Your article is 100% correct! For the majority of people, losing weight really is that “simple”. I just lost approximately 30 lbs, weighing in at 135 lbs. I quit alcohol, no processed food, no sugar, low carbs, EXERCISE, and most importantly: intermittent fasting.
It’s not a pill! It’s a lifestyle! People want the easy way out, but it’s not healthy.
I was at Costco yesterday and read ALL labels...no wonder people are overweight!
I actually had a thought I considered including nearing the end of my article, but then decided not to. One thing that we need to consider is that things that are obvious are not necessarily easy. In this case, a healthy diet should be obvious- fruits and vegetables, less processed items, etc. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that this approach is easy, especially given that most foods are formulated to be addictive.
I've begun to sympathize more with those who struggle because of how addictive these things can be (I'm no model myself given my sweet tooth) but this distinction is important. Most people in the health industry or dieting world obfuscate this nuance by selling people this idea that "this way" or "this product" will be easy. By all accounts losing weight will be difficult even though the concept is obvious, but people are not told that and so it may seem impossible when people are set up to fail in such a manner.
Anyways, congrats on the weight loss! That's great, and it really is important that people read labels!
Same. I'm down 48.25 pounds and getting close to my goal. The thing about giving up processed foods and carbs is that your appetite gradually drops to you rarely being hungry. I love this, not just because of the weight-loss, but also because of the ease of it and the cravings being gone. I didn't have a sweet tooth, I craved salty-crunchy, but not anymore. The bonus is it removed my desire for alcohol because I'm less stressed.
I had blood tests earlier this year and everything was great, I'm getting tested again next month. Funnily enough, a vegan made comments on a Keto or Carnivore video about how healthy she is and how healthy being vegan is. I replied how healthy I was eating Keto and mentioned my bloodwork. She said oh, I don't get my blood tested. After I went vegan for a year I had high blood calcium and high bilirubin, neither of which I'd had before. I couldn't figure out why eating vegan would do that, but I gave up eating that way.
Congrats! I should look to you and Renee for inspiration on kicking sugar! 😅
It's interesting you mentioned that vegan. It's a bit ironic to consider that vegans and vegetarians are inherently a product of modernity, but what's perplexing is this assumption that they are inherently healthy when many of these foods are highly processed. I had a friend who used to brag when he was vegetarian that he could eat vegetarian fish sticks and the like. All processed foods that are formulated to taste like other foods. Shouldn't the additives raise some alarm?
But again, congrats! I enjoy hearing all of these success stories!
True, vegetarianism isn't in essence a product of modernity, but the way in which we manufacture vegetarian foods made to taste like other foods likely are. I don't think many cultures who had a relatively vegetarian diet made their veggies taste like fish, or their soy taste like beef. It's sort of a contradiction that these foods that taste like other foods are somehow better when it's likely a ton of stuff needed to be added to make it taste different.
Oh I agree with you there. Though I will say that traditional foods like tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc can be made pretty meaty but nothing on the order of imitation bacon and what not.
I see you read that FLCCC article! Usually I would argue yes, but at the same time I would make the point that one shouldn't immediately dismiss something because they can't pronounce it. I'm not sure how many people knew how to pronounce Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine when they first saw it. What's important is whether you come across something you don't know, become curious, and look that thing up yourself rather than just immediately dismiss it.
That’s exactly what I do! For instance, “autolyzed yeast extract” often times replaces “monosodium glutamate” (msg). I look everything up…to my surprise and disappointment-lol!
Zelcova! That’s is absolutely fantastic and amazing! It sure feels good to drop the extra weight, I know! And you’re so right about cravings! It’s all about changing eating habits. Keep up the great work…I’m with you 100%! God bless! ✝️
Food industry adds compounds that disrupt the microbiome leads to dysfunctional human energy systems leading to customers. Omprez is full of sh*t, probably literally ruins biome.
One thing that I've considered recently is the use of preservatives. They're intended to slow down or stop bacterial growth, and so they would inherently have an effect on our microbiome as well. It's a bit of understanding what preservatives or used and how much of that is balanced by what else we eat.
