You really can’t scroll past a picture of Mindy Kaling these days without noticing the Ozempic circus in the comments:
Ozempic looks so good on her! I hope she feels as pretty as she looks
how do I get ozempic lol
that Ozempic works miracles. this is the best she’s EVER looked.
Body by ozempic baby
holy moly ozempic! you did it AGAIN!
Ozempic is ozempicing
SOMEONE GET ME OZEMPIC
Okay she’s on Ozempic y’all need to get over it she looks good
She’s wearing Ozempic
This should be an ozempic ad
And honestly? I don’t blame them.
Before Mindy Kaling, when a heavier celebrity lost a ton of weight, they were celebrated for their perseverance and dedication to the age old elixir of diet and exercise - until they were dismissed for their socioeconomic access to the world’s best personal trainers and chefs.
Now that word of this “miracle” weight loss medication, known as Ozempic, has spread like wildfire, the morality of being obese is even more complicated than it always has been.
Why be uncomfortable on public transit (or anywhere for that matter)? Why be the last picked on dating apps? Why be perceived as lazy and weak in the workplace? Why suffer when Ozempic exists, right? But wait, isn’t using Ozempic kind of like cheating? But, is there anything to be gained (no pun intended) for sticking it out with diet and exercise? Is that a noble pursuit, or is it not worth it? Are the unknown risks of weight loss medication worth the known risks of obesity related disease?
Well, my friend, navigating the answers to these questions is fraught with clinical, social, and ethical conflicts.
A couple of days ago, The New Yorker published an article and I can’t recomend it enough:
Here’s an excerpt:
The cultural fear of fat plays a role in the negative outcomes associated with it. Doctors—about a third of whom, in one study, reported viewing their obese patients as “sloppy” and “lazy”—frequently misdiagnose, undertreat, or shame fat people, who then accumulate reasons to distrust medical care. (In one notable case, a forty-six-year-old woman went to see an obesity specialist at Georgetown University, complaining of shortness of breath; he told her she should go on a diet. It turned out that she had life-threatening blood clots.)
Obesity correlates with poverty, and Black and Hispanic adults are more likely to be fat than white ones; the general attitude toward fat people allows an aversion to poor people and nonwhites to be expressed as moral concern. The belief that fatness in itself is neither ugly nor alarming is sometimes misinterpreted, ingenuously or otherwise, as a complete disregard for the connection between health and weight gain. I recently went to a doctor’s appointment in uptown Manhattan, during which it came up in conversation that I was writing about Ozempic.
The doctor put down her stethoscope and turned to me. “You know, I love Lizzo,” she said immediately. “But it’s a shame that this whole body-positivity movement has made so many people think that it’s O.K. to be obese.”
For more on this issue, you may be interested in this podcast debate between two accomplished physicians and a Big Food/Big Pharma whistleblower.
This one you may want to listen to with some popcorn (or grapes if we’re not Ozem
That’s all for today folks! After a TWENTY(!) week streak of these silly newsletters, I may be on hiatus over the next couple of weeks since I’ll be traveling. Knowing how stubborn I am though, you may still hear from me.
Thank you all so so much from the bottom of my heart for the support so far. It means the world.
Wishing you a beautiful weekend, and most importantly, a happy spring!
-Nipa
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