As Always, the answer is, "Eat more plants."
Published 7.8.2025: Dr Michael Greger gave the next presentation from the vegan seminar, "The Truth about Weight Loss," and had no slides. He's written a new book about Glucagon-Like Peptide - 1 (GLP-1) drugs, so that's what he was there to talk up. Greger is king of the cherry pickers, so I am pre-skeptical of what he's about to present.
Supposedly, natural appetite suppressants and meal timing, supposedly as effective as drugs (MAN are these people terrified of GLP-1s) This is a short presentation, only 27 minutes long.
His other book about dieting, How Not to Diet, was written before the GLP-1 craze started (back when GLP-1s were only used to treat diabetes.)
Aside: I recently learned that a family member is being treated for type 2 diabetes with Monjauro (the Eli Lilly drug) in conjunction with Jardiance. I didn't even know that doctors combined therapies like that. The effect of the drug is that foods don't taste great, (it is, after all, an appetite suppressant) and my family member doesn't like that. So it's an open question as to how long he'll remain on the drug. His wife (my sister) thinks it's just a matter of time before he ignores the drug and eats through it. I didn't notice that he's lost any weight (though type 2 diabetics don't lose as much while on the drug). He does wear a continuous glucose monitor, which alarms when his blood glucose is above 250. Which seems stupid high to me, but treating diabetics is not easy, nor is lowering blood glucose levels to under 100. End aside.
Greger, to no one's surprise, is not a fan of the GLP-1 drugs. Apparently he's done a bunch of videos on them at he website nutritionfacts.org. Chances are this talk will just regurgitate the information in those videos (which I have not seen). He considers them a tool for people who don't want to address the real reason they are overeating.
Another aside: Having spent a weekend with my family, I think Greger is simply delusional here. Most of my family would probably be considered obese— certainly the dude with type 2 diabetes is. They are fat because they like to eat, and most of what they like to eat is ultra-processed. But you know what? We didn't eat a whole lot of ultra-processed foods that weekend, and they still ate a lot. They are simply used to eating a LOT of food, as have no interest is "addressing" why they eat so much. End aside.
Greger points to the fact (and this seems to be a plant based doctor talking point, as a just listened to a podcast where a different vegan doctor made the same point) that weight loss plateaus after about a year, and that people who have a ton of weight to lose are still overweight at that point. He also makes a big deal out of the fact that if you go off the drugs, the weight comes back. But if you're on blood pressure meds and you stop taking them, your blood pressure will go back to an elevated number. That's why people who take blood pressure medications don't tend to stop taking them.
Greger, and other plant based doctors, make the point that switching to a whole foods plant based (ie vegan) diet will cause significant weight loss without the side effects. But most people do not want to eat a vegan diet. They just don't. And telling them they can eat soy curls instead of steak (as I heard on a different vegan podcast) isn't going to cut it.
Greger makes a big deal out of side effects, which can be significant in some cases, but a lot of people manage them or get through them. The biggest reason people stop taking the drugs is money (in my opinion). In the US (where I am located) GLP-1s are hella expensive, and insurance companies do not always cover them. At $1600/month, that's a lot of money annually. Many people started when the drug companies were offering discounted coupons, but those programs ended. For many insurance companies, weight loss is not covered for the drugs, but type 2 diabetes is. If you have diabetes, that's one thing. But so-called pre-diabetes is not diabetes— and they won't cover it.
After Greger trashes GLP-1s to promote is book, the interview moves on to his usual spiel, wherein plants or more plants are the answer to everything— though he does manage to tie most of it back to GLP-1s. Eating greens raising our natural GLP-1 (which the body makes for itself). However, the GLP-1 that the body makes doesn't last for long. The GLP-1 drugs mimic what the body makes, but don't dissipate as fast.
Exercise also increases GLP-1, which is actually the first thing he mentions, before noting that the results were less than stellar and the studies will shelved. Not sure then why he mentioned it at all. Chewing your food more raised natural GLP-1, as does turmeric and other spices. Again, you can't go wrong by eating these plants, but the effects of each of this "interventions" are likely small.
After that, AJ asks him why obesity is on the rise, and basically he says we eat too much. Greger goes through a few strategies to losing weight, which if people did would make obesity less common. But people don't do these things, and unless Greger is preaching to the choir, his methods are unlikely to move the needle.
