Prepare to have your health questions answered
here on Safe, Effective, Natural Solutions with
Dr. Todd Binkley, owner of Binkley Healing Center
in downtown Ventura. Now, here's Dr. Todd. Good
afternoon. I'm Dr. Todd Bankley, board -certified
doctor of non -force chiropractic and practitioner
of functional medicine. I've got an exciting
show for you today. We're going to be talking
about weight loss medications like Ozempic, so
-called GLP -1 drugs. Wegovi, Manjaro, Zepbound
seem to be the most popular brands. There are
over a dozen of them, and I've been getting a
lot of questions about them. I'm not a prescribing
physician. My job is to help people avoid medications
as often as possible. Medications are necessary,
so the title of today's show is Ozempic, Should
You Consider It? I'm mostly going to be talking
about why most people, people who are not diabetic
and who are capable of losing weight without
drugs, shouldn't take these medications, but
also why some people perhaps should take them.
I've just competed in an illuminating symposium,
the Laboratory Endocrine and Neurotransmitter
Symposium, that included a compelling module,
some really impressive data on the latest research
into these weight loss medications and how to
use them, most importantly, at lower doses than
most people are doing, combined with healthy
food. diet, better food, exercise, and supplements,
lifestyle interventions, so that people that
really need them can reverse diabetes and lose
weight that maybe they've never been able to
lose with other methods and also keep it off.
So numerous case studies were presented documenting
the benefits of people who were able to get rid
of diabetes completely and get down to their
target weight and maintain it while reducing
the risks of cardiovascular disease, dementia.
and a host of other chronic conditions associated
with diabetes and heart disease. And keep it
off. Keep the weight off and keep the diabetes
under control. So one of the main purposes of
this show... or if not the main purpose, is to
educate people on how to avoid becoming dependent
on pharmaceuticals. The very definition of functional
medicine is using standard diagnostic tests to
identify earlier signs of stress in all your
organs and systems so that you can reverse diabetes,
reverse disease, and heal and maintain your health
with better food, exercise, and supplements instead
of drugs and surgery. But some drugs are important.
Antibiotics, for example. have saved the lives
of millions of people who either failed to keep
their immune system functioning at its peak or
had the misfortune of becoming overwhelmed by
some kind of bacteria or virus of such great
strength or in such great numbers. It sometimes
is just a numbers game. If you get hit with too
many bugs at once, then even a healthy person
can be hard -pressed to survive something like
that without medication. Blood pressure medication.
is a whole class of drugs that are hugely important
for many, many people. It's essential to keep
your blood pressure under control, and if you're
not doing it with natural methods, then you should
take medication until you can. I get people all
the time that come to me and say, I want to get
off all my meds. I'm taking this. I don't like
it. I just started, or maybe I've been on them
for a while. And though I have helped many people
reduce or eliminate their dependency on blood
pressure meds, I never tell anyone to stop taking
medication that was prescribed by somebody else,
number one, without consulting with that prescriber.
And most importantly, I must always stress the
importance of continuing any blood pressure medication
specifically until you've come up with some way
of keeping your pressure in the target range,
120 over 80 or less. with things like eating
more vegetables, doing breathing exercises, having
some kind of relaxation or meditation practice,
anything to reduce stress. And sometimes certain
nutrients can help your body with keeping pressure
under control as well. But until then, for any
period of time your pressure remains high without
medication, you should take that medication to
make sure you keep the pressure low because you
only get one heart. There are, however, whole
categories of medications that... In my humble
opinion, very few people need to take like statin
cholesterol lowering drugs because although they
do work, there's many other ways to lower your
cholesterol and more importantly, reduce your
risk of heart disease independent of cholesterol
without taking statin. cholesterol lowering drugs.
And the other huge category is bone density drugs
like Fosamax and Boniva. There are much better
ways of maintaining your bone density than becoming
dependent on pharmaceuticals for these. But a
lot of people have diabetes and have obesity
and have tried their best with all kinds of natural
means to lose weight and reverse diabetes and
without success. And so if there is a medication
for those people who really need it, that can
safely enable them to lose the weight, reverse
the diabetes, and it's going to reduce their
risk of a whole host of other chronic diseases,
the main diseases that result in the natural
death of most Americans, cancer and heart disease,
dementia, chronic inflammatory diseases that
afflict all of us eventually but could be dramatically
delayed. If someone can lose the weight, get
the weight off, control that inflammation that
is always going to be caused and exacerbated
by excess weight and excess blood sugar. So GLP
-1, weight loss medications like Ozempic, Manjaro,
Wegovi, Zepbound, etc. have been around for many,
many years now, but interest in them has exploded
in the last few years. You've probably heard
about them in the news or on social media. And
more and more benefits of them keeps showing
up in the literature. In addition to weight loss,
they also improve heart health, which surprised
me. Some of the most recent data that's come
out about that documenting improvements in cardiac
output, muscle contractility, and blood flow
to the heart, reducing the size of arterial plaques.
