The BEST Ozempic Alternative (Natural GLP-1 Hack!)

What if weight loss didn’t require starving, suffering, or starting over every January? What if your metabolism actually wanted to stay lean, your cravings quieted down, and your energy supported the life God’s calling you to live? Today, I’m breaking down why extreme diets backfire, and the simple, proven habits that create lasting weight loss without burnout. Watch The Dr. Josh Axe Show every Monday & Thursday on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjoshaxe?sub_confirmation=1 🎧 Early Access! Our podcast listeners get every episode early, and you can tune in and be a part of our exclusive listeners below → Spotify Apple Podcast Watch my episode with the Cellular Health Expert Jess Berman → https://youtu.be/PnGsVH3_nqY?si=UYSM3ZlLa1BkaY1a Watch my episode with Jillian Michaels on Weight Loss→ https://youtu.be/LaJIfsvJUEU?si=Orcn5gZeLjKjmWVM Order my NEW BOOK, The Biblio Diet → https://bit.ly/4oPEP3t Watch my free training on how to naturally balance your blood sugar and reverse your symptoms → DrAxeDiabetesClass.com Discover practical steps you can take today to start healing your thyroid naturally → DrAxeThyroidClass.com If you’re ready to start feeling like yourself again and balance your hormones, take my free class → DrAxeHormoneClass.com Uncover what’s really going on in your body with advanced biomarker testing for hormones, thyroid, and metabolism— plus a 1-hour consultation with a Senior Health Advisor! → MyBloodWork.com CONNECT WITH DR. JOSH AXE Instagram Facebook TikTok X LinkedIn Website Sign up for my newsletter Ask me a question 0:00 Longterm Weightloss = Healthy Lifestyle 4:05 The GLP-1 Revolution 8:30 The Obesity Epidemic & MAHA 14:45 1 Foods that Mimic Ozempic 17:49 2 Soluble Fiber (Prebiotics) 20:07 3 Probiotics 21:25 4 Berberine 22:04 5 Bitter Compounds 22:36 6 Healthy Fats 24:26 7 Polyphenols 25:25 Stay Active: Strength Training & Steps 30:37 Fasting and Sleep 33:55 Herbs and Supplements 36:05 How to Stick to the Plan 38:41 Change Your Mindset on Losing Weight Links https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/oby.21538 https://www.the-sun.com/tv/15020955/biggest-loser-danny-cahill-gained-weight-back-interview/ https://www.medclinrese.org/open-access/drug-discovery-and-development-of-semaglutide-and-tirzepatide-from-the-gila-monsters-heloderma-spp.pdf https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.adq6452 https://www.health.com/ozempic-muscle-loss-protein-study-11773250 https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/obesity-overweight.htm https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/oct/15/almost-70-of-us-adults-would-be-deemed-obese-based-on-new-definition-study-finds https://www.nprillinois.org/2025-04-03/rfk-jr-wants-to-stop-people-using-snap-benefits-to-buy-soda-will-it-help https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2405457724001761 https://www.ft.com/content/97937129-cdb7-4b58-a373-c4c873feba8c https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11154-020-09576-3 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/05/060529082903.htm https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0319085 https://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(15)00134-X/abstract DISCLAIMER This content is strictly the opinion of Dr. Josh Axe and is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice or treatment from a personal physician. All viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Axe nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program. Learn more about your ad choices. V

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:02Speaker 00

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• 1:15Josh Axe?

  Imagine it's the end of 2026. You wake up before your alarm. No brain fog, your joints feel loose and light, your clothes fit comfortably, your energy is through the roof, and even the jeans that are buried in the back of your closet that haven't fit you for a few years, they fit perfectly. Now you walk past the mirror and you actually pause and think, wow, I did it. This is my new normal. I look great, I feel great. Your doctor is shocked, your labs are better, your blood sugar's down, your blood pressure's down, your energy is up, and you're not obsessing over food. You're not white knuckling your way through another new year, new you diet. You're just living, playing with your kids, playing with your grandkids, serving at church, maybe hiking.

• 2:01Josh Axe?

  You're out playing pickleball, you're active, maybe you're finally starting that business or ministry God put on your heart years ago because your body isn't holding you back anymore. You're living out your dreams. That's what I want for you this year and today we're going to make it very practical of exactly how you do this. And by the end of this episode, you're going to understand why most diets, quick fixes, and even shows like The Biggest Loser almost guarantee that the weight comes back. And you're going to learn the seven science-backed habits from protein and muscle building to fasting, sleep hacks, and stress management, and smart supplements that rewire your metabolism. So your body wants to stay lean and your

• 2:45Josh Axe?

  hormones are working for you, not against you. And so you'll be able to walk away with one simple day one routine. You can start tonight, not next month. This is not about losing weight for a vacation and gaining it back. This is about building a body and lifestyle that stays lean, energized, and strong for decades to come. Welcome to the Dr. Josh Ak Show.

