BETTER WEIGHT HEALTH
Ashley Koff, RD
Episode #88: January 8th, 2026
in THIS EPISODE
Want to lose weight but don’t know whether a GLP-1 medication is right for you? Ashley Koff, dietitian and author of Your Best Shot, explains the links between gut health, blood sugar, hormones, and metabolism, and how we can achieve and maintain our goal weight, with or without the Shot.
We start with Ashley’s own struggle with weight, from belly awareness as a kid and dieting in high school and college, to obsessive exercise, extreme fads, and even a goat’s-milk cleanse! Finally, a gastroenterologist provided a real solution: First, focus on digestion. The results were life-changing. Ashley became a dietitian, building on that approach. She recognized, before the GLP-1s came along, the impact of weight-health hormones—"the Switch"—on blood sugar and appetite, and the connection between these hormones and gut health. She fine-tuned her system, and treated patients with huge success.
From there she walks us through the science—the difference between the Switch and GLP-1 medications that replace these hormones, ”The Shot.” We weigh the benefits and side effects of medications, and how to titrate off them and maintain your results. Covering what you need to know to establish and maintain a healthy weight, Ashley says it's not just about losing weight, it's about optimizing your weight health.
What's “Your Best Shot”? Assess and decode your body’s signals, then create a personalized action plan to fit your specific situation and needs. We talk through that process and what a plan might look like, common pitfalls in formulating a strategy, the skinny on supplements, and why doctors are not always the best guides.
The great news: You can control your weight health more than you think.
TESS'S TAKEAWAYS
Your body is an ecosystem, and needs optimized resources to run better.
To optimize weight health start with improving digestion and gut health.
The body produces hormones that act as “the Switch” to regulate appetite and blood sugar.
GLP-1s can reduce food noise, regulate blood sugar, and support weight loss.
GLP-1 medications are a hormone-replacement therapy—and suppress the Switch.
Titrating off a GLP-1 medication without improving digestion can result in rebound weight gain.
Willpower is a fake muscle that does not play a role in effective weight management.
ABOUT ASHLEY
Author of Your Best Shot, Ashley Koff, RD is the founder of The Better Nutrition Program (BNP), the Nutrition Course Director for UC Irvine’s Susan Samueli Integrative Health Institute's Integrative and Functional Medicine Fellowship. Also a faculty member at the Integrative and Functional Nutrition Academy, she teaches the IFNA course “An Integrative and Functional Nutrition Approach to Obesity and Weight Management.”
A go-to nutrition expert on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and others, Ashley was among CNN’s Top 100 Health Makers, InStyle magazine’s Hollywood Nutritionist, and a Global Wellness Ambassador for Westin Hotels.
As a practitioner and business owner, Ashley makes her mission providing personalized nutrition solutions and helping people identify their needs to make “better, not perfect” choices toward their health goals.
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