Ayana Explains The Other "F" Word

[00:00:00] Gastric balloon, gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, keto diet, paleo, vegan, weight watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, calorie counting, cardio, HIIT, CrossFit, Peloton. What do all of these things have in common? There are just a few ways for you to get your fat ass in gear. Sorry, didn't mean to use the F word, but there's a new contender.

I've got some explaining to do. Let's get into it.

 [00:01:00] Hey there, Aliens! Welcome back for another episode of Ayanna Explains It All, the podcast hosted by the Black Muslim lady lawyer that bridges the gap between current events and human behavior, hosted by me, Ayanna Fakir, the woman with an opinion on everything, born and raised in the hood.

Living in the suburbs of Northeast Ohio, I am recording this on Saturday, August 12th, 2023. Ayanna Explains It All is the podcast that is, that is available on 13 different streaming platforms, including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and we have our own YouTube channel. Yes, Follow Ayanna Explains It All on YouTube. You can listen to it on your favorite streaming platform for podcasts. You can also go to the podcast website, AyanaExplainsItAll. com that's www. ayanaexplainsitall. com A N [00:02:00] A explains it all dot com and you can find links to all the streaming platforms and social media landing pages.

You can find show transcripts, show notes, you can rate, review and subscribe. You can leave me a message. You can email me, you can follow me on social media from the website. Again, that's www. ayanaexplainsitall. com. You can also support the podcast by listening, leaving me a tip at the website or you can email me your show ideas.

You can also share this with a friend, family member, neighbor, loved one, cable guy, internet service provider. Whoever you think might want to hear the message that I have to give, let them know that I have some information for them that might be valuable.

Like last episode, when I talked about voting no on issue one in the state of Ohio and the Republican party. And that is exactly what happened. A lot of people voted no. A lot of people, like it was a record [00:03:00] turnout for a special election. Issue one was defeated as it should have been and I'm looking forward to the November election when there will be a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

For a woman's right to choose. It is very important that we get out and vote. I know that it's a non presidential election year, which typically has low voter turnout, but I believe this year it's going to have a record voter turnout for a non presidential election. It's going to be amazing. We're going to get this in the constitution.

We're going to protect the woman's right to choose because that's. All this is about. That's all this is about. A woman's right to choose. We have a right to choose what we want to happen to our bodies. Every human being does. And if you don't believe that, I don't know what to tell you. Somebody lied to you.

Somebody lied to you, honey. But it's, I feel it's my duty to inform you people of these things that you don't know, or you may not have heard of, or because [00:04:00] you don't like to use a search engine, I often use newspaper articles, journal articles, news stories to convey this message.

I don't really have a budget to bring guests on the show.

I use the written words of the experts, and I put all of my citations in the show notes. And if you have a question about a citation, you can always go to the show notes, or you can email me, or you can look it up on the website. I use a lot sometimes. And sometimes like today, it'll be just a few because a lot of what I'm going to talk about today is from my personal experience.

Yes, I'm going to talk about something personal. Sometimes I do this. Sometimes I use my own experience in life to talk about what's happening in the world. I use my life as an example and that's fine. I don't mind sharing what's going on with me, with the entire world. I feel like the less we talk about [00:05:00] things, the less we understand them, the more people talk about and share their experiences, the more we're able to understand, the more empathy.

We have for one another, the more understanding we have for one another and without empathy, without understanding, without compassion for each other, we see what's happening in certain parts of the country where there's a lot of angry vitriol, a lot of angry talk, a lot of angry, uh, attitudes, a lot of prejudice, a lot of bigotry.

And we want to eliminate that as much as possible. I'm not saying you have to be like fucking kind care bears, but You have to see that there is another perspective, that there is another way, that there's another way of doing things, that one size does not fit all, but that there are also people going through things that you go through who may not look like you, and you listen to their experiences, you listen to their stories, and the more you hear people's stories, the more you understand them, and your empathy grows, and we want empathy.

We want the empathy to grow, don't [00:06:00] we? I do, anyway. In the intro, I mentioned a few ways that people have chosen to get rid of the fat that is weighing them down, get rid of the fat that's surrounding their, their joints and their muscles. and, and whatnot. And I've talked in the past, in past episodes about health, talked about the health of black Americans.

I've talked about weight management, weight loss, et cetera, et cetera. And I keep talking about this because it is still a huge issue for many, not just in the U S but around the world. But it's a big issue with women and being a woman myself. I'm following issues that affect women, women and girls.

I have a daughter raising a beautiful daughter and this is something that she talks about with her friends. Yes. Girls talk about weight loss and weight management and physical fitness. I did when I was, uh, her age, my daughter's [00:07:00] 15 years old and it's still, still body image, fat shaming, skinny shaming, muscle shaming.

It's still a pervasive problem and I, personally have not always had to deal with it. Like I was super thin until I had my first child at, I believe I was 26 years old. I had just turned 26 when I had my son and like I was fine, good, fine. And then my weight just crept up, crept up, crept up, crept up. And after my daughter was born, when I was 30 years old, I developed hypothyroidism.

And if you have hypothyroidism, or you've heard of it, then you know, it basically, it kills the, the thyroid hormone, it either doesn't produce it, or in my case, the thyroid hormone produces the, the T3, and it doesn't produce it. to [00:08:00] the T4. I believe that's how it works. Listen, let me tell you something. I am not a scientist.

Obviously I am a lawyer, which is not even close to a scientist, but I'm also not a doctor. I, I work in disability law, so I know a lot about conditions, diseases, disorders, things that people experience, things that the human body can go through, lots of different medical terms and etc, etc.

