Episode 113: How GLP-1 Agonists Affect Gut Health Cravings and Long-Term Weight Loss with Marcelle Pick, NP

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Dr. Rob Whitfield, the board certified plastic surgeon specializing in explant surgery. Breast implant illness is a topic that is not often talked enough about, especially in medical community, but is something that affects many women. In this podcast I'll be discussing the latest research, treatment options and personal stories of women who have undergone explant surgery in an effort to heal breast implant illness. In this podcast we'll explore the symptoms of breast implant illness and delve into the latest surgical techniques for explantation and the recovery process. Whether you are currently experiencing breast implant illness or are considering explant surgery, this podcast is a valuable resource for anyone looking to take control of their health and wellness. So let's dive in. There's all sorts of activity in Media about GL1P agonists. We have Dr. Marcel Pick with us today to discuss GL1P agonist and a special offering that she has for you.

Yes, indeed. I mean, I think everybody is really interested in finding out now the latest thing about GLP1s. Can I lose weight with these? You know, the reality is that these are really helpful for people that are diabetic. They're really helpful for people that are obese. 100 pounds, 150 pounds. Amazing. But what about the woman that's 20 pounds, 40 pounds, 50 pounds. I'm not sure they're really the answer for her. I mean the side effects now that we're starting to see, especially in women that are doing it, our bone loss, not a good thing. It's hard to get that back. And also muscle loss and many people have DI Dr.

Pick, since you said that, like is do you think the problem there was like the dosing, like how high they're dosing it? Because those doses are pretty high.

They are really high. I don't think we really know the answer to that. And if we look at what's interesting is the GLP1s, we all have it. It's what we when we eat food, our GLPs go up. If you're obese, you have many more receptors. And the problem that many people are having is that they've got an appetite that's out of control. So this really is not a weight loss medication, it's an appetite control medication. If you really think about it, the GLP1s work now is if you have a bolus amount, normally the GLP stay around in our system for 20, 30, 40 minutes. When you're having a bolus amount of a GLP1, it's actually bypassing the vagus nerve and is becoming a neurotransmitter. People now are starting to see less alcohol, there's less addiction, some depression goes away, and their appetite gets very controlled because what happens is it decreases stomach emptying. There's another problem. And if you have to have surgery, we're finding that there's sometimes food in the stomach for up to four days afterwards, which is an issue. An issue. So for people that are really wanting to change and get that weight off, I'm not sure this is a long term solution. The other thing that we're seeing is that people, when they stop, if they haven't adapted a new lifestyle, are gaining the weight back plus 10 pounds. So if you've lost muscle and you've lost bone, that doesn't put us in a very good position in terms of the actual weight loss. So I get it, we need to help people with their appetite. That's absolutely something we need to do. But is this the answer?

Right. So for the audience listening to summarize, the GL1P agonists, because of their binding, will actually increase our insulin secretion. That's what helps lower the blood sugar and it reduces our glucagon release. So that also will help lower the blood sugar. It does. To your point, and this has happened where I've worked at the surgery center that I go to, where somebody's been canceled because of basically a full stomach, even though they were without anything to eat or drink for over 10 hours, 12 hours, whatever the time limit had been placed on them. And then of course, to your point, it does lead to those tendencies and so appetite suppression. But it's almost like a behavioral thing is changing in terms of binging behavior, addictive behavior. Like I often joke now, I tell people, like, I don't stay up late anymore, but if you drove by the fast food places, there wouldn't be as many people there anymore.

It's true, they get, they're talking about making the smaller sizes in restaurants. But here's the thing. I'm doing a summit in a couple of weeks and I have 51 speakers, all of us talking about this idea about how unhealthy the American population is. So if we use the GLP1s and we continue to eat the way that we're eating, we're not necessarily getting healthier, but we are getting skinnier. So we're going to have skinny fat people on our hands, which is not what we want. We want them to be become what I call metabolically flexible so they don't have Blood pressure issues, they don't have problems with cholesterol, they don't have problems with their blood sugars. But unfortunately, that is not what we're seeing. When we're just eating the same foods that we've been eating with all the preservatives and the additives that we have, with all the inflammation that we're still getting, that's not changing, which is a real problem.