For Ozempic and these types of drugs I think the effect is more complex. There appears to be some connection between the gut and GLP-1. Whether GLP-1 aids the microbiome or whether the microbiome helps maintain the release of GLP-1 is the question. Most of these drugs are intended to look similar to GLP-1 with some modifications, and so it raises a question of whether recognition of these molecules are occurring in other aspects. Newer drugs that aren't peptide-based are likely to have far different effects I would imagine. They are much smaller, and so it raises a question of what effects these molecules may have.
Jul 27, 2023·edited Jul 27, 2023Liked by Modern Discontent
I recall some research showing how a variety of probiotic species support endogenous glp-1 production, among other anti-obesity effects like producing SCFAs
I've seen a few things and it sort of goes back to everything being rather complex. I think I saw an article on antibiotic use helping with glp-1 as well. As soon as the microbiome and its diversity is thrown into the mix it all becomes a lot more complicated because then it depends on what each species or genus does in the body and their ratios.
Sure, but I think in the grand scheme of things it sort of becomes a minute concern relative to other things, at least in my opinion. We're already dealing with people who are obese so their microbiome is already likely to be damaged. Poor food is also likely to contribute as well, so any additional damage brought on by things in these drugs are likely to be minimal relative to the damage that has already occurred. It's one of the reasons why I'm a bit critical of this microbiome hypothesis. It's not like most Americans have a healthy microbiome to begin with, so what additional damage can occur that is worse than the damage that they are already doing to themselves?
For Weight Watchers to work it requires you to shore up the discipline to follow it. Yes, the points seem arbitrary at times. I see the system as having less to do with fat and calories per se and more about behavior modification. My wife and I lost 100 pounds between us by following WW. I lost 60. Stopped snoring, stopped perpetual heartburn, GERD, and got off BP meds. It’s been almost 4yrs and I haven’t been on WW anymore for 2yrs. What it did for me was provide a way to change my eating habits. I’m not suggesting it was easy. Periodically hungry and cranky at first but I pushed through. I guess following the points suited my admittedly OCD nature. Now, I no longer eat without thinking like I did before. Grabbing snacks willy-nilly. Lots of people go on WW half heartedly. I was committed and it worked. It worked for my wife too. I did not exercise while on WW. But I did cardio after I lost the weight. As far as I’m concerned losing weight starts in the kitchen. Lots of people use exercise as an excuse to keep eating thus see little to no results.
Thanks for your perspective GLK, and congrats to you and your wife on the weight loss!
In hindsight I see that I should have been more careful in my wording. One of the reasons why I chose the point system is that it appeared to be the biggest point of contention with Weight Watchers (no pun intended), and so it seemed like something that has been an issue for many people. I should have caveated this section with the fact that some of these people who aren't sure of the point system may either misuse it for its intended purpose (this is only one point so I can eat 5 of these!) or may not spend time to understand what the point systems are designed for.
In the case of this post I wanted to highlight the fact that a company which seemed to have branded itself on weight-loss, only to then argue in favor of body positivity, to then go back on this to then sell a weight-loss drug should be seen as the pinnacle of hypocrisy. It's more telling of people who want to follow the money and go along with any cultural trend in doing so.
It's definitely true that people will supplement their poor eating habits with other lifestyle changes that they think will offset the poor eating.
I'll add a note for clarification on my position. But anyways, congratulations! That's a big achievement and it's great many of the other health issues disappeared as well!
Thank you very much. Your kindness is appreciated. Your point is perfectly valid and I understand and agree with it. I just wanted to make sure we weren’t - as they say - throwing out the baby with the bath water.
It’s interesting because I was thin growing up until around my mid-20s. But when I started gaining weight it didn’t matter too much until my 30s. Then it was like…what the heck is happening to me!
It was a matter of my hyper metabolism slowing down as I aged but my appetite staying the same. So, fighting my fatness had become very frustrating for me for a long time.
Then one day I noticed my wife was losing weight. A lot of weight. I knew she was doing this Weight Watchers stuff but I was clueless as to how it worked. I mean, yeah, over the years I’d heard about the point thing but never took it seriously.
But I’m not one who argues with success so I asked her what she was doing? She did the full ride with the weekly remote weigh-ins, etc. I really didn’t want the hassle so I just did the whole journey online. She still, to this day, enjoys a free membership because she met goal and kept it off.
