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Mina Kim: Welcome to Forum. I’m Mina Kim. With an estimated one in eight Americans trying GLP-1s like Ozempic or Wegovy—drugs known for weight loss, though they have other uses—many have been wondering how to talk about it without dredging up the worst parts of diet culture, like glorifying thinness or treating weight loss as solely about willpower. This hour, we’ll hear how you’re navigating these conversations, especially as GLP-1s are now being tried for many conditions beyond weight management, including addiction, arthritis, brain fog, and migraines. Listeners, how are GLP-1s showing up in your life? And have you found it hard to talk about? You can tell us by calling 866-733-6786, posting on our social channels, or emailing forum@kqed.org.
Joining me first is Dr. Whitney Casares, a pediatrician and author who takes a GLP-1 and was featured in a January Time story titled “Can I Ask Someone if They’re on Ozempic?” Dr. Casares, welcome to Forum.
Dr. Whitney Casares: Thank you for having me.
Mina Kim: In that Time article, you share the story of a mom at your daughter’s school asking you if you were on a GLP-1, and it didn’t feel so great the way she did it. Can you tell us what happened?
Dr. Whitney Casares: Absolutely. So this mom is kind of a “mean girl” mom, and I knew that she and some of the other moms had been talking about a recent weight loss I’d had and were wondering how I did it. She kind of sidled up next to me and said, “We’ve been wondering—are you on a GLP-1?” It felt so invasive and not kind. The intention was absolutely wrong. Ironically, my own perspective on GLP-1s had changed dramatically since I first learned about them and started taking them, so it really sparked this whole conversation for me—about when it’s appropriate to ask people about GLP-1s, and whether it ever is.
Mina Kim: And how have you answered that question? Is it okay to ask—and if so, how and when?
Dr. Whitney Casares: I do think there are times when it’s appropriate. It really comes down to why. If someone is considering trying a GLP-1 themselves and they’re scared or feeling stigma, and they see you as someone they trust who could offer guidance—that’s one thing. But if they’re just being nosy and want to know your business, that’s not okay. It all comes back to intent.
Mina Kim: And when you’re asked and you’re not entirely sure of the intent, how do you respond?
Dr. Whitney Casares: If someone asks with genuine care and curiosity, I’m an open book. I think about GLP-1s the same way I think about SSRIs—like Zoloft—for mental health. Twenty years ago, we wouldn’t have talked about those openly, but now we do. For me, since I’ve had such a positive experience—not just with weight, but with how it’s affected my brain—I want to share that. For people who are good candidates, it can help them be more open to these medications and more compassionate toward others who use them.
Mina Kim: Is that part of why you’ve been open publicly—through articles and your platform—about your experience?
Dr. Whitney Casares: Absolutely. I’m a pediatrician, a mom, and an author with the American Academy of Pediatrics, and my platform is about raising body-confident kids. When I first heard about GLP-1s, I thought, “This is a celebrity fad. It’s trendy, not for me.” It felt like a betrayal of my anti-diet-culture values. But I had a really hard year—perimenopausal symptoms, chronic stress, a major move, caring for a neurodivergent child—and my body felt foreign. My doctor suggested I consider it. I was physically struggling and also dealing with constant “food noise.”
When I learned more, I saw not just the metabolic effects—like insulin regulation—but also how these drugs affect the brain’s reward systems, shifting people from hedonic eating to eating based on actual hunger. I’d struggled with food noise my whole life, shaped by diet culture. So I tried it with medical guidance. Four months in, I realized one day that I hadn’t thought about food except when I was hungry. That silence was profound.
Over time, I’ve actually become more body confident around my kids. I can eat a wider range of foods and model a healthier relationship with food and body image. It took willpower out of the equation and helped me see this like any other medical need—glasses, insulin, anti-anxiety medication. If someone needs a GLP-1, that’s okay too.
Mina Kim: We’re talking with Dr. Whitney Casares, a pediatrician and author who takes a GLP-1. Listeners, are you on one? How are you talking about it—or how are people talking about it with you? What questions do you have? Email forum@kqed.org, find us on social media @kqedforum, or call 866-733-6786.
Dr. Casares is also the author of the forthcoming book Raising Body Confident Kids and My One of a Kind Body: The Ultimate Guide to Caring for Me. I want to ask more about how you reconciled this with your identity. You wrote a piece for Newsweek titled “I’m a Body Confidence Expert—Am I Allowed to Take a Weight Loss Drug?” What were you grappling with?
Dr. Whitney Casares: A lot of people in the body positivity movement have criticized GLP-1s, suggesting that taking one means you don’t love your body. I understand some of those concerns. I worry about misuse, about triggering eating disorders, about how these drugs are marketed. Early on, they were targeted at diabetes patients; now they’re widely marketed for weight loss. That brings back a lot of diet culture trauma from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s.
There’s also pressure now—people who are overweight may feel judged for not taking a GLP-1. That was my internal conflict: am I reinforcing diet culture? But Serena Williams’ story resonated with me. She talked about doing everything “right”—eating well, exercising—but still struggling physically and mentally. She wasn’t trying to be thin; she just wanted to feel better.
That helped me realize that restricting people from using GLP-1s can be just as limiting as diet culture itself. I want people to feel whole and well in their bodies, whatever that looks like. It’s not my business if someone chooses this medication, just like it wasn’t that mom’s business to ask me. And if people judge me, that’s theirs to carry—not mine.
Mina Kim: You’re pointing out how rigid ideas about how we “should” treat our bodies can end up policing people’s choices.
Dr. Whitney Casares: Exactly. Especially for women, there’s often a message: “This is what you must do to be acceptable.” Diet culture does that, but so can a more extreme version of body positivity. Most of us don’t love every part of our bodies every day—and that’s normal.
I’ve come to embrace body neutrality, which has more evidence behind it. It means my body isn’t the most important thing about me. I don’t have to love every aspect of it, but I’m also not going to be mean to it. When negative thoughts come up, I practice compassion. As a pediatrician, I want to teach kids that too—how to treat themselves with grace and move forward from those feelings.
Mina Kim: We’re talking this hour about how millions of Americans are using GLP-1s. An estimated one in eight has tried one, and their association with weight loss is shaping how people think and talk about them. We’ll have more after the break. I’m Mina Kim.