Right. I think for all of us and for our population. I wrote a book and highlighted the genetic differences and the problems with toxicity, burden, gut health, hormones, triggers in our food, the unfortunate herbicide, pesticide composition that we get faced with routinely. Those things all contribute. So if you're just taking one of these GL1P agonists and not changing or addressing those other influences or triggers in your environment, you're. You're going to still have problems with inflammation, right?

Oh, my God, Absolutely. And I think that's the, the part that people don't understand. The amount of exposure that we have now to Roundup, you know, for example, it's unfortunately everywhere. And the more we're outside, we're exposed to jet fuel, the things that we put on our skin, and all of that takes its burden. So in addition, then we're eating foods that have lots of things we can't even name. All of those are gonna present as health problems later in life. So just changing your weight is not gonna change that inflammatory cascade. To some degree it will cause, we know that fat cells increase inflammation, so to some degree, it will help with that. But if we're still eating same foods, still getting the same exposure to all these toxins, we're not gonna get healthier, which is unfortunate. Cause that's what I think a lot of people think.

Right. So, you know, prior to all of the fuss over peptides with the fda, we would help people with our program running sharp pre op, do surgery, run the program post op. And then if we had patients who consistently had difficulty with weight loss, if we felt comfortable that they had really addressed their toxic burden and their gut health, their diet, et cetera, and needed support, then we would get a compounded formulation of mainly tirzepatide. And, and that would help them, but we would not dose it in the amounts that are recommended because they felt it was too high and there, there would be too many unwanted side effects from that dosing. We would always dose at a much lower level to see, because when you have a motivated person who now understands that the diet and lifestyle choices that they make directly, it affects them, then it becomes less of a increasing the dose, so to speak, rather than just helping them a little bit with a nudge.

Yeah, I think that's true. But I think one of the other things a lot of people don't take into account and that is that a lot of times people are grabbing food because it's sugar in particular if they have a gut issue like yeast overgrowth or if they have a neurotransmitter imbalance, meaning some of the brain chemicals are off, their reward system is not working because their neurotransmitters might be off. So that might need some dopamine support with GABA. They might need some serotonin support with 5 HTP. So there's many other ways to deal with this besides using something like a high dose of the GLP1. And I don't think we're I teach for the Institute of Functional Medicine so we're always talking about what's upstream, what's creating some of the problems that, that they have and they may even have a genetic predisposition to not having that stop valve with food. So how do we help them with that? Fill your plate with lots of vegetables, chew your food, eat more slowly. But we're not talking about it in that we're talking about a very quick fix which we've seen before with fen phen and we saw the disasters on the other side.

Absolutely. I always talk about and try to explain like satiation to our patients and I'm always on these very it seems like lengthy discussions about protein intake and amino acids and how that really is going to help your, your body recover much more efficiently. You know which doctor Pick Everybody comes to me and wants everything done as quickly as possible with obviously no starring bruising or anything else. But these are the, the ways to do that are are to have your diet and your, your your body is in as optimized a state as possible depending on your level of Start with inflammation. Do you want to keep your immune system in the top shape all year round? Discover the power of liposomal vitamin C from Dr. Rob Solutions. This unique formula delivers 1000mg of vitamin C with superior absorption, ensuring your body gets the antioxidant support it needs to fight all free radicals and support normal immune function. It's not just about immunity. Vitamin C also plays a crucial role in collagen synthesis, keeping your skin vibrant and healthy. Visit the link in the notes below or go to Dr. Rob's solution solutions.com today and upgrade your wellness routine now you have a product to discuss that's going to help us. So maybe now that we've discussed like the, the shots that are available and the compounding that's available, what do you have?

