Three diets that stimulate the same hormone as weight-loss drugs – without the side effects

The weight-loss jab boom is in full swing. With celebrities showing off dramatic transformations, #ozempicbody trending on TikTok, and many buying GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic to slim down for beach holidays, it’s estimated 1.5 million Britons are now using weight-loss drugs – with 95 per cent accessing them privately, from online pharmacies or weight-loss clinics.

There was good news recently for anyone hoping to try the latest weight-loss injections: the NHS announced that Mounjaro will now be available through GP surgeries in England for patients with severe obesity and the “highest clinical need”. Over the next three years, almost a quarter of a million people are expected to benefit.

GLP-1 drugs, originally designed to treat type-2 diabetes, are widely hailed as a game changer for tackling obesity. Clinical trials suggest the jabs can help users lose 15-20 per cent of their body weight. They regulate blood-sugar levels and may improve conditions linked to excess weight, including high blood pressure, fatty liver disease and sleep apnoea.

However, as the Mounjaro rollout begins, concerns are mounting among doctors and public health experts that the GLP-1 gold rush is distracting from safer, more sustainable solutions for solving the UK’s ailing metabolic health. Alongside the soaring demand, reports of GLP-1 side effects are growing: from nausea and constipation to gallbladder problems and, now, hundreds of cases of pancreatitis.

“There’s been a rush to embrace GLP-1 drugs as a magic bullet, but we’re not talking enough about the risks,” says Dr David Unwin, award-winning GP and scientific adviser to the Public Health Collaboration (PHC), a charity that champions lifestyle-based approaches to metabolic health. “A BMJ investigation shows there have been 82 deaths associated with these medications. Yet most patients assume the drugs are safe. People are accessing them online, without proper medical supervision. It’s like the Wild West.”

While he acknowledges GLP-1s have a role to play, he and other doctors are concerned the drugs are being promoted as a fix-all, and are quietly proving that targeted diet and lifestyle programmes can achieve similar results – without side effects.

“You can stimulate your own GLP-1, naturally, through food and exercise,” says Dr Unwin, who is known for pioneering the low-carb diet for obesity and diabetes in the UK. “A low-carb, high-protein diet is shown to boost GLP-1 levels. And it doesn’t come with nausea or cost a fortune.”

Dr Campbell Murdoch is a GP with a special interest in metabolic health who launched a Metabolic Health 28-Day Plan combining a high-protein, low-carb diet with time-restricted eating, movement, easy lifestyle changes and mindset support. Originally created for NHS patients at his practice in Somerset, the results were so positive, the programme has been made freely available online.

“The GLP-1 boom has at least put metabolic health on the radar,” says Dr Murdoch. “Now we need to give people complete solutions, including lifestyle, not just the drugs.”

Here are the three diets doctors recommend.