So I feel like, I feel confident conveying this information, but if you have questions, medical questions, please Do not hesitate to speak to a doctor, your doctor, a specialist, someone. I feel like we are afraid of these people. They work for us and we're scared of them. We're scared to talk to them about female stuff and male stuff and butt stuff and vagina stuff and and, and head stuff and mouth stuff.

We're, we're [00:09:00] afraid to ask questions. You cannot be afraid to ask, ask questions. I go into my doctor's office now with a list of questions because again, they work for us. And no offense to any of my doctor friends. I have plenty.

Hey, I love you guys. But they are here for us. They're here for care and concern and treatment and curing and all that good stuff. And so don't be afraid to talk to them, to ask questions, to request medication, request medication changes, request, ask for tests and push for it. Also, you have to be an advocate.

for yourself sometimes because some people, and I've talked about this before when it comes to certain races, our pain complaints are dismissed. Our discomfort is dismissed. And so only you really know what's going on inside of your body, your brain, your, your other organs, your skin, your hair. Only you [00:10:00] really know what's going on.

And so you're best able to describe it and ask for better treatment. And if you feel as if you're not being treated well by a doctor, dump them. Dump them. And don't go back. It's the same with the hospital. If you feel that you have had a negative experience with the hospital and your, your concerns aren't being addressed.

Sometimes you have to sue. Yes. But dump them. Don't go back. I had to dump my old primary care physician because things were not going well.

There was no progress. And I felt like every time I went to her with this with my complaints, that she was giving me the same advice that and it was not working. And I have found that this is most prominent when it comes to weight management. And like I said, I was not always an obese person. I was very thin for a [00:11:00] long time.

And then hypothyroidism basically caused me to gain so much weight. My metabolism did not work. There was none. There was zero. So everything I put in, I never burned any of it. Even though I was working out, I would lose weight and then gain it back. Lose weight, gain it back.

Lose weight, gain it back. And then at some point. The, the lose weight part got dropped and I was just gaining and gaining and gaining my weight got so bad that even though I was working out every day, like I talked about this before, I used to go for walks six days a week. I would walk, you know, between four and six miles and it was wonderful and I loved it, loved it, loved being outside and then I would lift weights and I felt good but I was still, heavier than what I should be.

And, and this is going to be different for everyone. I know there's the BMI calculator that helps [00:12:00] doctors classify you. They always have to classify you. They class, if you have heart disease, they have a classification for it. If you have asthma, they have a classification for it. They have a classification for, for cancers, for stages of cancers and kidney diseases.

There's also a classification for obesity. There's overweight, there's obese, there's morbidly obese. And so even though I felt good because I was working out, I was also, my diet has not always been the greatest, right? It's, um, it's been good. It's been wonderful. And then it's been bad, terrible because also I, I, I'm a depression sufferer.

And so sometimes I would not eat at all or I would just eat to make myself feel better or because I was bored or because I, um, I needed something to comfort me. I would use food to comfort me, but I was still Exercising, working out like crazy because you know, [00:13:00] that's what you hear. If you just exercise and eat a balanced diet, then you should be able to lose weight or maintain a good weight and good health.

And that just has not been true for me. It has not been true at all. I consulted with one doctor last year who, this was his diet. I don't really want to call it a diet plan, but an eating plan for managing weight and weight loss. And it was, uh, don't eat after seven, walk or do some kind of activity every day for 30 minutes and eat as soon as you wake up.

 Maybe that works for some people, but for the vast majority of people, stopping eating at a certain hour is is not what's doing it. And yeah, do activity every day. Absolutely. I'm an advocate for being active. They have these one size fits all [00:14:00] plans. And of course it's all paid for by insurance. Insurance. I have good health insurance. They'll pay for nutritionists, dieticians. They give you discounts on gym memberships, et cetera, et cetera.

But not everyone fits into this one size fits all plan for weight loss and weight management. It doesn't work for everyone. And that is when your doctor has to look at your whole picture. Like, because of hypothyroidism, I developed hypertension, I developed high cholesterol, because basically, the thyroid hormone secretes the, it secretes that, the thyroid gland rather, secretes that hormone that sends energy to all of your cells.

So it's the hair cells, the skin cells, the brain cells, all of those cells are receiving their energy from this little butterfly shaped thing in your neck. And when it doesn't work, then your cells are not getting energy. I experienced hair loss. [00:15:00] I had severely like dry, dry skin and I developed eczema and asthma and hypertension and a high cholesterol and.

It worsened my depression also. And I was always tired. I had brain fog, like crazy. Couldn't remember where I lived at. Driving on the freeway, I couldn't remember how to get to certain places. And it was just terrible. And so now my thyroid is great. It's balanced.

It's great. But the damage is still done, right? Now I'm having to correct all of the things that went wrong when my thyroid was bad.

And it's hard to do that. And it is especially difficult to do as an obese person, right? The heavier you are, the harder it is to, the harder it is for [00:16:00] your, your lungs to work, your heart to work. Um, you have less energy. You, you are more prone to falls, and that's what I'm dealing with.

That is what I am dealing with. And I come from a culture of black American, where it's popular to have big butt, Big thighs, big boobs, but a small waist. And I'm like, Oh, I got the big butt and the big thighs, but my waist is a little big. It's a little thick around the middle. And, but that's, that's not the whole thing.

The whole thing is that my. weight is affecting the rest of my health. It's making it impossible for me to get my cholesterol into an area that looks that's, you know, satisfactory for my doctor. I have a new primary care physician lover, love her a lot. She's definitely more a proponent of individual [00:17:00] health.

Than doctors I've had in the past. I'm able to communicate with her better and more than I have been with any other doctor and she listens to me and my gynecologist is the same way. I love her. Listens to me and it helps for me that my gynecologist is a black woman.

