Foods to avoid while using Saxenda

Which foods to avoid while using Saxenda

When taking any medication, it is important that you are aware of the potential side effects and that you know what medications, activities and foods to avoid.

What is Saxenda?

Saxenda is a medication that is injected once a day to help manage weight loss. Saxenda contains the active ingredient liraglutide, which helps to make you feel fuller after eating and helps you to stay feeling full for longer. 

There is no best time of day to take Saxenda, but it is best for you to take it at roughly the same time each day, so choose a time that is convenient for you. Although the prospect of injecting a drug can be daunting, Saxenda pens make the process relatively simple and risk-free.

Saxenda meal plan

While taking a weight loss medication like Saxenda, your diet plan is important to ensure the best results. Your diet isn’t just about how many calories you are consuming, it is about the quality of those calories. For example, a bag of baked crisps may be relatively low in calories, but they are also low in nutrients. When you are taking Saxenda, focus on a diet that is based around plenty of lean, fresh food. 

Fruit and vegetables – frozen or fresh- should form the basis of each meal, accompanied by limited potatoes, sweet potatoes, or butternut squash and lean protein such as fresh unprocessed meat, tofu, eggs, low-fat dairy products, lentils and beans. 

Your Saxenda diet plan doesn’t have to be boring! Take your favourite foods and try to find ways of making them healthier. For example, air-fried vegetable peelings make a great, low-fat alternative to crisps, and butternut squash chips are more healthy than potato ones.

Foods to avoid while on Saxenda

Although there aren’t technically any foods that will cause you harm when taking Saxenda, foods to avoid are ones that might impact the success of your weight loss programme. 

Things to try and avoid: 

• Takeaway fast food
• Foods high in sugar
• Sugary drinks
• Heavily processed foods
• Alcohol
• Foods high in saturated and trans fats

Avoid foods that are high in caloric value and low in nutritious value.

If you are used to eating a lot of processed, sugary or fatty foods, you may struggle at first to reduce them in your diet. If you are finding the changes difficult, make small changes each day, gradually reducing unhealthy foods with more healthy alternatives. 

In time, you will automatically reach for a piece of fruit mid-morning, instead of a packet of biscuits or a slice of cake.

Maintaining your meal plan

You may think that completely depriving yourself and going on a strict diet are the best ways to lose weight, but changing your lifestyle and health is a long-term process. 

It doesn’t mean that you can never eat chocolate cake or indulge in a cheese board with a glass of wine, just that instead of making it a daily occurrence, high-calorie food is an occasional treat. By finding the right balance, your new lifestyle will be much easier to maintain.

Hypoglycaemia

One common side effect of taking Saxenda is low blood sugar, or hypoglycaemia. Your pharmacist or medical professional will talk to you about how to avoid low blood sugar, and what to do if you experience it. Because of this risk, it is important that you include some carbohydrates in your diet, especially on days when you are exercising.

As always, if you have any concerns about your health or you are experiencing extreme side effects, speak to a medical professional. If you would like to buy Saxenda for weight loss online, place the product in your basket and complete an online consultation; one of our prescribing pharmacists will approve your request or offer you an alternative solution.  

References

• Saxenda 6mg/mL solution for injection (PIL)
• NHS - Understanding calories
• Nausea with Saxenda