Anyway, I buckled up and I’ll be darned if after a couple weeks I started seeing results. But, my wife warned me, you’re going to be hungry. So we’d garbage up snacking on baby carrots, grapes, and other fruits and veggies.
Sometimes I’d question like, where’d they come up with these points? Some seemed silly. Particularly the restaurant food. But as the pounds went away it became obvious to me I wasn’t on a “diet” per se as much as a huge behavioral modification. I was training myself on not only what to eat, but how much and when.
It worked so well for me and my wife that many of our friends jumped on the bandwagon too.
Funny story my neighbors started asking me if I was ok? I guess even though I looked healthy they thought I might have come down with some illness that caused me to lose the weight. When I went for my yearly physical and the nurse inputted my weight into my EMR the computer popped up a box questioning her to ensure that it was really me? 😂
Anyway, I’ve gained back about 10 pounds but still wear sz32 waist jeans (I’m 6 feet tall) and whenever I feel the waistband tightening I remember the points and back off on eating. Has worked for years now. But this is a lifelong discipline. I can’t ever go back to mindless eating.
I’m not against exercise. I think it’s great. But I’ve had too many friends and family go to a gym and never lose a pound. Usually they’ll say they’re replacing fat with muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, etc. But, really they’re kidding themselves. Wanna lose weight? Ya gotta stop putting junk down your pie hole.
I get that it’s not easy. If it was there’d be no multi-billion dollar diet industry running in perpetuity. And all this woke bullshit infusing WW is just ultimately going to keep everyone fat and sick. Sorry folks, shame ain’t always a bad thing.
"Yeah, I'm watchin'." *grabs a bag of low-fat processed junk food + wonderpills*
Damn, she hidin it well.
And changing counting "calories" to a differently scaled unit called "points", but still not taking insulin & timing into account, changes things how? *scratches head*
Your article is 100% correct! For the majority of people, losing weight really is that “simple”. I just lost approximately 30 lbs, weighing in at 135 lbs. I quit alcohol, no processed food, no sugar, low carbs, EXERCISE, and most importantly: intermittent fasting.
It’s not a pill! It’s a lifestyle! People want the easy way out, but it’s not healthy.
I was at Costco yesterday and read ALL labels...no wonder people are overweight!
I actually had a thought I considered including nearing the end of my article, but then decided not to. One thing that we need to consider is that things that are obvious are not necessarily easy. In this case, a healthy diet should be obvious- fruits and vegetables, less processed items, etc. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that this approach is easy, especially given that most foods are formulated to be addictive.
I've begun to sympathize more with those who struggle because of how addictive these things can be (I'm no model myself given my sweet tooth) but this distinction is important. Most people in the health industry or dieting world obfuscate this nuance by selling people this idea that "this way" or "this product" will be easy. By all accounts losing weight will be difficult even though the concept is obvious, but people are not told that and so it may seem impossible when people are set up to fail in such a manner.
Anyways, congrats on the weight loss! That's great, and it really is important that people read labels!
I rarely watch CommieTube (lol), but this guy is GREAT! When you understand HOW the body works, it really helps!
https://youtu.be/8ctDyQDIWAc I really recommend his videos!
Same. I'm down 48.25 pounds and getting close to my goal. The thing about giving up processed foods and carbs is that your appetite gradually drops to you rarely being hungry. I love this, not just because of the weight-loss, but also because of the ease of it and the cravings being gone. I didn't have a sweet tooth, I craved salty-crunchy, but not anymore. The bonus is it removed my desire for alcohol because I'm less stressed.
I had blood tests earlier this year and everything was great, I'm getting tested again next month. Funnily enough, a vegan made comments on a Keto or Carnivore video about how healthy she is and how healthy being vegan is. I replied how healthy I was eating Keto and mentioned my bloodwork. She said oh, I don't get my blood tested. After I went vegan for a year I had high blood calcium and high bilirubin, neither of which I'd had before. I couldn't figure out why eating vegan would do that, but I gave up eating that way.
