I’m still extremely worried of a false flag crisis… Either that or dropping our guard down to such a degree that it invites a crisis to exploit (E.g., Bibi’s ignoring clear Intel reports of impending Oct 7th).

That is Ford motorcraft… It should be manufactured in America, right…?

… Right…?

Then again I ordered a DENSO (Japanese corporation and main supplier for OEM Toyota parts on their vehicles) part and it was made in China, so…

Streisand Effect lol.

Can this D-list celebrity just fuck off to Russia like steven seagal already

Probably got advice from RFK Jr. on lobotomies.

And Milton Mayer’s They Thought They Were Free echoes through eternity…

I’ll take wins where I can get them these days, and at least Starmer seems to be fully in Ukraine’s corner. I appreciate his welcoming of Zelenskyy following the absurdity of Zelenskyy’s visit with Trump.

Bonus this time around: leaded ammunition!

If they look, act, and quack like psychopaths…

It’s interesting that this strikes at the heart of left vs right mindset, at least in America. Conservatives have a tendency to romanticize the notion of free will and individual freedom; that you alone are responsible for the choices you make absent of anything else like — will over systemic forces or regions of your own brain working against you. Whereas the left has a stronger tendency to recognize these other variables that apply pressure in such a way as to shape the path of least resistance in what you may choose to do.

It’s like a story I heard about the mindset of Americans vs. Germans when they have a vehicular accident. In America, blame is often quickly pointed to the person for skidding off the road while in Germany they may send a team of engineers to assess how to reduce the environment to prohibit this from being possible in the first place (e.g., putting up a guard-rail). This is surely exaggerated and America of course has civil engineers, but you get the idea of a default state of responsibility.

Maybe the reality of executive responsibility and external forces is somewhere in the middle. Nevertheless, a systemic problem tends to require a systematic solution. So I definitely don’t fault obese people for not being able to get skinny. I agree: definitely the wrong mindset!

My main concern is that if the cost of this weight loss is a masking of symptoms and warning-signs of other poor dietary habits, could that result in even more people suffering ailments kicked under the rug just because they perceive themselves to be healthy when looking in a mirror? (e.g., the smoker arguments of old).

The recession is the point; the rich will get richer (Musk and all the oligarchs)

The volatility of the tariffs is the point; BRIC will get stronger (Tulsi Gabbard’s mission)

The erosion of liberties and the judicial system is the point; the zealots like Miller and Johnson and Flynn will consolidate power domestically.

Every part of America is being sold off, sabotaged, and stolen.

That’s fair! Comparing to statins and bp meds is a good comparison.

Loony Loomer

Your points are valid and believe it or not I largely agree. We are largely products of our environment. If there are potato chips in the house, I am more likely to eat potato chips. At scale, if there is a McDonald’s on the corner or chips in the grocery store, people are more likely to eat said junk food out of both convenience and dopamine fixation and median societal stress levels leading to elevated cortisol and so on.

I don’t think they changes the points I’m trying to raise, which are:

• Concerns for symptom masking leading to a false sense of believing you are healthy and not nutritionally deficient.

• Deflecting attention away from the root issues causing obesity: deregulation of processed foods and socioeconomic inequality and societal stressors (all which COULD and should be addressed).

Put another way: My primary concern is people being lulled into a false sense of security. If pain is a signal to change something, then looking in the mirror and seeing your weight can be a similar motivator for change all the same for people. If people taking this drug get positive feedback, they may then lack that normal feedback for motivation to change their underlying dietary habits. If this means that while obesity drops, the number of people who adopt better dietary habits overall decreases in kind, then we’re setting ourselves up for various disease epidemics down the road. Systemically, there’s no doubt you’re right that most people struggle to get through this; but that’s not to say there aren’t people who do manage to make lifestyle changes for the better. It is possible; and are so-called (as the other user called them) “miracle drugs” further impeding that? Are we losing the thread?

If all we do going through life is chasing a revolving number of symptoms and side-effects, we will never get to the heart of the root problems.

But as I wrote elsewhere, I am open to the notion that because these problems begin in a unnatural manner in the way they short-circuit our evolutionary biological circuitry, then perhaps the solutions are unnatural as well. For me to change my opinion, would need studies showing that people are more likely to adopt healthy lifestyle choices, particularly diet, following taking Ozempic for a period of time.

Nobody around me is suffering from malnutrition. Meat is very nutritious. That is why our bodies crave it.