The bottom line here is that Greger an the others in this seminar don't like GLP-1s, but they don't really have a solution for the problem. Simply telling people to eat more plants really isn't a strategy for most, even it it works (and most presenters are really, really thin).
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT any type of medical professional. Do NOT take medical advice from me!!
Supposedly, natural appetite suppressants and meal timing, supposedly as effective as drugs (MAN are these people terrified of GLP-1s) This is a short presentation, only 27 minutes long.
His other book about dieting, How Not to Diet, was written before the GLP-1 craze started (back when GLP-1s were only used to treat diabetes.)
Aside: I recently learned that a family member is being treated for type 2 diabetes with Monjauro (the Eli Lilly drug) in conjunction with Jardiance. I didn't even know that doctors combined therapies like that. The effect of the drug is that foods don't taste great, (it is, after all, an appetite suppressant) and my family member doesn't like that. So it's an open question as to how long he'll remain on the drug. His wife (my sister) thinks it's just a matter of time before he ignores the drug and eats through it. I didn't notice that he's lost any weight (though type 2 diabetics don't lose as much while on the drug). He does wear a continuous glucose monitor, which alarms when his blood glucose is above 250. Which seems stupid high to me, but treating diabetics is not easy, nor is lowering blood glucose levels to under 100. End aside.
Greger, to no one's surprise, is not a fan of the GLP-1 drugs. Apparently he's done a bunch of videos on them at he website nutritionfacts.org. Chances are this talk will just regurgitate the information in those videos (which I have not seen). He considers them a tool for people who don't want to address the real reason they are overeating.
Another aside: Having spent a weekend with my family, I think Greger is simply delusional here. Most of my family would probably be considered obese— certainly the dude with type 2 diabetes is. They are fat because they like to eat, and most of what they like to eat is ultra-processed. But you know what? We didn't eat a whole lot of ultra-processed foods that weekend, and they still ate a lot. They are simply used to eating a LOT of food, as have no interest is "addressing" why they eat so much. End aside.
Greger points to the fact (and this seems to be a plant based doctor talking point, as a just listened to a podcast where a different vegan doctor made the same point) that weight loss plateaus after about a year, and that people who have a ton of weight to lose are still overweight at that point. He also makes a big deal out of the fact that if you go off the drugs, the weight comes back. But if you're on blood pressure meds and you stop taking them, your blood pressure will go back to an elevated number. That's why people who take blood pressure medications don't tend to stop taking them.
Greger, and other plant based doctors, make the point that switching to a whole foods plant based (ie vegan) diet will cause significant weight loss without the side effects. But most people do not want to eat a vegan diet. They just don't. And telling them they can eat soy curls instead of steak (as I heard on a different vegan podcast) isn't going to cut it.
Greger makes a big deal out of side effects, which can be significant in some cases, but a lot of people manage them or get through them. The biggest reason people stop taking the drugs is money (in my opinion). In the US (where I am located) GLP-1s are hella expensive, and insurance companies do not always cover them. At $1600/month, that's a lot of money annually. Many people started when the drug companies were offering discounted coupons, but those programs ended. For many insurance companies, weight loss is not covered for the drugs, but type 2 diabetes is. If you have diabetes, that's one thing. But so-called pre-diabetes is not diabetes— and they won't cover it.
After Greger trashes GLP-1s to promote is book, the interview moves on to his usual spiel, wherein plants or more plants are the answer to everything— though he does manage to tie most of it back to GLP-1s. Eating greens raising our natural GLP-1 (which the body makes for itself). However, the GLP-1 that the body makes doesn't last for long. The GLP-1 drugs mimic what the body makes, but don't dissipate as fast.
Exercise also increases GLP-1, which is actually the first thing he mentions, before noting that the results were less than stellar and the studies will shelved. Not sure then why he mentioned it at all. Chewing your food more raised natural GLP-1, as does turmeric and other spices. Again, you can't go wrong by eating these plants, but the effects of each of this "interventions" are likely small.
After that, AJ asks him why obesity is on the rise, and basically he says we eat too much. Greger goes through a few strategies to losing weight, which if people did would make obesity less common. But people don't do these things, and unless Greger is preaching to the choir, his methods are unlikely to move the needle.
The bottom line here is that Greger an the others in this seminar don't like GLP-1s, but they don't really have a solution for the problem. Simply telling people to eat more plants really isn't a strategy for most, even it it works (and most presenters are really, really thin).
DISCLAIMER: I am NOT any type of medical professional. Do NOT take medical advice from me!!