• 3:26Josh Axe?

  You know, early in my career, I remember watching shows like The Biggest Loser and people dropping 100 pounds, even 200 pounds. One contestant lost 239 pounds in one season and looked incredible. But several years later, a study followed the contestants from one season and found that most of them regained all of the weight and their metabolisms were actually slower than before. They were worse off. Their bodies were fighting to store fat because of the extreme unsustainable methods used on the show. And recently, one of the winners, Danny, shared that he regained essentially all 239 pounds he lost. He said

• 4:08Josh Axe?

  he was never really taught how to live in a way that keeps the weight off long term. You see here the headline, Diet Dilemma. He says, I won The Biggest Loser by dropping 239 pounds fast. He said, I gained it all back. After a rude awakening away from the show. And I remember a friend of mine, Jillian Michaels, talking about this, that she didn't agree with a lot of the methods and methodology of The Biggest Loser. Because again, it was so focused on this short weight loss, not long-term weight loss, fitness, health and healing. And the pattern is this that most people follow. Rapid weight loss, metabolism crashes, hormones out of whack and in balance.

• 4:52Josh Axe?

  The weight comes roaring back, only this time now you're more depressed than ever before. And I'm curious, how many of you have ever done a diet or exercise program or a cleanse or something where you did the program and within that same year, you gained all of the weight back and sometimes even more weight. I hear this all the time from patients. And then here's the new thing, okay, so we had The Biggest Loser in the past. We had things like HCG drops, that was another thing of the past. And now we have the GLP-1 revolution. We're in the age of Ozempic, Wegovy, Manjaro, Zepbound and the GLP-1 drugs. Now here's a little history, scientists were studying a poisonous Gila monster lizard.

• 5:37Josh Axe?

  Its venom contained a compound that looked like our own GLP-1 hormone. That discovery eventually led to drugs like semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic. And these drugs became so powerful for blood sugar and weight that in 2023, Science Magazine named GLP-1 obesity drugs the breakthrough of the entire year. And just recently, the World Health Organization released guidelines endorsing GLP-1 therapies for long-term obesity treatment. Now here's the issue, in a new analysis, people on semaglutide lost about 6.3% of their body weight.

• 6:19Josh Axe?

  But when their protein intake was low, they also lost a lot of muscle, especially older women. In some studies, they lost 40% and even 50% of their muscle mass. And I want you to think about this, if somebody loses weight and when they're losing it, let's say they lose 20 pounds. Let's say they lose 40 pounds. If you lose 40 pounds and 20 pounds of that is muscle.

• 6:46Josh Axe?

  You are aging your body 20 years. So you might think to yourself, hey, I'm 45 years old and I'm going to get on GLP-1 and you lose 50, 40, 50 pounds and you think, okay, I'm really happy I did this. But while you did that, you aged yourself at least 10 years, if not 20 plus years, because muscle mass, it's a longevity organ. It's so critical. One of the biggest reasons why women can have an early mortality is due to hip fractures from falls. It's feebleness. It's being too weak, not having enough muscle mass. And the other thing is, you know, you still don't look as good as you would because areas like your butt, in fact, you can look this up online. There are terms like Ozempic face and Ozempic

• 7:31Josh Axe?

  butt, where you look malnourished and gaunt in the face. You lose the muscle mass. In fact, your largest, one of your largest muscle groups is your glutes in your butt. That's where you lose the most muscle. And so you lose those curves that you want to have for health and fitness and even attraction and overall looking fit and healthy. And that's the side effect of doing GLP-1s as a drug and not pairing it with the right diet and lifestyle program. Now, here's an interesting fact. God actually designed your body to release its own GLP-1. When you eat the right foods, in just a moment, I'll get into what exactly these foods are and how you can mimic the effects of drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy

• 8:15Josh Axe?

  naturally in your body without any of the side effects. I am not okay with GLP-1 used at the regular dose that most doctors are giving it. I am generally okay if it's done as a microdose in combination with all of the other things I'm mentioning. What GLP-1 does is it causes something called gastroparesis. That means the food is going to move very slowly through your digestive system. It's going to sit there and so you're going to stay full and so you can't eat as much and you don't have those same food cravings because your body stays full longer. The problem is, It can deplete the nutrients you're trying to absorb. When you slow your GI, that can lead to things like SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in the future,

• 8:58Josh Axe?

  cause constipation, so it actually blocks your detoxification channels. There are a lot of problems with it done at that high dose. There is a old natural medicine quote I love, and it's this. The dose determines the medicine or the poison. If you're doing a very high dose of certain things that could sometimes be healthy, but you're doing too high a dose, then it becomes a poison. And that's what's happening with GLP-1 right now at the high dose. If you do a microdose and you include the other things I'm about to get into, I think that's fine for a lot of people. But right now, the dose is way too high to the point to where it's causing malfunction and disease in your body. Even though you might be skinnier, you're not healthier. Now, before I dive into these prescriptions,

• 9:43Josh Axe?