 The cultural barriers that exist for black people in the medical profession and how it helps to have black nurses, black doctors. I'm not saying that these are the only people who can treat us, obviously, but there's more understanding that comes from people who look like you because maybe they also grew up the same way that you grew up.

It's not always the case, okay? Yes, there are some really piece of shit medical providers who look like you, too. It's important for me to have a black woman doctor in my arsenal of doctors. And I do have an arsenal. You gotta have an arsenal. You can't just have one person. You gotta [00:18:00] diversify. You need to... Especially if you have health insurance, use your insurance. Last year when my weight was at a ridiculously, okay, you need to do something about this shit level. My therapist, she's amazing. She's an amazing therapist. She could see that my weight has been an issue. My the weight gain and even though I'm active that it had been an issue and she remarked to me that maybe I needed to talk to my doctor about getting a weight loss medication. Now I had heard of weight loss medications.

I had heard of weight loss surgeries. I'd heard of all of these things. So I knew some of them existed. I had seen commercials. Um, but it wasn't anything that I myself thought to try because I figured I could do it on my own. And a lot of people, a lot of doctors, and even your friends and [00:19:00] family will tell you that you can do it on your own.

And hey, you can. Some of us cannot, however. Some of us can't do it because you may also have like me insulin resistance, but I was also pre-diabetic and I needed immediate help because pre-diabetes, it's only a short jump from pre-diabetes to diabetes. And prediabetes is a condition where blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be classified as type 2 diabetes. But it's a warning sign that you're at risk of developing diabetes. in the future. So people with pre diabetes often have insulin resistance where their body doesn't use insulin effectively.

And that's what I've been dealing with. This can lead to elevated blood sugar levels. However, the condition is still reversible at this stage with lifestyle changes, such as adopting a healthier [00:20:00] diet. increasing physical activity and losing weight. And then you have to be regularly monitored and managed.

If you have prediabetes to help delay or prevent the onset of type two diabetes. And diabetes is not something that you want to have.

It's not. Is it something that can be slowed down and stopped? Yeah, you can. You can get off all of your diabetes medication with weight management, getting your blood sugars under control. It's basically looking at your, your A1C. And I can't remember if it's like six and above you're diabetic, but if it's like close to six, you're pre diabetic. So I was in pre diabetes, not a good place to be for a person my age. I want to be healthy. You want to be healthy and whatever healthy looks like for you. Healthy is not the same for every person.

And I need people to get out of this [00:21:00] one size fits all idea. of what health looks like.

Here is what I have done. And this was something that was recommended to me that I asked my doctor about from my therapist was to get a weight loss medication. And so she prescribed me a medication called Manjaro. Now Manjaro is a medication routinely used to treat people. who have a high A1C. It's used to control blood sugar, but one of the added benefits is that it also helps them to lose a little bit of weight.

And so, because I was pre diabetic, she said, okay, use this. You take this shot once a week and it will help lower your [00:22:00] A1c, but it will also, you might lose weight too. And I thought, Oh, okay. So this was December of last year and I took my first dose.

Okay. Took my second. Ooh. Okay. By my third dose, I had noticed a change in my appetite. Now the starter dose is 0. 25 and the starter dose is just so your body can get used to the medication. And so I'm on this 25 and I'm going online and I'm researching and I'm looking at everything and, and, and one of the things that people talked about is how these can be an appetite suppressing or it can, um, it affects how [00:23:00] your body processes glucose and manages hunger.

And I started to see that my appetite had decreased. And when you eat less, your stomach starts to Shrink, right? This happens to me every Ramadan the less I eat the smaller my stomach becomes and so I can tolerate Only as I tolerate smaller portions of food as the month goes on and that is what this was doing I was starting to tolerate I couldn't tolerate large portions of food And if I ate a large plate of food I would not be hungry for the rest of the day.

I wouldn't be hungry for the rest of the day. In fact, as time went on, when I was on this medication, I noticed that I didn't get hungry at all and I would have to force myself to eat. Now some people will say, Oh, well that sounds like an eating disorder. [00:24:00] You're not eating, you're anorexic. No, it's your brain is literally not.

Thinking about food. Not that you don't want to eat. Because remember, eating is a habit. It's a habit that we do every day. And so your brain remembers that it eats every day, that it eats sometimes all day. And so my brain remembered that I had to eat, you have to eat because your body still needs food. to help you lose weight. And how does that work? Your body is, it will hold on to the fat. because it doesn't know when it's going to eat again. It goes into, uh, preservation mode, essentially, because it doesn't know when it's going to eat again.

So it's just going to hold on to your fat, hold on to it, hold on until it gets to a point where, okay, we have to use these fat storages. We have to consume these because we're dying. Your body doesn't want you to die. [00:25:00] And so it will do whatever it can to protect you. But at some point it, you get weak and you get those shakes and it's like, Oh, okay, I gotta eat.

Manjaro is a G I P and GLP one receptor agonist. So it's different than the other medications. It works in two ways. It's a glucose dependent insulin, polypeptide, and a GLP one which is a glucogen like peptide one receptor. agonist. It is a single molecule that targets the body's receptors for G I P and G L P one, which are natural and cretin hormones. And that results in suppressing appetite, but it also affects how the body processes glucose and manages hunger.

Now, in the past, this was only used [00:26:00] for people who had type 2 diabetes, but doctors were seeing that it had the added benefit of allowing people to lose weight. And even the manufacturer says that you could lose up to 34, 35 pounds. within probably 12, 15 months. I think it said 17 months, actually. And doctors were like, Oh, great, great.

