Losing the Foodie: How to Navigate the Identity Crisis of GLP-1 Weight Loss
Redefining how you show up for yourself and your community when you stop speaking the "food as love" language
What an exciting time!
Whether it’s Ozempic, Mounjaro, or any of the growing list of GLP-1s, the promise of these “Miracle drugs” is simple: inject the medicine, lose the hunger, change your life.
This Genie is being injected straight from the bottle and into you - the magic flows in your veins. But as it is with every genie story, there’s a catch that isn't in the clinical trials.
In exchange for silencing the food noise and the hunger - this “GLP Genie” will leave you with a whole lot of silence and the big question it is asking: “Who are you?”
When we turn off the food noise and the hunger - we also lose the social and emotional language that we have used for decades to express who we are.
For anyone who has ever found comfort, community, or heritage in a bowl of food, the change is deeply personal.
The "Food Voice" and the Stories We Tell
Every meal is a building block for the person you believe yourself to be. When you eat “Grandmom’s famous stew,” you aren’t just eating a meal; you are almost reliving memories - through multiple senses - immersing yourself fully in your story of who you are. (Ok, maybe I am being a bit romantic, but you get what I mean). You are remembering a place and time in the past and reconnecting with your Grandmom, your family, your heritage, your culture.
But what happens when GLP-1s come in and take away your ability to stomach your favorite foods, or to attend your Friday Night Dinner with friends?
The foods we choose also connect us to larger world-wide communities: For example:
(I know hashtags are dead now but a few years ago...) the hashtag #eatingclean had over 1.5 million posts on Instagram. The people who actively use this hashtag are part of a worldwide community that believes in low fat, fresh, organic, high protein foods. Food bloggers, fitness bloggers, companies and individuals that deeply identify with health foods all used this hashtag. Eating clean is more than just something you do. It’s a part of who you are. It makes you part of a worldwide community that has the same beliefs, shares the same problems and believes that a brownie recipe with no sugar or all purpose flour might just be worth a try.
When you really look into it there are hundreds of identities related to food. Are you the person who:
Knows all the best spots to eat
Always picks the restaurant
Hosts the best dinners
Bakes the best cookies
Makes the best cocktails
Cooks the holiday meals
Everyone relies on to know where to get dessert after dinner
Cooks as a love language
When you’ve always been the foodie, or the one who brings everyone together over a meal, how do you redefine your role in the circle when you are no longer interested in food?
Rebuilding Your Food Voice:
This is why I keep saying the medication is a tool, and you need to learn how to wield it so this GLP-Genie doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass like Liz Hurley in Bedazzled.
They can quiet hunger signals. They can reduce food noise. They can create space between impulse and action. They can support meaningful health changes.
But they are not magic.
They can’t help you become your future self if you don’t know who you’re becoming.
An Introspection Exercise:
Defining your Why
Don’t just write “to be healthy.” Be honest.
Why did you decide to start this journey? What future self were you chasing? Who were you hoping to be? What were your goals?
What was your vision for the “end goal”?
Take a little look into the future. What do you feel like when this medication has worked its magic? How do you know when you have “hit the goal”
What role has food played in my identity?
Has food been comfort? Culture? Creativity? Family? Control? Reward? Rebellion? Safety? Celebration? A hobby? A stress buster?
If I could rebuild my food voice - what would it say? Who am i? What kind of choices do I make?
I am ________ ( calmer, stronger, freer, more honest, more disciplined, more playful, more connected, more seen?)
When my body is nourished it looks like _______________
When I collaborate with my body (instead of trying to manage it like a problem) it feels like ________________
What am I afraid of losing?
Am I afraid I will lose joy? Culture? connection? spontaneity? My favorite rituals? My love language?
What do I want to preserve?
Maybe I still want beauty. Flavor. Culture. Celebration. Cooking. Hosting. Trying new restaurants. Family recipes. Pleasure.
So before you begin, pause.
Write it down.
Maybe the goal is not to care less about food.
Maybe the goal is to relate to food with more freedom.
And as always I would love for you to write back to me with your thoughts! Have you thought about this/ grappled with any of these changes? What strategies did you use?