  I want to talk to you about the obesity epidemic in the Maha movement. Listen, we're not just dealing with willpower problems here. That's not why some people can't, uh, can't lose the weight. We're living in a food environment that almost forces weight gain. Did you know that in the United States, 70% of adults now meet criteria for obesity? That is devastating. If you walk into a typical grocery store or a Walmart, you'll understand why. Over half of what's on the shelves now qualifies as ultra-processed food. Engineered products loaded with refined flours, sugars,

• 10:22Josh Axe?

  artificial flavors, industrial oils and saturated fat that make you want to keep eating. Even foods marketed as healthy are often not healthy at all. And so the reality is, a lot of things that are labeled as food today, they're not actual foods. And then when it does come to food, like eating real fruits, real vegetables, real organic meat, the problem is, a lot of these conventional forms of produce are sprayed with pesticides with glyphosate that disrupt our endocrine system and our gut microbiome. And they create something called obesogens because these chemicals alter estrogen in our gut microbiome.

• 11:04Josh Axe?

  And what that does is it blocks our detoxification channels. It interferes with other hormones like leptin and ghrelin. And it causes you to crave more food, gain weight, really, really messes with your metabolism in your blood sugar to where you stay sick and your hormones start working against you. I mean, have you ever noticed that or felt that? That you're like, okay, I am eating a little bit healthier. I'm moving more and the weight just isn't coming off. Or you hit this roadblock where it's like, it's just not working anymore. And a big reason for that is your hormones are so imbalanced. Your estrogen, your cortisol, your thyroid hormones are working against you to lose weight. And the great thing is when you learn to detoxify your cells and your liver and your

• 11:48Josh Axe?

  body, you start to clear out the excess estrogen. You can get your thyroid markers back into balance and cortisol. What happens now your metabolism comes back to normal and you burn weight and lose fat so much more easily. Your liver and your cells and your lymphatic system, your body was created to deal with a certain amount of toxins. Okay. But the problem is there are so many chemicals and toxins now, day after day, year after year, it's in our food supply, it's in our water supply, it's in our packaging. I mean, they're coming from everywhere. But the good news is for the first time ever, we have our government now and political leaders actually aware of these things, trying to make positive changes. You know, Robert F Kennedy Jr. As Health and Human Services Secretary, has framed

• 12:33Josh Axe?

  the chronic disease and obesity epidemic as a national crisis because it is. And under Maha, he has targeted the food system, calling out ultra-processed foods and environmental toxins as major drivers of chronic disease, including metabolic disorders and obesity. As just one example, he has proposed plans to ban sugary sodas from SNAP benefits to fight diabetes and childhood obesity. And here's the thing I would say is, you know, what's, what a SNAP program is supposed to do is provide people in need with food. Soda's not food. It's not a beverage. It is a chemical. That creates obesity, balances your blood sugar, inflames your entire body.

• 13:18Josh Axe?

  It's a toxin that destroys your body. You know, oftentimes I think back about where, when God is making his, and speaking to Moses about what the food laws are, here's what you should eat, here's what you shouldn't eat. Would, you know, would Coca-Cola with all of the basically food dyes, high, you know, high fructose corn syrup and all the chemicals, which is all it is. And historically it was called Coca-Cola because it had cocaine in it. But overall, is that a food? Would that make the eat this, not that list? It's not, again, it's not even a food. You might ingest it and think it's a food. It's not food. It's an inflammatory beverage that should have a warning label on it like cigarettes do. And so this goes beyond the SNAP program.

• 14:01Josh Axe?

  And we're talking about sodas and candy bars and a lot of the candies that we even give kids today, they should have a warning label on increasing cancer risk, risk of diabetes, because every bite you take brings you closer to cancer, diabetes and obesity. You know, and this isn't about just fitting into a swimsuit. It's about saving our children. It's about guarding your heart and brain. It's about lowering your risk of diabetes, hypertension, dementia and more, and having the energy to fulfill the call God's put on your life, for you to be your best you. You know, in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul says, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Caring for your body is not about vanity, it's about stewardship." So the question is not, "How fast can I lose 20 pounds?"

• 14:46Josh Axe?

  The question is, "How do I build the kind of metabolism, hormones and habits that keep me strong and lean for life and allow me to go and take my, my gifts and impact humanity in a positive way?" And that's what these next seven tips are about and how you can naturally boost GLP-1 in your body.

• 15:09Josh Axe?

