This $1 Food Mimics Ozempic (Here’s Exactly How to Use It) | Doctor Explains

0:00Your body already makes the hormone that

0:02ompic is designed to mimic. And this $1

0:05food can make your body release more of

0:07it. But here's what I didn't realize

0:09until I started digging through the

0:10research. GLP1 is really just one part

0:12of a much bigger system that your body

0:14uses to control your hunger and your

0:16satiety and your food noise. And the

0:18right foods can tap into that system at

0:21several different points. And one of

0:22these works in a completely different

0:24way. So instead of making more of that

0:26GLP-1 hormone, it may help the hormone

0:29that you've already made stick around

0:30longer, which is part of what drugs like

0:32Ompic are designed to do. Now, just to

0:34be clear, none of this means that a

0:35certain food will give you the same

0:37effect as Ompic. It won't. And I'm

0:39certainly not telling anyone to stop a

0:41GLP-1 medication that's working for

0:42them, but there are real and

0:45scientifically studied ways that a group

0:47of foods can tap into this broader

0:49system. So, in this video, I want to

0:50give you five tactics with which you can

0:53use natural foods to not only activate

0:55but reinforce the GLP1 system. And more

0:58importantly, I want to show you how to

0:59put it all together to make this work

1:01because they all work on completely

1:03different timelines and that changes how

1:05you want to use them. And at the end,

1:06I'll show you how to put it all together

1:08on one plate, starting with a food that

1:10cost about $1. And if you're new here,

1:12I'm Dr. Len Kim. I'm a double board

1:14certified physician. And on this

1:16channel, my mission is to give you the

1:17science and the practical tools to not

1:19only live longer, but to feel better

1:21today. And as always, even though I'm a

1:23physician, I'm not your physician. So,

1:26please talk to your doctor before making

1:27any changes to your health regimen, as

1:29this video is educational only and not

1:31medical advice. So, let's start with one

1:33of the more surprising ways to tap into

1:35your own GLP-1 system. And it starts

1:37with something that most people don't

1:39associate with the stomach or the

1:40intestine at all, and that's taste.

1:42because your intestine can actually

1:44taste what's coming through it. And a

1:46lot of those taste receptors are bitter

1:48receptors. And bitterness isn't just a

1:50flavor, it's a signal. When bitter plant

1:52compounds reach your gut, they activate

1:54these receptors and that can trigger the

1:56release of gut hormones, including

1:58GLP-1. And GLP-1 or glucagon-l like

2:01peptide 1 is just a hormone that your

2:03gut naturally releases when you eat. It

2:06helps control your blood sugar and it

2:08slows down how quickly your food leaves

2:09your stomach. And one underappreciated

2:11fact, it sends a signal to your brain

2:13that you've eaten enough and it dials

2:16down your food noise. And researchers

2:17have actually tested this. When they

2:19activated those bitter receptors, they

2:21saw a corresponding increase in the

2:23signaling of gut hormones, including

2:25Gilopia 1 hormone. So these receptors

2:27aren't just detecting bitterness,

2:29they're actually part of a bigger system

2:31of how your gut responds to the food

2:33coming through it. So in practical

2:34terms, how do you actually get these

2:36compounds? Think of bitter greens and

2:38cruciferous vegetables. So that would be

2:40things like arugula and broccoli or

2:43Brussels sprouts. And you can also get

2:44them from things that you may already

2:46have every day. Things like coffee or

2:48dark chocolate. But there is something

2:49that we have to be aware of and it has

2:51to do with our environment. Over time

2:53we've actually bred a lot of the

2:55bitterness out of our food because

2:57bitter isn't a flavor that most people

2:59go looking for. The demand is for

3:00sweeter fruits and milder greens and

3:03vegetables that just tasted better and

3:06that's what we grew. So, some of the

3:07bitter compounds that activate these

3:09receptors aren't as abundant in our

3:11modern food supply as they once were.

3:13And focusing on these foods is one way

3:15to turn up that Jellop1 signal, but it's

3:18only one part of the whole system. Your

3:20gut actually has many other ways of

3:22sending the same I've had enough message

3:24to your brain. And one of them has to do

3:26with a specific type of fat. And this

3:28one is incredibly simple. And it can

3:30change how much you eat naturally in

3:32just a matter of hours. And it's called

3:33oleic acid. The oleic acid mechanism

3:36works a little differently because GLP-1

3:38isn't working alone. It's part of a

3:40larger gut tobrain signal system that

3:42controls things like hunger and satiety.

