Dynamic Dialogue with Danny Matranga - 386: GLP-1’s are LOWERING Food Costs + More

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

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Hey everybody, welcome into another episode of the Dynamic Dialogue Podcast. As always, I'm your host, Danny Matrenga, and in this episode, I'm going to give you my full, unedited, non-medically informed opinion about GLP-1s, drugs like Ozempic, the penetration they have right now at the population level, how it's affecting consumer behavior, whether or not I think you should use them, what I've seen from my clients who have chosen to use them lifestyle stuff, just my take. It's one of the most common questions I'm asked right now and I needed to make a resource for it and I thought it would be a perfect episode. So enjoy.

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Okay, guys. So getting into this episode, this is going gonna be a fun one. This is one that has been coming for quite a long time. And, you know, here's what I'm just gonna say about this. We'll call it a narrative, non-medically informed, casual conversation about GLP-1s. My literal take, my opinion of opinions on the classification of drugs that are helping people lose weight. I have given a pretty scientifically informed soundbite or two on the podcast in the past. I've quibbed about them here and there,

Sound bite or two on the podcast in the past. I've quibbed about them here and there But I get so many questions about these on Instagram when I put up a question box. I'd say now Probably six to ten percent of the questions that I get are specifically about GOP ones which is like right up there with creatine and and Questions about the deficit this general term of getting into a calorie deficit. Those are the three most common questions, something about weight loss from a deficit, creatine, and questions about these GLP ones. So it's becoming extremely, extremely common

to see commercials, advertising of various types, be it on the internet, be it physical. For example, I actually saw GNC, the supplement store, selling supplements to help people manage their symptoms while using a GOP one, marketing their services frankly as like hey we have products here that will help make the symptoms from your GLP-1 use better because you used to come here to buy fat loss stuff now you don't because we have drugs for that but come here to buy your supplements for the constipation or you know the digestive issues that or the nausea that often people experience

with these drugs. So you're just seeing it everywhere. It's super super pervasive and I understand why people have a lot of questions because it's out there. Which leads me to kind of my first narrative point which is that one in ten Americans has used a GLP-1 already, which surprised me a little bit when I read it. But then again, it didn't because let's use the nominal number of $1,000 as the unit price for Ozempic, a very popular compound. Maybe we're gonna call it Wegovi, or we could make it Retachritide, this really cool new compound that's coming out, whatever.

You get $1,000 a unit, you're getting your weight loss medication. When I worked in public gyms, it was very common for people to come in and buy a membership that lasted a full year or two years often or by 30 to 50 sessions worth of personal training that would cost them this much or double this because they wanted weight loss. People would come in highly motivated to try to lose weight. And at least once a day, someone would purchase something, whether it was multiple sessions with a personal training,

multiple years worth of a gym membership, after communicating their principal goal was weight loss. So my point is I saw every day just how many Americans were willing to spend a large amount of money to go ahead and pursue weight loss. And I think for a lot of people paying $1,000, and I think it's clear to say that not all Americans pay this amount for these compounds.

I don't know where you get them. I'm not telling you where to get them. I'm not telling you should use them. I'm going to say a lot that I'm not endorsing anything because I'm not or just having a dialogue. I'm in no way, shape or form, educated enough to give medical advice on these compounds. But people will pay good money to lose weight. And I think many Americans are in a financial position

where they can afford to spend $1,000 on something as pertinent to them as weight loss. People care a lot about how they look, they care a lot about how their bodies age, they care a lot about health, care a lot about wellbeing. All those things are deeply connected to what you weigh and how much of your weight comes from body fat. And we have no reason to deny that these drugs work really well and they help with body fat

loss. So the fact that one in 10 Americans have tried them initially shocked me and that it made so much sense. Because I'm like absolutely no doubt in my mind, if I were 300 plus pounds, and I believe this might be a crazy take, but I bet you, you know, two to five percent of Americans are over 300 pounds. But if I were at my current height, if I were over 300 pounds, I probably would, given the lifestyle behaviors, I would have probably had to have exemplified to get there. I probably would do that.

I probably would get on a GLP-1. I would want to lose weight as fast as possible. That's what I would do based on what I know about them now. I know it would probably have some side effects that would make me uncomfortable. But I can see myself rationalizing using them and rationalizing using $1,000 to secure one unit. I think I've heard it can be more than that. It really does depend on insurance. It depends on a number of things.