  Do you have rising blood sugar, prediabetes, stubborn belly fat and constant cravings? And you're tired of being told just to eat less and exercise more? When you know something deeper is going on? Here's the thing, the real issue starts in your cells, but most blood work won't catch it. I'm currently offering a simple at-home blood test designed to measure the right biomarkers, the ones that reveal what's really driving your hormones, inflammation and metabolism. You'll also get a full hour with one of my senior health advisors to help you connect the dots between your symptoms and your cellular health and discover ways that you can work with the Health Institute to finally find lasting healing.

• 15:52Josh Axe?

  If you want to check it out and grab one before they're gone, just go to mybloodwork.com now.

• 16:00Josh Axe?

  Number one tip is this, if you remember one nutrition rule from this episode, let it be this, aim for 30 to 40 grams of protein at each meal, especially breakfast. Why? High protein diets help people lose weight while maintaining muscle mass and strength, which is critical as we age. And remember that semi-glutide study I mentioned earlier? The people who lost the most muscle on Ozempic were the ones eating the least amount of protein. It is critical. If you're trying to lose weight, lean out, promote insulin sensitivity, you need more protein. Protein isn't just a macronutrient, it's the construction crew of the entire body.

• 16:42Josh Axe?

  When you eat protein, your digestive system breaks it down into amino acids, which are the raw materials your body uses to build and repair and regulate everything from building muscle to balancing your blood sugar. Protein is needed to build and maintain muscle, stabilize your blood sugar by slowing down digestion, increasing thermogenesis so your body burns more calories and repair tissues after exercise. And so it's for healing, it's for regeneration. When protein is too low, your body breaks down muscle to get those amino acids, which slows down your metabolism and makes long-term weight loss nearly impossible.

• 17:23Josh Axe?

  So when I say protein first, it's not a diet slogan, it is physiology and supporting your body in that way. You know, here's what 40 grams of protein looks like. 5.5 ounces of wild-caught salmon, six farm-fresh eggs, a 5.5-ounce grass-fed steak. So really, just a nice, big serving size of a grass-fed burger, or a steak, or wild-caught salmon. So think about this, if you ever go out to eat, you have like a 6-ounce steak or filet, that's gonna get you 40 to maybe 45 grams of protein. And so that's what that looks like. About 4.5 ounces of chicken breast, it's close to 40 grams of protein. Two scoops of protein powder,

• 18:07Josh Axe?

  whether it's a plant protein, or a protein powder that's more like a bone broth base. 6 ounces of ground beef, 4.5 cups of yogurt. This is how you get 40 grams of protein. And so what your diet might look like is for breakfast, you're doing one scoop of 20 grams of a plant protein, another 20 grams of a bone broth protein, and then you're adding in maybe a half a cup of berries, or a sweet potato, something like that. And then a lot of cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice, okay? That's perfect, that's ideal. For lunch, it is a grass-fed burger, or chicken breast, or salmon filet, with maybe a half a sweet potato or rice, and then a bunch of vegetables. And for dinner, it's meat, double vegetables,

• 18:52Josh Axe?

  and healthy fat like avocado. If you follow that diet, it'll work wonders for your metabolism, for weight loss, creating a body that's fit for life. The number two thing you need to do in order to lose weight is mimic Ozempic with food. God designed your own body to release its own GLP-1. And when you eat, as we already talked about, protein, but also in addition to that, fiber and healthy fat, especially from whole foods, your body creates more of its own GLP-1. Here's the key: high protein plus high fiber. You wanna get about 40 grams of protein per meal.

• 19:32Josh Axe?

  And about 40 grams of fiber per day. So let's call it 13 grams or so of fiber per meal. When you do that, you're setting up your body perfectly to lose the maximum amount of weight. And there are so many other benefits beyond weight loss. And I want to walk you through my top seven ways to boost GLP-1 naturally. Number one is we've already talked about high protein meals. Okay, that's number one. Number two, consume more fiber, especially soluble fiber and resistant starch. Why? Because they act as prebiotics. So your body creates more good probiotics. Soluble fibers ferment in the gut, producing something called short chain fatty acids like butyrate or butyric acid.

• 20:16Josh Axe?

  And these directly stimulate GLP-1 secretion in your cells. So think about this, more protein, more soluble fiber. You know, the strongest GLP-1 fibers are likely things like psyllium husk, flax seeds, acacia fiber, oatmeal, apples, berries, and pomegranates. These foods will help your body create more GLP-1. So what this might look like for breakfast is, again, you're getting 40 grams of protein from either eggs or protein powder. And then you're eating pomegranates, berries, or an apple. Okay. One serving, not more, it ends up being too much sugar, but one serving of fruit with protein. That is an ideal breakfast. So you want to get more of this fiber whenever you can.

• 21:01Josh Axe?