So back in the day, I don't know if you remember the whole thing that came out about HCG and how effective it was for weight loss and so on. I used it in my practice, it was amazing. And everyone gained their way back. So I realized I wanted to create something similar to that that will avail people of no more food cravings, no more noise of food and hunger diminished greatly. And then I was able to get them on a program that's really protein vegetables improved. 99% of my people lose 20 pounds in six weeks, similar to the HCG, but it's not the HCG program. And 35 to 50 in 12 weeks consistently. I know. And then I created a genetic profile so I can tell them at the end of this, are you low fat, low carb, Mediterranean or balanced? Because that's where we're all different. None of us all need the same food plan. It's impossible. So with that program I can tell them if they're lactose intolerant, gluten sensitive and what nutrients their genetics makes them a little bit more likely to be deficient in. So when I do that then, and I do coaching with them along the way to look at our emotions, part of it. Do they have a neurotransmitter imbalance? What else is going on? And that combination has been incredibly successful for people keeping the weight off long term. They don't have to use the drops forever, it's used only for them. And here's the beautiful thing also is inflammation goes down because I put some anti inflammatory homeopathics in it. And they also put some things in there to help with depression and they're able then to do this plan. And what I love is they see weight loss quickly so they're more motivated. It's like, oh my God, I can't believe this. What I do find for some people is they lose too fast and I will say to them, you're not eating enough food and increase that food intake. So it's amazing and helpful. And what's really interesting for me is that what I've seen is there's a metabolic reset that happens so that they're able then to have a life that's normal. So 90% of the time they're really mindful of the kind of food they're eating. And 10% they're able to go on the weekend or whatever, but they're still using whole foods and still being very careful about it. So it's been amazing to see these changes. And joint pain goes away, muscle aches go away, memory gets better. And I think a lot of it is the inflammation goes down. Then also they're seeing the weight and they're seeing a life that they didn't think they'd be able to have. Being able to play with the grandchildren, getting up off the floor feeling really excited about, oh my gosh, my body's changing and look at the difference.

So I have a couple questions about that. Because when we alter diets a lot and increase and adjust things, whether we're basing it completely on genetics or not, like we ramp up so much protein that we cause more fermentation, really in the gut, downstream, because that's always going to happen. So we give them a lot more digestive enzyme support. And whether it's smaller or more frequent meals, because people often complain about getting satiated and can't and don't want to eat more, et cetera. And so how do you, I'm sure you have ways that you, you feel are compelling to both, you know, evaluate their gut and how they're doing, because everybody's going to be obviously very different. Maybe talk to us about that.

So in the program itself, I'll take people offline if they need to do gut evaluation. So I do stool testing with Genova, diagnost or doctor's data or something like that. But in the program itself, it's interesting because the diet is so clean compared to probably how they were eating before. And I will add digestive enzymes and I'll add obviously a multi, and I'll add a probiotic. I had very few people have digestive symptoms. And increasing the vegetables significantly, you know, like three to four cups twice a day, three times a day, and they're having snacks of fruit in between. But because the drops suppress their appetite and increase their energy, they don't have a problem at all with food cravings or hunger?

No, I was thinking more of like transient and elimination because people have so many problems with chronic constipation.

Constipation, diarrhea. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No, I haven't found that with this. And I think it's primarily because we're gradually getting them in with the first day of week of orientation and then they start eating the foods. But it hasn't been a significant problem. But to your point, when I was in private practice, 80% of my patients had digestive issues and it was the foundation of some of their dis. Ease in their body and their health problems for sure.

It's probably, obviously we both are seeing very specific patient populations now and, and that's probably creating enough self selection for you or not really seeing the everyday person who's not. Yeah, I mean we see a lot of problems still in our practice because people come in with a lot of, of chronic inflammation and gut dysbiosis is very common. Sibo, very common. Just a lot of. Of gut brain access issue. Like.

Yeah. Oh, it's enormous. I mean you and I know that. I mean I've been teaching this stuff for so long, but it's a huge problem that people really don't understand. And when I see people with any kind of inflammatory thing, it's the first place I start. Adrenals and the gut, that's really the focus of how we really get people better.

