Living Your Healthiest Semaglutide Life: A Complete Guide to Nutrition and Mindset While on GLP-1 Medications

In this comprehensive debut manual, dietitian Kessel outlines how to prioritize one’s health beyond “the number on the scale” while taking weight-loss medications including Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Kessel details the importance of defining obesity as a health condition rather than “a slur or a dirty word,” identifies its medical causes, and discusses potential health risks that come with it. Her plan encourages readers not to skip meals, to prioritize protein from food sources rather than supplements, to stay hydrated, and to eat carbohydrates to increase energy and manage the medication’s side effects (simple carbohydrates such as crackers or toast relieve nausea that can come with acclimation, for instance). Kessel supplements her straightforward guidance with sample meal plans, tools, and templates: a meal plan shopping list, for example, is organized by grocery store section. A GLP-1 user herself, Kessel takes an encouraging, no-shame approach to the medication: “My entire world changed, and let’s be honest: it’s a lot easier to work on your relationship with food, your body, and unpack the ways you were affected by diet culture when you just aren’t hungry all the time.” Readers will appreciate this detailed and holistic resource. (July)