Natural Ozempic Mimics? Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:03] one in five American adults say they've already tried a weight loss drug like Ompic. And for the right person, these drugs can be absolutely life-changing. Some people report that for the first time, they feel what normal life is

[00:17] like. But of course, these drugs are not for everyone. No drug is. So, what rest of us get some of the same spectacular results with simple, cheap foods? I'm an MD, PhD, research scientist. I've been studying nutrition,

[00:33] biology, and medicine my whole life. So, this seemed like a fascinating question to research. But I immediately ran into a problem. If you go on social media and you search foods that mimic ozic, you find dozens of videos and blogs and they

[00:50] give you long list of foods and almost every single one uses the same logic, GLP-1. GLP-1 is a hormone produced in your body after you eat and it can trigger this sense of fullness of satiety. So ompic was inspired by GLP-1

[01:07] and the GLP-1 pathway and it does some of the same things. Scientists didn't create ompic out of thin air. They harnessed a natural system your body already has. So most people on social media will tell you to eat foods that

[01:21] raise GLP1. That way you feel full and you can stop eating earlier and you can lose weight. The problem is that GLP-1 is destroyed almost immediately in your bloodstream. Within a minute or two, it gets degraded. So ompic is a molecule

[01:36] that got altered. So it resists this degradation and it lasts in your bloodstream for about a week. That's the whole magic. That's the whole point of ompic. So just because a food raises your GLP-1 levels acutely right after

[01:50] eating doesn't mean it's going to keep you full longer or it's going to help you lose weight. So how can we get around this? Ompic at the end of the day works because it reduces appetite and food cravings. So if we can find natural

[02:04] foods that do that, whether they raise GLP-1 or not, that's what we want. And so as I was going through the scientific evidence, I found a factor that has pretty impressive evidence when it comes to triggering satiety, this sense of

[02:19] fullness, but that is not very often talked about. Imagine I give you two meals with the exact same calories, with the exact same ingredients, but one is soft and mushy, and the other is more chewy. Studies have found that this

[02:33] difference alone can impact how full you feel, how satiated you feel, and how much you end up eating. A fascinating study gave participants apple slices or

[02:45] study gave participants apple slices or applesauce. The exact same calories in both snacks. And the group that had the apple slices reported feeling fuller after the snack, even though they had the exact same number of calories. And

[02:57] the scientists were pretty careful. They peeled the apple slices. So the total amount of fiber was identical in both groups. So that doesn't seem to explain the difference. And they made the applesauce themselves from the same

[03:09] batch of apples as the apple slices. So this was a pretty careful experiment. It could match for. And here's the best part. 15 minutes after that snack, the participants were given a meal, a full meal, same meal for both groups. And the

[03:24] group that had the apple slices, they ended up eating less. 15% fewer calories overall. They also had a third group in that trial that received apple juice and

[03:36] they did even worse. They were less full than the other two and they ended up eating the most out of that meal after. They also had a really cool experiment where they added fiber to the juice to see if that made a difference and it

[03:48] didn't make much of a difference. So, it seemed to be mostly about the form the fascinating because it's not just the foods we choose to eat, it's also how we

[04:00] prepare them. That has an impact on how full we feel, how satiated we feel, and how much we end up eating. Maybe it's having to chew through the apple slices, or maybe it's your gut having to work harder to break down that food to digest

[04:13] it. Something is signaling to your brain that you're fuller even though you had can harness this really interesting phenomenon in a number of ways that are very practical and that actually most of the time save you work. For example,

[04:27] instead of having mashed potatoes, why not have the full potatoes unmashed? There's actually a landmark paper that wanted to figure out which foods are more satiating. So, they had a panel of 38 different foods and this spanned the

[04:40] gamut from candy to fruits to meats, just a spectrum of foods. And they gave the same number of calories of each food to a group of participants. And then they scored how satiated, how full they felt. And the highest satiety score they

[04:55] felt. And the highest satiety score they saw was for potatoes, just plain boiled potatoes. Another tip is vegetables. Instead of having them pureeed or in chunks in the morning instead of having very mushy porridge, steel cut

[05:09] cook them, but not so thoroughly that they become complete mush. And if you want, you can add some nuts and some fruit to it for more chunks. Instead of eating minced meat or ground meat or chicken nuggets, these more processed

[05:24] forms, having an actual piece of chicken or an actual piece of meat that forces you to chew through it, having a raw carrot as a snack instead of boiled carrots that become really soft. So really just patiently chewing through

[05:38] that between meals. For example, instead of having fruit pureeed or in a actually chewing through it. We're not saying smoothies are bad for you or unhealthy. None of that. We're just saying if you're trying to trim down,

[05:51] having the actual whole fruit and chewing through it might satiate you earlier and help you eat a little bit less overall. Also, having fruit with the peel unpeeled when you can, right? The apples or pears or something like

