However, given the highly successful results of GLP-1 drugs for diabetes management and weight loss, if you’ve been prescribed these medications you might decide the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and that you need to keep taking them in spite of the possible complaints.

But that doesn't mean you should have to suffer!

We’ve created a GLP-1 Support Kit, customized to support people taking GLP-1 medications. The supplements in this kit do not contribute to GLP-1 production. Rather, they are focused on supporting people with the issues that arise from taking medications like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.

From here, you can choose your own adventure...

Option #1: If you’re suffering from sensations of heartburn, nausea and constipation, you might want to order this GLP-1 Support Kit right away!

Option #2: If you – like me – are someone who wants to know the whole scoop, you can scroll down to read the much longer explanation of why GLP-1 medications cause this cascade of symptoms, and how the supplements in our kit can support you.

When you know the reasons why your body feels unhappy, then you are empowered to give yourself the support you need to alleviate those unpleasant experiences.

So let’s take a deeper look at the activities of GLP-1 medications, their long term side effects, and the ways in which you can support your body to feel better.

How do GLP-1s affect the body?
GLP-1 medications can cause gastrointestinal distress because they slow down digestion, resulting in gastroparesis or delayed gastric emptying (i.e. it takes more time for food to pass through your stomach), and they also reduce the frequency and speed of peristalsis in the intestines.

Another common experience is that GLP-1 medications reduce appetite, meaning people eat less or even forget to eat and drink throughout the day, leading to less fiber and liquid intake – both of which contribute to altered fluid levels in the body, as well as stools that are dryer and harder to pass – hence the common problem of GLP-1 constipation.

What are possible GLP-1 long term side effects?

Gastroparesis: Delayed gastric emptying
When food takes a longer than usual time to exit the stomach, the food you have eaten will begin to rot in your stomach.

Putrefying food releases acids which can create a burning sensation that people often interpret as heartburn – but the problem is actually not caused by an excess of digestive fluids. In fact it’s usually accompanied by the opposite problem: too little digestive acids such as Betaine HCL.

When in response to this burning sensation, people take antacids, they are actually compounding the problem by further weakening their digestion, which leads to even longer transit time for the food, and that in turn leads to more food putrefaction in the stomach and more ‘sour stomach’ feelings. It can be a self-reinforcing cycle that becomes difficult to break.

Reduced peristaltic movements
Healthy peristalsis begins at the esophagus and continues all throughout the digestive tract. When the muscles of the stomach contract, it has the effect of churning your digesting food around, and mixing it up with digestive acids such as Betaine HCL.

This mixing, of course, helps food to break down and digest rather than putrefy. And as that acid-containing food moves out of the stomach and into the small intestine, the low pH of the acidic food stimulates the release of digestive enzymes from the pancreas as well as stimulates the gallbladder to release bile, both of which further assist in digestion.

In the case of reduced peristalsis, food is not fully mixed up with whatever digestive acids there may be in the stomach, meaning that when the food does eventually make its way into the intestines, it’s not acidic enough to properly stimulate the release of enzymes and bile, which further weakens digestion.

Stagnating bile
When bile is not flowing properly, it sits in the gallbladder and becomes stagnant. This allows cholesterol and other substances to accumulate, leading to thickened bile, sludge, and even gallstones.

Bile plays many important roles in our digestion. The most commonly known role is that healthy bile helps us to break down and digest fats. When bile is not healthy and flowing properly and fats are not being fully digested, this can lead to gas, bloating, and feelings of intense nausea.

A lesser known fact is that bile is the mechanism by which the liver detoxifies itself. Most of us know that the liver is responsible for filtering out toxins from the body, but… then what happens?

Ideally, the bile transports those toxins out of the body when it flows into the intestines and deposits the toxins in your food waste, which then leave the body with your bowel movements. But thick, sludgy, stagnant bile is not properly flushing out those toxins; it’s accumulating them, meaning your detox pathways are compromised.

Bile acids are also a natural laxative, both because they stimulate peristalsis in the colon, and also because they can increase the secretion of water and electrolytes into the intestines through osmosis (bile has high salt content, which draws in water), keeping your colon and your bowel movements properly hydrated, which in turn makes it easier to have a healthy bowel movement.