Who compounds these? You can find it for much less expensive than that. I'm just trying to use a round number. I'm just floating it out there. I am not surprised that one in 10 Americans are using these compounds. Another thing that I found interesting, and this was in my kind of soft study

of the financial markets, as I, like so many of you, look to improve my position in life, my standing in life, by working hard and saving a little bit of money and investing in the future. I like to learn about what's going on in politics and financial markets. And some of the podcasts I listened to where markets are discussed and consumer trends are discussed, I started hearing a kind of I started hearing a kind of plethora of pundits and commentators bringing the consumer data and consumer spending data to these roundtables, to these podcasts, to these articles specifically

about food and GLP-1s. And it's pretty fascinating, but it seems to be the case that Ozempic users or people who are using these compounds are buying smaller clothing sizes and they are buying fewer items of food and less junk food and spending less on food. And a lot of this data is actually pretty easy to get from places like Walmart, where for example, you could have your prescription for this drug filled and your shopping data all linked to the same account. So, you know, retailers like this

are able to get incredibly high level consumer data. And it's, you know, been shown across the board to, you know, the increase in uptake in these drugs is hurting the consumption and the bottom line of a lot of companies that either sell food or sell junk food. And I think we're seeing this, you know, in a variety of different places. We're seeing it with alcohol, for example, a lot of people are drinking less. Like there's a movement towards sobriety for sure, but there's also no doubt in my mind that a lot of people who are not drinking can't drink because they're taking a GLP-1.

And those two things colloquially, just from what I've observed, don't seem to mix very well. It seems that people who are taking a GLP-1, at least for weight loss, they tend to have a really hard time with alcohol. And in a lot of ways, some of the noise that these people communicate, they feel. The food noise, it's often called. We all feel food noise, the compulsion to eat, the desire to engage with eating. They say

that not only is that reduced, but the desire to drink is massively reduced. So maybe that, maybe we could call it like the booze noise. It goes way down, which to me, I think that's really, really cool. I think that's really, really interesting. And I think it's definitely driving consumer behavior at the grocery store, with fast food, with consumer habits, you know, it's a unique thing. We're getting the first time to see, you know, people are pharmaceutical pushing back

against this corporate engineered environment that surrounds us with products. I was having a discussion the other day with a friend about, you know, the natural human proclivity for certain behavior. surrounds us with products. I was having a discussion the other day with a friend about you know the natural human proclivity for certain behavior and so what let's look at some of the most ingrained human behaviors that are essentially required and many mammals do these things one of them of course is reproduction or sex and of course another one would be eating and You know in in the United States, I will use where I live as an example, we have an outlaw on prostitution, meaning you cannot pay to have sex with somebody

is against the law. Um, it doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but it means it's against the law. And I think it's against the law because in general so some societies have said and I think many developed societies I've said hey, we have to have some guardrails around certain behaviors, especially sexual ones So that we can maintain a reasonable relationship with our compulsion for You know sexuality by just our organisms desire for that. Humans have a desire to reproduce because all animals have a desire to reproduce. If you've ever studied psychology, how much sex and mating behavior drives human behavior. Freud was huge on how much of our behavior is driven by that part of our brain.

And it makes sense. And I think eating is a lot like that. And we have no guardrails in place at all around food here. It is just an all out barrage of ultra process junk food as far as the eye can see. Fast food everywhere, junk food everywhere, alcohol everywhere. I say it all the time on the podcast, but like you can't even go to the hardware store or TJ Maxx without walking by just pounds and pounds and pounds of junk food in the checkout area. The seduction, the compulsion to eat these incredibly delightfully tasty high calorie foods,

it's everywhere. And just like 50,000 years ago, if you had a reproductive opportunity, you probably took it because that's how you perpetuated the species. You know, 50,000 years ago, if you walked by Snickers bar, you ate that whole thing as fast as possible because calories are an incredible currency. And you know, this is the case for most mammals. They'll eat a lot of food. Like what do you think your dog would do if you put a pile of T-bone steaks on the ground? Do you think your dog would eat one T-bone steak

and be like, I'll come back later for the rest? I think they'd probably eat T-bone steak until they threw up or died. I've heard some dogs will literally eat Until they kill themselves because their stomach ruptures like their food drive is so out of control and they would never be able to like Eat some of the foods that they could eat here Like for example, like if you spilled kibble that was really small and they could just keep loading up on it, that would never happen in the wild. And it could actually be dangerous.