[06:04] that. Please don't have pineapples without peeling. And avoid drinking your calories. That's huge. Eat your calories. Of course, this goes twice over for highly processed foods that are very dense in calories and very soft in

[06:19] texture that go down so easy you barely notice you're eating ice cream, jellies, notice you're eating ice cream, jellies, jam, sodas, pudding, highly processed white breads that almost melt in your mouth. and baked goods that are sugary

[06:32] but that are very soft like cupcakes or cookies. So all of these things that are very caloric but almost melt in your mouth and you get through a huge bag watching a movie you barely notice you're eating them. By manipulating the

[06:44] texture, you're making your foods slower to eat while still eating the exact same foods and usually you're going to save time and work. Now that's a great hack in my book. Here's something else I found in my investigation. If we can

[06:58] find some natural compounds that shift your fat metabolism, so you're breaking down more fat and you're making less of it, that's what we want, whether they raise GLP-1 or not. I found some fascinating evidence that acetic acid

[07:13] may be able to do this through a signaling pathway called EMPK. Acetic acid is the main active compound in vinegar. In lab experiments, acetic acid

[07:25] is metabolized by liver cells leading to the activation of AMPK. And EMPK is an enzyme and it triggers the production of proteins that break down fat and it

[07:37] inhibits proteins that make new fat. This is all really interesting, but does this actually pan out in human beings or is it just some biochemical theory? study put this to the test. They gave participants vinegar, specifically apple

[07:52] cider vinegar. So, first they had all participants in the trial reduce calories. 250 calories were shaved off their diet for everyone. And calories are a big factor when it comes to losing weight, losing fat. It's good to keep

[08:07] that in mind. But this trial went beyond that. Both groups were cutting calories by the same amount. Both were matched. But one group was given the apple cider vinegar 15 mls which is a tablespoon at

[08:20] lunch and another at dinner. So total two tablespoons a day. The group that got the apple cider vinegar had lower appetite scores. So they were less hungry, they felt fuller, they felt more satiated. And that was true when they

[08:32] compared them to the control group that didn't get the vinegar. But also when they compared them to themselves before the trial. And this surprised me because they're on a weight loss program. you usually expect to feel a little

[08:44] hungrier. These guys were feeling less hungry even though they're eating fewer calories. That I found pretty striking. The trial lasted for three months and afterwards the folks that had received the apple cider vinegar lost almost

[08:57] twice as much weight. They lost four kilos average. In the control group, they lost 2.3. Their BMI was also reduced more and their estimated visceral fat which is the more problematic type of fat for health and

[09:12] metabolically that we carry. Theirs was significantly reduced. The control group definitely a really interesting promising trial. Now some limitations. This wasn't a big trial. They had I think 40 total participants. Also it's

[09:27] three months. It's not years. So, I wouldn't rely on vinegar alone as my sole weight loss strategy or expect a miracle weight loss overnight from something I would test together with other strategies if I was trying to slim

[09:41] downsides to adding some vinegar to the diet unless you hate it. Also, if this effect is caused by acetic acid, we would expect this to work with any kind of vinegar. Doesn't need to be apple cider vinegar because acetic acid is

[09:55] common to all vinegars. But we don't know that for a fact cuz the study used apple cider vinegar. Okay, here's something fascinating that I found. Ompic can actually change your gut function. How fast your stomach empties

[10:09] its contents onto the intestine. This is called the gastric emptying rate. So one of the effects of ompic, especially early on, is to slow down your gastric emptying rate. That means the food literally sits in your stomach longer.

[10:23] And this the slower gastric emptying rate is one of the recognized mechanisms of appetite reduction in general even outside of the context of ompic. The wall of your stomach being distended, being stretched, sends signals to your

[10:38] nervous system that promotes satiety. So this is literally your gut telling your brain, "Hey, we're still backed up here. Don't send any more stuff down the pipes." And so as I was going through all of these studies, I found a natural

[10:50] compound that can do that, that can slow down gastric emptying rate, and that's betalucan. Betaglucan is a type of what we call viscous fiber. So this is a specific type of fiber that when mixed with water, it creates this thick

[11:05] gel-like substance, hence the name viscous. The best sources of betaglucan in the diet are oats and barley. And so we actually have randomized oat interventions that have demonstrated a reduction in body weight and adiposity.

