This diabetes medication is the new weight loss trend and that's bad news
With the return of heroin chic as the most popular figure among celebrities, it feels like all the lost sizes, kilos, and centimeters of recent years are being flushed down the toilet. With the dubious bonus? A popular diabetes medication that also helps with weight loss.
Kim Kardashian proudly stated that she lost seven kilos to wear Marilyn Monroe's iconic dress to the MET Gala. Worrying, I thought even then. But now the rumor is that she had help from the diabetes medication Ozempic. Elon Musk also catapulted a variant of the drug onto Twitter (where else) as the holy grail. It seems to be the most requested medication among doctors by now.
A brief explanation. The injectable medication Ozempic, but also the variant Wegovy that Musk used, contains the ingredient semaglutide. This lowers blood sugar levels and stimulates insulin production in the body. A side effect of the medication is that you feel full longer, making it easier to lose weight. Other side effects include constant nausea, constipation, diarrhea, and power puking. This is the type of vomiting that you would rather not experience. By now, there is a shortage of the medication in many countries, which was launched in 2018. Diabetes patients for whom the drug works well no longer always have access to it.
The new trend heroin chic is worrying. The fact that the female body is subject to trends at all is an even bigger problem. On Vogue.nl I read an article that explains exactly how twisted this is. ‘When women's bodies are seen as trends and receive the same treatment as clothing, there are no winners.’ And that is true. Do you then always swap your own body, just like with a new clothing collection? Let's treat that body a bit more sustainably and lovingly, treating it as valuable vintage that becomes more beautiful through wearing. With each year that I grow older, I care a little less about what others think of me, but I too was raised in the era when Kate Moss wore ultra-low pants. It takes an endless amount of time for that image to be erased from your mind. Are we going to swap that again now, with the kicker being a diabetes medication that gives you the desired result faster?
The body positivity movement arose to ensure that every female body type would be accepted: with curves and without, thin or full, muscular and not muscular. By glorifying one body type, we are throwing all of that overboard again. The Brazilian Butt Lift can go, the syringe with Ozempic comes in. And in the meantime, the world is getting a little crazier.
