Latest / This Is My Journey | The GLP-1 Podcast / S1 E6: GLP-1s Across the Pond: US vs UK – Real Talk with Dr. Jones DC

Transcript

S1 E6: GLP-1s Across the Pond: US vs UK – Real Talk with Dr. Jones DC · This Is My Journey | The GLP-1 Podcast

• 0:00
  One of the big topics that comes up time and time again here in the GLP-1 community is just how different this journey looks depending on where you live. So most of you listening know my story by now. I'm here in the UK where GLP-1 access is heavily regulated. Options are limited through the NHS or privately through regulated pharmacies.
• 0:20
  And a lot of people are still trying to figure out where to even begin in that journey. But on the other side of the Atlantic in the US, the landscape is completely different. Private clinics, functional medicine practices, coaching programs, you know, it's a whole other world over there. And with that comes both incredible innovation and some very real challenges.
• 0:44
  So today we're diving deep into those differences, the good, the bad and everything in between and exploring what we can learn from each other when it comes to safe, effective and sustainable weight loss. And who better to join me than someone right at the heart of it all on social media. So let's roll the intro and then I'll introduce you to today's special guest.
• 1:11
  Welcome to This Is My Journey, the podcast where real people share real stories of transformation, resilience, and growth. I'm Mark, and after navigating my own path through major lifestyle change, I created this space to open up honest conversations around identity,
• 1:28
  mindset and what it really takes to evolve. So along the way, we'll also hear from professionals, you know, from pharmacists to psychologists and fitness experts who help us make sense of the science and support behind these journeys. So whether you're just starting out deep in the process or you're finding your footing after big change, you are not alone. This is your place. This is my journey. Let's walk it together.
• 1:56
  So welcome back, everyone. So today we are diving deep into those UK and US differences. And to help me do that, I am joined by someone I have followed on social media for a very long time now on my own journey, Dr. Dean Jones, DC. Dr. Jones is...
• 2:13
  a functional medicine doctor, chiropractor, and holistic obesity expert based in the United States. And you have undoubtedly seen him on TikTok or Instagram, and all the amazing content that he puts out. He has supported over 1,400 patients through sustainable weight loss. And his clinic is known for combining advanced peptide therapies like GLP-1, ones with lifestyle coaching, hormone optimization, and just a truly holistic approach to health.
• 2:42
  So what makes Dr. Jones' perspective so powerful is that this isn't just professional for him, it's deeply personal. You know, he struggled with obesity from a young age and went on to lose over 100 pounds himself. So that experience has clearly shaped everything he does today. And it's obvious why he's so passionate about empowering others to reclaim their health and transform their lives too. Dr. Jones, I am absolutely thrilled to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
• 3:11
  Yeah, thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Yeah, no, it's an absolute pleasure. So to kick things off, just maybe start by telling us a little bit more about your background that I haven't really covered, all about your own journey and how you have come to focus on GLP One coaching and just that holistic weight management space.
• 3:29
  Yeah, totally. I mean, that was pretty good. It's pretty good summary. You know, I am a DC, right? So people, you know, it's like, it's an interesting space for a DC. And, you know, there's, it seems like two major paths for DCs. Either they're strictly staying with chiropractic adjustments and that's what they do. And that's phenomenal. I'm a big fan of chiropractic. And then there's DCs that kind of get into the multidisciplinary area where they end up integrating their practices with medical.
• 3:56
  Um, and, uh, that's what I did. You know, I pretty much was exposed to that straight even before I graduated. So I've really been open minded to these different services. I didn't know my passion was going to end up in where I ended up. Right. So I started off with a clinic. We did a lot of regenerative medicine, a lot of pain management stuff, diabetes treatments, like a lot of cool things, but, and I'm always excited to use holistic approaches to,
• 4:22
  But the weight loss, like you said, because of my journey, you know, that really once I started doing that, we did some weight loss programs. But I guess it was the GLP one that added the final piece of the weight loss program. And when I saw the results I started getting and how systematic and clockwork it was, my ability to help people magnified. And then I'm like, OK, this is what I want to do. And so really over the last couple of years, we've just really honed in on that.
• 4:52
  It's so crazy in the GLP-1 space. We pretty much have, and I guess this applies to health in general, you have your dogmatic allopathic, which is Western medicine approach. And they're looking at obesity as a chronic irreversible disease. So funny because you remember obesity was not a disease. It was you. It was your fault, right? It was all that. And now all of a sudden, you know, it's like the beautiful story, right? They got the solution, the medications.