Congrats! I should look to you and Renee for inspiration on kicking sugar! 😅
It's interesting you mentioned that vegan. It's a bit ironic to consider that vegans and vegetarians are inherently a product of modernity, but what's perplexing is this assumption that they are inherently healthy when many of these foods are highly processed. I had a friend who used to brag when he was vegetarian that he could eat vegetarian fish sticks and the like. All processed foods that are formulated to taste like other foods. Shouldn't the additives raise some alarm?
But again, congrats! I enjoy hearing all of these success stories!
I would say veganism is, but contend that vegetarianism (which includes dairy, eggs, honey) is not a product of modernity at all
True, vegetarianism isn't in essence a product of modernity, but the way in which we manufacture vegetarian foods made to taste like other foods likely are. I don't think many cultures who had a relatively vegetarian diet made their veggies taste like fish, or their soy taste like beef. It's sort of a contradiction that these foods that taste like other foods are somehow better when it's likely a ton of stuff needed to be added to make it taste different.
Oh I agree with you there. Though I will say that traditional foods like tofu, tempeh, seitan, etc can be made pretty meaty but nothing on the order of imitation bacon and what not.
You mean the additives I can’t pronounce? 😆
I see you read that FLCCC article! Usually I would argue yes, but at the same time I would make the point that one shouldn't immediately dismiss something because they can't pronounce it. I'm not sure how many people knew how to pronounce Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine when they first saw it. What's important is whether you come across something you don't know, become curious, and look that thing up yourself rather than just immediately dismiss it.
That’s exactly what I do! For instance, “autolyzed yeast extract” often times replaces “monosodium glutamate” (msg). I look everything up…to my surprise and disappointment-lol!
Zelcova! That’s is absolutely fantastic and amazing! It sure feels good to drop the extra weight, I know! And you’re so right about cravings! It’s all about changing eating habits. Keep up the great work…I’m with you 100%! God bless! ✝️
Food industry adds compounds that disrupt the microbiome leads to dysfunctional human energy systems leading to customers. Omprez is full of sh*t, probably literally ruins biome.
One thing that I've considered recently is the use of preservatives. They're intended to slow down or stop bacterial growth, and so they would inherently have an effect on our microbiome as well. It's a bit of understanding what preservatives or used and how much of that is balanced by what else we eat.
For Ozempic and these types of drugs I think the effect is more complex. There appears to be some connection between the gut and GLP-1. Whether GLP-1 aids the microbiome or whether the microbiome helps maintain the release of GLP-1 is the question. Most of these drugs are intended to look similar to GLP-1 with some modifications, and so it raises a question of whether recognition of these molecules are occurring in other aspects. Newer drugs that aren't peptide-based are likely to have far different effects I would imagine. They are much smaller, and so it raises a question of what effects these molecules may have.
I recall some research showing how a variety of probiotic species support endogenous glp-1 production, among other anti-obesity effects like producing SCFAs
I've seen a few things and it sort of goes back to everything being rather complex. I think I saw an article on antibiotic use helping with glp-1 as well. As soon as the microbiome and its diversity is thrown into the mix it all becomes a lot more complicated because then it depends on what each species or genus does in the body and their ratios.
Also consider biome disruption by the drug excipients that can build up in ones system. Example
lactose containing bcpilll caused gastro effects was replaced by starch containing brand instead of lactose excipent.
Sure, but I think in the grand scheme of things it sort of becomes a minute concern relative to other things, at least in my opinion. We're already dealing with people who are obese so their microbiome is already likely to be damaged. Poor food is also likely to contribute as well, so any additional damage brought on by things in these drugs are likely to be minimal relative to the damage that has already occurred. It's one of the reasons why I'm a bit critical of this microbiome hypothesis. It's not like most Americans have a healthy microbiome to begin with, so what additional damage can occur that is worse than the damage that they are already doing to themselves?
For Weight Watchers to work it requires you to shore up the discipline to follow it. Yes, the points seem arbitrary at times. I see the system as having less to do with fat and calories per se and more about behavior modification. My wife and I lost 100 pounds between us by following WW. I lost 60. Stopped snoring, stopped perpetual heartburn, GERD, and got off BP meds. It’s been almost 4yrs and I haven’t been on WW anymore for 2yrs. What it did for me was provide a way to change my eating habits. I’m not suggesting it was easy. Periodically hungry and cranky at first but I pushed through. I guess following the points suited my admittedly OCD nature. Now, I no longer eat without thinking like I did before. Grabbing snacks willy-nilly. Lots of people go on WW half heartedly. I was committed and it worked. It worked for my wife too. I did not exercise while on WW. But I did cardio after I lost the weight. As far as I’m concerned losing weight starts in the kitchen. Lots of people use exercise as an excuse to keep eating thus see little to no results.