The main function that they do is increase insulin
production and delay sugar release from the pancreas.
And they also delay emptying of the stomach so
that you feel full. But new evidence also shows
that they may have a positive effect on nerves
and increase your feeling of fullness also by
direct action on the brain, independent of all
the effects on the digestive tract. And like
I learned in this symposium I attended over last
weekend, new complementary protocols are also
available which help prevent the muscle loss
that accompanies Taking these drugs and so many
other diets, any diet involving restriction of
calories or eating less is going to cause muscle
loss along with the fat loss. But there are protocols
available now that enable you to minimize the
muscle loss while maximizing the fat loss. I'm
Dr. Todd Binkley. You're listening to Safe, Effective,
Natural Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge.
Today we're talking about GLP -1 weight loss
drugs like Ozempic and Wegovi, Zepbound, Monjaro,
etc. And I'm going to be kind of going back and
forth talking about some amazing new benefits
I've heard about these drugs. and why most people
probably shouldn't take them. There's a whole
host of people, especially people in Hollywood,
people that are just taking them to lose a few
pounds temporarily. There's reasons that people
should and reasons that people shouldn't take
all weight loss drugs, including Ozempic and
its analogs. So the big downside is many people
do take these drugs thinking that they'll lose
a few pounds and then stop the drugs and keep
the weight off forever, easily. Current available
evidence indicates that this almost never happens.
But current evidence also only indicates the
results of trials that are based on standard
doses of these medications. And many people get
amazing results and most importantly may use
these drugs and then get off them and maintain
the loss without them by taking a much lower
dose. So they're not going to lose as much weight.
It's dose dependent. The more you take, the more
weight loss you're going to lose. And that's
why many people take too much. Even the standard
recommendations for working your way up to, not
the starting dose, but the dose that they recommend
everyone work up to. I'm going to get into some
of the details if we have time a little bit later
on those numbers. But according to the latest,
well, the most compelling evidence I've seen
at the Functional Medicine Conference, is that
people are taking too much of these things, and
it's easy to understand why. They want to lose
as much weight as quickly as possible, but then
those are the same people that find that the
weight comes right back as soon as they stop
the drug, or they find that they simply can't
stop the drugs. They become dependent on them
for the rest of their lives. So my primary recommendation
is always going to be natural solutions. And
all of the benefits of these drugs are also available
to most people who are not morbidly obese by
getting functional medicine testing, identifying
places where your body needs support, and using
better food, eating more vegetables and less
starch. Getting, smoothing your body and in whatever
way you find compelling. And obviously that's
one of the things, that's one of the reasons
that I'm doing this show and talking about unusually
the benefits of a medication. Because it's really
important for weight loss and diabetes both to
have exercise as some component. And sometimes
people get tired of hearing that. And it's very
difficult to exercise if you're in pain or if
you have weight that you can't shift. It's difficult
to exercise and be comfortable. Swimming and
walking are the best forms if you have access
to a pool. And if you don't, walking for people
who have difficulty exercising otherwise because
it's low impact. And you're able to do that even
if you're in pain, especially swimming. But a
lot of people just are not going to get the exercise
they really need because they can't shift the
weight and or because they may be in pain with
arthritic joints, which is related as well. So
I am more persuaded. than ever that these medications
could be an important consideration for people
with moderate to advanced and poorly controlled
diabetes and people who are still really struggling
to lose weight. People who will be healthier
and live longer if they can lose that weight
and keep it off. So many people have heard of
someone who's lost some amount of weight with
Ozempic, Wegovy, Manjaro, and other similar medications.
Before anyone considers seeking them out, it
is important to understand the many potential
side effects. So here's a study that just came
out, a study sent to potential negative effects
of GLP -1 drugs. on orthopedic patients. So the
research that's been coming out about this problem
with people who have surgery after they've taken
these medications, it's not the most important
side effect, but I just want to get it out of
the way. At first it said, the research was showing
that no one should take this medication before
having surgery because if you delay gastric emptying,
if you basically delay your stomach's ability
to process food, You know, that makes you feel
full and makes one of the main reasons these
drugs help you lose weight. But that would be
really bad if there's still food sitting in your
stomach when you have surgery. And so the research
has gone back and forth saying it's really important
to be concerned about and maybe it isn't. Well,
this study was about specifically about orthopedic
surgery. And it showed that not stopping. Semi
-glutide, Wegovi, Ozempic, prior to surgery was
associated with an increased risk of delayed
emergence from anesthesia, even when the medication
was stopped five days before. And stopping it
up to seven days prior to surgery was also associated
with higher risks of aspiration events and conversion
to intubation, meaning the person coughed up,
vomited up a little bit of the stuff in their
stomach, and had to be intubated. So it's important
to, if you're having surgery, not take these
drugs at least a week before, and some are even
suggesting waiting two weeks before to minimize
risk to the maximum. But here's an even more
sort of eye -opening report by Christopher McGowan,
MD and obesity medicine specialist and gastroenterologist.