I can prescribe this for my patients who are struggling with weight loss, who really, who are morbidly obese, severely obese, and maybe it can help them lose weight. And that's exactly what was happening. Because a lot of people who are obese also have diabetes, not all of us, not all of us. Some of them are pre diabetic and some of them are just, you know, their BMI is, is high, but they don't have diabetes.

But they take this medication and They saw dramatic weight loss, dramatic weight loss.[00:27:00] At some point people were being prescribed this medication so much that insurance companies caught on that people were using it to lose weight and they decided, uh, you know what? No, no, we don't want people using this to lose weight because it's not specifically indicated for weight loss. Like the, the manufacturer and the FDA have to approve it for treating weight loss. And because it's not approved for that, it's just one of the benefits of it and, but insurance companies caught wind of this manjaro being used to treat fat people? How dare you? You get your fat ass out there and you walk and you walk and you sweat and you eat leaves of spinach and kale and drink water like the rest of us who are really good at losing weight. [00:28:00] There are a lot of people who cannot, who have an impossible time in losing weight.

I am one of those people. I am one of those people.

Now, I was on Monjaro for, I want to say three, four months until April of this year. And my insurance company was like, um, bitch, we don't know how you've been getting that medication, but we actually. Don't allow it to be prescribed for obesity. You don't have type two diabetes. You don't get to have this medication covered.

 And as with many things, because the talk, the buzz around this medication was so high, like people making videos of how to get it, where to get it, because then it also became a supply issue, not for the medication.

The medication is, is not in short supply. It's the. the delivery system used to inject the [00:29:00] medication into the body. And I, I don't know why they can't just give you like a little vial and a hypodermic needle and you just do the fucking thing yourself, but they want to put it in this special pin delivery system.

And because of supply chain issues and the pandemic getting the pin, That is made in China to the United States has been a problem to the United States to Canada, because people were going to Canada to get the medication has been a problem. Fine. So they want to make sure people with type two diabetes are the only ones getting it.

using it because it's not indicated for weight loss. The FDA hasn't cleared it for weight loss. So why are you using it for weight loss? Get your fat ass out there and you know, eat less and work out more. And I was just, I was, man, I was, I lost it. [00:30:00] I lost it because in, Three months in the three months that I had been on this medication, cause I started it at the end of December and the three months that I had been on this medication, I had lost like 21 pounds.

which is the most weight I have lost since 2019. And back in 2019, I was working out all the time, eating so healthy all the time. And my weight was just like, bitch, you know what? We like it here. The fat cells were like, this is really comfortable. We're just going to make a nice little, we're going to make up some room on your couch and we're just going to stay.

You're just going to chill and you're just going to have to deal with it. Oh yeah. We know you're sweating and you're breathing heavy and you're trying to get rid of us, but guess what? We're not going anywhere. They were laughing at me. And so this was the [00:31:00] first time I had lost weight in four years. Much needed weight.

Like I weighed myself. I went and I had gotten on the scale. I dreaded getting on the scales. Getting on scale would make me cry. I didn't even want to get weighed at doctor's offices and they would make a little note. So and so doesn't want to be weighed. She refused to be weighed. Yeah, because it slightly harmful to my mental health.

I won't say it's traumatic because it wasn't that serious. Duh. But it was slightly challenging. to my mental well being to see these numbers continue to go up and up and up and up and up and up. And I had lost 21 pounds, I believe. I want to say it was 22, but it might've been 21. And I was just like, no, you can't take this away from me.

And I was on the phone with my insurance company. And I was like, well, this is the only thing that has helped me lose weight. And I'm so fat and I feel bad and I don't feel good. And I [00:32:00] don't know what to do. And I don't have any energy. And they were like, okay. Okay. You can't take that, but these are the other things that you can take.

But Monjaro is the only GIP and GLP 1 medication. So it targets those two things and people see more weight loss on Monjaro than they do on these other medications

Wegovi, Trulicity, Ozempic. Manjaro works different than those medications. Those medications are only GLP ones. And so the weight loss isn't as great for some people who take Manjaro. There are people who take Menjaro who see a lot of weight loss. There are people who take it, who see no dramatic weight loss, just a little bit.

And so they go back to the GLP ones and they see dramatic weight loss. And, and I cannot reiterate this anymore, [00:33:00] that there is no one size fits all for people. There's no one size fits all for weight loss. There isn't. You do whatever works. You literally do whatever works and what one person is doing may not work for you, but then you try something, you do something different and that works for you.

I talked to my doctor about switching the medication and she switched me to Ozempic. Ozempic is a very different delivery system. It's still one of those, Oh, the pen is in short supply. But it's used for, Lowering the A1c and people say oh, but you're taking medication from people with diabetes It's a diabetes medication.

No, there are people who have high A1c who do not have diabetes. Those people are pre diabetic. And you know what causes diabetes? What causes type 2 diabetes? [00:34:00] One of the main causes of type 2 diabetes is obesity. And if you don't want to see more people with type 2 diabetes, because that is a very expensive fucking disorder to have.

That is a very expensive disorder to have. It can cause organ damage, death, loss of appendages. It is a very expensive disorder to have. You don't want to have it. And if you want more people to not have it, then perhaps doctors and scientists need to invest in a medication, invest in developing a medication that treats obesity to keep people from developing these disorders.

It is important to understand that weight loss medications aren't magic pills like anything. Weight loss surgery isn't a magic pill. A diet isn't a magic pill. They're most [00:35:00] effective when combined. With a balanced diet and regular physical activity.

When you're on these GLP 1s, there are certain foods that your body no longer wants to eat. And so you're finding it easier to eat vegetables and fruits because they don't have a lot of grease and a lot of fat and your body doesn't want that anymore.