Like you see animalistic eating behavior. So humans are mammals too. We're driven to reproduce and we're heavily driven to consume calories because it's beneficial. And we put certain guard rails around certain compulsions. I'll give you another thing humans are compelled to do sometimes. What's going on guys? Taking a break from this episode to tell you a little bit about my coaching company, Core Coaching Method. More specifically, our app-based training. We partnered with

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upload form for form review, ask for substitutions. It's a really cool training community and you can try it completely free for seven days. Just click the link in the podcast description below. Can't wait to see you in the Core coaching collective, my app based training community back to the show. Be violent. So most countries have laws in place and say, Hey, don't be violent or you'll be punished. You simply can't just express violence because you're feeling violent. You in almost every case, you have to have an extremely valid reason,

like literally saving your own life, to be able to be violent with another person and not open yourself up to legal ramifications. Because frankly, most societies prioritize safety, safety from our own bad behaviors and our own misgivings. If people felt that they could act on every compulsion they had to like punch people, for example, and that they couldn't be prosecuted for physical assault, I wonder how many people would just be getting punched. There are genuine reasonable ramifications for striking people. And it's because when left to their own devices, every once in a while people will pop off and do something impulsive and violent because we have a certain degree of,

you know, reptilian brain driven behavior that is designed to satisfy these deeply primal and limbic urges. And long story short, now we have a tool to fight back against that in these compounds because when you drop that organism into the obesogenic environment that is much of the West It's no surprise to me that so many people are losing that battle You've heard me say many times on the podcast. I think I have above average genetics for leanness I'll give you an example of what I mean my dad had with the heaviest my dad ever weighed was probably

example of what I mean. My dad had, well the heaviest my dad ever weighed was probably 225 to 230 pounds at five foot eight and he said at that point I was fat and he lost that weight and never regained it. Now my mother has been on the thinner side at five foot three. She's about 140 pounds probably and when I was born she was probably 130 pounds and most of my childhood she's probably 120 to 130 pounds. So we're talking about two people who are normal weight for their height and who never exhibited excessive body fatness. I inherited 50% of both of their genetics. Now I also want to point something out. My dad has an incredibly compulsive behavior to eat junk food. He still does to this day, even with super

advanced Parkinson's. And at this point, I don't even push back on him because I want him to fucking enjoy life. I'm like, dude, even if he wanted to smoke cigarettes at this point, I'd let you because his life's gone to such shit I can't imagine taking something he enjoys away from him But I've watched my dad's eating behavior and the dude will let it rip So I inherited some of that but my mom also has tremendous control around food She's been thinner whole life eats a reasonable, and seems to be very satisfied in doing so. She's not a compulsive overeater. So I inherited some pretty good genetics.

And what do you know? In a very obesogenic environment, because of my socioeconomic status, my wife and I don't have to concern ourselves with what groceries cost or what we buy, which I'm abundantly aware of, is a tremendous luxury and in no way my way of trying to flex I'm just painting a legit picture of where we're at like we want to eat fucking healthy it's possible money's not an issue I'm super aware that for a ton of American

families the quality of the foods you get is going to be dictated by where you're at financially. And I'm not going to proselytize you guys about eating healthy if it's going to break the bank. I'm literally saying we have no fucking excuse because we can't afford it. We're in a position to do it. And a lot of that also has to do with where we live. We live in California where there's a lot of really healthy, nutrient dense food and all these incredible grocery stores. We live in California where there's a lot of really healthy nutrient dense food and all these incredible grocery stores. We live within a mile of a Whole Foods. We live within two miles of an incredible local market called Oliver's that sells like the best produce and all that. So we have what we need. We're not in a food desert. We don't have any excuses.

And you know, I'm able to live at a pretty lean, low body fat. The only reason I see myself gaining weight is because I overindulge on ultra processed junk food. And a lot of people, that's either all they can afford or all that they can get their hands on. But none of us are going to argue that that's the environment that we are all living in, an environment loaded with that shit.

And for some people, being on these compounds puts them in a position where they feel best able to navigate this environment and they see weight coming off. And I do not see that changing at all, especially because what we're starting to see in some of these maybe lagging indicators are the bottom lines of various different companies, whether it's junk food companies, whether

it's fast food companies, whether it's grocery stores and retailers, we're seeing kind of the beginning of a ripple effect of people are definitely spending less in certain categories. They're buying smaller clothing now to the point where we have to start to look at what would happen in a population right now. Let's say we have a 300 million people in America. We have more than that, but we're going to use a nice round number because it makes for easy mapping. And we have one in 10 permeation or penetration. Let's use penetration right now.

10% of that market is penetrated, meaning 30 million Americans have used or are using a GOP one. Let us say very briefly that 70% of that 300 million are overweight and 40% are obese. So let's say that 50% of those people might be eligible for one reason or another, could be diabetes management to use these compounds.