He thinks GLP -1s are no longer the answer. This
is something that he sees in his practice every
day. The truth is most patients don't stay on
anti -obesity medications. And the research shows
that three -quarters of patients that stop GLP
-1 medications within two years Many within a
few months. Reasons for discontinuation include
cost side effects and supply shortages, but one
of the most common reasons is that patients simply
don't want to take a medication indefinitely.
Well, that's a good thing. But most importantly,
many believe they can beat the system, use them
briefly, and then change their lifestyle and
stop taking them without gaining weight. Unfortunately,
they can't, says Christopher McGowan. gastroenterologist.
Clinical trials of semiglutide and terzepatide,
these are the generic names for Zempic, Wegovi,
Banjaro, and Zepbound. Clinical trials of these
drugs showed that the average patient regains
two -thirds of the weight lost and similar changes
in their beneficial effects on their heart. regain
these things within the first year of discontinuation.
And for some, the return of the weight feels
almost instantaneous, and they often regain more
than they initially lost. His patients described
feeling ravenous and overwhelmed by the resurgence
of food noise. Well, the science behind these
drugs explain why. They do not cause permanent
changes. They are synthetic agonists of a chemical
called glucagon -like peptide that, while in
use, saturates receptors in the brain and the
stomach that mimic the effects of the normal
chemical in your body that makes you feel full.
But once the medication is stopped, that effect
evaporates within two to four weeks. The receptors
are no longer bathed, and the hunger -calming
peptides and hunger returns, and then the wait
quickly follows. He goes on to present evidence
that a lot of these patients are worse off than
they were before they started the medication
because they lose lean muscle mass and their
metabolic rate changes and so they have greater
difficulty losing weight in the future than they
did before. So they have diminished strength
and reduced bone density, higher risk of fractures,
and a host of other problems. Well, that sounds
pretty bad. Why am I even talking about the benefits
of these drugs if it's that bad? Well, the data
that this physician is presenting in this piece...
is average data with large studies of many, many
people who were doing the standard recommendations,
which to many are now considered to be high doses,
too high of doses. Again, people want to lose
as much weight as possible, and the standard
recommendations that people work up to are such
that they do produce a dependence and make it
difficult to maintain without becoming dependent
on these drugs. long term. So there is other
data available showing that people who do lower
doses of these medications and combine it with
a functional medicine approach of monitoring
and maintaining the health of your organs and
systems, which we're going to get into, enable
you to use these medications briefly to get the
weight off and then slowly work your way off
of them or down at least to a much lower dose
than some people are taking. to get the extreme
health benefits that people are getting. So,
for example, people are much more likely to go
to the gym because they feel good. There are
research showing neuroprotective benefits, reducing
neuroinflammation, improving activity in the
gut -brain axis, inhibiting multiple inflammatory
pathways, supporting the structures of the brain,
improving mitochondrial function. energy -producing
part of every cell, even improving the structure
and function of brain cells and reducing risk
of dementia. And best of all, contrasted with
the part I was just talking about a little while
ago, research is now available showing that GLP
-1s, these Ozempic and Wigovi -like medications,
can reduce muscle wasting and enhance exercise
endurance. Because the reason many people who
take them lose muscle mass is because they're
not eating enough protein and not eating enough
food generally and not exercising. That's what
causes muscle loss. It's not the drug itself
that causes muscle loss. It's not eating enough
protein, not eating enough full stop, and not
exercising. That's what causes muscle loss. Just
cutting out calories is always going to cause
muscle loss. So people need a certain amount
of protein every day. And there are ways to make
sure they're getting it. And this is something
most doctors never do. Most doctors do not. aggressively
maybe is too strong of a word, but most doctors
don't pay enough attention to whether or not
people are maintaining a certain serum level
of protein. This is something I do with every
patient. And it's very important to make sure
that you're maintaining protein because that's
the basic building block of all of your cells,
especially muscle and heart muscle in particular.
So super, super important and way too commonly
ignored. And that accounts for a big part of
the... sort of confusion in the research that
say that people shouldn't take these drugs because
they're going to have a permanent loss of muscle.
So that is happening for lots of people, but
there are ways to prevent it. I'm Dr. Todd Bankley.
You're listening to Safe, Effective, Natural
Solutions to Almost Any Health Challenge. Today
we're talking about the weight loss drugs of
Zempik, Wegovi, Manjaro, Zepbound, so -called
GLP. one drugs and how they might be an appropriate
choice for many people that are having great
difficulty otherwise reversing diabetes and losing
weight. So there are a lot of side effects with
these drugs. That's why I'm always encouraging
people, you know, that a lot of people don't
need to take these things. But if you're considering
them, you need to know about the side effects.