• 5:13
  As much as we've seen this whole song and dance with medications for so many years, finally they came out with a medication that's actually pretty badass. First of all, calling it a medication kind of does it a disservice because it's really a modified peptide. So we can have a whole conversation about that. I call it like a quasi-peptide drug. It's not a pure peptide because it's been significantly enhanced, but it's not a pure pharmaceutical.
• 5:36
  So I think that's kind of where we see this powerful peptide that does have sides, does have risks, but it has so much upside. Because quite frankly, we've never had a medication that actually gets to an underlying, like a foundational underlying piece of health, which is insulin resistance. But it's so much more than that. It's inflammation. It's insulin resistance. And this whole branch, which I would call metabolic health, is really a new thing.
• 6:01
  sort of piece that really wasn't even looked at at Western medicine before, but now it's been rapidly expanding and growing and we understand how important it is. I think it's like probably the biggest piece because it's the foundation to all the rest of your other systems. Like the rest of your other health systems are all downstream of what happens with insulin resistance. And so I feel like, um,
• 6:23
  While I agree obesity is chronic, it's not irreversible. That's where my functional perspective comes in because I've helped so many patients reverse obesity and diabetes without any meds and many functional doctors are like, we do this all the time. But what they would all say is it's not easy. It requires massive commitment, massive overhaul from the patients, because now that you're asking the patient to fight their disease, the obesity disease. And so really what I've done is just kind of realized, all right,
• 6:51
  We got the functional foundation, the lifestyle, like this is the actual real work, but you need the catalyst and that's the GLP one. So putting it together, I feel like, I mean, it's working. No, 100% on, you know,
• 7:08
  I suppose I know firsthand how well it does work. And, you know, myself, I've lost, well, nine stone, 57 kilograms altogether. And I think that's just been a life changing medication. And yeah, I suppose, you know, one of the biggest things I have noticed, you know, being on social media is how different this GLP-1 space looks here in the UK versus the US. So from your perspective, what are those
• 7:38
  biggest differences in how people access and use these medications across them two systems?
• 7:46
  Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's, it's interesting, you know, so in the U S you have very expensive out of pocket costs for we'll go be Ozempic Mondaro, you know, these pharmaceutical branded GLP one meds. And so that's a huge barrier right there is the expensive costs. Now, Noble Nordisk and Eli Lilly did come out with their, you know, patient direct costs, which it went from like really expensive to just kind of expensive, you know, but it's still, it's still really expensive.
• 8:16
  And then, of course, then you have compounded access. So compounded is where Americans can get it for cheap. And it's pretty easy, actually. And that's one big difference from what I understand for you guys. It's like you have so much red tape that you need to go through. And it seems like, and correct me if I'm wrong, but in the UK, yeah, like they're looking at this as you have to be very obese or diabetic to be able to qualify for it. And...
• 8:42
  While in America, it's recognized that that's how it should be used. It's not that we disagree with that in America, but it seems to be just outside of that. Doctors still have a lot of leeway and wiggle room. And if they want to prescribe it, they want to prescribe it. And I do think, by the way, I can make the clinical argument for why people...
• 8:59
  So on one end, you have obesity, diabetes. On the other end, you have super, super healthy, optimized, and you have this whole spectrum in between. I can make the argument all day clinically why we should be prescribing it even for people over here. That's where the microdosing comes into play. But so in America, yeah, doctors have a lot more liberty to prescribe at their own use case and discretion. So I think that's the biggest difference. But then they're stuck with the expensive out-of-pocket costs. And then you have insurance in America that...
• 9:28
  It's just it's crazy. These these guys can and gals that run these companies can do whatever they want. And so they have really unclear, arbitrary, inconsistent guidelines behind what constitutes medical necessity. And then you got a nurse in the insurance company who's deciding whether medical necessity is there, which makes no sense at all. So basically, it's like a lottery. You know, some people get their coverage. Great. Some people don't. They wake up one morning, your insurance company decided to stop covering it.
• 9:58
  And so there's just a lot of randomity. But overall, it does seem to be, from what I can see, just easier to get it over here than it is for you guys. Yeah, no, it definitely is. And I suppose sort of related to that, then I'm going to answer my own question, really. But what you're saying there is.
