With the plethora of media headlines about Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonist drugs in the last 12 months, let’s first understand the drug.
We all product GLP-1 naturally. When you’re eating food, within 15-30 minutes, your gut releases the GLP-1 hormone. GLP-1 plays a big role in your metabolism and makes us feel full. Not only does GLP-1 increase satiety, but it can also slow the rate your stomach empties itself. This is one of the many reasons it’s important to eat slowly and mindfully, allowing your brain the opportunity to register satiety to avoid overeating.
The active ingredient is semaglutide, which slows the emptying of the stomach, reducing appetite. For this reason, these drugs are currently being prescribed off-label for weight loss. As with any pharmaceutical intervention, these drugs come with a long list of side-effects, including gastroparesis (paralysis preventing stomach emptying, which may not subside when discontinuing the drug).
So, how can we increase our body’s natural release of GLP-1?
Every food we consume will naturally stimulate the release of GLP-1, but some foods have a more significant effect than others. Foods high in dietary fibre are very effective at stimulating the release of GLP-1. While we know that a high fibre meal makes us feel full, fibre itself can slow gastric emptying, making us feel fuller for longer and reducing appetite. Fibre also blunts the glucose and insulin response to a meal, which means we not only improve metabolic health, but we also become more efficient at burning stored fat.
Both soluble and insoluble dietary fibre are important for optimum metabolic and gut health, as well as optimising your body’s natural ability to release GLP-1.
Soluble fibre attracts water and slows digestion and can be found in many plant foods, including psyllium, nuts & seeds, oats, berries and many vegetables.
Insoluble fibre adds bulk to stool and helps to move food through the stomach and intestines. Raw nuts and seeds, as well as many veggies, such as cauliflower and green beans, are good sources of insoluble fibre.
An adult requires 25-30 grams of fibre each day, however, the majority do not achieve this. By increasing the fibre in our diet, we can take advantage of the process that GLP-1 drugs stimulate. Not only are there no ‘side-effects’, the health benefits for your metabolism, weight, microbiome and overall wellbeing are substantial.
In addition to a diet rich in a diverse range of fibrous plant foods, the AstonRX Meal Replacement contains a whopping 9.5 grams of soluble and insoluble fibre, optimising stimulation of GLP-1, slowing gastric emptying and keeping you full for longer. Not only are there no negative side-effects, this fibre also helps your gut microbes to thrive, may lower LDL cholesterol, supports liver function, regulates blood glucose and help your body remove toxic waste product from your gastrointestinal tract.