So these medications are most effective when combined with a balanced diet and regular physical activity. They can help jumpstart weight loss, which it has done for millions of people, and provide additional support. But as with anything, they should be seen as part of a comprehensive strategy. They can help people who have struggled with obesity, especially when other methods haven't been successful.

And you have to work closely with a doctor to monitor your progress, or maybe it's not working. Your doctor can put you on something else. But the last thing we want to do as a society is to tell people that this is the easy way out and that they should stop [00:36:00] doing it. or to misconstrue what these medications are doing to begin with, or to misunderstand how people are using them.

I don't care what people in Hollywood are doing. I can't relate to those folks. They do a lot of weird things. They do some normal things. They do whatever the fuck they want. But I, I don't understand the buzz. Oh, everyone in Hollywood is on Ozempic. It doesn't work like you inject yourself and suddenly you're not eating and it helps you burn fat. So, no, it does not work like that. I am on Ozempic and if you go on to social media, you'll see lots of videos and News articles and everything talking about these medications and how people are using them as a quick fix Let me tell you, I don't know who's using this as a quick fix because there's no fucking way.

It doesn't quickly fix anything. There are people who have their expectations set so high.

They want to lose 60 pounds in three months you don't want to lose [00:37:00] 60 pounds in three months because guess what? If you, for some reason, have to go off of this medication, you have not learned enough. Your body has not gotten used to the new way of eating and thinking about food.

And so you might gain that weight back because you have not learned. You have not retrained your brain. It's not just that the medication is suppressing your appetite or it's helping you with digestion. It's helping, you know, you feel fuller for longer so you're not eating all the time. It's not just that.

It's that your brain is learning a new way of eating and a new way of thinking about food. And that is what is helping you sustain your weight loss. With any kind of weight loss. You want it to be a healthy amount of per month so that your body can sustain it. So you've learned how to keep it off. You have to learn how to eat again. And so when you're educated and you know what's happening, when you know [00:38:00] what's going on, then you can combat some of these negative attitudes. But a lot of the damage has been done because people are, I've seen so much negative press about these medications, about Ozempic and Wegovy.

And it's fucking ridiculous. We want people to stay fat. It seems to me. It seems to me that we don't understand how obesity works and that we're satisfied with telling people just to eat better and exercise to lose weight. It's such lazy fucking thinking. It's lazy. It's so lazy. There are people who have conditions where losing weight has become so impossible for them or Where these diets that some doctors want you to try are not sustainable for you.

You can't do it You're telling people to eat a thousand calories a day. That's fucking ridiculous. That's ridiculous They're starving. They're starving telling people to starve [00:39:00] themselves to lose weight is not good medicine In my opinion, in my opinion, I take Ozempic and I still eat food that I want to eat.

I can have three slices of pizza. Hell, I used to eat six or seven. Now I can only do three. I get full, but also because of the grease, the cheese, I get a little sick. So I have three slices of pizza and I go on about my business. But I'm not going to listen to somebody tell me not to eat pizza. Don't eat it.

Don't eat bread. Don't eat cookies. Don't eat cake. You're going to get fat. Lots of things make you get fat. If you want to have a slice of cake at a wedding, have a slice of cake at a wedding. I had a chocolate milkshake on my birthday. Chocolate milkshake and I think I had some McDonald's fries. I didn't have a [00:40:00] cake.

My, my kids got me a fruit basket. It was delicious. But I had a large chocolate milkshake and then I went to a concert and I had the time of my fucking life and I didn't, I didn't get sick. I didn't get sick, surprisingly, but you can't do that every day. There are people who are doing that every day. You cannot do that every day. That's, that's, that's not sustainable. But if you want to have fun on your birthday or it's a holiday, I mean, go for it as much as your stomach can tolerate it. Don't lose control. But people are telling you don't eat, don't eat this, don't eat that.

The more you hear that, the more you want it. So what you want to do is to teach yourself not to crave it, not to crave it. And there are ways to teach yourself to not crave these things. to not become dependent on them. Yeah. Food [00:41:00] dependence is an issue. Food addiction is an issue. And just like with any addiction, the thing about food being different is that we still need food to survive.

You could get off drugs and get off alcohol and no longer need it to survive, not take one substance again, but also. You can get on medication to help control your urges to have it or to help with the withdrawal or to help sustain your sobriety. A lot of people do that. But the thing about food is that you're trying to control your addiction while also still having to eat food to survive. And that is hard.

That. is difficult.

But you can teach your brain to crave these things less. You can teach your brain to control its relationship with food. You can retrain your brain. [00:42:00] You absolutely can, but you need an aid.

You need help with it. And that's what these medications are doing. And no, this is not an ad for anything. This is me trying to help you understand how these things help with obesity. Obesity is one of the leading causes of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. So if we can get the obesity under control and prevent diabetes, prevent heart disease, prevent, uh, hypertension,

let's do that. Let's do that. Let's work together to do that.

But there's so much negativity surrounding people taking these medications for weight loss, and I cannot understand it because there's also so much negativity surrounding people being obese.[00:43:00]

We're upset that people are fat. We're upset that there are fat people at restaurants and on airplanes. That they are at amusement parks, that they're at, you know, Walmart, and people are laughing at them and calling them fat and fat shaming and humiliating them because they're fat and their family members are talking about them like, Why can't you just lose weight?

Don't you want to be here for the kids? Roger! Lose weight, please!

But then when they find a way to lose weight, Oh, so you're taking the easy way out. People think gastric bypass and gastric balloon and gastric sleeve is easy. Are you fucking kidding me? That's major fucking surgery, number one. Number one, you don't just have the surgery, no insurance companies make you go through an entire clearance routine before you get [00:44:00] these surgeries.

