The Mindshare Conference feels like our industry’s version of the health Oscars, every year, top functional practitioners gather to share what’s working in real-world practice. In September, I sat next to the brilliant and kind Dr. Ashley Lucas of PhD Weight Loss, whose programs have helped thousands lose weight. Straight away, I asked if she uses GLP-1s. She smiled and said, “No, and I don’t plan to.”

Her reason? She’s seen too many complications:

• Severe hair loss

• Obstructed bowels

• Slowed metabolism and rebound weight gain after ending the medication*

• Expensive to maintain long-term

• Significant loss of lean muscle mass*

Personally, it's been a mixed bag with my clients, nutrient deficiencies being a particularly notable outcome of GLP-1 use. As a consummate advocate of patient choice, I want you to be informed as much as possible, but if you’re here, you likely value natural, sustainable health solutions. If weight loss is one of your health goals, here’s the exact order of operations I’d follow:

1. Health & Wellness Coaching — Optimize sleeping well, mindful awareness, eating healthy, reducing sugary drinks, being active, and getting stronger for more sustainable behavior-change results.

2. Intermittent Fasting — 12:12, 16:8, 24-hour fasts once per month. Cycling ladies, check out Dr. Mindy Pelz's fasting cycle theories. 

3. Functional Nutrition Counseling — Identify gene markers (like FTO SNPs) and use nature’s Ozempic, dihydroberberine, to calm the leptin and ghrelin hormones. Oral peptides are also used at this level. 

4. Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) — Maintain results or taper off medications safely while supporting a microbiome and metabolic reset.

5. Personalized Supervision — Partner with a licensed provider for peptide therapy (injections), bHRT, and don't skip the foundations of #1.

Natural Metabolic Support: Dihydroberberine

What if there was a plant compound that offered many of the same benefits of the weight loss meds, without injections, prescriptions, or the price tag?
Dihydroberberine (a highly absorbable form of berberine, 5x more effective) supports:

• Lower blood sugar and improved insulin sensitivity

• Enhanced fat burning and metabolic flexibility

• Better energy, cholesterol, and inflammation balance

This formula is customized to your DNA, especially if you have FTO SNPs (like me and many clients) and naturally calms leptin and ghrelin (your hunger and satiety hormones). *It's important to take your full therapeutic dose to reap the daily benefits. 

👉Order your DNA Test kit and save $50 on a genetic interpretation consultation.

Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) for a True Reset

If you’ve followed a Mediterranean-style diet, want to prevent metabolic disease, or taper off your weight loss medication, the Prolon Fasting Mimicking Diet offers the benefits of fasting without deprivation. You eat real food, stay nourished, and still activate cellular renewal.

In just 5 days, you can experience:

• Metabolic flexibility and reduced visceral fat

• Cellular cleanup (autophagy)

• Better energy, mood, and motivation

I’ve completed four Prolon fasts myself this year and love how it helps balance my gut and reset my hunger cues as someone with FTO SNPs.

👉Order your FMD kit and save up to 30% with my practitioner code.

*People regain an average of two-thirds (2/3) of the weight they lost after they discontinue the medication. The weight is back on within 8-52 weeks. New research from Jan of 2025 shows GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide or tirzepatide can strip away 20 years' worth of muscle in under 18 months. It's an alarming side effect of rapid weight loss. That's not success, it's just another "thing" that doesn't work and that can have long-term drawbacks. 

Sources:

Chou, R. et al. Meta-Analysis of Weight Regain After Discontinuation of Anti-Obesity Medications. BMC Medicine, 2025. Found significant regain between 8–52 weeks after stopping GLP-1 RAs. 

Mechanick JI, Butsch WS, Christensen SM, Hamdy O, Li Z, Prado CM, Heymsfield SB. Strategies for minimizing muscle loss during use of incretin-mimetic drugs for treatment of obesity. Obes Rev. 2025 Jan;26(1):e13841. doi: 10.1111/obr.13841. Epub 2024 Sep 19. PMID: 39295512; PMCID: PMC11611443.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11611443/

https://l-nutrahealth.com/blogs/news/freedom-from-glp-1s?srsltid=AfmBOookEKB44-yCOhtikKLLA6tKOEq_o881n4ZgrnPJBfE519hf1hoV

TL;DR:

At the Mindshare Conference, Dr. Ashley Lucas of PhD Weight Loss shared why she avoids GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, she’s seen too many complications: severe hair loss, slowed metabolism, bowel obstruction, muscle loss, and rapid weight regain after stopping. New research confirms that most users regain two-thirds of their lost weight within a year and can lose decades of muscle mass in under 18 months.

Instead of relying on short-term fixes, I recommend a sustainable, root-cause approach: start with health coaching to optimize foundational habits, explore intermittent fasting and functional nutrition counseling, and use natural metabolic supports like dihydroberberine—nature’s version of Ozempic. For a deeper metabolic reset, try the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) to boost energy, reduce inflammation, and restore hunger balance.

Both dihydroberberine and FMD can support long-term weight and metabolic health without the risks of GLP-1s, helping you lose weight while protecting your lean muscle, energy, and longevity.