  And for lunch, a lot of vegetables and something like a sweet potato. And for dinner, more vegetables, steamed or sauteed in something like an extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil and an avocado. That's more fiber there as well. This is going to put your body in a perfect position in order to burn fat, lose weight, and produce more GLP-1. The number three thing you can do, according to clinical studies, that will help your body mimic Ozempic with food, where your body will now create more GLP-1, is get more probiotics in your diet and probiotic supplements. Certain bacterial strains improve GLP-1 secretion by boosting butyrate and getting more probiotics in your system. The most studied strains of probiotics that have been proven to boost GLP-1 include

• 21:46Josh Axe?

  Bifidobacterium annemilis.

• 21:49Josh Axe?

  Lactobacillus plantarum, which is found in sauerkraut, lactobacillus rhamnosus, and acromancia mucinfilia. This is a postbiotic, actually, that also helps boost. But generally, most probiotics are going to be beneficial. And you can get these by things like coconut yogurt, goat's milk, kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi. Doing more of these foods and taking a probiotic supplement will help your body create more GLP-1. And the ideal approach is getting a high-fiber diet with berries, pomegranates and apples, vegetables, and doing a probiotic together will create a very healthy gut microbiome, which will then allow you to create more GLP-1 on your own.

• 22:35Josh Axe?

  Number four thing you can do to create more GLP-1 in your body is take a berberine supplement. Berberine consistently raises GLP-1 in metabolic syndrome and in diabetics, sometimes nearly doubling the levels. You know, berberine is found naturally in several plants, including bayberry leaf. And this was used in Ayurvedic medicine for a very, very long time in natural medicine. And berberine slows carbohydrate absorption, improves your insulin sensitivity, which is so big for so many people, alters gut bacteria to increase GLP-1. And for most people, the ideal dose will be 500 milligrams, two to three times daily with your meals. Now, in addition, there are some other herbs that have great benefits, and they tend to be more bitter.

• 23:19Josh Axe?

  Bitter melon, gentian, artichoke. The bitter taste, when you taste something bitter, it actually stimulates GLP-1. Bitter melon especially has pharmaceutical level effects on the body in that way. But again, bitter melon, artichoke, gentian, dandelion. You can drink dandelion tea. This is going to have this benefit. Or eat foods that are bitter. Artichokes, arugula. And dive, you know, if you're doing salads, I mean, these sort of bitter foods impact GLP-1 in a positive way. Number six, get more healthy fats, especially omega-3 fatty acids and MCTs. You know, your number one source of getting omega-3 fatty acids is going to be from wild-caught fatty fish,

• 24:02Josh Axe?

  salmon, sardines, halibut, mackerel, you know, black cod. I mean, just getting more fish, fatty fish is tremendous for boosting and taking an omega-3 supplement. In addition, using some coconut oil. Now, listen, my number one favorite oil of all time is extra virgin olive oil. There are so many studies showing it promotes longevity. My second favorite oil for many people to use is coconut oil because it supports a healthy metabolism with the medium-chain fatty acids. And studies have proven both omega-3 fatty acids enhance GLP-1. MCT oil increases ketones, which turn on GLP-1. And we also know that extra virgin olive oil helps secrete more GLP-1

• 24:46Josh Axe?

  because it's high in a type of antioxidants called polyphenols. So sprinkling in these healthy fats, omega-3s from wild-caught fish, walnuts, flax and chia, using a little bit of coconut oil or coconut milk here and there, and using extra virgin olive oil has tremendous benefits in boosting GLP-1. Listen, here's what should happen. If you have any other oils in your cabinets, any soybean oil, cottonseed oil, just margarine, any of that stuff, get rid of it. Going by number one, extra virgin olive oil. You can also use a little bit of coconut oil, but extra virgin olive oil should be your go-to in almost every occasion. You might also ask about avocado oil. You know, I think that's fine as well. But again, I would make extra virgin olive oil your go-to and then also use coconut oil

• 25:30Josh Axe?

  here and there in certain recipes and for certain things as well. Number seven, and this is very much tied to things like extra virgin olive oil, according to medical research that will help boost GLP-1 naturally in your body, is consuming more polyphenol-rich foods. These are a type of antioxidant that actually feed good bacteria in the gut and protect our cells. Polyphenols are found in high amounts in green tea, like matcha. Coffee, cacao, berries, and pomegranates. Polyphenols modulate the microbiome and up-regulate GLP-1 secretion at the cellular level. And there's easy ways to get this in your diet. Again, get more berries, blueberries, blackberries, pomegranates. That's great. Drink some green tea throughout the day.

• 26:15Josh Axe?

  And if it's dessert, skip all of these sugar-filled dessert and do a little bit of dark chocolate. That's at least 70% plus. If you follow this advice here, you're going to notice fewer cravings, longer stretches between meals, easier fasting, when there's overall more weight loss, more energy, better overall health. Now, the number three thing overall to support weight loss is this, strength training and muscle building. Muscle is your metabolic retirement account. The more you have, the more calories you burn at rest, the better your insulin works. The more resilient you are as you age. Studies show that adults can lose up to 3% to 5% of their muscle mass per decade after 40, if they're not lifting.

