These days, you can hardly talk about weight loss without the name “semaglutide” (or one of its trade names) popping up. Semaglutide is a peptide in the class known as GLP-1 agonists, an increasingly-crowded field of diabetes medicines that has actually been around for many years now. The difference between semaglutide and most of its counterparts is that it tends to lead to significant weight loss. For this reason, more people will likely be prescribed semaglutide for weight loss than for diabetes. Americans are so desperate to lose weight—we are more overweight than ever, after all—that vast numbers are paying out of their own pockets for the peptide when insurance companies are refusing to cover it. As far as insurance companies are concerned, diabetes is a “real” disease whereas overweight and obesity are just problems of willpower and laziness.

This mentality is not surprising considering the mainstream medical model itself has hardly wavered over the last 50 years. Doctors are taught that all one has to do is eat fewer calories than one uses, i.e. eat less and exercise more. Few medical myths have been more damaging to human health in the last hundred years.

This is not to say that there is no rule for decreasing calories and increasing physical activity. Far from it. It is simply to say that weight gain and weight loss resistance are far more complex than such a simple mantra. Any woman who has gone through menopause, for example, knows that overnight she started gaining weight without having increased her caloric intake one bit.

Obviously, anyone who is serious about losing weight will first look at his or her diet and consider whether changes need to be made. Minimizing dietary inflammation can have dramatic benefits. This of course means eliminating refined sugar, which tastes great and is highly addictive but has no role in human health other than to ruin it, increasing pain and just about every chronic disease you can name. When eliminating sugar proves inadequate, you can gain additional benefit by reducing carbohydrates overall and eliminating processed foods, dairy, and grains.

Exercise plays an important role in maintenance of muscle mass, bone strength, balance, mood, and healthy weight. Unfortunately, the modern food industry has concentrated nutrient-poor calories so much that there aren’t enough hours in the day to burn through exercise the calories many of us eat after visiting the convenience store or drive-through. Consequently, we need to think of exercise as an essential component of a healthy life, not as a weight loss strategy.

If you already follow a healthy diet and regular exercise program, semaglutide can be a game-changer. In a study lasting 68 weeks, people who took one of the drug company formulations of this peptide lost an average of 31 pounds. Compared to placebo, people taking semaglutide have less appetite, less desire to overeat, reduced sugar cravings, and reduced pain. Their blood sugars drop significantly and insulin sensitivity improves. They have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and even seizures.

As you can see, semaglutide could be the tool that helps you finally bring your weight under control when everything else has failed you. So why not take the plunge? Well, there are two things you need to take into consideration. First, some people experience side effects, such as nausea, diarrhea, constipation, or abdominal pain. This is one reason why the “one-size-fits-all” pharmaceutical company approach doesn’t work for some people: you can’t adjust the dose to start low and work your way up gradually, as tolerated.

Secondly, if you’re thinking seriously about starting treatment with semaglutide, you need to know that it is just a tool, not the magic injection that’s going to permanently melt all the fat away. Not everyone who takes it loses weight. Moreover, a recent study revealed that when you stop taking it, you risk gaining back two-thirds of the weight you lost.

How could this happen? Actually, there are lots of reasons, but they all boil down to one thing: If you haven’t identified and solved the problems that caused the weight gain in the first place, it’s going to continue. Or, you can take semaglutide for months and find you are not losing any weight at all.

Look at it this way: Suppose you get crazy one day and decide to row up the Colorado River. If the river is flowing at 3 miles per hour, and you can only row at 3 miles per hour, you aren’t going to go anywhere. Suppose instead that you attach a motor to your boat and can go 6 miles per hour. Now you’re really going somewhere. Unfortunately, as soon as you cut the motor, you’re headed back down the river.

If you want to head up the river and stay there without leaving the motor on forever, you’ve got to either stop the flow of water or anchor yourself to the bottom or something on the shore. In terms of achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, this means looking at hormone imbalances, hidden infections, and toxicities.

Take the case of 41-year-old Sandra, for example. Last year, she came to me desperate to lose weight and requesting semaglutide. During her first consultation, we talked not just about her weight, but also about a few other aspects of her health that were not optimal. She left the office with her prescription for semaglutide and a plan to fix the problems that were affecting her overall health. Three months after her first visit, she had lost 32 pounds. “Wow,” I exclaimed, “that semaglutide is pretty powerful stuff! You lost in three months what the study participants took 16 months to lose!” “I decided not to take it,” she then admitted. “I was doing so well with the other things you told me to do that I realized I didn’t need the peptide.” Several months later, she had reached a total drop of 46 pounds and still hasn’t gone on a weight loss diet or taken anything specifically for weight loss.

Granted, there is no reason Sandra could not have used semaglutide at the same time as undertaking the other measures necessary to optimize her health. She just didn’t feel it was necessary. If you are feeling the need to shed some weight and are ready to get your health back, call Prestige Wellness Institute at (435) 210-0184. Whether you do it with or without the assistance of semaglutide, you can get back to the state of health you deserve.

And be sure to mention you read about it in Moab Happenings!

As a parent, you want what's best for your children. You use safety precautions such as car seats or baby gates that keep them safe. Sometimes parents forget that ensuring their child receives all childhood vaccinations is crucial to keeping them safe. With school approaching, it's time to consider your child's immunizations and ensure they are on schedule.

What is the difference between vaccination and immunization? Vaccines protect children from deadly diseases and practically eliminate dangerous diseases that used to spread quickly and are part of the germ that causes the disease in question. Getting immunized is the process of being exposed to a disease in vaccine form, which helps the immune system build antibodies that protect the person from contracting the disease, and then becoming immune to the disease after vaccination. Often the words are used interchangeably.

A vaccine schedule lists common vaccines that should be administered to children at certain ages. The Utah Immunization Rule for Students mandates all pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, and 7th-grade students to provide proof of immunization, an exemption, or proof of immunity against a disease for which the vaccination is required.

Take a quick look at some facts about immunizations: 1. Immunizations can save your child's life. Because of advances in medical science, your child can be protected against more diseases than ever before. Some diseases that once injured or killed thousands of children have been eliminated, and others are close to extinction – primarily due to safe and effective vaccines.

2. Vaccination is safe and effective. Vaccines are only given to children after a long and careful review by scientists, doctors, and healthcare professionals. Vaccines can involve discomfort and may cause pain, redness, or tenderness at the injection site. However, this is minimal compared to the pain, discomfort, and trauma of the diseases these vaccines prevent. Serious side effects following vaccination, such as severe allergic reactions, are rare. The disease-prevention benefits of vaccines outweigh the possible side effects for almost all children.

3. Immunization protects others and future generations. Vaccines have reduced and, in some cases, eliminated many diseases that killed or severely disabled people just a few generations ago. For example, the smallpox vaccination eradicated that disease worldwide. Your children no longer need smallpox shots because the disease no longer exists. By vaccinating children against rubella (German measles), the risk that pregnant women will pass this virus on to their fetus or newborn has been dramatically decreased, and congenital disabilities associated with that virus are no longer seen in the United States. If we continue vaccinating, parents in the future can trust that some diseases of today will no longer be around to harm their children in the future.

The Family Medicine Clinic at Moab Regional Hospital offers walk-in immunizations Mondays – Thursdays 9am-4pm and Fridays from 9am-3pm; no appointment is necessary! Call 435-719-5500 for any questions.

Moab Regional Hospital is a 17-bed not-for-profit Critical Access Hospital and Level IV Trauma Center located in Moab, Utah, and is the leader in healthcare in southeastern Utah. Our mission is to put our patients first, deliver quality, cost-effective healthcare, and promote wellness to all we serve.