The Ozempic Effect – Beyond the Waistline premiered on Netflix in the UK on February 27th 2026. It has already been released around the world prior to this. While we love Netflix, we are partnered with them after all, we don’t have to agree with everything they produce, we don’t have to like it, we don’t have to positively review it. Sunday Woman prides itself on cutting through the bull, having no limitations or affiliations that limit the truth. While a lot of what we talk about is opinion it is also backed up with real facts.

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With that being said, let’s crack on.

I HATED the Netflix Documentary The Ozempic Effect and I will tell you why. First, let’s look at this wonder drug and see why talking heads of the doc claim that 50% of the global population will be taking it within five years.

What is Ozempic?

Ozempic is a drug that mimics the GLP-1 in your gut. Originally developed for those with type 2 diabetes it suppresses appetite and lowers blood sugar. This helps diabetics lose weight while keeping their blood sugar level – as with type 2 diabetes your blood sugar level is usually quite high. I can hear you shouting, I can – “but what effect does that have on those without diabetes then?” We’ll get to that. This documentary didn’t and it makes me sick to my stomach to know that this is allowed to air.

So Ozempic mimics or replicates GLP-1.

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What is GLP-1?

GLP-1 is responsible for letting your brain know when your stomach is full which in turn tells you to stop eating, or severe discomfort may occur. After a few minutes it gradually depletes and a process begins, it then sends signals back to the gut to begin processing the food and emptying the stomach. The stomach acid breaks down the food in the gut, it turns into smelly compost and is then passed to the large intestine and so on. Everyone has this naturally. However when it naturally occurs, this brain signal lasts for 1-2 minutes before the full feeling subsides and the emptying process begins. With Ozempic the signal lasts for weeks. WEEKS! You’re shouting again aren’t you? See, I know Sunday Woman readers are intelligent people and you are already working out in your brain what this means for the body, as did I.

What Does Ozempic Do?

By prolonging this process Ozempic makes users feel as though they are permanently full. They have no desire to eat. Of course, they lose weight. It’s a miracle, they claim.

Where Can I Buy Ozempic?

Horrifically, you can buy Ozempic or other brands of GLP-1 with a quick search of the internet. Doctors are queuing up ready to prescribe it to you. Like Oxycontin before it, this apparently has no side effects yet maximum results. Side note: There is now an opioid epidemic in the USA and UK due to the marketing of Oxycontin, the side effects and their results. See the article I wrote about it here, and try to watch the Michael Keaton show Dopesick. You’ll see then where I’m going with Ozempic. (Dope sick and Ozempic rhyme which I think is foreshadowing).

Dopesick and Ozempic rhyme which I think is foreshadowing

Diabetics are finding it harder to get hold of this due to the massive demand from anyone who wants to lose a little weight, whether they need to or not.

Why I Hated the Netflix Documentary

While the Netflix documentary on Ozempic was enlightening and informative on how this drug works it did not mention the side effects, the risks, the downside. The most we saw was that people felt a little nauseous, constipated and bloated in the first few weeks but even this was followed by, “but then it cleared up and everything was back to normal.” In this day and age I find this disgusting moral behaviour. The entire documentary is a literal advertisement for the drug.

At the end even I considered trying it, I don’t have high blood sugar, I don’t need to lose weight but I thought maybe I could save on my food bills, those Cadbury Mini Eggs have sky rocketed in price.

I kept waiting for the flip, the flip Netflix does so well, where it tells you of a fairytale only to turn it on its head and show you the true story behind the red curtain. While they have been no recorded deaths, yet, I did expect at least one person to come onto the screen to tell viewers not to try this drug. One person to say it ruined their life, or even their finances, something. Instead we see a small LA group who claim they will never stop taking Ozempic, ever. That’s quite a commitment and terrifying.

Any journalism needs to be pragmatic, it needs a devil’s advocate, and while opinion is only allowed in speech marks it needs the other side of the story. This documentary did not. We are all media savvy by now, (a reason I started this magazine, for those who see through the sponsored garbage to the true story beneath), but there are many vulnerable, naive, star wannabes that are not. They believe Keeping Up with The Kardashians is unscripted. They believe the product their favourite singer is shouting about is because she truly loves it. They believe the star rumoured to be gay really is on a date with Hollywood’s sweetheart and it’s not a set up by cunning PR. These are the people that will watch this documentary and buy it. Instantly. Already sales are up which make me think someone in the making of this documentary has a heavy hand in the making and distributing of Ozempic. It’s the only explanation.