• 26:58Josh Axe?

  And this is why GLP-1s as a medication are not what you want to do unless it's a microdose combined with everything we've talked about. Because if you lose 40 pounds, you could be losing anywhere from 12 pounds to 20 pounds of muscle mass that is aging you and destroying your health. In doing this for, you know, 20-plus years, I've had so many patients. Listen, the number one excuse I hear of why you can't work out is, "I don't have the time." And I think a lot of times people feel like, "Well, I've got to go and exercise an hour every single day." Listen, what if you did one hour a week? Okay, what if you did 30 minutes twice a week? You did a day of lower body and a day of upper body. Now, listen, I'd like you to do more. I'd like you to do three days a week ideally, or at least two days a week, okay, of 45 minutes.

• 27:43Josh Axe?

  But just make it a priority and do what you can. Listen, if you only have 45 minutes for strength training, here's what you need to focus on. Big movements using big muscle groups. We talked about your butt, we talked about your legs, doing squats, lunges, full-body push-ups, rows, those sort of exercises where you're working your full body and lower body, legs and butt. That makes the biggest difference. Let's say you had one hour twice a week. Let's say you had that. What I would propose you do, do one day of upper body, one day of lower body. And then end each session with 15 minutes of intervals like brisk walking on an incline, bike sprints, or some form of cardio where your heart rate goes up and down.

• 28:25Josh Axe?

  According to research and me working with a lot of patients on this, people will lose the most weight and get the most fit if they combine strength training with interval cardio. That's where the magic happens. And if you're new, start with just two days per week. And you could do full body. That's fine. That's great. If you're comfortable, aim for three to four days a week. And by the end of the year, you will be so much stronger, so much more fit. You'll look in the mirror and said, wow, I cannot believe the transformation that I've seen in my body. The number four way you can lose weight effectively is get in your steps. People often do a 45 minute workout and then sit for 10 hours. Walking, it seems so simple, but inside your body, it's flipping on thousands of tiny metabolic switches

• 29:10Josh Axe?

  that make weight loss easier and it makes it harder for you to regain weight. You want to aim for 7,000 to 10,000 steps a day. This is what happens during a 10K step day. Your muscles act like glucose sponges. Every step you take activates about 200 muscles, especially your legs and your glutes. Again, your biggest muscles in your body. And when they contract, they open up special doors called glute four transporters that pull sugar out of your bloodstream without needing extra insulin. You're literally vacuuming out blood sugar with every step. Listen, when you look at how much we walk today compared to 2,000 years ago, when Jesus walked, or even 100 years ago, we walk so little.

• 29:54Josh Axe?

  I bet we walk one third or less of what we used to. I mean, it used to be historically, everybody walked 10,000 steps today. Our average is 3,000 steps a day. It's not near enough. As you move, your body increases like polysis, which is the breakdown of body fat. The other thing that happens is your lymphatic system starts draining inflammation. Your stress hormones go down, especially if you're walking outside. Cortisol lowers, your thyroid hormones balance, your mitochondria start firing. All of these benefits happen as you walk. You know, there's one study that found that your insulin sensitivity can improve by up to 40%. If you start walking 10,000 steps a day and if you do that consistently for six months, it's amazing what happens in your body. And so here's my tip for you.

• 30:37Josh Axe?

  If you just walked and added in 45 minutes of walking a day, maybe you're doing, you know, 20, just a little over 20 minutes twice a day or 15 minutes around each meal. It's a miracle of what happens in your body. So, so what I would suggest is pick twice a day and go for a 20 to 25 minute walk and ideally do it around meals because it's even more beneficial for your insulin and digestive system.

• 31:01Josh Axe?

  Are you interested in functional nutrition tips to burn fat, reduce inflammation, improve your brain and energy levels and heal naturally? Then I want to encourage you to listen to my friend, Dr. Dave Jockers podcast, the functional nutrition podcast. This podcast is designed to help you with easy, actionable steps to improve your nutrition and lifestyle, understand your lab work and address the root cause factors that may be driving up inflammation in your body. Now I've been friends with Dr. David Jockers for 20 years and he's truly a world expert in functional nutrition, cellular healing and so much more. If you want to learn the best nutrition and natural healing tips, tune into the Dr. Jockers functional nutrition podcast on Apple iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you can listen to podcasts worldwide.

• 31:48Josh Axe?

