Why Some People Fail on GLP-1 Drugs (And What Actually Helps)

Introduction to GLP-1 and GIP drugs 0:00

And this product is called Calocurb, C-A-L-O-C-U-R-B. And in New Zealand, it was studied for 14 years with $30 million put into it. And the testing was absolutely phenomenal. They did the same type of testing that was done with the GLP-1 drugs where they'd have people fast. do a water fast for a certain amount of time, and then see what the result was. And what they found with the callocurb was a 30% reduction in hunger, 40% reduction in cravings, and 18% reductions in calories. That is phenomenal.

Hi, and welcome to The Balancing Point. I'm Dr. John Needers, and I'm here to make traditional Chinese medicine functional medicine, and integrative health simple, practical, and fun, so you can restore balance, boost vitality, and enjoy a healthier life every single day. Hi there, this is Dr. John. I'm back to do another episode of The Balancing Point. And today I'm going to talk about a really, really, really popular topic. We've all heard about the GLP-1 drugs and the GIP drugs, which are huge sellers, over 10% of the population I've heard.

really done the math myself, but I've heard that over 10% of the population is currently using them. And certainly as a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and an expert in functional medicine, I have a lot of patients that are using or have used some of those supplements. Now the good news is is in most cases, they're pretty effective. The GLP-1 drugs, that's really a three-step process, the main thing is they reduce cravings tremendously in most people. They cause a release of glucagon-like peptides and a couple of other things that occur.

How GLP-1 medications work and their drawbacks 2:01

I'm not going to go into the biochemistry of it, but you're all familiar with them. And then we have the combination GL, so those are things like Ozempic and Wegovi. And then we have the combination GLP-1 and GIP drugs like Monjaro, which is Terzepotide, et cetera. Now, I have a lot of patients that have used each of those different systems. And to be honest, I've seen some real success stories with the Monjaro Terzepotide side with very few side effects. You know, have people that I've seen lose 100 pounds actually on that with minimal side effects.

The main side effect from that has been the loss of muscle mass. And of course, you can do things to prevent the loss of muscle mass and then it's effective. On the GLP-1 side, I haven't seen it be quite as effective. I've had about 10 to 15 percent of my patients where it did nothing. They've been on them for a year at this point, did not lower their blood sugar significantly, and they haven't lost any weight. And then on the other hand, I have several patients who've had pretty severe side effects.

And we have to remember that these drugs slow gastric emptying, which is seen as a plus in most cases. So you feel fuller longer, right? You don't get hungry as soon. Well, on the extreme of that, you can get what's called gastroparesis where it becomes actually paralyzed. And I've had a couple patients that were doing massive amounts of vomiting daily and others that were hospitalized. So again, a relatively small number, maybe 10% or so of my patients. And so, you know, there's some benefit there.

The downside, of course, is if you are not prescribed this by your medical doctor, you're looking at $950 to $1,400 a month. If you buy this online, there are some places that will sell it to you for about $500, maybe even a hair cheaper if you sign up for a year. So at any rate, that's pretty expensive, at least to me, it's pretty expensive. There are alternatives, and I don't mean just working out more, just eating less, having willpower. Those are all good. But if those were totally effective, people wouldn't be taking GLP ones.

So people want something that's effortless, or at least makes things easier. And I've got to tell you about a new product that was invented, created in New Zealand. And this product is called Calocurb, C-A-L-O-C-U-R-B.

Introducing Calocurb as an alternative 4:46

And in New Zealand, it was studied for 14 years with $30 million put into it. And the testing was absolutely phenomenal. They did the same type of testing that was done with the GLP-1 drugs, where they'd have people fast, do a water fast for a certain amount of time, and then see what the result was. And what they found with the callocurb was a 30% That's big, by the way. 30% reduction in hunger, 40% reduction in cravings, and 18% reductions in calories. That is phenomenal. And the great thing about these, numbers is that they don't stop, apparently.

And so with GLP-1 drugs, you can actually get a lot of rebound and some inability to produce GLP-1 effectively after you stop taking the drugs. That does not seem to happen with callocurb. It seems to work in a different methodology. We've known for decades, at least I have, that eating bitters or drinking bitters before a meal will help with the release of insulin. And that's one of the mechanisms by which the GLP-1 drugs work. They change the insulin metabolism. So I would have people eat arugula salads, do Swedish bitters, et cetera, before meals.

And it was pretty effective, but not this effective. Now, 40% reduction in cravings is tremendous. So as an acupuncturist, I've treated hundreds of people for excessive appetite, smoking, drug use that they want to get off of. And it seemed to me, and what I communicate to my patients, is that the acupuncture, if it reduces their cravings by 20%, that's enough for most people to quit whatever it is they're trying to quit. So a 40% reduction in cravings is enormous, enormous.

Results, clinic experience, and closing remarks 6:54

Now, we have one person on our staff that's doing a combined GLP, GIP drug, having some side effects, losing some weight, but having some side effects. We have four people using the Callocurb, and we're very, very excited about it. So, at any rate, there are options. There's the pluses and minuses of the GLP and GIP drugs. In many cases, they're well worth doing, particularly if you can get a prescription and not have to pay for them. But there are easy, easy alternatives that are much cheaper, a fraction of what you pay for a GLP that will work.

long-term just as well. So thanks for joining me today for our little talk on one of my favorite subjects. So be happy, be healthy. Bye-bye. Thank you for joining me on The Balancing Point. If you enjoyed today's episode, please follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Feeling out of balance? Most approaches just manage symptoms. Here we get to the root. So real healing, real clarity and balance can begin. Visit AlamedaAcupuncture.com. That's AlamedaAcupuncture.com to learn more, explore our supplements or book a call.

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