You have to have psychological evaluations. You have to see a nutritionist, a dietitian. Sometimes you have to lose weight to get approved for weight loss surgery. Yeah, you can be too heavy to have the surgery. So you have to, if you've ever seen the show. Uh, my 600 pound life with Dr. Now. Dr. Now, how y'all doing?

He makes these people lose 200 pounds, 300 pounds before they can get approved for weight loss surgery. He likes for people to be in the 300s and 200s before they have weight loss surgery. Before they can get approved for it. And then they can't get

And I understand it's dangerous to operate on someone who is severely, morbidly obese, number one. But number two, they're not going to see any benefit if they already don't know how to lose weight. Because [00:45:00] when you get these surgeries that affect how food is delivered and how much food your stomach can hold.

If you go beyond, because your brain still is thinking like a person who eats 2, 000 calories every meal, it's still going to want 2, 000 calories every meal because again, eating is a habit. Your brain remembers habits, especially habits that you have had for years. It's going to want to still do the same thing and your surgery is going to fail.

This happens to so many people. If people think that's taking the easy way out, they're absolutely wrong. There are people who die after having weight loss surgery. Yeah, there are people who die from it. Not only that, there are all these side effects.

You can develop, um, nerve [00:46:00] disorders. You can develop gastric disorders. Your eating can become disordered. So no, it is not an easy way out. It is in fact a very difficult road to take. When you accept medical intervention for weight loss, it is a very difficult road. To take because you have to relearn how to eat.

You have to relearn how to think about food. You probably have had your entire day revolve around eating and your next meal and where your food is going to come from. And suddenly you're having to reorder. Your brain, teach your brain something new. And when you get to a certain age, Hey, fuck it. Your brain ain't learning shit.

Your brain don't give a fuck, right? And so, no, it is not easy taking these shots because, okay, so I'm off of Monjaro and I'm on Ozempic. My, my [00:47:00] insurance company, thankfully approves me taking Ozempic and. One of the main benefits of these medications is that it shut, they shut off food noise, shut it off completely.

That's, that's that thing in your brain where you're constantly thinking about eating, where your entire day, your entire life revolves around food. where all you're thinking about is snacking and dinner and lunch and breakfast. Oh, I cannot wait to wake up and eat breakfast. Oh my God, I'm going to have a big breakfast.

I'm gonna have pancakes and eggs and sausage and syrups and coffee and orange. And this turns that off. And so when you do think about eating, Because your stomach also is accepting smaller portion sizes of food because if you eat too much, you get sick on these, uh, on these medications, on Ozempic and, and [00:48:00] Trulicity and Wegovy and Manjaro.

If you eat too much food, you get sick. And that was one of the things that I had to adjust to. But that was one of the things also that helped my GERD. Because I'm eating less and I'm learning when I'm full. I used to eat beyond when I was full and I would have so much food in my, in my, in my stomach that it would want to, um, exchange, refund, come up, repeat.

And I would wake up in the morning, choking on stomach acid, or I would just be so full that I couldn't move. I couldn't move after I ate. Now I eat and I get up and I'm done. I've learned to listen to my gut. I've learned to listen to my body when it says, okay, we can feel food in, in here. Now you can stop eating.

That's when you should stop eating is when you can feel the food in your stomach. That means it's getting to the [00:49:00] top and you need to stop. If you eat beyond that, you're eating too much, too much for your body to break down. So it's going to stick around for a while. Or it's going to come back up. And you're going to have heartburn, indigestion.

 I was a huge snacker. My ass would just be snacking child. But it was healthy snacks. It was, you know, plain popcorn. It was almonds. But then it was also like potato chips and Doritos and cookies and cakes.

And I was, I was snacking on things that didn't make sense. Like that's not a snack, you idiot. It's a meal. Why don't you just eat, just eat again. And I was also eating fast food, like not all the time, but once a week I'd have some French fries or something because I craved it. I craved Wendy's fries and McDonald's fries.

And, and I was eating that. Now I don't have those [00:50:00] cravings. If I'm out running errands, I don't really get hungry. But when I finally get hungry and I'm like, bitch, eat, I'll have a few fries. My kids always laugh at me because I order a large fry and I eat the equivalent of a small fry and I give them the rest of my fries.

I've gotten to a point now where I'm only eating like half. of what I used to eat and I give the rest to my kids or I put it in the refrigerator and I have something left over for the next day. But. I've, I'm saving money because I'm not buying snacks for myself. My life does not revolve around food any longer. Since starting Monjaro and being on Ozempic since April, I have lost 39 pounds of fat and kept it off. Kept it [00:51:00] off. And my blood pressure is great. My A1c has been lowered. Thank God. It's still, you know, still, it's still high because again, it's only been how many months has it been?

Eight, nine months, whatever. It's been eight months. I've seen good results, but it hasn't been a miracle. I still need to do this for some more time, for a little while longer, for a lot longer, probably to see even better results, even better results that satisfy me and satisfy my doctor. A lot of people take these medications for a year.

Two years and then they stop because they their their a1c is lowered. They're out of the obesity danger zone Their kidneys look good. Their blood looks good. Their blood pressure is good and they can go off of them You don't have to be on them forever. Some [00:52:00] people cannot tolerate the medications at all because there are side effects Even though it has that great effect of killing the food noise If you eat too much or if you eat the wrong thing, you will get sick.

Like greasy food. Like I made some, um, lamb, prepared some lamb because it was eat and that was the eat of the sacrifice. And someone gave us some lamb. Humil la and I, um, I made a big roaster pan baked lamb. My kids love lamb, but it's so fucking expensive. Really. It's, it's ridiculous. And so maybe we get it once a year now.