  Number five is this, according to clinical studies of what helps you lose weight, fasting. Now here's what I'll say about fasting is I'm not suggesting you fast every day. I think for a lot of people, even if you took one day a week or up to three days a week and you skipped breakfast and you spent that time doing something to lower cortisol, walking, praying, meditating, doing those types of things. It is going to improve your metabolism greatly. It's going to help balance your hormones. It's going to help you burn fat, lose weight, feel great. So I would start off picking one day a week. You know, the early church did this, they would either go on Wednesday or Friday or both days. And they would only eat dinner and they would fast the earlier part of the day.

• 32:31Josh Axe?

  Maybe you do that, pick maybe Wednesday, maybe it's Friday and skip breakfast. Or breakfast and lunch and spend more time walking outdoors, praying and fasting and skip those meals. And see what happens to your metabolism. That's something you might try as well. Now here's the key, when you're fasting and you're eating other meals during the week, that you follow the right diet, right? Whole foods, high protein, high fiber, nutrient dense meals. Okay, the number six thing, and we're doing a total of seven. The number six thing you can do in order to lose weight naturally. And also promote healing in your body is prioritize good sleep. Listen, you can't out diet chronic sleep deprivation. One large study following 70,000 women over 16 years found

• 33:16Josh Axe?

  that those who slept five hours or less per night were 32% more likely to gain at least 33 pounds and 15% more likely to become obese. Compared to women sleeping a full seven plus hours. Multiple meta-analysis studies now show that short sleep, usually six hours or less, is a significant risk factor for obesity and central belly fat. And one just common sense tip is this, follow the sun. Wake up with natural light and begin winding down after sunset. Dim the lights, maybe even put on those silly blue blocker glasses.

• 33:55Josh Axe?

  Start reading a book, you know, turn off the, you know, the TV, the phone, all of those artificial forms of light. That's going to help tremendously. Also, go to bed at a consistent time. Wake up at a consistent time, get morning sunlight, you know, I talked about going for a walk. Maybe you do that around breakfast, a nice 15 minute walk if possible. Do everything you can. Also, here's another one, eat an earlier dinner. 5pm dinner is great if you can. Okay, now sometimes with kids, it's a little bit harder, but generally do your best to eat an earlier dinner. That allows your body time to fully digest and you can sleep better that way. But create an ideal lifestyle that promotes deep, good quality sleep.

• 34:36Josh Axe?

  You know, one of my favorite things of all time, and I talk about this fairly often is I wear this Oura ring and I look at my sleep score every single day. I look at my HRV and just know it. Sleep is such an important priority that knowing the amount of deep sleep I have for organ regeneration, the amount of REM sleep I get for brain and neurological healing and total sleep, it is a big priority for me. So I do everything I can to continually try and get better and better sleep. All right. The number seven tip here for burning fat and losing weight, the healthy way is take the right herbs and right supplements. Now we ever already covered berberine, but berberine is probably number one. You know, there are 18 studies that

• 35:18Josh Axe?

  found significant decreases in both weight and BMI in people who took at least one gram of berberine per day for eight weeks or more. So major benefits there. We also talked about probiotics. That's probably the second biggest one. You know, probiotics are so powerful partly as well because you're going to absorb more vitamins and minerals, more folate, more magnesium, more vitamin D. These things also promote weight loss. So probiotics are so beneficial. You know, I had Jess Berman on the show last year and a clip from our show went viral because she claimed that butyrate is your body's natural Ozempic. We talked about butyric acid, which is created by certain bacteria in your gut. And, and that would be a great one to go back and listen to when we, when I had Jess Berman on the show. We talked a lot about phospholipids

• 36:02Josh Axe?

  for weight loss and a number of things. It was really a fascinating conversation. And if you wanted to take a listen to that episode, the link is in the show notes. Number three, we talked about this as well. Green tea. One study found that 12 weeks of treatment with high dose green tea extract resulted in significant weight loss and reduced hip and weight circumference in women. And a few others I really like for this for supporting your metabolism and weight loss. Ashwagandha. I like this because in studies it's been shown to promote weight loss, help with food cravings and lower cortisol. Forskin stimulates fat breakdown and increases lean body mass. By the way, ashwagandha and Forskin are also amazing for thyroid health and supporting your hormones. And another one I would say, now this isn't going to be a supplement,

• 36:43Josh Axe?

  but you take this as a, as a shot, apple cider vinegar. It has appetite suppressing effects. It's most effective when taken 10 to 15 minutes before a meal, just a little bit of apple cider vinegar, about a tablespoon and about a fourth of a cup of water is amazing for supporting your

• 37:03Josh Axe?

  Now, now I want you to remember this.

• 37:06Josh Axe?