This is going beyond the scope of our conversation probably, but this is flatly not true. My body doesn’t crave it any more than it can be programmed to crave a popsicle, soda, ultra-salty fast-food burger. One can crave heroin or meth, too; it doesn’t mean it’s good for you. Let us please not enable carnivore pseudoscience bullshit. Not to say some meat, notably cold-water fish, isn’t good for you however; in limited quantities in accordance to the Mediterranean diet, yes, it can be healthy.

Extreme malnutrition tends to have to do with deficiencies in macronutrients; raw calories. Back in the day, we didn’t live long enough for micronutrients to have such a profound impact. Macronutrients, in terms of calories, true are easy to get. But people are profoundly deficient on a variety of micro and phytonutrients, ranging from fiber to antioxidant intake to B12 (yes, even 1/3 of meat eaters are deficient), to Omega-3s, to Potassium. These are facts, and if you need sources they’re easily found.

The reason they’re too hungry is because of disruptions in signaling hormones like Ghrelin and Leptin that are not properly responding due to the consumption of unnatural ultra-processed foods. This induces a destructive feedback loop that leads to REDUCED satiety and consequently INCREASED hunger. For example, if you drink Kool-Aid with 2 cups of sugar in it, the concentration of which is a) a sugar density impossible to find in nature besides maybe honey, b) lacking other insulin-regulating and satiety-inducing nutrients — most notably fiber but also say xylitol — then you will send insulin surging which so happens to have an impact on ghrelin and leptin signaling molecules to the brain. It is extremely difficult to make this happen if you eat whole foods. I eat LOADS of healthy food all the time — as much as I want! Yet my BMI remains perfectly low. This is not the issue.

Edit: I should add in reference to my previous comment that the other factor is the feedback loop of environmental stressors, elevating cortisol and leading to an increased fixation on fast dopamine hits, which of course, if there is a potato chip bag or fries in the area, will look more appealing. In some respects, it’s little different than substance abuse of heroin albeit to a lesser degree.

It’s not “unhealthily large portions of healthy foods,” — it’s unhealthily dense portions of unhealthy foods, primarily.

Fat people aren’t suffering vitamin, mineral, or fiber deficiencies. They’re just eating too much food.

Yes, they quite often do. By the very nature of consuming unhealthy foods in high quantities leading to obesity, they are as a matter of zero-sum NOT consuming healthy nutrients, such as fiber. You don’t seem to understand the impact fiber specifically has on weight regulation, or the insulin cycle and the impacts on hormonal signaling molecules Ghrelin and Leptin. Educate yourself in these arenas and you’ll have a better understanding of the obesity epidemic. I promise you it’s not because people are eating “too much healthy food” lol.

Don’t just take it from me:

It’s also important to remember weight is only one part of the health equation. If you suppress your appetite but maintain a diet high in ultra-processed foods low in micronutrients, you could lose weight but not increase your actual nourishment. So support to improve dietary choices is needed, regardless of medication use or weight loss, for true health improvements.

https://hmri.org.au/news-and-stories/ozempic-helps-weight-loss-making-you-feel-full-certain-foods-can-do-same-thing/

Cute condescension (I actually kind of chuckled at the, “You have learned nothing” end, saying it like some growling villain), but you’re still too in the weeds. Take it one step further: What causes some people to feel hungrier? The two most common reasons:

• 1. Environmental stressors.
• 2. Ultra-Processed Foods.

Does GLP-1 address either of these as a root cause issue? No, they do not.

More importantly — Are many diseases associated with obesity suddenly magically resolved if you just lose weight? No, they are not. Why? Because you never actually addressed the nutritional needs of your body. Sure you put less crap in, but you’re still putting crap in while not putting in the CORRECT nutrients that would otherwise come with a holistic approach of addressing obesity by dietary means.

So if you continue to consume starbucks but instead of a 30oz you get a 10oz because you’re on Ozempic, are you any closer to fulfilling your nutritional needs of protein intake, Omega-3 DHA/EPA, the recommended 25g of fiber (and are you distinguishing soluble from insoluble?), your B-vitamins, your potassium, etc? Equally important, are you cutting back on high sodium foods and high-sugar foods? No, GLP-1 does not magically change your eating habits to pick up a leafy salad full of nuts & seeds.