• 10:15
  that access that people have to that medication over there, you know, allows more people, I suppose, to get the support they need rather than having to go through here, all that red tape. And there's so like daily I hear, and you might do too with followers and stuff coming from the UK, but you know, people who, you know,
• 10:34
  You sort of think on paper, shouldn't qualify for this medication, do qualify, and then the other way around as well. So here in the UK, I find it very confusing, you know, based on the tight sort of frameworks that they seem to work to in terms of BMI. And, you know, you're seeing maybe, you know, here bodybuilders that are able to qualify for it that sort of think to yourself, maybe they shouldn't get it. And then there's other people who very clearly look...
• 11:01
  obese that maybe don't qualify for it because of the BMI. So I definitely think you guys over there definitely I think have a better approach because you're able to assess everybody individually on their cases and I think that's one of the frustrations definitely being over here. You know I've been fine because I've been able to be prescribed it but yeah I think there's I know lots of people that would like to be on this and would actually benefit from it but can't don't actually qualify.
• 11:26
  I would agree overall, probably better in America as far as the access is concerned, but it does come with the downside. So what I think, you know, my business is trying to solve that problem for America. So I'm trying to solve that problem. But you're not getting this in UK because you're just not getting the access. So what we're getting and let me let me add a point to what you said about, you know,
• 11:47
  You would think because there's more prescriptions, there's more there's more oversight, but that's not happening. See what's happening right now in an attempt to capitalism at its finest. Right. You have these massive telehealth companies in America that are competing for business. And so it's like, I got the lower price. I got the lower price. Well, in order, you know, in order to do that, it's like less doctors. You got one doctor signing off on probably thousands of percent. They're not.
• 12:12
  They're not, they have no clue. They're not being a doctor to the patients. It's just how many freaking charts can I sign in one day? Because the medication when done per her protocols, which is a whole other conversation is relatively pretty safe. So doctors are pretty comfortable signing off on that. They get the big paycheck, but these, these, these patients are out there. They're on their own. And so we have a massive problem right now.
• 12:33
  I call it freaking zombie apocalypse mode where people these patients are the biggest problem fundamentally is they're not told how to approach eating So they end up losing, you know, 25 50 70 percent of their weight by starving themselves Their body literally goes into starvation mode. It mirrors like a like a thyroid a low thyroid situation both on labs and That's what that's how they present and they feel like crap, but they're masked by I
• 12:57
  The psychological, I lost a bunch of weight, so I feel good, but my body actually feels like shit. And when you can actually have a conversation with these people, they're like, I get you're excited. Now that excitement of weight loss definitely starts to, when they've been plateaued, well, that excitement fades, and now they can actually see it for what it is, which is, wait a minute.
• 13:16
  I feel like crap. I'm tired. I'm brain foggy. I'm constipated. I'm cold all the time. And I'm not losing more weight and I'm barely eating. That's when the problems really start to come to surface because during the weight loss phase, they're all masked by the excitement and all that. So that's a big problem. Is it better than not having access at all? I guess. But I just want to be clear. That's where a lot of people are at here. Yeah. No, no. It's super interesting. Obviously, you've talked there about working with
• 13:46
  Countless patients and thousands there based on the stats that we give at the start. But going into then challenges that your patients have faced in the early stages of GLP-1, what are the most common challenges that you sort of encounter day to day? And how do you help them overcome them hurdles?
• 14:05
  I think the big one, we discussed the big one. The biggest one is the under eating problem. And the crazy thing is, it's not that simple to just say to the patient, you need to eat more. You tell them that, it's like, okay. But really, it goes in one ear, out the other, because you're taking a patient who's not been able to stop eating for damn near 20 years, right? And they're taking the medication to eat less. And then you tell them at the same time, by the way, make sure that you don't eat too little.
• 14:33
  It's like, wait, wait, like psychologically, that's a trip. You know, it doesn't, it doesn't sit well with them and understandably. So it actually makes a lot of sense why that's so confusing and so hard to do. So it's, it's, there's a lot of psychological component to this, but, but, but it sounds really simple. Yeah. Just make sure you eat enough. So that's, that's one huge issue.
• 14:53
  So I get these patients that come to us and it's probably the most common thing I fix in the beginning with a structured metabolic reset or reverse diet. Some people call it a reverse diet where we take them. It's like a, it's like a six week journey where we're slowly increasing their intake of calories. Of course, you know, we're,
• 15:09
  healthy food. So if they're not already doing healthy food, that's the getting rid of processed garbage. But, but it's, it's the, the systematic increase in calories week by week, just a couple hundred per week does a couple of things, gives the patient time to psychologically deal with the trauma of like, it's okay. You can eat more.