If 150 million people are eligible and 30 million are already taking it, that means that one in five of Americans who could be or would be eligible reasonably to get on a GLP one have used one. Now I know a lot of people who have no business using GLP ones to lose like 10 pounds who have used them crazy shit when you ask me, but you know what, let's just pass on that. Let's just not cast

judgment on why people use drugs, because that's not my job. I'm just having a narrative discussion here. I think it's pretty crazy that, you know, if we get to 2 in 10 penetration, or just double this, because maybe insurance starts paying for

it? I don't know. I'm not sure how this is going to go. Now all of a sudden we're talking about 60 million Americans, which is like almost half of the people who are overweight or obese. I'm trying not to make too much of a jump here because I don't have that data in front of me and I don't know the data on young American children because there's also probably more childhood obesity than there's ever been.

But frankly, I don't see this stuff going anywhere. I only see it becoming more popular, especially because now we have this stuff called Retatratide, which is a triple hormone receptor agonist, and a phase two trial, which is a pretty significant investigation into the safety and efficacy of a compound, right? This novel triple hormone receptor agonist and new type of GLP-1. Retatratide looks like it's even better than the stuff we have now. Retatratide led to substantial weight loss in participants depending on the dosage. Patients experienced a weight loss reduction of up to 24.2% over 48 weeks. That's

fucking insane. That means 24% of your body weight in a year 50 pounds a year for a 200 pound person that's pretty incredible You also have Metabolic improvements we see parameters like insulin sensitivity lipid profile blood pressure all improved with these compounds especially with tachyltide So if there's even better shit coming out, you better believe people are gonna start using it. I'm only saying that based on what I know about people and the things they do already. And one of the things I'm always sensitive to is

like, guys, we have to be intellectually consistent in everything that we do. Meaning, if we're going to be health advocates and stewards of health for people we care about, and we're gonna talk about it, like we gotta be honest. Is it, yes, we want people to live healthier, and maybe these compounds aren't the healthiest thing we have

But a lot I know a lot of health and fitness people who are throwing the baby out with the bath water saying these are cheating These are a quick fix. They are going to be worse for you After years of telling everybody how bad obesity is and how unhealthy it is to be overweight I think we have to take a nuanced intellectually intellectually consistent approach and say that, yes, there are health, a deleterious health effects associated with being over fat, having too much body fat, not enough muscle, being obese, having diabetes, obviously. And this new classification of drugs that does have side effects

is a trade-off and that it will help tremendously in the battle against what was just mentioned, but it will come with some side effects. And we don't know enough long term because these compounds are novel. But what we do know is they are definitely making a difference already. People are using them and an awful lot of people are using them. already. People are using them and an awful lot of people are using them. There's new forms coming out and they appear to only be getting more effective. And more companies seem to be in the game of manufacturing them. And there seems to be a lot of options for getting them. So you absolutely have to inform yourself. You need, need, need to talk to a physician, your physician before you do this. It is really something that I think could be helpful if medically indicated and prescribed.

It is definitely not something I would do off label unless you have done tremendous research and you really know what it is that you're doing. I can't sign off on it, but I can definitely say, it seems to me that the data about how this can help us through the obesity epidemic is really clear. And as always, you must preserve muscle mass and contractile tissue in any endeavor to lose body fat. You need to prioritize protein, engage in resistance training, and look to implement

healthy habits. If you're going to be using these compounds, you can probably assume that some of the habits you had are going to be disrupted. And that's a great time to implement newer healthy habits to create yourself an off-ramp. So, if you're going to be making a point to use these compounds to eat less calories, make sure to incorporate more food that is nutritious. You have to start to build the lifestyle with the assistance of these compounds because, as I've been, and from what I've read, you will pay the price for eating a lot of greasy,

oily, ultra high calorie foods, or drinking a lot of alcohol on these compounds because they tend not to mix well. So you still have to do a lot of the stuff that we would recommend as strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers, nutritionists, whatever. You still want to make an effort to exercise and eat well.

But as far as these compounds go, I don't see them going anywhere. And I hope if you choose to use them, you do so in an informed way. And I would love to help you with the lifting side of things, holding on to the muscle, holding on to the contractile tissue. Look, I have clients, online clients and in-person clients who are using these compounds and they're getting results. And I am totally agnostic to it, but I really approach it. I'm really a big proponent of staying on the lifting and building those habits. And yeah, so that's my take on it. You guys have asked a lot. This is mostly as a reference point. I want to say thanks for listening. If you found this helpful, share it. I thought it was a good little riff. Leave me a five star rating and review on Apple and Spotify,

and I'll catch you on the next one.