3:45And one signal I want to highlight here

3:46is called OEA. So the way it works is

3:48when oleic acid reaches the upper part

3:51of your small intestine, your own tissue

3:53takes it and builds OEA, an

3:55oolioethanolomide.

3:57I actually don't know how to pronounce

3:58that, but I gave it my best shot. And

4:00this OEA sends us a tidy signal to your

4:03brain that tells that you've eaten

4:04enough. And it also helps stretch out

4:06the gap before you get hungry again. But

4:08you don't actually eat OEA. What you do

4:11is you eat the raw material and your gut

4:13builds it. And there's a randomized

4:14crossover trial in humans that showed

4:16this. So researchers gave people meals

4:18containing different types of oil,

4:20including oils that were much higher in

4:22oleic acid. The higher oleic acid meals

4:25produced significantly more OEA. And

4:27then 3 hours later, those people ate

4:29about 250 fewer calories at their next

4:32meal compared to the control group. So

4:34having said that, how do you actually

4:35get more oleic acid into a meal? Well,

4:38one of the easiest ways to target extra

4:40virgin olive oil. And then avocados are

4:43also rich in oleic acid. Um, and so are

4:45almonds and macadamia nuts. And that's

4:47what makes this super practical. You're

4:49not relying on one specific food. You're

4:51giving your gut the same raw materials,

4:54but through several different options,

4:56and your body does the rest. And the

4:57next food gets us back to GLP-1 itself,

5:00but what matters here is not the food

5:01itself, but what your gut bacteria turn

5:03it into. And that food is resistant

5:05starch. So, most starches get broken

5:07down pretty quickly in your stomach and

5:09your small intestine. And they

5:10eventually end up as glucose in your

5:12bloodstream. But resistant starch

5:14doesn't do that. It actually survives

5:16your stomach and it survives most of the

5:18journey through your small intestine.

5:19And when it arrives in your colon, it

5:21gets there pretty much intact. And this

5:24is where your gut bacteria get to eat it

5:26and they ferment the resistant starch

5:28and they turn it into short chain fatty

5:30acids. Um, including the important ones

5:32they always talk about, things like

5:34acetate and butyrate. And butyrate is

5:36the one worth knowing here and I talk

5:38about it a lot in my other videos. Short

5:40chain fatty acids like butyrate tell

5:42your gut to release JLP1 and it's also

5:44the primary fuel for the cells lining

5:46your colon. they actually prefer that

5:48ahead of glucose. So unlike the bitter

5:50compounds that we talked about earlier,

5:52you're not directly triggering the

5:54signal here. What you're doing is you're

5:56feeding your gut bacteria and they make

5:58the compounds that help trigger it. And

6:00this is where the $1 food comes in as

6:02beans. Beans are one of the easiest and

6:04cheapest ways to get resistant starch,

6:07especially limema beans. But you can

6:08also get it from lentils and chickpeas.

6:11Also, oats and green bananas are a very

6:13good source of resistant starch. And

6:15another simple way to get this is to use

6:17the foods that you may already be

6:18eating, uh, things like rice or

6:21potatoes, and you cool them overnight in

6:23your fridge, and then you reheat them

6:25the next day. The cooling process forces

6:27some of that starch to reorganize into

6:30resistant starch, and reheating them

6:31doesn't completely undo it. There was a

6:33randomized crossover trial where

6:35researchers had participants consume

6:36either resistant starch or regular

6:39cornstarch for 4 weeks, and then they

6:41measured their response to a meal. and

6:43the resistant starch group had a

6:44significantly higher active GLP-1 after

6:47eating. But this is where timing is very

6:49important. Uh it actually takes several

6:51weeks for your gut bacteria to

6:53reorganize and be able to efficiently

6:55ferment resistant starch into those

6:57beneficial short- chain fatty acids like

6:59butyrate and acetate. So this isn't

7:01something I judge after eating beans for

7:03a week. It's almost like growing a

7:05garden, but instead of plants, you're

7:07cultivating the right bacteria to turn

7:09your food into the right signals. Now,

7:11the next concept also has to deal with

7:13short- chain fatty acids, but this one

7:15lets you skip that whole process.

