Coming Up on Two Years in my GLP-1 Journey

Hello my friend!

It was Thanksgiving 2022, five months after I had discovered GLP-1 meds, that I said enough is enough and I reached out to an online provider to get a prescription for Wegovy.

I didn't care how much it was going to cost. My body felt broken and I knew these meds were the answer.

In May and June of 2022 I had been researching amino acids, led there by my determination to figure out why my gallbladder had died in 2020, even though I had spent literally 20+ years “doing everything right” where my health was concerned.

I didn't understand why my body was breaking down. I had followed everything the (many, many) doctors I had seen over the years had told me to do to battle PCOS. I was active, I ate low carb, I had taken all the various meds, and even had surgery on my ovaries.

My theme phrase was “my body doesn't reflect my lifestyle”. I didn't know anyone living a healthier lifestyle than me, and yet my body continued to get fatter and sicker.

And then my gallbladder literally went gangrene inside of me. “Shriveled up and died”, the surgeon said. He told me I had a week before it killed me.

I couldn't get it off my mind. What did I do wrong? All I had ever done was try to eat and live healthy.

I went on a mission to figure it out. I started by getting certified in nutrition.

I was no stranger to the health and nutrition world. I had been an obsessive health researcher since before my PCOS diagnosis in 1998.

You know - back in the day when I had to get my information from textbooks because the internet was barely a thing.

I was always in the thick of the latest and greatest research. I was giddy when I got access to scholarly research articles through my local community college. Back then, you had to pay to access all those amazing papers you can just pull up on Google today.

My thirst for learning about the human body (and ultimately, trying to fix my own), was insatiable.

I was the one constantly taking research to my doctor and asking for her opinion. I would print up articles or email links to her and we would talk about them during my appointments.

When I go down the proverbial rabbit holes, I go down hard. I need to know absolutely everything - good, bad, pros, cons. I've literally dreamt of plugging my brain into a computer so I could upload all the information directly into my brain. (Yeah - I get a little obsessive, wink. So hey friend - if you want something researched, I'm your gal. Haha!)

All this to say… when I say I went on a mission to figure out why my gallbladder died, and that researching amino acids is how I found GLP-1, you can be assured that there's more to the GLP-1 story than you are seeing online.

But long before I found GLP-1, I started to question everything about what I had learned about insulin resistance, PCOS, and how to lose weight. The PCOS and weight loss world was doing me no favors. The only real answer they gave was to eat low carb, and the harder I low-carbed, the worse I felt.

“Oh you have to be fat adapted”, “you need ketones”, “add fat to everything, you'll become bullet-proof”….

In 2017 I hired a nutrition coach. He told me to eat more carbs. I told him I needed more fat. He pushed, I pushed back (and ultimately ended up firing him because I thought he was dumb). But guess what? I did eat more carbs than I was used to. And I was sleeping better than ever. That was clue #1.

Around the same time, I was mad because I had been a runner for 15 years and I had never been able to improve my time or the way I felt while running (which was like death, but I kept at it because the brain was willing even though the body was not).

One day, I ate a banana before my run ("run fasted", they said). I thought I had found the holy grail. I can still recall that run and how amazing I felt from eating that banana compared to the 15 years of running prior.

I started eating bananas before all my runs AND I stopped running 3 times a week and went down to only once a week. My time improved for the first time ever. Clues # 2 & 3.

The more I questioned the things I had learned (by way of intense research and keeping up with the “science”, mind you), the more progress I started to make.

I decided the answer was to go back to the very basics of how the body works. What actually happens when food enters our body and what is actually going on within the cell where insulin resistance is involved. This is where I have landed today, and it actually shocks and confuses me how we have gone so far off the mark with our current culture of food and diet.

Low carb is absolutely absurd. High fat diets are literally how they have created insulin resistance in lab rats for decades. Long-term high protein diets also create insulin resistance (I admit this one surprised me).

In our collective effort to hone in on singular dysfunctions, we have forgotten the broad picture. The body is whole. Disease manifests differently for the individual, but the root cause is usually universal. The body is always working to keep us alive and to heal as much as possible. Given the right inputs, it usually can.

Unfortunately, I was unknowingly giving my body the absolute wrong inputs for 20+ years, and that wreaked havoc on my metabolic capabilities. I needed some serious external intervention to get things headed in the right direction, and thanks to GLP-1, I am on a new path.

My friend, I am a lifelong learner. I do not pretend to know everything. I don't have all the answers. I absolutely will update my beliefs based on new learning (I used to teach low carb, and I'm sorry about that). But this I can assure you: I have obsessed over health and nutrition for over 26 years. I really do feel like I've read and heard it all, and I really do feel like I've finally figured it out, though keeping an open mind is hugely important to me.

As a nutritionist and certified tree hugger (just kidding - it's the other way around), I don't love telling people that the best thing for their body is to get a prescription.

HOWEVER, these GLP-1 peptides are literal life-savers for those of us with severe metabolic damage, and they can turn your life around in a hurry if you use them appropriately. Used wrong, however, they will put you in a worse off metabolic state than where you started.

Throughout my journey, in those dark times when I couldn't find hope, the only thing I could conjure as to “why” is that I was meant to use my experiences to help lift others. And that, my friend, is why I'm here. As a friend, as a coach, as an obsessive researcher with a brain full of information, I am here to help you however I can.

I know the health and nutrition space is seriously conflicting and confusing, and I am fully aware that what I teach is going against the raging river of high protein and low carb advice. I am full of grace for those that disagree with me. I used to be right there in that camp, teaching low carb and paleo strategies. Each of us is on our own journey and my new motto is “to each their own”. You have to do what resonates with you the most.

However, if what you have tried to this point hasn't worked long-term, I would suggest it's time to open your mind and maybe try something that feels super radical these days….eating the carbs. I can teach you how. GLP-1 is the magical hack to fast track this process, but it can be done without these meds if you're willing to take the time.

My GLP-1 Done Right course will teach you everything you need to know about why carbs are so important, what the real story behind insulin resistance is, how GLP-1 works in the body, what's happening when we take these meds, how you can avoid the scary side effects (and why they're not actually as scary as they're made to sound), and even what you can do if you can't get the meds.

I teach you about how the body works when we eat food and why stress may be more of an issue than what we're eating. And I teach you to find ways to move your body that doesn't include “lifting heavy things”. Unless you're into that. This course is the whole shebang. Your comprehensive GLP-1 success and carb confidence roadmap. It's like having a coach in your back pocket.

Hugs & Smoothie Smiles friend!

Coach Camille PN1, SSR