• 15:24
  Take a deep breath. Like, trust me, trust the process. There's a lot. There's, there's time for that. But then there's also time for the metabolism to actually respond to I'm coming out of starvation mode. Cause remember it was weeks, months of under eating every day that led the body to go, whoa, I need to down regulate to survive. It takes weeks for the metabolism to fully come out to speed and go, oh, we're no longer starving anymore. Cool.
• 15:47
  Let me crank up the machinery. Let me crank up the metabolism. And that's when the patients at the same time report, my energy's back. My brain fog is gone. I'm pooping more regularly. I start losing weight. That's my favorite thing to see when somebody's eating more, all of a sudden, weight loss just turns on again and they just start losing. And they're always grounded. What kind of magic are you doing, Dr. Jones? I'm like, oh, it's just science. It's science that's unfortunately not taught in medical schools. And yeah.
• 16:11
  quite frankly gets disregarded as not being true. I mean, how many times have you heard starvation mode doesn't exist? I'm like, OK, you guys don't know the GLP one community. It's real. Yeah. So I think that's the biggest issue. There's a few more, but I said the biggest one. So kind of I suppose really into that then, you know, I know I've struggled with this in particular, but, you know, coming off the medication itself. So for me, I come off in Jaro there.
• 16:36
  recently just for a bit of a reset for three weeks and recommenced it again and it was like starting the medication all over again it was it's been amazing but for them three weeks it's definitely as the weeks progressed it was very very hard i could feed myself even though i've been working on new habits for the last
• 16:57
  you know, 14 months, I could, I could, the cravings were coming back. It was, it definitely was a hard three weeks. I will, I will say that. So in terms of that, you know, what are some of the most effective strategies that you have advised patients to take in order to combat that when coming off the medications? Yeah, absolutely.
• 17:22
  Well, it's interesting that you're bringing this up because we, so we talked about what I call a metabolic reset. Then the other effective strategy we do is a medication reset. So I have medical providers. You got to do this under medical supervision. I know people do this on their own. I get it, but you should do this under medical supervision is my disclaimer. And so the benefit, I'll just talk about that first and then we'll talk about how to deal with it. The benefit, like you just said, is it's like it's starting fresh. Yeah.
• 17:48
  people are getting blasted on the larger doses an extended period of time the body desensitizes to the medication that in this desensitization process to chronic exposure that's prevalent and we know that in human physiology and science you blast anybody with a hormone or a drug or anything for an extended period of time insulin resistance is literally the condition of too much insulin in the body so this is like a really common thing that that there's a resistance that develops and so
• 18:15
  A medication reset is a really powerful tool that we do, again, sometimes with the metabolic reset, sometimes independent of it, just depends what the patient needs. But the goal is to get them, a couple goals actually, and this will tie into how we help people deal with this. But the main goal is, let's give your body a break so that you can become resensitized, we'll get you back on a lower dose, and I can almost guarantee that you'll probably need clinically a much lower dose and feel really good. Your sweet spot is now lowered, right? That's goal number one.
• 18:44
  Goal number two though, this is the mental piece and nobody talks about this Nobody talks about this but for me my goal is always getting people to lose your weight Maintain it for the rest of your life on a micro dose. That's my goal You can't and by the way micro dose means anything lower than the starter dose You can't and people get this confused all the time. They're like I want a micro dose It's like mrs. Jones. You're 50 pounds overweight like micro dosing right now ain't gonna do anything for you You need clinical doses. Yeah, but I
• 19:11
  We're going to we're going to approach your dosing, just keep you on the lowest dose for as long as possible. That's our approach. But you're not going to micro dose. You have to earn micro dosing. You have to make massive improvements in your health for a micro dose to do anything. So we help people do that. We get them to their goal in order to be able to decrease to a micro dose. You have to have made some dramatic improvements in your health.
• 19:32
  Two things that you rely on over there, an improved body, an improved physical, like your insulin resistance is handled, your inflammation's under control. That means food chatter will be much lower. The other piece of it is up here, the mental piece of it, because I do, again, recognize that obesity is a disease. I think for some people, if they fix their body,
• 19:51
  I do think they can completely wean off the meds. And we do see that happens. It's rare, but some people are able to completely wean off the meds. But for the most part, for the rest of people, there's always going to be a little bit of...
