Forget Psychedelics. Everyone’s Microdosing Ozempic Now
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S E E D E D C O N T E N T
On a chilly January evening, Samira Shamoon, a 44-year-old health and beauty publicist, walked into an Italian restaurant to meet friends. They were stunned by the incandescence of her skin. Her cheekbones appeared more defined. After a flurry of questions about which dermatologist or plastic surgeon she had visited, she said, beaming, “I’m microdosing!”
Shamoon has joined the wave of people who are taking limited amounts not of psychedelics — to which the microdosing trend usually applies — but of the diabetes drug Ozempic (semaglutide), and other GLP-1 receptor agonists like Mounjaro. They are doing it not primarily for weight loss — the effect that has made Ozempic a Hollywood staple and a reliable awards-show punchline — but for the surprising and widely touted side benefits, particularly its anti-inflammatory properties.
Rather than injecting the regular introductory weekly dose, people are only taking half that amount or less. As a runner, Shamoon was always fairly svelte, and though she didn’t mind the side effect of dropping 4 pounds, it was losing the puffiness in her face that drew her to the prescription drug. She also found intriguing the promise of increased mental clarity and a decreased risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.
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On a chilly January evening, Samira Shamoon, a 44-year-old health and beauty publicist, walked into an Italian restaurant to meet friends. They were stunned by the incandescence of her skin. Her cheekbones appeared more defined. After a flurry of questions about which dermatologist or plastic surgeon she had visited, she said, beaming, “I’m microdosing!”
They are doing it not primarily for weight loss — the effect that has made Ozempic a Hollywood staple and a reliable awards-show punchline — but for the surprising and widely touted side benefits, particularly its anti-inflammatory properties.
Since my regular diet is mostly vegetable-based, and my wife's mini-farm provides lots of absolutely fresh veggies, and Chinese food is generally non-fattening anyway, what interests me are the other effects, such as alleviation of the usual aches and pains and other negative conditions common from being old.
Some of that pain may be from inflammation. (See comment # 6. 2 re: Turmeric & Ginger). Actually I think Ginger is fairly common in Chinese cooking? (Used a lot on fish?). Turmeric is used a lot in Indian cuisine and Ayurvedic medicine). Both are good for inflamation. And my guess is that thery might help with environmental pollution as well (?)
I am also thinking Accupuncture (should be no problem finding Accupuncturists in China!). From what I know about it, there is perhaps more variations in skills of practitioners than many other modalities-- find a good one.
Another thing that can be very helpful is Reiki. (This is a hands on healing technique that originated in Japan). You could visit a Reiki practioner, but its more convenient if you do it on yourself. Its quick and easy to be trained in it-- and once you have it its always present (its hands on energy healing-- sounds unusual but it works!)
There are several degrees of Reiki certification. If you go to a Reiki healer insist on them being at least Third Degree (1st & 2nd degree really shouldn't be charging for it). In America most are 2nd degree, some are 3rd. Each level is exponentially more moreful.
I once met a 4th Degree (rather uncommon in the U.S.)-- he did a little on me-- 4th degree is like Magic!
I do a Full Body Reiki healing on myself every day. And sometimes if I have pain-- or even a little discomfort in one area (feeling OK except for a slight headache-- or slight stomach ache--I just put my hands on that area and in a few minutes the condition is resolved) .
BTW, with all these "alternative" methods of healing-- there's a lot of misleading information on many sites-- especially Wikipedia. Anything out of the ordinary and they say it doesn't work.
It is, my wife uses ginger a lot in her cooking.
Not for me, thanks.
One of the positives of the Chinese style of eating is that much of the plate is filled with veggies and Rice, with a relatively small amount of meat. Americans usually have a really large portion of meat, with a "starch" and a small amount veggies.
Ideally there should be a large portion of veggies-- with smaller amountsdof meat or fish.
Large amounts of Red meat are not healthy. However there's one type of Red meat that'smuch better; "Grass Fed".
Or Bison (which, IIRC, is only "grass Fed"...by law.
Many places, especially Whole Foods, has Bison. (Its the only Red meat I eat).
I never had the opportunity to try it.
I'm not sure of this-- but I think the only place Bison exist is in the U.S. (and probably adjacent parts of Canada?). I believe they were going extinct, but legislation was passed to protect them.
I was going to say they taste a lot like Beef, but its been so long since I actually ate Beef I don't remember how it tastes!!! (Unlike most exotic meats which supposedly "taste like Chicken") Bison does not taste like Chicken!
I was going to say it tastes a lot like Beef, but its been so long since I actually ate Beef I don't remember how it tastes!!! (Unlike most exotic meats which supposedly "taste like Chicken", Bison does not taste like Chicken!
