You are on GLP-1

You get GLP-1 and you get GLP-1 and you get GLP-1! We all get GLP-1!

GLP-1 is in each and every one of us. Yet some of you have naturally higher levels of GLP-1 activity, and some of us……..don’t.

GLP-1 is a hormone. People mostly think of estrogen or testosterone when its comes to hormones. When Christina Aguilera belted out “hormones racing at the speed of light, but that don’t mean it gotta be tonight” - no one thought she was singing about GLP-1. But hormones are much more than just sex hormones - they are any molecule that travel from one part of your body to deliver a message to another part of your body - like GLP-1.

GLP-1 hormone is made mostly by your gut. It is produced in response to eating. Once it’s released it travels around the body to spread its message of fullness and metabolic regularity - this is the only evangelizing I’m OK with. Preach my GLP-1 missionaries. And its favorite places to visit are the pancreas, the brain and other parts of the GI tract, notably the stomach.

1. Lower blood glucose levels

2. Signals to the brain that you are full

Together these lead to weight loss.

There are five major mechanisms by which it accomplishes these two goals:

1. It increases insulin secretion

2. It inhibits glucagon release

3. Slows gastric emptying

4. Influences brain signals of fullness and hunger

5. Makes food less rewarding

In the next few posts I am going to breakdown these two effects of GLP-1 and dive into the nitty gritty. But since we all have the attention span of natural GLP-1 (which fun fact only active for ~1-2 minutes!), I’ll keep this one short. Get ready for a mega post next: GLP-1’s effect on blood sugar.

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