- My eyeball damage horror story
- This Guardian article was so annoying that I did myself a mischief
- What I think about this new weight loss fad (clue: not a lot)
I regret to inform you that I have suffered eyeball damage.
Sad, but true.
It happened last week, on the 9th November, while I was reading an article in The Guardian online.
The headline was this:
‘I miss eating: the truth behind the weight loss drug that makes food repulsive.’
On its own, the headline didn’t cause any initial eyeball damage.
Although, I have to say, there was a twinge in my head as one eyebrow was instantly raised.
But then I started reading…
And that’s when my eyeballs ROLLED COMPLETELY INTO THE BACK OF MY HEAD.
That’s how annoyed and exasperated it made me.
It wasn’t the writing or the writer that caused instantaneous eyeball reversal, almost severing my optical nerve.
It was the subject matter.
The article was a new drug called Ozempic, which is fast becoming THE diet fad of American celebrities, TikTok influencers and (sigh) Elon Musk.
Why? Because it makes them HATE food.
After being injected with this drug, said the article, “A user could try to imagine a moist slab of black forest gateau, or a calorically-dense, half-pound Baconator bacon cheeseburger from Wendy’s, and their body physically revolts, with spasms of nausea and waves of ill feeling.”
Crikey.
I mean, I imagine ALL those things all the time, so on this drug I’d be puking for most of the day.
Ozempic started out as a diabetes medication because it quickly lowered blood sugar.
However, patients also reported feeling “off their food” so American doctors started prescribing it to obese people to help them lose weight.
Since then, it has taken off…
People are now voluntarily injecting themselves with a drug that makes them feel nauseous even when THINKING about their favourite foods.
It sounds like something out of a speculative sci-fi film doesn’t it?
And it’s not without its consequences.
These side-effects sound awful
The Guardian article describes one user as having successfully lost 21kg thanks to the drug.
But…
It has also caused her fatigue, dizziness and an elevated heart rate.
The user says that while her brain is “running really, really slowly these days”, she’s glad that she’s lost weight.
CUE: ANOTHER EYEBALL ROLL!
Apparently, “nausea and vomiting” are the most common side effects of Ozempic – which means that the reason people might be losing weight so quickly is that they’re throwing their food back up.
Other side-effects include hair loss, heartburn and swelling at the site of the injection!
Has the world gone mad?
(Please don’t answer this, as I know the answer is most definitely “yes”.)
What I think about this new weight loss fad
Look, I have total sympathy for anyone with serious weight problems and I don’t blame them for trying anything out in their desperation.
But here’s the main reason why my eyeballs were spinning in my skull like a couple of snooker balls.
These users of Ozempic might well be losing weight but they might also be getting less nutrition, losing bone mass, reducing their immunity and upsetting their microbiome, among many other things.
And worse still…
Yet again, we are turning to a “big pharma” corporate drug to solve a problem caused by the food industry, advertising industry and the infrastructure of modern life, where we sit in offices and cars most of the day, getting stressed and losing sleep.
It’s THOSE THINGS which are largely causing the obesity crisis.
Yet we are so desperate for a quick “cure”’ that we willingly inject ourselves with drugs that make us physically sick and give us a totally unnatural aversion to food.
All this does is further wreck our already-damaged cultural relationship with food.
And it puts the responsibility on individuals to take extreme measures to solve a problem instead of putting the onus on those corporations and governments who flood our shops with unhealthy, addictive, sugary and salty products.
Is it really okay that we’re in a situation where the only solution left is to throw up our dinner and HATE the precious food that sustains us?
What we could be doing instead is re-connecting people to the wonders of cooking whole foods…
Of improving their nutrition…
Of becoming more active and less sedentary…
Of seeking natural solutions that are in tune with our bodies.
All this Guardian story said to me was that, yet again, another drug has come onto the market that doesn’t need to be there.
Yet another drug that causes horrific side effects.
Yet another “kerrching” on the giant profit cash till for pharmaceutical businesses.
Yet another way for these companies to get their tendrils into our daily lives and warp our relationship with the natural world.
We should love food, not hate it
Of course, obesity is a problem but the way to tackle it is through the way we organise and run our society…
It’s through education and inspiration, so that people can LOVE food and realise its awesome potential to heal, invigorate and improve our health.
It’s not by injecting ourselves with weird chemicals and making ourselves even more sick.
So anyway, that’s why my eyes rolled so hard last week.
But maybe I am over-reacting, as I am wont to do.
So if you want to see for yourself, then you can read the original article here.
Just to be clear, where a drug is used for its intended purpose, under medical supervision and in controlled situations I have no issue, but when it is misused for something like a weight loss fad, then I do have a problem.
