Not Everything on Wellness TikTok Is Fake. Here’s What Actually Works, According to a Doctor

If your For You Page is just GLP-1 before-and-afters, girls whispering about peptides in dim lighting, a guy explaining mitochondria in a tank top, and someone selling you a vial that absolutely should not be sold on the internet…same. It’s loud. It’s confusing. And somehow it always hits late at night when you’re one scroll away from ordering something with “research use only” on the label.

On Good Guys, hosts Josh Peck and Ben Soffer sit down with Dr. Craig Koniver, a Charleston-based wellness doctor who’s been running his practice since 2006, to break down what’s actually legit, what’s overhyped, and what you should absolutely not “add to cart.”

Consider this your algorithm detox.

GLP-1s and Peptides: What Works and What’s Risky

Peptides aren’t as scary as they sound

They’re just small chains of amino acids that act as signaling molecules in your body. “Very, very safe,” Dr. Koniver says. “They’re really effective for most people to help with sleep, recovery, cognitive function, body composition, burning fat, building muscle. All the things people want.” 

In other words, they’re not steroids. They’re not sketchy back-alley stuff. They’re molecules your body already recognizes—just optimized.

GLP-1s aren’t cheating and the stigma is tired

The whole “you’re taking the easy way out” argument around Ozempic and Zepbound is exhausted. As Dr. Koniver puts it, “If it was so easy to lose weight and maintain weight, why are there 16 new diets every year? Why are we a country that’s more obese than in shape? It’s because it’s hard.”

Soffer, who’s been on GLP-1s for three years, doesn’t sugarcoat it: “If we met three years ago, you’d be like, who is this ballooned whale?” Now he’s playing pickup basketball for the first time in his life and says he simply feels lighter—physically and mentally. And that’s kind of the point. “Who doesn’t feel better when they look better?” Dr. Koniver asks. “Why is that a bad thing?” It isn’t.

Ozempic face is a dosing problem—not a drug problem

The gaunt, hollowed-out look that freaks people out? That’s what happens when doctors go too hard too fast. “A lot of practices and physicians are really shotgunning,” Dr. Koniver says. “This is where people get ‘Ozempic face,’ lose muscle mass…they don’t look healthy.” 

His approach is the opposite. Start low, go slow, one pound a week max. “Our goal is not to be thin,” he points out. “Our goal is to be healthy.”

The weight loss pill probably won’t hit like the shot

Chances are you’ve seen the buzzy new oral GLP-1 making the rounds on your feed. No needles, no injections—just a pill that promises the same results. Well, Dr. Koniver is skeptical. “Anytime you swallow anything, you’re going to lose absorption,” he says. 

Rather than pills taking over, he believes the future may look like fewer injections (think once a month or even once a quarter) designed to last longer and deliver steady results.

Stop buying peptides from random websites

There’s a gray market for peptides right now, and it’s thriving online. Some of the vials people are ordering literally say “not for human use” on the label, which isn’t a quirky technicality…it’s a warning.

“Both people are selling things, they don’t know what’s in it, and then people are buying things,” Dr. Koniver says. The oversight isn’t the same. The quality isn’t guaranteed. It’s what he calls “the wild west.” His advice is simple: work with an experienced provider who uses regulated compounding pharmacies.

And if you need proof that even the hosts fall for it, Soffer admits he’s succumbed to the TikTok wellness spiral: “I bought saffron from some guru. I never even took it. What am I, nuts?”

Diet and exercise is still 95 percent of it

“If you get on a great diet and you work out every day, that’s 95 percent,” Peck says. “Maybe you don’t have to spend the 100 grand on the red light bed.” Dr. Koniver agrees with him. Most people, in his words, “just simply eat too much food.” Not in a shame-y way. Just in a real-life, portions-are-bigger-than-we-think way. He says learning to “put the fork down” gets you most of the way there.

Then it’s about what’s actually on the fork. Too much sugar. Too many simple carbs. Not enough protein. Not enough intention. You do not need a cryotherapy chamber…you probably need fewer late-night snack side quests and more consistency.

Listen to the full episode on Good Guys, available wherever you listen to podcasts.

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