How Does Ozempic Affect My Metabolism? (with Naomi Parrella, MD)

2024-01-23

Discussion about Ozempic (semaglutide and other GLP-1 agonist medications) is EVERYWHERE. So many opinions! Your Doctor Friends know that sifting through mountains of information on a subject is HARD. Sometimes it helps to "ask a friendly expert", so that's exactly what we did for this episode.Quick plug/required pre-listening for this episode- Your Doctor Friends HIGHLY recommend you listen to the episode of Maintenance Phase on Ozempic- link to the podcast here!We welcome back our friend, and former guest of YDF, Naomi Parrella,...

Quick plug/required pre-listening for this episode- Your Doctor Friends HIGHLY recommend you listen to the episode of Maintenance Phase on Ozempic- link to the podcast here!

We welcome back our friend, and former guest of YDF, Naomi Parrella, MD.

Dr. Parrella is a double board-certified physician in family medicine and obesity medicine.
She is the Chief of Lifestyle Medicine at Rush University, the Medical Director for Rush University's Center for Weight Loss and Lifestyle Medicine, the Director of Strategic Planning and Implementation within the Department of Surgery and Associate Professor in both the Department of Family Medicine and the Department of Surgery.
She was also our esteemed guest on EPISODE 3! (Back when we were still called "What The Health?!?" podcast!

In this episode, Dr. Parrella helps us navigate the tough questions when it comes to new medications like Ozempic/Wegovy. We discuss some hot topics, including:

What is insulin resistance?
Can you be fat and metabolically healthy?
Does having a "normal BMI"/being thin automatically make you metabolically healthy?
What do the STEP trials and the SELECT trial really show us? What does that data mean?
Can you take a medication like Ozempic for a short time "just to lose a little weight" and then stop? Should you expect to maintain that weight loss?
What are the potential side effects/downsides of medications like Ozempic (GLP-1 agonists)?
Why are these meds so damn expensive? Is it like that all over the world?

Dr. Parrella recommends the following resources:

"Why We Get Sick" by Benjamin Bikman, PhD.

"Metabolical" by Robert Lustig, MD.

"Brain Energy" by Christopher Palmer, MD.

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