• 20:05
  this intrinsic hunger and that's how that's how they define obesity as dysregulated hunger patterns they don't really know why and we can go on and on about why that's happening but the there has to be a stiffened mindset a tough there has to be like an increased ability to say hey those Oreo cookies look freaking delicious Tuesday Tuesday workday a co-worker brought them in for lunch and you have to be able to occasionally say I'm good I'm gonna have some Oreos this week
• 20:30
  or I got a nice dinner planned on Friday evening. I'm going to eat some pleasure food then. I don't need to right now, right? Self-control. Like, well, if we had enough self-control in the beginning, we wouldn't have needed the meds. But again, so we do that work in the beginning. So how do we toughen the mindset? Well, there's some mental training to it. There's the discussion about it. There's just the acknowledgement and understanding of it.
• 20:51
  of I'm aware that my body is this and I'm the thing that runs my body. Sometimes my body is going to tell me I'm hungry and sometimes I'm going to say, nah, I'm good. Right? Well, the medication reset, like you just described, you said, whoa, like I felt it. It's like, okay, cool. Just having this conversation with me and, and you know,
• 21:10
  Looking at my word as a professional who's experienced this, you're like, okay, he told me to expect that to happen. I'm aware why it's happening, but I know this is part of the process. And I don't beat myself up about, let's say I gain five. And by the way, that's very common. I tell patients, you're going to gain five or 10 pounds during a medication reset. That's going to happen. But it's okay, because what you gain out of it is all the other benefit. And then guess what? We're going to get you back on the med and you'll drop that weight off really quickly.
• 21:34
  But what you gained out of that experience of three weeks of trying to fight it yourself as best as you can without taking a loss and getting introverted about losing, losing just means you weren't ready. Well, of course, we're doing the reset, not because you're done. We're doing the reset as part of the process. So you got to think of the medication reset as a part of the process. Expect to gain a couple pounds, but don't beat yourself all about it. And then every three or six months, do another reset. See what happens.
• 22:02
  And I can almost guarantee that if you do this every three or six months, test the water, so to speak, if you're making massive improvements in your lifestyle in between, it should get easier. But there we go. But just don't beat yourself up about the process and take your time with it. And that's kind of there's obviously more to it, but that's more or less how we help patients deal with that process.
• 22:25
  Yeah, no, that's super, super interesting just listening just because it's so fresh for me and having done it, you know, I've only just went back on a few weeks and yeah, it's, it's, it's, I keep saying it on lives and things like that whenever I'm talking on social media, but it's been life changing again because there's just so much clarity, you know, having, having gone back on it again. But, but yeah, no, super interesting. Thank you. Thank you so much for that. Yeah.
• 22:49
  So there's lots and lots of debate about the muscle loss question and metabolic slowdown on GLP-1. So what's the reality from what you see in clinic day in day? And how can people protect their long term health while using these medications?
• 23:09
  It's so easy to get lost in the research because you look at the research and the research, you know, some of the research, actually, by the way, there is there is some good muscle preservation research, but there's a lot of research that shows muscle loss. There is. And in fact, there's more. And so when you just look at that, you go, oh, GLP ones cause muscle mass loss.
• 23:29
  But then why do you see so many people that don't lose muscle mass? And there is data starting to come out when you change the study to account for how you actually protect. So there's a whole process of what you can do to protect your muscle mass on GLP-1. So first and foremost, GLP-1s, in my professional opinion, do not cause muscle mass loss on their own.
• 23:48
  When you understand the mechanisms of what they do the two main pieces being Improving insulin resistance reducing inflammation you can make the argument all day that they actually produce an environment that will actually Foster muscle growth like you're doing things that make it better for your body to hold on to the muscle mass But those signals can't outdo a massive calorie deficit combined without proper protein intake and without proper resistance training the protein intake is simple one gram of protein per pound of target body weight so most
• 24:17
  Women would do good shooting just arbitrarily 150. Most men shoot for 200. Now, obviously you can adjust that, but that's a good enough recommendation. Close enough for most. But the other part of it is, well, what is proper resistance training? That's, I mean, there's so many styles of workouts. They go, I'm working out, and then you find out that they're doing an aerobics class, or they got like three pound dumbbells, five pound dumbbells. That's a very different type of workout. So the best analogy I can give, everybody's probably seen a video of a bodybuilder lifting.
• 24:45
  The way that a bodybuilder lifts, the way, that is called hypertrophy training. If you want a visual of how you should lift as a person on GLP-1s, not interested in being a bodybuilder, that's actually the closest to how you should be lifting. The biggest difference is you're not going to be doing anywhere near the volume that they do. You don't need to lift nearly as much, but if you want a good representation of how to approach it,
• 25:09
  The mind muscle connection, the intensity, increasing weights when you can, the form, all of that. That's what's going to give your muscles the strongest signal to grow. You want to give your muscles the strongest signal to grow. But I promise you won't grow because on a weekly, your deficit of calories is so high. You're not going to grow. But you give the muscles enough signal to where it goes, okay, I want to grow, but I can't.
