I am not a doctor, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express

 Tristan Justice, at The Federalist has an article today entitled Americans Betting On Ozempic Over Willpower To Make America Healthy Again. It is a subject I am familiar with because I have been battling the bulge for close to 60 years. I have tried the "willpower" diet, which is the old exercise more and eat less idea. But that is fundamentally unsustainable. One is hungry all the time, and sooner or later your willpower will break down. Programs like Weight Watchers add a bit of shaming to the move more and eat less diet. But it is the same idea. Then there is the low-fat diet, which ultimately substitutes carbohydrates (including healthy doses of various sugars) to the food you eat. Unfortunately, this just makes you want to eat more. It is no wonder that so many give up and see Ozempic as the answer.

Not enough Americans are taking adequate measures to cultivate better health, and those who are seem to expect novel medical injections to do the heavy lifting for them.

A December YouGov survey found roughly 1 in 5 Americans have resolved to improve their physical health and either exercise more and/or eat healthier this year. A separate survey found a quarter plan to take Ozempic or some other kind of weight-loss drug akin to medically induced anorexia to reach their weight-loss goals.

For me, the risks and side effects of Ozempic and related GLP-1 drugs are too great, and frankly, the drugs are too new on the market to take for weight loss. Getting to a healthy weight is not to be taken as an end in itself, but as a byproduct of living healthily. The Atkins Diet as explained in Dr. Atkins book Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution presents some good advice. Here in North Carolina, at Duke Hospital, we have a student of Dr. Atkins, Dr. Eric Westman, whose videos can be found on Youtube and are very helpful. I am not a doctor, and you should not take such advice from me, but if you are like me and looking to improve your health, find a doctor who will help you get onto and stay onto a ketogenic diet, lose the weight and move more. Funnily enough, the ketogenic diet will give you more energy to do that moving more part, which is what healthy living is all about. Another doctor you might like is Dr. Ken Berry who argues that the proper human diet is a carnivor diet. But going carnivore is just taking the ketogenic diet to its ultimate restrictions. He can be found on Youtube as well.