7:17Instead of waiting for your gut bacteria

7:19to make it, you can get it directly from

7:21something you eat. And I'm talking about

7:23acetic acid, which is the main acid in

7:25vinegar. So, acetic acid itself is a

7:27short chain fatty acid, uh, the same

7:30family of compounds that your gut

7:31bacteria were just making from resistant

7:33starch, except this time you don't have

7:35to wait for your gut bacteria to make

7:37it. You can get it directly from

7:38vinegar. And what's interesting about

7:40vinegar is that it seems to work through

7:41a different part of this entire system.

7:43In randomized control trials, when

7:45people consume vinegar with a

7:47carbohydrate containing meal, their

7:49blood sugar and their insulin response

7:51afterwards was lower. So, this is not

7:52the same and not the same magnitude, but

7:55it parallels what we see with JP1 drugs.

7:57And it's incredibly easy to use. You can

7:59add vinegar to a salad dressing or

8:01vegetables, or you can just incorporate

8:03into a meal that you're already eating.

8:05And a lot of people like to use apple

8:07cider vinegar as a drink before carb

8:09heavy meal. I actually made a separate

8:10video on this whole topic and I'm going

8:12to post a link in the description below.

8:13And this comes up every time I talk

8:15about this topic. It doesn't have to be

8:17apple cider vinegar. Most vinegar

8:19contain acidic acid. All right, so now

8:21we're starting to complete our entire

8:23system, but there's still one big piece

8:26that's missing. Your natural GLP1 has a

8:28halflife of only about 2 minutes.

8:30There's an enzyme in your blood called

8:32DPP4 whose entire job is to find that

8:35hormone and take it apart which is a big

8:37problem if you're trying to raise it

8:38with food. And this is exactly the

8:40problem that these medications solved.

8:42Semaglutide is engineered to

8:44specifically survive that enzyme. And

8:46that's one part of why that drug can

8:48produce a much stronger and

8:50longerlasting effect. But there's

8:51another natural way to approach the same

8:53problem. And this is where dairy protein

8:55gets really interesting. When your body

8:57digests protein from dairy, it breaks

8:59them down into smaller pieces called

9:01peptides. And some of those peptides

9:03have been shown to inhibit that DPP4

9:06enzyme, not shut it down completely, but

9:08slow it down. So instead of helping your

9:10body make more GLP1, this works from the

9:13other side. You're potentially slowing

9:15down the enzyme that's breaking it

9:16apart, which could help some of the GLP1

9:19stick around longer. And you don't need

9:21anything exotic here. Um, some of my

9:23favorites would be things like Greek

9:24yogurt or cottage cheese or keafir. And

9:27just to be clear, a serving of dairy is

9:28not going to get you the same effect of

9:30a drug. But these foods are also full of

9:33proteins and probiotics, which

9:35reinforces the whole system that we

9:37built. And now that we have all five

9:39pieces, here's what this could actually

9:40look like on a plate. So, the way I

9:42build it is you take a simple meat to

9:44start. Um, something like grass-fed beef

9:47or chicken or fatty fish. And then you

9:49can add beans like black beans, uh,

9:52which you can get a can for a dollar.

9:54Um, or edamame or whatever your favorite

9:56bean is. And then you just pair it with

9:58something bitter like arugula salad with

10:00extra virgin olive oil and vinegar based

10:02dressing. And then maybe some Greek

10:04yogurt on the side. And that's it. you

10:07now have a meal that's hitting this

10:08entire system from several different

10:10directions. And you don't have to make

10:12this exact same meal. You could use

10:14lentils or chickpeas instead of beans um

10:17and avocado instead of olive oil. Or you

10:19can use different bitter vegetables or

10:21kafir instead of yogurt. And none of

10:23these foods are going to produce the

10:24same effect of a drug like ompic or

10:27wiggoi, but they don't have to. This is

10:29just a simple way to create a system

10:31where your body releases more of its own

10:33GLP1 and a system that helps it stick

10:36around longer while also strengthening

10:38many other signals that control satiety

10:40and appetite and food noise. Once you

10:42zoom out, GLP1 is just one signal in a

10:45much bigger network. All right, I hope

10:46this was helpful. Stay healthy and I'll

10:48see you the next