Beyond this, weight-reduction alone may lead to confidence and capability to go out and exercise, get more sunlight, socialize more, etc. — these of course have positive impacts on the body. It’s just that if you depend on GLP-1 beyond reaching a target weight without actually changing your habits, then you will still perhaps unknowingly be degrading your body because you don’t even have the negative signal that is obesity forewarning you.

NOTE: This is not me fat-shaming or saying people are lazy; I am wholly aware many of these stressors are a result of things outside their control, like societal pressures or corporate marketing teams short-circuiting evolutionary wiring of our neurochemistry. It is anything but easy. DO NOT use a fucking straw-man on me to claim I am these people are lazy or ignorant. (in fact, I’m warning of the same magic pill corporate scheme that got us into this situation in the first place, ironically that is addressing symptoms without ever addressing root causes).

In the vast majority of prescribed cases of Ozempic, GLP-1 is already produced by the body freely; you just have to put the proverbial correct oil in your engine to get it to release. Until those underlying habits change, then you are not sufficiently addressing the nutritional deficits of your body.

Up front: I’m no doctor or dietician. Only that nutrition is a big interest of mine both personally and along helping my aging parents with their ailments.

You raise fair points and I want to bring this section back from where the other user and I were going: I don’t think GLP-1 drugs inherently bad. It seems you have a good grasp as to the bigger picture and consequences of perhaps masking root problems. Mind you, cortisol spikes can be a result of all kinds of things. Generally-speaking (and with the caveat I’m no expert), most things I’ve read seem to suggest that cravings start with outside stressors, which then lead you to look for short-term fixes; you then can trapped in this feedback loop of rising stress -> quick dopamine hit. Without taking away the key stressors like your work or lack of time to engage in other positive habits (exercise, sunlight exposure, healthy sleep schedule), that craving will likely persist with or without GLP-1; the only difference is at LEAST it would be in less total quantity. At LEAST your obesity won’t inhibit your ability to exercise (which itself reduces cortisol). The bad news is it doesn’t alter your eating habits and compel you to suddenly start eating salads on its own; that will still take some willpower and a healthy state of mind. But perhaps you can surf the wave of confidence that comes with weight-loss? I don’t know.

Thank you for your candid comment!

Fair points, thanks! You raise a good point that if the weight-loss itself is inhibiting your capacity to otherwise want to, say, go running or be more active then you can break the destructive feedback loop and give it another go. In that respect, I’m curious if these drugs are generally prescribed with no limit or prescribed until reaching a target weight? I don’t know.

To your second paragraph, I’d like to know too. My guess is the benefits at least in the short-term are similar to what can be achieved by maintaining a healthy diet (Mediterranean / dash / mind diet, notably) — again, at least in the short-term. If poor eating habits persist even if at a lower caloric level, then eventually as those nutrients run out, things will wear down no differently than a poorly maintained engine.

Sorry, but still no sources.

Perhaps more importantly, still attacking a straw-man argument that I never personally made.

I will repeat the following that keeps conveniently being ignored:

Again, I just want to again reiterate: Literally everything Ozempic does positively, from dementia to cravings to weight-loss, can be achieved by eating a healthy diet. Period. Full stop. This isn’t like antibiotics where you can’t just take vitamin C and eliminate C-diff. Unless you have problems creating GLP-1, all the benefits of Ozempic — KEY POINT: AND MORE because you’re actually avoiding anti-nutrients and taking in a diverse array of nutrients — can be achieved by simply eating what scientists have already concluded as being the healthiest diet: A Mediterranean plant-based diet. (and that doesn’t even mean excluding all meats).

And no, I’m not saying it should be taken off the market; only that I’m practicing skepticism and not calling it a miracle drug because it masks a poor habit; it doesn’t fix it. If Ozempic caused someone to stop eating all poor food and start eating their leafy greens and stop chugging starbucks coffees and adopt the scientist-recommended Mediterranean diet, then sure, I might be more likely to call it that. It does not.

It’s also important to remember weight is only one part of the health equation. If you suppress your appetite but maintain a diet high in ultra-processed foods low in micronutrients, you could lose weight but not increase your actual nourishment. So support to improve dietary choices is needed, regardless of medication use or weight loss, for true health improvements.

https://hmri.org.au/news-and-stories/ozempic-helps-weight-loss-making-you-feel-full-certain-foods-can-do-same-thing/

Edit: Correcting a negative.

Well that’s just plain rude. I’m curious how much your mother truly tried to instill any semblance of empathy in you; that is, was it a fault of the teacher failing to teach, or the student failing to learn?