And they are most commonly digestive, nausea,
vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea. A lot of
people stop these medications because of these
digestive side effects, but there are ways to
mitigate those as well without other drugs with
nutrients like vitamin B12, magnesium, fiber,
and artichoke extract. In addition to maintaining
adequate protein levels, people on these medications
need to eat a decent amount of calories. That's
going to vary according to their size and body
weight, but people need to eat a decent amount
of food and some carbohydrates. So it's really
disastrous for someone to, for example, be on
a keto diet and then take these medications.
People on these medications need some carbohydrates.
You might want to call it a modified low -carb
diet, but you still need to eat some carbohydrates
every day because these medications work by storing
up glycogen, a form of sugar, in the muscles,
which can then be burned for energy, especially
when exercising. So the big takeaway is if someone
is going to consider using these medications,
they need to maintain high protein levels, use
a lower dose than is typically recommended. Make
sure you are still eating some carbohydrates
and do some form of exercise to burn the sugar
that's stored up in your muscles, which enables
you to maintain muscle mass while losing weight
and shifts the ratio. You're always going to
lose some muscle mass if you're losing a lot
of weight quickly, but the point is to minimize
the loss of muscle and maximize the burning and
loss of fat. So please send me your questions.
Do you know someone who's taken Ozempic and lost
a lot of weight? Wegovi, Manjaro, etc. Have you
wondered if they might be right for you? Is it
possible to take a lower dose of these medications,
lose the weight that you need to lose, get back
to your preferred weight, maybe not ideal weight
from your 20s, but at least enough to keep you
healthy so that you can live long, live well,
reverse the risk fat, reduce to an absolute minimum
the risk factors that come with the inflammation
of obesity and diabetes to reduce your risk of
and delay your risk of heart disease, certain
cancers, dementia, a whole host of things that
come from. inflammation that's always produced
by excess fat cells and excess blood sugar. But
how can you do that? How can you do that in a
more healthy way, maybe with a lower dose of
these medications and lifestyle interventions
that are healthy for anyone? What does that even
mean? Well, the presenter at this conference
that I keep talking about, Dr. James LaValle,
the academic co -chair of A4M, the American Academy
of Anti -Aging Medicine, an established global
leader for continuing medical education and longevity.
He was one of the main presenters talking about
this subject. And he says, among other things,
I like this quote. He says, metabolism is the
sum total of all the chemical reactions driving
how you feel today and creating the chemistry
moving you toward future health. So the sum total
of all the chemical reactions driving how you
feel today and creating the chemistry moving
you toward future health. So most people eat
too much, too often, too late in the day, and
have too much stress and don't get enough sleep.
But in addition to these things, which are hopefully
obvious, functional medicine testing may identify
other things that need to be addressed, very
often do need to be addressed, that are overlooked.
Things like identifying heavy metal toxicities,
chemical and mold toxins. Your body, we're all
exposed to things like lead, mercury, arsenic,
cadmium, uranium, and our body stores these things
in fat cells. If you lose the fat cells, you
lose the body burden of those toxins at the same
time. And if you don't know you have those toxins,
that may explain part of why it's so difficult
to lose the weight. So there are other direct
means of facilitating the excretion of these
toxins, which also help you lose the weight.
It's also really important for most people to
test for and manage your thyroid levels, your
sex hormones, your gut microbiome, and the acid.
the acidic levels in your body that would stress
the kidneys. These are all things that you can
do from a functional medicine approach along
with, hopefully, just lifestyle and diet and
exercise, but if necessary. perhaps some of these
weight loss medications to give you the best
possible outcome. So please email me your questions
with this and any dramatic cases that you may
have know of that where people lost a lot of
weight. Mostly what you hear about in the literature
is people who lost a lot of weight and either
you don't hear anything after that or you hear
about people becoming dependent on these medications
for life. So I'm going to be presenting more
cases going forward where people are doing a
combination of lower doses of medication where
necessary. and using functional medicine to identify
some of these other areas in your body that need
support so that you can lose the weight, reverse
diabetes, keep that all going and have healthy
outcomes that enable you to live long and live
well. Do something this weekend to be healthier
than you were last weekend. Please tune in next
Friday and tell your friends to join in or listen
to the podcast on Apple and Spotify and YouTube.
Have a fantastic weekend. You've been listening
to Safe, Effective Natural Solutions with Dr.
Todd Binkley. If you have a health question you
want discussed on the show, email your health
questions to drbinkley at binkleyhealingcenter
.com. Take advantage of this opportunity to ask
questions for yourself. and for your loved ones
because our health matters. Join him next Friday
at 2 p .m. for safe, effective natural solutions
here on 98 .3 FM, The Word.