New obesity medications change how users think of holiday meals
Cookies cool on a table on Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013, in Enid, Okla. Holiday meals may be changing for millions of Americans struggling with obesity and taking a new generation of weight-loss drugs in 2023. Experts and consumers say the drugs are shifting dining habits and social norms around food-centric holidays like Thanksgiving, Passover and Christmas.
(Bonnie Vculek/The Enid News & Eagle via AP, File)
For most of her life, Claudia Stearns dreaded Thanksgiving. As a person who struggled with obesity since childhood, Stearns hated the annual turmoil of obsessing about what she ate — and the guilt of overindulging on a holiday built around food.
Now, after losing nearly 100 pounds using medications including Wegovy, a powerful new anti-obesity drug, Stearns says the "food noise" in her head has gone very, very quiet.
"Last year, it felt so lovely to just be able to enjoy my meal, to focus on being with friends and family, to focus on the joy of the day," says Stearns, 65, of Somerville, Mass. "That was a whole new experience."
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