And I had a little bit of lamb, whereas I used to be able to put away, I could probably eat an entire lamb to be quite honest.

And my stomach was like, nope, nope, nope. Because of the, the fat, lamb is [00:53:00] fatty. Okay. And because of the fat, because of the grease, my stomach was like, Oh no, lady. Don't do this again. Do not do this again. And so I had a little bit and my kids were like, are you sure you don't want anymore?

You know, because they really wanted it all for themselves. And I was like, yeah, I can't, I can't do it. I had a few pieces and I, my stomach was just, it was not well.

 You have to add more protein and more fiber into your diet when you take these medications to aid with Um, better digestion, better gut health and fat loss. You see these portion sizes at restaurants and it's just too much food. Now, if you're on one of these medications, you're looking at these plates of food and it's like, Oh, it's too much. It's too much. You really want to eat less, but also you eat until you feel the food in your stomach and you're done.

And so [00:54:00] because you're putting less food in your stomach, your stomach is shrinking. And so the amount of food that you eat is less. It's less than a year ago, two years ago, before you started taking the medication. But also your desire to eat is, it's, it's no longer because I'm so fucking hungry and I'm, and I'm thinking about food all the time and I just want to eat all the time.

You're not, your, your world does not revolve around food anymore. And if you're obese, you know that that is part of the problem is that you're constantly thinking about eating and you want to eat and you want a snack and you're sitting and working and you want a snack. Or you're at, you know, a concert and you want a snack, you're at a ballgame, you want a snack.

For some of us, snacking is a habit that we've developed because it's part of a, uh, the, the eating is part of our mental illness, or because we're bored, because [00:55:00] we need to be comforted by food, or because we have nothing else to do. And so we're just eating. And we're just eating all the time. So if you're eating all the time, of course your body's going to want food all the time.

And it's going to want to know when that, Hey, when's, when's that corn beef sandwich getting here, girl? When is that Polish boy getting here? We've been waiting. We've been waiting all of 20 minutes since the last time you, you fed us. And so when you're on these medications, all of that changes, your appetite changes, the amount of food changes, what you're eating changes because there are certain foods you can no longer tolerate.

And a lot of people can't deal with that because you get nauseated. You have, um, a lot of, some people, some people now, some people have issues keeping their bowels, some people have issues keeping the contents of their bowels inside until they make it to [00:56:00] the toilet, if you know what I mean.

They call themselves the S& P club, the shit my pants club. I have not had that experience, but when I eat something my stomach no longer agrees with, I do have some not so fun times in the bathroom. But I'm not sitting here while I'm working, sitting here while I'm podcasting, sitting in front of the TV. Eating snacks. I used to snack so much. I'm not doing that anymore.

Many of us come from cultures where people are like, you clean your fucking plate. If you don't, I'm going to bop you upside your head or culturally, you know, the eat, eat, please. You're so skinny. Eat more, eat more. I made all this food and you're not eating. I come from both kinds of cultures. I made all this food, you better eat.

And the clean your plate. Because it's a sin to leave food on your plate. It's a sin to throw food away. That's how I was raised. Always eating, always eating so much food. Fixing food, cooking food. Big plates of [00:57:00] food and pastries and all kinds of fatty meats and pastas and breads. And so, food, our world revolved around food and snacks. We were always snacking as kids. And we were eating not healthy snacks. I mean, we have fruit, of course, but our drug of choice was some kind of hot chocolate. Chip, flaming, hot chip, hot fries, hot Cheetos. Hot popcorn.

Cheesy popcorn. Different kinds of chips and popcorns. Freeze pops. Popsicles. Little Debbie snack. Cakes. Donuts, intimates donuts. Jacks donuts. Peter Pan donuts. Dammit. It's crazy. And so when you grow up like that, that's how you've learned to eat. That's how you've learned to interact with food. I mean, I used to wake up in the middle of the night and fucking go get something to eat because I would be hungry.

I would eat in bed [00:58:00] because it just felt kind of like, you know, treat at the end of the day. And I'm going to go lay in bed and watch TV and eat. I'm not eating in bed anymore. I know my bed misses all the crumbs that I would leave in the bed from the, the Ritz crackers.

Poor thing. But I'm, I'm learning. better how to eat. I'm learning better what to do with food, how my life, how my, how I should treat food. My relationship with food has been better. I'm following with my doctor. My doctor has, you know, she's looking, monitoring things closely. It's great. I'm talking to my therapist about it also.

It's, it's fantastic. I'm learning. Re, I'm re learning how to eat for the body and the health that I want to have. And I've lost 39 pounds and I've kept 39 pounds off, which is fantastic. That's [00:59:00] actually a good thing. The fact that I'm not going to develop diabetes is a good thing because my father passed away from diabetes and hypertension.

My mother has diabetes. Diabetes runs in my family. I don't want to develop diabetes. And so I'm taking avid steps to keep myself from developing the disorder. And it's working for me. And the fact that people are so negative about taking these medications for weight loss is, is, it's disheartening, but I know the truth.

I know the truth. I know that it's not a quick fix. I know that it's not easy. I am still working out. I do it differently now though. I do it differently. I lift weights and then I do 20 minutes of low impact cardio because I want to build [01:00:00] muscle. I want to turn this fat into muscle. And that is what is happening.

You don't take these medications and not work out. You want to build your muscles up so that. You're not, you're not experiencing that muscle wasting, but so that you also feel strong. Imagine feeling strong and healthy and being able to do more, not just because the weight is gone, but because you have developed more muscle power, right?

