Get cozy, it’s tea time.
I’m in circles right now — professionally and personally — with women who have tried not having to go the medication route.
They’ve changed their diets. They’ve cut the sugar. They’ve added the walks. They’ve done the things. And still, their blood sugar numbers are not moving in a meaningful way — or at least not quickly enough for their doctor.
And so what’s happening — what I’m watching happen — is that women are sitting in medical offices and being somewhat gaslit (recently happened to me). Somewhat ignored. They are trying to express what is going on with their bodies. They are trying to communicate what they think might be happening. They actually want to dig in and explore this with their primary care physician.
But, and I say this with no judgment toward your doctor: that is simply not what your primary care physician is there for. That’s not their specialization. That’s just not what a 20-minute appointment is designed to do.
They are there to test. To diagnose. To prescribe. That’s about it.
And so, through no fault of their own, they will say something like: “If we don’t get these numbers down — if you don’t change your diet, if you don’t try these things — your next visit, we should prescribe.”
They might even reassure you that there’s nothing wrong with getting things moving in the right direction. And in that case? I actually agree.
I am not anti-medication.
I want to be really clear about that.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with helping your body unlock stagnancy. If your numbers are stuck and your doctor recommends a GLP-1 medication — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro — to help move things, I am not the person who is going to tell you that’s wrong.
But here’s what I am going to tell you:
High blood sugar and insulin resistance are a response.
Something is happening in your body, and your body is reacting with high blood sugar. It’s not the event — it’s the response to an event. And so we need to understand what is happening at the root, at the core, that is causing your body to respond this way.
That part — the investigation — is the part you must do.
Your body raised an alarm. Your doctor responded to the alarm. But nobody investigated what tripped the alarm in the first place.
What I’m seeing with women on GLP-1s right now
There are so many women now on these weight loss drugs. And what’s coming up is significant. Is any of this happening to you?
Muscle loss. And it’s not small. Women are losing meaningful amounts of lean muscle mass — and they’re not happy with it. They’re still hiding underneath their clothes, quite frankly, because now there’s more hanging skin that wasn’t there before. So what do you do? You try to tone it up. But exercising is harder now, as we know — especially in midlife when your body is already working with less.
Bone density loss. More women are falling and fracturing bones. Wrists. Legs. Ankles. The bone density loss that comes with these medications — on top of the bone density loss that already comes with declining estrogen — is creating real, measurable danger.
Eating disorders resurfacing. For some women, these drugs are bringing up old or past eating disorders. For others — women who never had an eating disorder before — they’re becoming genuinely afraid to eat food. Period.
Nutritional depletion. When your appetite is suppressed to the degree that GLP-1s suppress it, you’re simply not receiving the nutrition and nutrients your body needs. I have clients who tell me: “I only eat very little, and it’s not nutritious things, but I’ll have a piece of candy because I like it, it brings me joy, it gives me energy, and then I’m full.”
But you’re getting absolutely no nutrition from that. And your body knows it.
Metabolic damage. And here’s the part that concerns me most. If these drugs are used over time without a foundation underneath them, they will slow your metabolism down significantly. When you eventually stop taking them — and many women will — your metabolism will be so much slower than it was before you started.
And what happens with a very slow, very sluggish metabolism?
You gain weight back. Faster.
So what do I believe?
I believe it’s okay if you want to take the weight loss drug.
But — and this is the big but — it needs to be built on a healthy foundation.
It needs to be built on the pillars of whole-person health so you can live as long as possible in the best health as possible so you feel great and can do things you love with people you love.
If you have that foundation, you can stack medications on top of it. You can stack supplements on top of it. You can stack doing things that you love and enjoy on top of it. And these things won’t be detrimental to your overall health — the overall health of you as a whole person who just wants to enjoy her life and feel better.
Without the foundation? Everything you stack is sitting on sand.
Let me give you an example with supplements.
So many women come to me taking supplements, and they ask, “Do you believe in supplements? Because I take them, and they don’t work.”
These are women doing their own research. Feeling empowered. Reading the back of the supplement bottle: Take 2 capsules one time a day.
And oftentimes? That is not enough.
Oftentimes, you actually need a therapeutic grade of something — like berberine, for example — to get your body the level of support it needs to address what’s actually happening at the root. The dose on the back of the bottle is a general recommendation. It’s not personalized to you, to your body, to the specific driver that’s keeping your blood sugar elevated.
That’s just one example. But it illustrates the bigger point: without understanding what your body needs and why — without understanding the root cause — even well-intentioned interventions fall short.
What happens when you stop the medication
Let’s talk about this. Because eventually, many women will come off these drugs. And when they do, here’s what they’re left with if the foundation was never built:
Lower bone density. Low muscle mass. Poor nutritional status. Things going on with their oral health — teeth chipping and breaking more easily. Challenges with body confidence because of hanging skin. A metabolism that is dramatically slower than it was before they started.
And underneath all of that? The root cause that triggered the high blood sugar in the first place — still there. Still active. Still unaddressed.
The alarm is still ringing. They just turned the volume down for a while.
Jen Polk, I.N.H.C. Founder, Well + Easy
This article is for informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your treatment plan.