What Are the Side Effects of Ozempic?

A quick Google of the side effects of ozempic is alarming. Even AI labels side effects as temporary before disclosing what they are.

The most common, as mentioned above include nausea, bloating and constipation but all literature out there says these quickly subside. Shocking.

Delve a bit deeper and you’ll see at the bottom, like at the end of the terms and conditions you never read, kidney failure, pancreatitis, loss of muscle mass, fragile bones, sunken face, drooping jowls, the list goes on. This is what they know so far, it’s relatively new to mass market so these will increase over time.

Let’s look at this logically though. I am anorexic. As a teen and in my early twenties I suffered from extreme anorexia nervosa to the point where I almost died. A drip and a very good counsellor called David Tomlinson saved my life. I still struggle with food today which is why I say I’m still anorexic as that mindset never leaves. It’s not an eating disorder, more of a mental disorder where you want to control what you can in your life as everything else is in someone else’s grasp. No one can control your weight from the outside, unless they kidnap you and inject ozempic every week for a year. Controlling my own weight gave me some freedom, freedom over what I looked like, who I was, what I chose to be. It became an obsession, counting calories, exercising for multiple hours every single day, eschewing any food with any fat. I still wanted to be healthy, I still took vitamins, supplements, still moisturised, cleansed and toned but anorexia has severe side effects that few talk about. This is due to the lack of food in the body, nothing delivers vitamins and minerals like real, fresh food. On top of this a lack of fat in the body leads to some very bizarre happenings.

Side effects include:

Soft, downy hair all over the body. This is the body’s response to extreme weightloss. A way to survive in the cold, to keep the body warm as there is no fat to protect the bones. This happened to me and even today I still battle with excessive body hair. I have to shave my legs daily and I’m forever plucking my moustache.
Muscle Consumption. That’s right, consumption. Without fat to eat the body starts eating muscle. This is when people start to look like skeletons. I think, if 50% of the population is using Ozempic in five years we’ll have a Mummy Returns, or Skyrim (I know, pick one) army of skeletons lightly padding down our streets, with size zero back in fashion hanging off the osteoporosis infused bones.
Colon Cannibalism. Oh yes. As I entered my lowest weight I started to suffer from extreme stomach cramps. I would have rather given birth without any pain relief. A quick blue light to the hospital and the doctor told me my colon had started to eat itself as it had nothing else to feast on. That one really opened my eyes, for a time.
Wobbly Teeth and Gum Disease. This is something all anorexics suffer from. Here’s why. The lack of fat, food and aline substances mean any reflux from the stomach is mainly acidic. This rots the teeth, causes gum disease. On top of this, the lack of calcium from food weakens enamel and tooth bone. Ozempic users better have great dental insurance, as I haven’t and I’m really paying the price ten years on.
Hair loss. While hair grows over the body it falls from the head, the pubic region, the eyebrows.

These are just some of the side effects I encountered, and many are not reversible. As fat is eaten up and only muscle is left on ozempic it makes sense that many will suffer some of the same side effects.

On top of this imagine your stomach. You’ve just eaten salmon, rice and vegetables for dinner. It was a lovely meal. A meal that will now just sit and ferment in your stomach for at least a week as your brain doesn’t receive the signal to process it. The composting phase that’s supposed to happen in the large intestine is now happening in your gut. Imagine the bad bacteria (not sure Actimel can help with that). Imagine the rotting food there, the bad breath. The stench of the bathroom when it finally erupts? No thank you. There has to be some side effects to that, infections in the stomach wall? Reflux, stomach ulcers, dirty insides? If there were no consequences then surely our own, incredibly evolved bodies, would make the GLP-1 last longer. When you take a natural human process, such as menstruation, for example, then extend the time period by 1000% side effects occur. In this instance you’d bleed to death, become anaemic, weak, pale, jaundice. Even the hiccups, a sneeze, an orgasm. All would be severely uncomfortable if the time period was extended by 1000%. Ozempic takes a process that lasts two minutes and turns it into weeks. Isn’t that playing God? Our bodies work like a well oiled machine with many many cogs that all have to work in harmony, synchronised in order for it to work. What is the knock on effect of the GLP-1 cog not working as it should? We don’t really know yet and that’s what’s so scary about this new weight loss revolution.