones that I would say we can definitely put those in the show notes just for ease of just click here and get right to the podcast that you're wanting to see. But I would encourage you to go back, have yourself educated. If you're going to be digging into this topic on GLP-1s, you definitely want to have really good, accurate, up-to-date information. And we are going to make sure we come back to this conversation again.

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

Yeah. A couple of things. Just, you know, leaving everybody with, you know, the goal isn't simply living longer. It's living longer with vitality, with energy, with resilience, that ability to bounce back, having the energy to do the things that you love to do and being able to get up every day and be able to do those things. And it's not to be smaller versions of yourself.

Right?

It's to be healthier versions of yourself. And there is a big difference. You know, unfortunately, you know, many of, many of you that do ask us questions are very sad when you see friends who, who, who have actually been on GLP-1s and you— there are visual noticeable changes and they aren't just that they've lost weight. That they look unhealthy and you are genuinely concerned. And that's what you're bringing to us too. So those are things that I just want to make sure that our listeners hear that loud and clear, is that it doesn't have to be that way. It doesn't. There's clinical utility to some of these products. That are on the market, but it's for the right person. Again, I know we've said it a lot, but it needs to be said, the right person at the right time, in the right amount, for the length of time that it's right for a person. And just staying grounded with understanding your body and what your body needs and doing the testing and looking at metrics and doing body compositions on a regular basis to ensure that what you are offloading is body fat and that you're maintaining muscle or gaining muscle. And it is possible. Don't let them tell you it's not. We see it every week.

We do. Thankfully, we do. If there's one thing we hope listeners take away from today, it's that there's no magic bullet for weight loss or healthy aging. Whether we're talking about GLP-1 medication, hormone therapy, nutrition, exercise, or gut health, these are all tools. The future of medicine is learning how to use the right tool at the right time for the right person. When we stop looking for single solutions and start understanding the body's interconnected systems, that's where real transformation happens. All right. Well, we're going to wrap it up today. And again, we just look forward to being back with you guys soon. Check out the show notes. We'll have those other episodes there listed for you. And stay well.

The Synergy Podcast is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional healthcare services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor-patient relationship is formed. The content of this podcast is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have. And should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.