  There is no supplement that can fix an ultra processed diet. Okay, but these supplements can be supplementary towards eating the diet we talked about that's high in protein and fiber and nutrients and healthy fats. Now, I want to talk to you about how to stick to this plan because that's key, right? A lot of people start plans. Less people finish plans. Okay, I want to tell you a story. In the Bible, Daniel refused the king's rich foods and wine and chose a simple diet of vegetables and water. And after 10 days, he and his friends looked healthier and stronger than everyone else. The point isn't that you must eat exactly Daniel's diet. The point is that he treated his body and choices

• 37:49Josh Axe?

  as an act of worship and obedience and not just self improvement. He did it because he said, I want to honor God with my body. He understood his body was a temple. He understood that if he wasn't going to consume the king's food that was sacrificed to idols and possibly altered in some way, that he would be healthier for it and better able to serve God. He really believed his body was a temple. And think about that every time you hear. Here's the problem most people have. They think about their, their eating like this. They say, what can I get away with? Versus what is the best thing I can possibly? What are my daily habits? What is my eating habits that allow me to best honor God with my body? To where I can run and win the race and live my most left, most effective life possible? You just want to have a mind shift there.

• 38:34Josh Axe?

  I want to encourage you to do that. If you keep asking yourself, what can I get away with? Can I drink two pots of coffee a day? Can I keep eating the bagels and cream cheese and the processed cereal and the skim milk and the, you know, and the sugar and the Starbucks frappuccino and whatever it is. Okay, you keep thinking about what I can get away with versus start thinking about what can I, what is the single best thing I can eat possibly? So, so if you have, for instance, PCOS, a condition like that, we know that's caused by insulin issues predominantly. And sometimes there's issues with androgens. What are the ideal foods for you to eat? Well, I can tell you it's going to be foods that balance out blood sugar and promote blood flow and movement and help get rid of the excess estrogen predominantly. So ideal breakfast there would be what I talked about earlier, 40 grams of protein

• 39:18Josh Axe?

  from let's say plant-based protein and a collagen-based protein. And then doing maybe an apple or a pomegranate, something like that. And then for lunch, do a lot of steamed cruciferous vegetables. That's going to get rid of all the excess estrogen. But that's how you should be thinking if you have a condition, diabetes, what should you do? A lot of protein, a lot of fiber, a lot of cinnamon, a lot of berberine, a lot of chromium. Those are the things that will help reverse diabetes. So when you're eating, you should be thinking about not what can I get away with? What is the single best thing I can eat at breakfast, at lunch and dinner to optimize my health in this temple that God's created? Now, I want you to think of these seven tips that I covered as part of your calling. When you choose protein and vegetables over a drive-through fast food, you're not just

• 40:02Josh Axe?

  dieting, you're stewarding the temple of the Holy Spirit. When you go to bed on time, instead of scrolling on TikTok or Instagram, you're saying, God, I want a clear mind and a strong body to do what you've called me to do. When you lift weights or take that walk, picture it as training for whatever mission God has for you in the future, both now and 10 to 20 years from now. And here's what I found too, when you are, when you honor God in some area of your life, he opens up opportunities for you in the future. And I covered a lot of things today, but here's the very least thing I want you, I want to challenge you to do. Get 30, 30 to 40 grams of protein per meal and get more fiber. If you just do that with your diet, more protein, more fiber in your meals. So that's going to be more organic meat in your meals typically.

• 40:47Josh Axe?

  And then more fruits that are high, high fiber fruits like pomegranates, apples and berries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries.

• 40:57Josh Axe?

  More vegetables and maybe some more things like walnuts and some, you know, ground seeds like flax, something like that avocado, healthy fats, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, uh, those sort of things. When, when you make that the predominant part of your diet, you will lose weight, you will feel great. Amazing things will start to happen in your body. But if you're thinking about what do I do? Just start there. More protein, more fiber. And you're like, what's one more thing I can do? Start walking, walk around your meals. If you can do these things, you're going to notice a radical difference in 90 days. But I encourage you, take some notes, write it down. What are you going to do moving forward? Just start implementing a few of these things and you're going to experience a breakthrough. I'm absolutely sure of it. And listen, your body can respond at 40 years

• 41:38Josh Axe?

  old, 50, 60, 70 and beyond, when you give it the right inputs. Don't chase the quickest weight loss. Build the deepest health. This short-term weight loss tricks, the GLP-1s at high doses and, and the fad diets, they never play out long-term. I've never seen it in my entire life and career, ever. Focus on implementing daily habits and you're going to see radical transformation. I want to say thanks so much for tuning in here to the Dr. Josh Ak Show. We're each and every week, we're diving deep together on how to grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and take your health and your life to the next level. I'm so excited for what is in store for you this next year. And I also want to encourage you to subscribe. We have so many amazing guests and shows coming out here this year.

• 42:22Josh Axe?

  If you're not subscribed, you're going to miss out on a lot of it. We're going to be doing massive giveaways and this is only for subscribers. So make sure you subscribe for that as well. Also, thanks for liking, commenting and sharing. I can't wait to see you on the next episode.

• 42:40Speaker 04

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