The Holy Grail of Ozempic

The juxtaposition between the medical diagnosis of obesity and the epidemic of eating disorders has become a battlefield in the social and health sectors of our society.

The idealization of thinness at all costs continues to supersede body acceptance and to supplant overall health as a goal. In fact, the diet industry has dangerously co-opted the term “healthy” as synonymous with the term thin. The medical establishment frequently uses social norms instead of medical research to promote thinness as well.

Striving for thinness already is the number one risk factor for developing an eating disorder. As long as sanctioned dieting is culturally acceptable, the incidence of eating disorders will continue to rise.

The pharmaceutical industry is a cog in the machine of dieting, but no drug has been as successful as Ozempic. A weekly injection that suppresses appetite continuously and indefinitely is completely new to the weight loss market. A culture desperate for this wonder drug can’t get enough of it. Ozempic flies off the shelves, was out of stock for weeks and has been glamorized by celebrity culture as the must-have drug.

So we are all entering the grand experiment of an extraordinary number of people trying a new drug that stays in our bodies for weeks at a time with possible cancer risk, let alone other risks we aren’t aware of yet, all in the name of weight loss. Many people taking the drug don’t have any supposed medical reason to try it either. They just want to lose weight.

Previous medications used for weight loss have had similar results for many people: short-term benefit followed by periods of binging as a reaction to prolonged undereating. In addition, so many people are exposing themselves to unknown medical side effects. No magic drug exists yet, and it’s unclear one ever will.

It’s hard not to believe that Ozempic will fall into this category soon enough. When will we, as a culture, stop valuing thinness over everything? When will we realize the powerful industries which benefit mightily from our desire to do anything to lose weight, no matter the personal risk? When will we all stop acting like lemmings seeking the holy grail for weight loss?

As of now, no changes are likely to happen until the Ozempic craze ends.