Thanks for your perspective GLK, and congrats to you and your wife on the weight loss!
In hindsight I see that I should have been more careful in my wording. One of the reasons why I chose the point system is that it appeared to be the biggest point of contention with Weight Watchers (no pun intended), and so it seemed like something that has been an issue for many people. I should have caveated this section with the fact that some of these people who aren't sure of the point system may either misuse it for its intended purpose (this is only one point so I can eat 5 of these!) or may not spend time to understand what the point systems are designed for.
In the case of this post I wanted to highlight the fact that a company which seemed to have branded itself on weight-loss, only to then argue in favor of body positivity, to then go back on this to then sell a weight-loss drug should be seen as the pinnacle of hypocrisy. It's more telling of people who want to follow the money and go along with any cultural trend in doing so.
It's definitely true that people will supplement their poor eating habits with other lifestyle changes that they think will offset the poor eating.
I'll add a note for clarification on my position. But anyways, congratulations! That's a big achievement and it's great many of the other health issues disappeared as well!
Thank you very much. Your kindness is appreciated. Your point is perfectly valid and I understand and agree with it. I just wanted to make sure we weren’t - as they say - throwing out the baby with the bath water.
It’s interesting because I was thin growing up until around my mid-20s. But when I started gaining weight it didn’t matter too much until my 30s. Then it was like…what the heck is happening to me!
It was a matter of my hyper metabolism slowing down as I aged but my appetite staying the same. So, fighting my fatness had become very frustrating for me for a long time.
Then one day I noticed my wife was losing weight. A lot of weight. I knew she was doing this Weight Watchers stuff but I was clueless as to how it worked. I mean, yeah, over the years I’d heard about the point thing but never took it seriously.
But I’m not one who argues with success so I asked her what she was doing? She did the full ride with the weekly remote weigh-ins, etc. I really didn’t want the hassle so I just did the whole journey online. She still, to this day, enjoys a free membership because she met goal and kept it off.
Anyway, I buckled up and I’ll be darned if after a couple weeks I started seeing results. But, my wife warned me, you’re going to be hungry. So we’d garbage up snacking on baby carrots, grapes, and other fruits and veggies.
Sometimes I’d question like, where’d they come up with these points? Some seemed silly. Particularly the restaurant food. But as the pounds went away it became obvious to me I wasn’t on a “diet” per se as much as a huge behavioral modification. I was training myself on not only what to eat, but how much and when.
It worked so well for me and my wife that many of our friends jumped on the bandwagon too.
Funny story my neighbors started asking me if I was ok? I guess even though I looked healthy they thought I might have come down with some illness that caused me to lose the weight. When I went for my yearly physical and the nurse inputted my weight into my EMR the computer popped up a box questioning her to ensure that it was really me? 😂
Anyway, I’ve gained back about 10 pounds but still wear sz32 waist jeans (I’m 6 feet tall) and whenever I feel the waistband tightening I remember the points and back off on eating. Has worked for years now. But this is a lifelong discipline. I can’t ever go back to mindless eating.
I’m not against exercise. I think it’s great. But I’ve had too many friends and family go to a gym and never lose a pound. Usually they’ll say they’re replacing fat with muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat, etc. But, really they’re kidding themselves. Wanna lose weight? Ya gotta stop putting junk down your pie hole.
I get that it’s not easy. If it was there’d be no multi-billion dollar diet industry running in perpetuity. And all this woke bullshit infusing WW is just ultimately going to keep everyone fat and sick. Sorry folks, shame ain’t always a bad thing.
Hey Oprah! Watch your weight!
"Yeah, I'm watchin'." *grabs a bag of low-fat processed junk food + wonderpills*
Damn, she hidin it well.
And changing counting "calories" to a differently scaled unit called "points", but still not taking insulin & timing into account, changes things how? *scratches head*
Excellent article! Thanks.