It is healthier than animals that are fed corn and IIRC by law Bison must be "Grass Fed"?
I only buy food from Whole Foods Market-- they carry both ground Bison and Bison steaks. (Also "Grass Fed" Beef, also expensive).
Of course you can be perfectly healthy even if you never eat Bison. (Whether or not you can be extremely healthy if you never eat Vegemite is another story-- that's open to debate!)
It was losing the puffiness in her face that drew her to the prescription drug. She also found intriguing the promise of increased mental clarity and a decreased risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s.
Seems to be somewhat of a miracle drug.
In many cases. I personally would never take it (I prefer "alternative" substances and healing modalities. They usually take longer, but many get results-- and with the right ones there are little to no side effects.)
Another thing I would highly recommend is meditation-- the classic (ancient) types where you repeat a mantra. IIRC, many forms were first used by the ancient Hindus-- then it spread to Buddhism and other spiritual approaches. (And my guess is that there are many "indigenous peoples") who independently created their own unique forms).
I have used TCM - sometimes it's worked and sometimes it hasn't.
Do you mean "Transcendental Meditation"? It can be really powerful but takes a while to work. And benefits increase over time.
If you only do it occasionally you will rarely see results. Ideally you should do it twice a day I believe the recommended time is 20 minutes/session.
That may seem like a lot, but over time the benefits are powerful.
BTW, they have had doctors check on the results of regular meditating over time. There is scientifically backed evidence that it has several positive effects-- physical, mental,emotionasl, etc.
No, Krishna, I didn't mean Transcendental Meditation, although I know what it is, having been in the audience for a lecture by its leader, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, when he once visited Toronto. He spent half his time on stage laughing. I meant Traditional Chinese Medicine.
What are the bad side effects?
From friends who have taken it, nausea is the big one. It basically slows gastric motility, so food just sort of sits there. Two friends who were on it for diabetes had to quit taking it, because the vomiting was debilitating.
I've read accounts of people whose digestive tracts have trouble functioning properly after stopping treatment.
Some people never get past the nausea. I had a little bit now and then when I first started taking it, but it hasn’t been an issue for me for a long time.
I think part of the nausea issue is that new users are still programmed to their old eating habits. I found that the drug makes it much easier to change that pattern and eat smaller amounts. However, if I stuff myself, I don’t feel so good. This is especially true if I have eaten particularly rich food like ice cream or anything fried. And if you think about it, if you’re trying to get lean, you probably don’t need to be eating like that anyway.
One friend who was taking it was on a very low-carb, calorie-restricted diet to treat diabetes and fatty liver disease. Even though she was hardly eating anything, she had to stop Ozempic because of the nausea and vomiting. We're not sure it was from the Ozempic, but she also lost a lot of hair, which regrew after stopping Ozempic. But she may have also have had some vitamin or mineral deficiencies due to her restrictive diet.
Another friend thought she had a stomach bug all the time, to the point of missing more days at work than she was really allowed to miss. She worked in the school system, so she just figured she kept catching whatever bug the kids were passing around, until she put two and two together. I can't say she modified her diet as well as she should have done, though. Some of the recipes she'd share on Facebook just made me shake my head.
I'm glad it's working for you.
I'm watching 2 family members head for the grave now because they think their diabetes drugs will cancel out their current sugar consumption.
Lol I tried that route and eventually went into a Ketoacidosis coma for two days. It's besti t's best to keep the sugar at very little to none. Hopefully they keep their numbers between 90 and 160
The starter "Kid's Plate" .25 dose worked great for me and the benefits were undeniable, but when my doctor upped my dosage to .50 and then to 1.0 my bowels locked up. It was bad and caused a plethora of other problems. I'm gunshy now...
Yes, both of these friends are eating themselves into early graves. One will need a liver transplant, even though she doesn't drink. When our friend group tries to support her in her weight loss, she shoots down lots of meal ideas, which frustrates the hell out of us. She has the palate of a 3-year-old. The other has already lost several toes to diabetes. She isn't as picky, but everything she eats is processed junk. Both have lots of emotional issues that show up as eating disorders, to some degree.
I'm wondering if there's a way to gradually decrease the dose to a point where the dose is still high enough to promote weight loss (gradually) ... but small enough that the negative effects disappear (or are greatly diminished?)
I imagine there probably is. Titrating the dose would vary by patient.
I could stand to lose a few pounds, and thought about those meds, but the idea of my gut just shutting down scares me. I had that problem after my c-section, and it is absolutely miserable.