• 25:32
  because you're in a deficit. So I'm just going to preserve, I can't get rid of this muscle because you keep freaking training it. And I need to keep you strong. That's your body's response to the stressor of proper lifting. But when you go down the totem pole to less intense lifting, to less frequent, to lighter weights, to aerobic classes, that signal isn't nearly as strong. And then eventually your body just goes, okay, you're losing weight. I got to get rid of this muscle because muscle is very metabolically active tissue. So yeah,
• 25:56
  Really, in summary, you got to eat enough protein. You got to do some proper resistance training. And the GLP-1s will support all of that. But again, most people, they're not doing those two things on the GLP-1s. So that's why the research that's done shows massive muscle mass loss. It's not the meds. It's the meds paired with an improper lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. No, 100%. And I think...
• 26:19
  Obviously, I can relate it to my personal experience. You know, I had assessments and stuff done after I got to goal and things like that. And I had managed to maintain my muscle, which I was, you know, over the moon at. But definitely now, you know, during that journey, sorry, I wouldn't really have
• 26:38
  been i suppose you know it was it was more cardio and walking and things like that that i was doing but now i have really started to focus on the muscle and toning up and all that sort of stuff now so um but yeah no super interesting stuff that you're talking about again this is maybe one you've you've already answered but i'm going to ask it anyway because we get it all the time you get it i'm sure countless times about glp ones and being a quick fix what's your kind of view on it
• 27:06
  Yeah. I mean, I look, there's going to be your, your 45 year old, um, uh, mother who wants a quick fix that doesn't want to lift weights. And there's, I just want to drop 10 pounds. You know, I mean, now we've never had a way to do that without taking harsher drugs, fentramine. And, you know, there, there was, there was always those meds there that could be, that could be a quick weight loss fix, but those were much more harsh on the body. Now you have something that's pretty relatively safe, even if you do the whole thing wrong and just take the med and eat less. Yeah.
• 27:36
  but you're gonna gain the weight back. So, you know, I think no matter what we do, there's always gonna be people that are just gonna do that. And that's just the reality of it. But for the rest of us that understand like, okay, I'm trying to do this long term and I wanna do this right, like,
• 27:51
  it's never going to happen without a structured plan. So where I stand is regardless of whether your goal is five or 10 pounds, because I still argue for GLP one use, regardless of your weight loss goal. And we can get into that if you want, but regardless of whether it's a small goal or a large goal, the GLP ones are the catalyst for lifestyle change, but you have to do lifestyle change or you will just gain all that weight back. And there's not only, there's not only data on GLP one weight regain that already proves that.
• 28:18
  But even non-GLP1, just general weight loss research already shows us all the weight that's ever been lost, everybody gains it back. There's no long-term research that shows any amount. It's very, very little.
• 28:29
  And I'll tell you, when you look at the actual weight maintenance, I call them unicorns. The unicorns in the world of weight loss prior to GLP-1s, they actually looked into those patients, like, how did they do it? And I always say, if you know who David Goggins is, they had to have David Goggins-like mental toughness because these people never stopped counting their calories. They exercised every single day. They had really strong foundation of supports and coaching structures. They had ways to prevent and deal with anxiety and depression.
• 28:57
  Your average person doesn't have like a structure of that much stuff going on, like counting calories every day for the rest of my life, exercising every day for the rest of my life. Like, yeah, that's all fine and dandy. That sounds great. I'd love to do that. But then reality hits and just most people can't do that. So.
• 29:12
  Those people had to rely on overriding, right? Mental toughness, overriding a lack of like, well, how do you actually fix the body? The way that you fix the body is metabolic health. And so if you fix the body, mental toughness doesn't have to be as much because you can rely on both. Yeah.
• 29:30
  No, again, super interesting. We could talk about that question alone in a whole episode. But yeah, I know there'll be lots of people that are maybe only starting this journey. For the first time, what would your maybe top three pieces of advice for them starting? Well, I think...
• 29:51
  sort of in its own category. I'll give the three tips, but I think sort of in its own category is just establishing, like, what are you trying to accomplish? Establishing the proper goal and the proper...