[11:20] That's just fat mass in overweight people. And remember that study looking at the panel of foods trying to figure out which foods are more satiating and potatoes were number one. Well, oats were number three, the third highest

[11:32] satiety score they found. We'll go over number two in a second. And I'm willing to bet nobody out there guesses what that is. Now, as we're talking about potatoes number one and oats were number three. Of course, this is the average of

[11:44] course, this is case by case. Now, as I was going through all of this research, I found a set of compounds. I had no idea about this that can activate our appetite control systems and can actually help us feel fuller. And

[11:58] they're called capsainoids. Capsainoids are natural compounds present in chili peppers and they're actually what gives peppers their heat. And there's multiple types of these compounds. Capsain is the most common. And these capsainoids, they

[12:14] bind to specific receptors in our body and they lead to the production of satiety hormones. And this includes GLP-1, but also hormones that last longer in your body that are more impactful like CCK and PY. So this is

[12:28] all fascinating, but again, the question is always the same. Does all of this actually pan out in human beings when you test it? So studies have actually given people capsainoids before a meal and they found that they can modestly

[12:41] reduce food intake and there's actually a metaanalysis of randomized control trials that found that capsain reduced BMI, body weight and waist circumference. Again, the effect was modest. This was about a half a kilo in

[12:55] average lost and the study duration was between 1 and 3 months. I also found a couple really interesting randomized trials that use this hot pepper paste called gochu jang. This is a Korean product. Of course, this is from Korea

[13:10] there's a couple trials using this product and they found a reduction in visceral fat and also apo and triglycerides were reduced in the group given koshu jang compared to a placebo. So these are really interesting, really

[13:24] promising results. One caveat is this paste isn't 100% red peppers. It also has a couple other ingredients like fermented soybeans for example. So we can't jump from this result to it's the capsasonoids. And I know this also

[13:39] depends a lot on the individual. Some people love chili peppers and the So this one the capsasonoids and the red peppers I think is something where there's really interesting data out there. I would put this at a lower level

[13:52] of confidence and also the effect is more modest than for a lot of the other something that I might test if especially if I didn't hate uh that through all this research, there was a nutrient that kept coming up as a

[14:07] consistent trigger of satiety and that was protein. So, protein has also been shown to increase GLP1, but I don't think that's why it's worth paying attention to. It can also trigger other hormones that play a role in appetite

[14:21] hormones that play a role in appetite and induce satiety like ghrein and CCK. And this is a great example that the best weight loss strategies they often push multiple buttons. You don't have to rely on one molecule or one pathway. So

[14:33] there's a metaanalysis of randomized control trials that found that acute hunger and increased a sense of fullness. And there was a modest effect on weight loss. There was a modest increase in weight loss with the protein

[14:47] interventions. And remember that landmark study looking at satiety with the panel of foods. Potatoes were number one. Oatmeal was number three. Number two was actually fish. And in that paper they used lean fish which is one of the

[15:02] foods that is high in protein. So here are some practical tips to include some healthy sources of protein at breakfast. Instead of having refined carbohydrates like cocoa puffs or fruit loops, why not have some Greek yogurt unsweetened? And

[15:16] you can add some fruit, some berries for example, or some nuts for more flavor. Another example is having an egg or two for breakfast with some vegetables on the side with some whole grain toast. Another great breakfast idea is oatmeal,

[15:31] ideally from steel cut oats or from rolled oats, not instant oats that have sugar added to them. And you can add Greek yogurt, you can add fruit, you can oatmeal if you like. So now you're combining the protein, you're combining

[15:44] the mostly intact food structure, and you're combining those beta glucans to slow down your gastric emptying rate. You see how you're stacking these mechanisms. One of my favorite protein sources are pulses like beans or lentils

[15:58] or chickpeas. A systematic review found that the sense of satiety, the sense of fullness after a meal was increased when the meal includes pulses. And there's a metaanalysis of randomized control trials that looked at the effect of non

[16:13] soy legumes. So that's your beans and your lentils, for example. Non-sy your lentils, for example. Non-sy legumes reduced waist circumference, fat mass. It was about a 2 kilo reduction in fat overall. And body weight was reduced

[16:26] have a few beans. It's going to give you the exact same result as ompic. But losing 2 kilos of pure fat over a couple months is pretty respectable. And all you're doing is adding a food that is healthy and cheap to your diet. And if

[16:39] you can keep that fat off and keep progressing over time, then that's a very meaningful change. So here are some easy ways to add some pulses to your diet. Try adding lentils to a salad and why not some vinegar if you like it.

[16:51] Having chickpeas in a bowl, maybe with a whole grain like barley for some of that beta glucan that slows down gastric emptying. Having some beans with vegetables and some chili peppers on the side if you like them. Lentil soup is

[17:03] another idea. I personally love it. I find it delicious. Notice how in these examples you're getting protein, you're getting fiber, you're getting food volume without a lot of caloric density, and you're slowing down digestion

[17:15] through the betaglucan. And you're getting those capsoids in there. You're combining all of these factors together. And if you're trying to lose visceral fat specifically, we have a whole video where we explain how to measure yours,

[17:27] how to estimate how much visceral fat you're carrying right now, and also giving you a number of evidence-based strategies to lose it quickly without a ton of effort. Check it out right here, and I'll find you in there.