Were they on the original doseage or were they microdosing?
I'm not sure, but I think it was the original dosage. This was when it was more or less exclusively for diabetes.
Actually the importance of the dose has a long history. Paracelsus said:
At the time that Paracelsus coined his famous dictum, “What is there that is not poison? All things are poison and nothing is without poison. Solely the dose determines that a thing is not a poison,”
Actually that's true if you are committed to good health even if you're not on the drug! Excessive sugar consumption is one of the worst things on SAD ("Standard American Diet").
Well it was originally invented as a diabetes drug so low blood sugar possibly leading to coma or death would be a bad side effect. Other than that I found the fol list of possibilities
Morning...geez alot of the side effects are what you get when having chemo..
Why would you want to do that to yourself for the sake of losing weight? If it is life threatening there are other ways of losing weight...
I have friends here who do have diabetes and can't get Ozempic..but the chemist keeps some in reserve for them exclusively now when he gets a supply in...
Evening Shona, those side effects are common across a lot of meds. Lol saw a commercial last night for the anti-depressant Rexulti which stated an increased risk of suicide. WTF
I wouldn't but different things are important to different people
That's a shame, there should be a priority list for getting drugs
Hopefully you're safe from all the tropical storms and such going on down there. Take care
I mean…masturbation has most of those side effects, too.
Scary, I think I will pass
Perhaps . . .Vegemite?
(Do not click on the triangle in the red box, instead click on "Watch on YouTube" on lower left to avoid having to having to type in password)
Introducing the highly anticipated remake of the iconic Happy Little VEGEMITE Ad
Arvo free...yes all good where I am the cyclone is thousands of ks away from me, but we really do need rain..all of a sudden we have got another burst of summer and it feels more like what it used to be in the 70s and 80s...
I hate taking any form of medication and detest it and struggled with what I had to take when the blood cancer was discovered...
Now I am heading towards 3 years medication free, but I know that will change one day...but I will cross that bridge when I come to it...
Congratulation, with the exception of my 3 times a day insulin injections I try to avoid meds as well
LMAO, now I'm imagining masturbation, vomiting, and diarrhea. Thanks for that
Morning...ahh music to my ears...always the best way to start the day....
For a period I was overweight-- but I finally made up my mind to get to normal weight. My waist went from 42" or 44" (it was a while back, I forget the exact numbers) to my ideal 33" -34" waist.
No drugs, and at the time didn't get much exercise.
Basically what i did was totally eliminate all sugar, and went on a 100% Vegan diet. Lots of veggies and no high sugar fruits (like Mangoes). Protein from Beans and Whole grains, Tofu, Nuts and Seeds. No dairy of any kind.
Put me down as skeptical. I’ve been taking Mounjaro for about a year and a half (although I did take a break last year for a few months). I haven’t experienced any of these glamorous sounding side effects. I don’t glow, my brain doesn’t work any better, and I have plenty of inflammation in joints from working out or just getting older.
It is a fantastic tool if hunger is the thing holding you back from losing weight. Even after I cleaned up my diet, I couldn’t lose weight because when I would sit down to dinner, I could eat enough food to feed three people. My brain just never seemed to get the signal that I had had enough to eat. And simply walking away from the table (like so many skinny people say as if it were easy) didn’t help either because I would just continue craving food.
I eat one forth of what I used to eat from age 15 to my 50's. now it's hard for me to finish what they put on a plate in a restaurant. what helped me the most was eliminating the sugar bowl from my home, and most carbs from my diet in 2010. I tried the workout routines, but decided I didn't like the idea of being sore all the time, so I just walk for exercise now which is painful enough. I went from hovering between 244 to 250 lbs, to my current weight of 165. I eat in one day now what I used to eat at one meal. it takes a long time to shrink your stomach and drinking water lots of water and healthy snacks between meals helped me out.
If there was one suggestion that does the most for weight loss-- and overall health-- its to gradulally cut down on Sugar (and finally eliminate it, slowly over time).
Next suggestion: greatly increase the amount of non-starchy Vegetabls you eat. (Ideal meal should contain both a salad and a cooked veggie).
Finally eat more fruit (except tropical fruits which tend to be much higher in sugar).
It seems there's a common misconception that the way to lose weight is diet and exercise. But that's actually a bit misleading. Diet is key. But exercise is less helpful in losing weight than people think (Unless enormous amounts such as running marathons & half marathons.).
Exercise, even walking, is good for healh-- but not that helpful at losing weight. (It is more helpful at maintaining your ideal weight once you reach it.
