what to eat on ozempic. a practical kitchen guide.
the questions i get every week from GLP-1 customers are almost identical. what should i eat? how much? when do i eat if i'm not hungry? the internet's answers are mostly written by people who don't actually cook for a living. so here's what i tell people in my kitchen.
the rule that fixes 80% of it
every meal needs a protein anchor. real protein, not "this granola bar has 6 grams." a real anchor is a palm-sized portion of chicken, salmon, lean beef, eggs, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or tofu cooked like an actual meal.
the reason: GLP-1s preserve fat mass and burn lean mass unless protein intake stays high. the published target most dietitians work from is 0.7g per pound of bodyweight per day. for a 180-lb person that's 126g of protein on days when appetite is at maybe 30% of normal. you can't get there with snacks. you get there with three meals each anchored to 30-45g of protein.
the seven-day rotation i recommend
breakfast (every day): greek yogurt bowl + a slice of bananabolic bread. ~32g protein. takes 4 minutes.
lunch (rotating): a tandoco entrée from the store. salmon bowl monday, chicken tinga tuesday, korean hot honey beef wednesday. 35-45g protein, ~500 calories each.
snack (when appetite allows): a brown butter cookie or fudge brownie from the bakery. 22g protein, helps when you can't stomach another meal but need the protein.
dinner: lean protein + vegetables + a small starch. cook simple — pan-seared, roasted, broth-poached. fancy sauces make GLP-1 nausea worse.
what to skip
fried food. heavy cream-based anything. anything that sits in your stomach. the GLP-1 mechanism is delayed gastric emptying — fatty foods feel like a brick. that's not the medication's fault, that's the food.
also skip the "ozempic-friendly" packaged products marketed at you. most of them are sugar-alcohol-bombed shakes that will trigger GI symptoms within 90 minutes. i'd rather you eat half a real meal than all of a fake one.
if you're in minneapolis and want this rotation pre-built, we have a page on what tandoco looks like on a GLP-1 with how to order. sunday pickup, no shipping, real food. it's the closest thing to having a chef on retainer for this stage of your life.