Some bile is absorbed by the small intestine and cycles back into the liver, but a portion of your bile will be metabolized by your gut microbiota in the large intestine, creating secondary bile acids.

Secondary bile acids act as signaling molecules, promoting the health of your microbiome, regulating inflammation and modulating your metabolism.

So when bile stagnates and does not flow into your intestines as the body has designed it to do, there is a cascading effect on your overall health, and this works against your goals of supporting a healthy metabolism.

Decreased appetite
It’s no secret that GLP-1 medications promote weight loss through appetite suppression. But there is a hidden danger here – when you are losing weight not because you’ve shifted to healthier food sources but simply because you’ve stopped eating, the impact on your body can be grave.

Your body needs fiber for a variety of reasons.

One reason is that fiber helps to slow down blood sugar spikes (so by eating fiber you are in fact complimenting and supporting the work of your GLP-1 medications).

Another reason is that fibers act like tiny sponges in our food, helping to absorb and carry liquids through the intestines, keeping both our bowels and our stools hydrated and preventing constipation.

Heartburn, nausea, constipation… Oh my!
Now that you have a deeper understanding of the potential side effects of taking GLP-1 medications, let’s discuss the ways in which you can support your body in the face of these common complaints.

First and foremost, if you haven’t done so already then it’s crucial to shift your mentality around food – to move away from a purely ‘calorie reduction’ approach and towards a focus on giving your body the fiber and nutrients you need to achieve overall wellness.

The rapid weight loss that GLP-1 medications can provoke can act like a smokescreen that obscures people from looking at their habits and making lasting changes to their eating.

Once you’ve got your healthier eating habits established, it’s time to consider adding supplements into your routine.

While there are many options that can be supportive, I’d like to focus on three options in our store which are laser focused on exactly the areas of digestion where many people taking GLP-1 medications need extra support.

Betaine HCL
Our Betaine HCL supplement is the exact same substance that your body produces naturally to help food in the stomach properly digest.

If you’re experiencing gastroparesis and reduced peristalsis, then increasing your Betaine HCL will provide added support for your food to break down as it’s meant to, rather than putrefying in the stomach.

Plus, the added digestive acids in your food will support the proper secretion of bile once your food has reached your small intestine, working against the forces of bile stagnation we described above.

Proper digestion of food in the stomach, proper pH of food in the small intestine, and proper release of bile and enzymes, can all support a reduction in feelings of heartburn and nausea, and support you in avoiding the bile stagnation that can lead to gallstone formation.

Bile Salts Booster
Bile salts act as a kind of detergent, helping to emulsify and break down dietary fats. And when fats are properly digested, we are less likely to experience gas, bloating, and nausea after meals.

Bile Salts Booster provides naturally occurring bile salts, meaning it supports your bile to be thin and flowing healthfully, as opposed to stagnating and thickening into sludge and stones.

Once your healthy, flowing bile makes its way into the intestines, it acts as a natural laxative, counteracting constipation (as described above).

In fact, taking bile salts can have such a laxative effect that we’ve intentionally created smaller dose capsules that allow you to start slowly and find just the right level of supplementation that works for you.

Once you have identified the right number of capsules per day for your unique needs, we recommend varying the timing and quantity of capsules you take at any one time, to create a ‘confusion’ effect that is maximally supportive.

Phos Formula
This is a fast-acting formula that has proven effective at addressing nausea, including the nausea caused by poorly digested fats.

As an added bonus, phosphorus supports cellular metabolism and muscle recovery after exercise, making it a great choice for everyone pursuing weight loss goals through increased physical activity in addition to taking GLP-1 medications.

Choose just one – or take them all …
Selecting any one of these supplements can be an effective way to support your body while taking GLP-1 medications, but we believe all three of them together have a synergistic effect, which is why we have created the GLP-1 Support Kit, custom crafted for everyone who wishes to avoid the drawbacks that can come along with taking the GLP-1 medications they’ve been prescribed.

GLP-1 Long Term Side Effects

Safa Wesley

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