While its not a total cure all for inflammation, there are two herbs that reduce inflammation to some degree:
1. Tumeric. (Its poorly absorbed so you have to take it in a meal that contains some fat and also with a small amount of Black Pepper that helps it get better absorbed).
You can use it in cooking or just take it in capsules. I don't use powedered Turmeric in cooking as you have to be careful with it-- it really stains clothing etc and stains are difficult to get out).
(And for health reasons, that fat should be a healthy fat: for example Olive Oil and/or Nuts.)
2. Ginger. easily absorbed.
(I always try to buy everything Organic , Organic Ginger in powder form.)
Simply Organic brand powdered spice is supposedly one of the healthiest brands.
Nuts do taste better roasted and salted. But they are much healthier unsalted and raw. And of course Organic only. Amongst the healthiest nuts are Walnuts and Almonds.
Walnut powder is one of the ingredients I put in my oatmeal.
Walnuts are considered to be a "Superfood". Excellent for health!
One thing that may be helpful: eat large quantities of veggies-- both a cooked vegetable and a salad at each meal. Tasty ones.
I haver found that carbs (especially various forms of sugar) inhibit weight loss. Fat (healthy fat) are actually less detimental-- sure they have calories but thsat usually have more satiety value (whereas sweets make you hungrier).
Also lots of fiber which means mostly veggies (Animal products do not have fiber).Find a way to make veggies tastier (herbs and spices-- but gradually decrease salt).
Another idea-- take some fiber powder (with enough liquids) at every meal (with adequate liquid).
Some of the commercial brands have some not too healthy chenicals in them.
I was looking over your list of ingredients. Wow-- you really know what you're doing!
Monday through Friday I make a smoothie for breakfast for myself and my wife with the following ingredients:
A few thoughts that came to mind:
1. You reallly have attractive containers! I vary in my spending patterns, so have less expensive (but not as attractive) containers. For almost all ingredients I use Amber Ball Jars (there's a good selection on Amazon):
2. On rare occasions I will splurge-- I've heard Nutra-bullet is very good, but I decided to get a Vita-Mix. (Very expensive, but they last forever).
Hal has a museum of fascinating and interesting objects.
the following ingredients: spinach, avacado, lime, plain yogurt, whole milk, banana, ginger powder, lots of turmeric, masala, cacao beans or nibs, Ceylon cinnamon, steel cut oats, sunflower seeds, walnuts, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, and cold tea.
Hal A. Lujah you probably know all (or most of this) but others may be interested in some of these ideas):
1. Yogurt-- Most brands of Plain Yoghurt have no added sugar. And it would seem that fruit Yoghurt has no sugar (getting its sweetness from the fruit). But most brands of Fruit Yoghurt have not only fruit-- but also have added Sugar! ( Vanilla Yoghurt also generally has added sugar.) I also only use plain yoghurt-- and add my own fruit (always Blueberrries and Strawberries, sometimes other fruits in season) plus nuts.
2.Whole Milk: Decades ago I was thoroughly tested for allergies via Kineasiology. I tested negative for most things, but slighly allergic to Milk and Oranges (but other Citris OK). I never experienced even mile allergic reactions to either, but I don't buy milk--or oranges. I do use Goat Yoghurt (plain only)-- I'm not sure its actually better.
Yoghurt has "friendly bacteria" so I eat some daily plus Kimchi for the same reason.
I’m also really frugal, so best price per unit weight typically wins. If that means I have five pounds of turmeric, so be it. It’ll keep well and be gone in a year. I use three heaping teaspoons of it every morning, with a dash of masala (for the pepper), a teaspoon of ginger, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Buying bulk spices is probably ten times less expensive than buying a small jar at the grocery store.
I really like kombucha too, I just wish it wasn’t so expensive. I’ve got some kimchi in my fridge that is a couple months old. Can it even go bad?
I buy a lot of spices, nuts, etc in bulk from Amazon. Also, Amaszon and Whole Foods market are the same company. And they have a credit card that gives you 5% off on all sales from both stores.
Occasionally they also have some good discounts on sale items.
I don't know-- I eat Kimchi or something similar every day-- as well as some Yoghurt every day. So the Kimchee never lasts long.
Actually now that you mentioned it I realized that while I do buy a lot of things in bulk, sometimes when I run out of spices I do actually buy them in the regular kitchen size bottles. And its true--- the amount you get in a typical spice bottle is really tiny.
I've seen recipes for making your own Kombucha from scratch-- but it sounds like it might be a bit of a hassle.
I used to buy Ginger root but then started buying Ginger powder for the convenience. I use a fair amount, should probably start buying it in bulk (organic only).
Is there a bulk brand of powered Ginger you would recommend?