I feel so good. And in the summertime when I get out and mow the lawn, it's not exhausting me.

I love the feeling that comes from not being short of breath when I go up the stairs or I can't carry a load of laundry up the stairs because it hurts my back or hurts my legs. I love being able to do these things. I mean, I'm 45. I should be able to do these things, but in the past it would be, it would be hard because not only am I carrying a load of laundry, I'm also carrying all this, this, this fat on my [01:01:00] joints.

And that did not make me feel good. I didn't feel good and I wasn't healthy. I wasn't healthy. And now I'm doing something for my health. I'm taking my Ozempic, my shot, once a week. And people who are not seeing success, try something else. Don't feel defeated if it's not working for you. Weight Watchers doesn't work for a lot of people.

Nutrisystem doesn't work for a lot of people. Keto doesn't work for people. People go on Keto and they lose a hundred pounds. And guess what happens when they stop Keto? They gain it all back. And then they get so mad. You gotta find something that's sustainable for you. You. Intermittent fasting. Maybe that works for you.

Maybe it doesn't. Find something that works for you. Don't feel defeated because there are so many ways to do this process. There are [01:02:00] people who swear by CrossFit. They love it. They do it. They've had so much success. Great.

Exercising to me, that's the easy way. If you can lose weight just by exercising, good for you because that shit is easy. Going into a gym and running on a treadmill or walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes. Simple. Do that every day. Some people walk 30 minutes every day for their job.

They're walking around the city. They're walking up and down the stairs in their building. That to me is the easy way. Having to undergo surgery or, uh, deal with getting sick every time you eat something because your stomach no longer tolerates it. Having to put medicine in your body to control your brain and to control your gut is not the easy way out.

And we need to stop shaming people for whatever it is they do [01:03:00] to lose weight. We need to stop shaming people for having weight on their body. You think fat people don't know that we're fat? We're fat! We know it! We know it! How about you mind your fucking business? How about we all just mind our business when it comes to other people's bodies?

Like bodily autonomy means autonomy. Means I do whatever I wanna do with my body. And if the fat bothers me and it's unhealthy, maybe I'll do something about it. Maybe I won't, but it's not for you or anyone else to get in someone's face. Be like, you know what? You're really fat and you're disgusting. You need to lose weight.

Put down the fried chicken. Fuck you. People will do whatever they want. It's for us to do what we want. I would love for us to choose the healthier options because for Black people, what is the number one killer of Black people age 30 and up? Cardiovascular [01:04:00] disease.

Cardiovascular disease. And whatever we can do to change that, to lower that, to keep that from happening, keep Black people from dying of heart attacks. Heart attacks and, and strokes and diabetes complications in the ages of 40 the forties and the fifties for black people is so common.

It's ridiculous. Homicide is the number one killer of black people ages 18 to 30 homicide for black men. That is homicide. And then after that, you're dying from heart disease or strokes, hypertension, diabetes, cancer. More than any other race of people, we can. control this, we can get a handle on it. We can, we can, we can fight this as well as we [01:05:00] fight racism and prejudice.

If we could fight this as well as we fight those motherfuckers who were beating up that guy on the boat in Alabama,

then we can control. We can control what is happening to us in our community. We can keep our community thriving by controlling what is killing us. And I think we should. And I think we should. Talk to your doctors. Talk to your doctors. See your doctors. Talk to your doctors. And follow with your medical practitioner if you're having issues with blood pressure.

with your thyroid, with your breathing, with your heart, with, you know, something going on with your skin or your breasts or your menstrual cycle, see a doctor, talk to your doctor, advocate for yourself. The only reason why I'm here sitting here talking to you about this is because I [01:06:00] constantly advocate for myself when it comes to my health, because I want the best, the healthiest thing that is for me.

I've tried all of these fucking, I've, I was on Weight Watchers, I lost 25 pounds. Then I gained it all back. Tri calorie counting. Didn't do a fucking thing for me. I've, I've been gluten free for a long time. Because of digestion issues, I'm sugar free, dairy free, I want to say I lost maybe 10 pounds, gained it all back, doesn't matter.

I don't want to lose and gain, lose and gain, lose and gain, I don't want to do it anymore. And so I'm finding the best way to control my weight, to manage my weight, to manage my health. You need to manage your health. Do it in a way that is sufficient and good enough for you.

You're looking at how other people are doing it. You're comparing yourself to other people. We're constantly [01:07:00] comparing our personal results to other people's results and being disappointed when we're not seeing the same result as someone else, knowing that we are not like another person. We are all different.

We're all, it's where the human body is complex and we're all different in the way that we are complex. So why are we constantly comparing ourselves to other people and getting upset when we don't look like them, when we don't have their same success and results? People also aren't telling you everything that they're doing.

A lot of people get online and they lie about what the hell they're going through and how they're achieving what they achieve. You don't hear the whole story. I'm telling you the whole story because it serves no purpose for me to get on here and be inauthentic. So I'm telling you, this is what I'm doing.

Last year I was doing something else and I told you about that. The picture changes because I have to find what [01:08:00] is best for me. And year to year, it's changing. My body's changing every year. The older your, your organs and your body gets, you got to tweak things. You have to, not everything is going to work.

You do something for five years. And then after five years, Hey, you know what? This thing isn't working for me anymore. Should I keep doing it? Fuck no. You do something different. And if you're dealing with doctors and medical professional medical professionals who aren't listening to you, dump them, find somebody else.

You don't have to stick with these people. You don't have to stick with what isn't working. You find what is working. You do that. You get to better health. And this has been Ayanna Explains It All brought to you by Facts, Figures, and Enlightenment

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