So the, the, I mean it is to me this whole, your product and the other peptides in this. First of all, I never ever think that pharma would have produced these if they knew the downstream effects. Because what's going to happen is in my head, the way I think about it is I think of the end game in surgery. So if someone has diabetes for a long period of time, they're going to progress to renal failure. So I, of course I know this is not going to happen overnight, but I can almost see the writing on the wall that transplant surgery for that problem is going to dramatically decrease over the next 10 years. And also if you're taking away pancreatic issue, then the kidney pancreas transplant population is going to go down as well. That was a big combo therapy. And then probably the worst of all of those, and I'm excluding hearts because I really was never involved with cardiac transplant, but liver transplantation, so doing away with like you mentioned metabolic syndrome, which is got to be a really underlying underappreciated problem as it relates to end stage liver disease. Before we actually knew what the heck Nash was and we were calling it all sorts of things. But I just feel like, I know that's cynical, but I just don't think they would have done it if they knew that would happen because they, they are now, obviously they're doing their business with these, but they're losing. I mean whether you say billions, I.

Would say probably be billions, but I don't think they knew what was going to happen. But here's the other part that I'm concerned about. And that is that we've never studied this with people that are non diabetics. So what is going to happen with insulin production? What's going to happen on the other side of all this? The speculation is that we're going to have more insulin resistance in people that perhaps were not insulin resistant when we started this. It's hard to know, but we don't have any data to support that because we are affecting the pancreas. I mean that's a reality with the GLP1s. And if there's any other way for us to do it, wouldn't that be more appropriate to really help people? We want to help people, we want to help them with their appetite because that's clearly what's happened with the GLP1s. Thank God I'm not thinking about food all the time anymore. So the question is going to be, are there other ways to do that? And I think there are.

It's just interesting though because if you think about that whole group that I just mentioned, which are end stage renal disease diabetics with severe pancreatic and kidney dysfunction, and you take away that group and then what's the next tier above them that's going to become them. So you now you're affecting that group and to your point, you're gonna, you're gonna end up on the other end of this affecting people the opposite direction. So obviously we, we don't want that polarity, but it's just amazing to me, like a few, you mentioned the, the 10 to 20 pound loss, if that's really a visceral fat loss and metabolic syndrome is basically eliminated from that visceral fat loss, which is the big driver. And I'll just say for males like you can be skinny fat as a male and not be healthy because you have a lot of visceral fat in your, your abdomen. But if, if you do your program, lose that 10 pounds as, or 20 pounds, whatever it is, as a male and that visceral fat that was contributing to increased levels of estrogen and having deleterious side effects. And then that's a huge win in that, in that population of patients who you wouldn't think of them as being ill, but they're well on their way to having problems, hands down.

And my concern truly we'll have to see how this plays out, is that we are actually doing more harm than good for that population that's not diabetic. Because if we have any possibility of increasing the metabolic dysfunctional, what we call inflexibility, we're making people sicker as opposed to better. Yes, they're losing the weight, they feel amazing and so on, but they also have to stay on the medication long term, unless they make drastic dietary changes, which many of them are not.

Right.

That.

That's what I was going to get to next. So, like, you run your program and you, like you said, as long as they. Then you're talking about habit changes. So if you can change the habit to not go to the cabinet at night and grab yourself the whatever sweet treat you used to go get, a cookie or whatever, or chips or whatever, the thing is that you would go eat if, like you said, if that behavior now has been, you know, reprogrammed, if you will, and you're not doing that, and you are getting up and getting some grounding, getting some light, going to exercise, going on a walk, doing those things and eating better. Those are a lot of things that are now in your feed, hands down.