• 30:04
  idea behind what your approach is going to look like, right? So maybe you were somebody that just wanted to lose five or 10 pounds. Okay, cool. What were you really willing to put forth in this program to do this? Were you just trying to do a quick fix and just, I'm just gonna take the med and yada, yada, yada. Like, so, so I think really the foundation is of above everything else. Cause none of the tips that I'll tell you next are going to matter if you're just thinking, I'm just gonna take the med. So getting real honest and straight with yourself about the fact that this is a tool
• 30:31
  You know, you got that whole thing. So that's number one. But okay, let's say I get it. I'm committed. I want to make some real change. What do I do? The foundation, I think, is fasting and what you're eating when you're not fasting. So I'm a huge, huge proponent of fasting. And that's really why my protocol is called flow, F-L-O-A, fasting like our ancestors. So I can't, can you do it without fasting?
• 30:56
  Yeah, but that's like really hard. Like we're talking about insulin resistance, which is a condition that leads to chronically elevated insulin levels. Insulin is literally increased when you eat sugar carbohydrates. So what's the best way to remove carbohydrates from your diet? Well, you can go keto.
• 31:15
  Eat a low carb diet. That's really powerful and I and I do promote a low carb diet when you're not fasting But the best version of not eating carbohydrates is just not eating when you're fasting you have such powerful Shifts in your hormones so you get the calorie deficit that you need for weight loss But then you get to take advantage of these hormones that shift in your body when you're fasting so people always confuse fasting with starvation It's very very different
• 31:40
  it's a controlled version of cycling. Your calories is really at the end of the day, what we're talking about with fasting. And then you get the strategy of, and the benefit of your body doing all sorts of things like improving growth hormone production to protect your muscle mass. Um, you increase ketone production, which is your body's burning. You're forcing your body to burn fat. So now you're becoming more metabolically flexible. Uh, there's,
• 32:00
  There's so many things that fasting does. So you just think of it as a way of cycling your calories. And then, so that, to me, that's number one. And then aside from that, when you are eating, you got to cut the carbs and you got to increase the fat intake. A lot of people mistake low carb and they think high protein, low carb, but then they don't increase their fat.
• 32:19
  If you don't increase your fat to compensate for the decrease in carbs, now you're on a low calorie diet. You're on a high protein, low calorie diet, and you're in the same problem. So you have to increase your fat. And when you're doing those longer fasting windows, like 24 plus, that's what we do. We get patients into weekly long fasting windows. You have to compensate around those fasting periods with what I call feasting periods, which is why the book that I wrote that's available on Amazon is called Fast Feast and Flourish because...
• 32:46
  If we fast and then go back to deficit, you're just going to go right back into starvation mode. So you're almost like tricking the body to get the best advantage of the fast, but then prevent it from going back into starvation mode. And then when you're eating, just eating a low carb, high fat diet. And then finally, resistance training would be number three. Those are my three biggest pillars, I would say, for anybody looking to start this journey. And I'll add a caveat.
• 33:10
  Anybody even outside of GLP ones if you can lose weight without going low carb Then that just means you're not insulin resistant. So go do that go eat less and lose weight But for 80% of everybody else if they're eating a high carbohydrate diet without GLP ones It's not going to happen GLP ones do allow people that are insulin resistant to eat carbs and still lose weight But it's not as effective and they require higher doses
• 33:33
  So if you want to optimize your GLP-1 and actually stay on lower doses, then you need to help the med. And you help the med by doing the things that I just said.
• 33:41
  So they're all, yeah, anybody starting will be set listening to that. I can guarantee it. But I've just a couple more before you go. So yeah, one that I get asked all the time and just be nice to hear your take on it is about sort of that mental shift that people go through whenever, you know, they're on this and losing all that weight. And I'm sure you hear this all the time, you know, with people. Yeah.
• 34:10
  Just, I know for me, looking in the mirror, it's a completely different person. And, you know, what sort of advice do you give to people, you know, that are maybe struggling with accepting this new person that they are? You know, that's an interesting question. I think people don't...
• 34:34
  ever take enough time to just be there with themselves and actually acknowledge like how they feel. Right. So this is the, and I, and I talk about this now, I try not to do it too much because it gets a little esoteric and metaphysical, but I 100% am a very spiritual being. And I, and I, and this is the cool thing about how I look at the, this is it's not,
• 34:56
  sequitur or I'm not subscribing to any religion. You could believe whatever you want. I just happen to believe we are spiritual beings and we are the thing that runs our body and our body is different than us, but we, we, we control that body. And so, you know, if you want to know how you feel, you need to just chill the freak out for 10 minutes, turn your phone off and sit there and just be there and listen. And I think most people just don't do that enough. And so a lot
• 35:26
  And experiments, whatever you want to call them, experience, experience. It's an experiment that becomes an experience. You learn a lot. And whether you need professional help or not, I'm not saying you should or shouldn't do that. But it's a great experiment to just sit there and take 10 minutes and just...
