GLP1's and Satiety: REconnecting the Gut-Brain for MidLife REinvention

Have you thought about trying a GLP-1? Maybe you started and didn’t stay on it long enough. Maybe the headlines spooked you. Maybe you thought it was just another diet in disguise. I get it. After decades of diets and willpower battles, It's almost impossible to believe this could be any different. Almost.

But this is not another diet. This is not about counting every macro, calorie, eating window or bullying yourself into portion control. GLP-1s are not a cure, and they are not a permanent fix. What they do is help your body reconnect the lines of communication between your head brain and your gut brain.

Now if you didn’t know you had a gut brain, welcome to your RElearning era, where we break down old ideas, lived experience, and modern science.

Most of us grew up thinking the gut/intestines were just plumbing. Pipes and valves, in one end and out the other. What we weren’t taught is that those pipes are lined with over 100 million neurons, quietly running their own show. This “second brain” doesn’t write poetry, but it does manage hunger, satiety, and mood chemistry. And it never stops reporting back to the head brain through the vagus nerve.

When that connection goes fuzzy, the signals for hunger and satisfaction get scrambled. Cravings roar louder than satiety. Food noise takes over. That is where GLP-1s really make a difference. They quiet all the static so your signals for hunger and satiety finally come through clearly.

Think of your body as an engine. Your brain is the control panel. It is supposed to gather information about your activity, your genetics, your weight, and your energy needs, then regulate appetite and intake to keep you balanced. That is the design.

When this system works, it works beautifully. You eat until you are satisfied, then you stop. No calorie tracker. No macro math. Just a functioning machine. (we all have friends like this...they eat whatever and generally maintain a stable weight)

But when the signaling is broken, as it often is for people with chronic obesity, you do not get satiety. Food becomes dopamine. The noise never stops. Instead of a quiet background hum, it is a relentless soundtrack telling you to eat, snack, drink, shop, or fill the need with something. And, do it now and again later.

I used to joke that cookies talked to me, crackers whispered, but Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies shouted. I thought everyone lived like that. It turns out plenty of people never hear those voices at all. If that sounds foreign, you are probably one of 'them'. But if you know exactly what I am talking about, you are my people.

Here is the difference that GLP-1s, like Retatrutide, made for me. They helped my two brains finally agree. My body recognized it was carrying too much weight and REcalibrated my appetite. Portion control stopped being an act of war. It became automatic.

That is the difference between fullness and satiety. Fullness is stuffing yourself and still wanting more. Satiety is the deep, steady signal that says you have had enough and then the food noise goes quiet.

For decades I thought my inability to control food meant I was defective. Weak. Broken. I never considered that my engine might simply be missing connections. GLP-1s gave me satiety for the first time in my life. They gave me the chance to reclaim not only my body but my mind.

Friends, without constant craving of something, there is a whole lot of bandwidth left. And here is the part no one talks about enough. Once the noise goes quiet, you are left with a blank slate. If food is no longer the villain or the constant voice in your ear, then what is it? This is where the real REinvention begins.

For many of us, diet culture left scars, some very deep. Counting, punishing, restricting, self-hating, repenting. We learned to see food as the enemy or as proof of our failures. When GLP-1s quiet the cravings, they do not erase that trauma. But, they give us the space to RElearn. To build a new relationship with food based not on control but on nourishment.

This is where self-love enters the kitchen. Cooking becomes about pleasure and color and spice. Eating becomes about fueling a brain that needs protein, a body that thrives on hydration, cells that light up with vitamins and minerals. Small meals that are beautiful and satisfying, not because you are on a diet, but because you have learned that cooking great food is the best form self love we can do for ourselves. I believe it's Hippocrates who said; Let Your Food Be Your Medicine andn Let your Medicine Be Your Food. But... that's impossible when your relationship with food is damaged from decades of diet trauma.

It feels awkward at first, like learning to ride a bike again after years away. But every bite is a chance to practice self-love. To ask: what do I want to eat that loves me back?

This is the heart of MidLife REinvention. This is the RE-era. Not shrinking ourselves through punishment, but REconnecting biology,REbuilding confidence, and REclaiming food as an act of care.

If you have tried a GLP-1 and gave up too soon, or if you are still on the fence, hear this. It is not about eating less to suffer more. It is not about another failed diet. It is about letting your two brains finally work together and giving yourself permission to start a fresh new relationship with food.

And when that happens, everything changes.

If you want to know more about how your gut bacteria might be plotting against your skinny jeans, drop the word CROUTON in the comments and I will send you my most current research notes on how the microbiome drives hunger, satiety and self control. I am working on a theory that may help with long term maintenance.