And also, I think the bigger piece for people is that it's the first time in their life that the noise of food has gone away. I'm good today, bad today. How much of this should I have? You know, all that, that noise goes away, and they're very clear about what they're eating, and they feel so good when they do, and then they stop. I have somebody in my program who's still one of my advocates here on, on the calls. She's lost 110 pounds. Well, guess what? She's done it twice before. She's never maintained that weight loss. And she's maintained it now for a year, very successfully saying that it's not the same for me anymore. I just. The noise has gone away. I know how to do it. I can feel the difference when I don't. And it's just completely different. That's my goal for people, is to find out for you what feels good, what do you like? And to get to the point that I don't like how I feel when I do sugar as opposed to I'm not supposed to have it. And that's a huge difference is being able to say, oh, my God, my energy's back. I did it on my own. I can either use the drops or not, because some people want to stay on them because they have inflammation that goes away. And it's just nice for them to have a tool if they need it. And if they don't need it, they don't need it.

Yeah, I think that's. That's correct. To your point, that case is. Is reminiscent of much of what we hear and see where people can't maintain the weight loss, such a large portion, put the weight back on. They're kind of back in the same cycle, if you will. And having that stick and become hardwired as part of their mentality, not only for themselves, but as well as I do. The imprint this has on children, it's a huge, huge problem. In fact, we went looking for a home one day and the, the realtor said, wow, y' all are skinny. And I thought that was the weirdest comment I'd ever heard in my life. One, because it's wildly inappropriate. But two, what in the hell is normal? Because it's not like I don't feed my kids. They're just athletic kids and they're fit and my wife is a very fit person. I, I don't sit there. It's just so weird.

I know. But unfortunately, 40% of, of young kids are obese. I mean, how did we get here? And what's interesting is that we look at a bell shaped curve and we look at the introduction of processed foods. They're almost, you can almost superimpose them on each other. So there's a direct relationship between the food that we're eating and the increased rate of obesity. So the toxins in the foods, the additives, the sugar, the I can't just eat one. And the, the food industry spent billions of dollars to see if we add this flavor, does it enhance the likelihood you're going to have more than one. Who can eat one potato chip, who can eat one Dorito? I mean, it's just, it's not, I don't eat them. But the whole idea is that is, is done intentionally. This is not an accident.

Oh absolutely. And I, I have hopes that with some changes in administration, there'll be changes. But I never hold my breath. Having spent enough time in Washington D.C. that is the, the norm there is to not do and change for the, the betterment of health. And Dr. Hyman has spent his entire career up there doing and leading the good fight. And I hope, I hope he gets rewarded for all the efforts because he has certainly led the charge for this and you as well as I know that well to take advantage of this. I'm sure my audience would be interested in both your, your drops and your program and learning more. So tell them where they can learn more about others you have.

They can go to my website, marcelpick.com and there's a link right on there to learn more about the weight loss program and they can certainly call and leave a mess or they can even book an appointment with me to talk about because we have different options for people as to whether this would be helpful for them or not. You know, the goal for me is to help as many women as I can. I've been doing this for 40 years as the first online in 2001 with an email list of 2 million at the time and we really wanted to make a difference. Dr. Christian Northrup and I started Women and Women Back many years ago and I still want to do that. So this is another option for me to teach women that they don't have to go down that road and if they have side effects from Ozempic, this is an option. Or if they're wanting to get off it and not wanting to gain the weight back, that's another option too.

Yeah, that's a great point. I think like you mentioned, more and more people are going to be looking for answers after, you know, discontinuing and we don't want rebound obviously, but there's a lot of definitely dosing issues. And certainly thank you for all of this valuable information. I hope our audience really reaches out and and tries to learn more. So thank you for coming on.

Absolutely. It's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

Thanks for joining me today. I hope you found the information and stories shared on this podcast helpful and informative. Remember, taking control of your health and wellness is key to recovery from breast implant illness. If you're looking for additional resources and support, be sure to visit our online store, Dr. Rob's Solutions. At drrobsolutions.myshopify.com you'll find a wide range of wellness products and supplements to support your journey to recovery. From specially formulated detox supplements to personalized skincare products, we have everything you need to aid your recovery. Visit Dr. Rob's Solutions today at drrobssolutions.myshopify.com thank you for listening and we'll be back with another episode soon. Remember, you're not alone in this journey and together we can overcome breast implant illness. Take care.

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