• 35:43
  Yeah, your brain is going to be racing like it always is. And then you just let it do its thing and let it do its thing. Keep asking your question or problem and bring it up. And you have the answer. You know, the answer is there. You just you just it's clouded by your brain because you're not your brain. Right. And that's that's the most confusing part of that is like, well, aren't I my brain? No, the brain is the thing that controls your body, you know, but you are still the spiritual being that runs the body, including your brain.
• 36:08
  And so you have your own feelings separate from that. I want to go too far down that. But so I think just taking some time and acknowledging it, and you might be surprised to actually come up with your own conclusions, which might literally just doing that might just solve the problem. Or you might figure out the plan of what you need to do to solve the problem. Right. Whatever that is going to be afterwards. But just taking the time to do that, I think it's probably a good start for sure. Yeah, no, totally, totally agree with everything you're saying there. And yeah.
• 36:38
  like I say, this episode, you could talk for hours about, you know, all this stuff I know I can, countless videos and all that there, viewers that you've done every day is a new topic and a new area. But for anybody that is listening that is interested to find out more about you, about maybe services you offer or just any resources that you have, I know you mentioned your book there and stuff that you have out working, everybody, everybody,
• 37:08
  get in contact with you, find you on social. Yeah, what I'll do is I'll give you a link tree that kind of has everything on it. That way you're not given a million different links. So I'll give you a link tree that has everything on it. All my socials, guys, you can just type in Dr. Jones DC and you'll find them. Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, by the way. So YouTube is the best one because that's where you actually get to see my long form content. I'm usually putting out 10 to 20 minute videos. We do about three a week. So
• 37:36
  GLP-1s and peptides. You know, it's funny. I'd love to get into other topics too as well, but my consultants are like, hey, you got to focus on this for now. And so, you know, we're primarily doing GLP-1 and peptide content for now. But, and then on that link tree, there'll be a link where people can actually just directly reach out to my clinic
• 37:54
  If you're in the UK, obviously this is your, your following. So we can't prescribe anything to UK. I wish we could figure out a solution for that. Cause I do have a pretty good UK following, I think. But you can join my coaching program. So everything we do is virtual. So we do a lot of zoom calls, email support, tech support. And so we do have people from the UK. So that would be a great place. If you guys are looking for my help, we have different coaching programs. You can work directly with me one-on-one, or you can do, you know, for a lower price, you can do some of my smaller group,
• 38:23
  coaching, larger group coaching. I have coaches beneath me and we're here to help you achieve a lot of the stuff we talked about today, um, above many other things. Um, and, uh, so yeah, that link tree, we'll have that, uh, there's a link to Amazon for my book there. Um, and then all the socials will be there too, as well.
• 38:40
  And there's actually links to some of my supplements that everything's on that link tree. So it's kind of a nice link tree. So that's great. That's that's yeah. Perfect. Perfect resource for everybody to find what they need. So all that is left for me to say is thank you so much, Dr. Jones, for joining me. I have just been in awe listening to everything that you're saying and I'm
• 39:02
  you know, a little bit starstruck because I have watched your videos literally nonstop. You're talking about your YouTube. I literally watch your YouTube videos religiously. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah, no, 100% top subscriber here. I'm not going to lie, but but, yeah, no, I appreciate everything you're doing in this space. And yeah, a personal thank you for me because a lot of your guidance I have taken myself. So, yeah, I know a lot of people listening is going to.
• 39:28
  Anybody that is just thinking of starting their journey, I could really highly recommend they follow you because a lot of your advice and tips have got me through my journey. So, yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate that. I pride myself, guys, in like, even if you're not ready or maybe it's not a ready thing, maybe it's a financial thing. Like I try to give as much free information as I possibly can. So make no mistake.
• 39:50
  that that's my only goal. No, you know, my lives, I'm always, I try to go live as often as I can on TikTok. Recently, I started going live actually pretty often, but the, you talk about censorship earlier. I've had some TikTok accounts taken down and I'm like, okay, so it's been, it's been, it's always fun. But yeah, even just, even if you're not in any space to do a sort of professional thing, please take advantage of my free information and please tell everybody else that there is a resource there to help you guys out, so. Yeah.
• 40:19
  Yes, no, really, really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mark.