Is the Zoe nutrition test worth it? Or Emperor's new clothes?

But they don’t find it hard because they don’t know what to do it’s because we have to overcome our clever bodies saying eat it eat it no not the salad the cake because there may be a famine and salad doesn’t have enough energy in it. It’s only the rich worried well and those in affluent countries ( this can be poor people in affluent countries) who have had to invent ways to lose weight other than just not eating as much. When they were showing the awful famine in Ethiopia back in the 80’s there wasn’t a little fat kid was there, no they were all starving and all skin and bones.

its bey much let’s show you why you are fat and it’s not your fault it’s because your body doesn’t process sugar/salt. Absolute bollocks, eat natural unrefined stuff . But that’s too hard.

Hi

I'm interested in this but what puts me off is the heavy marketing, use of celebrities and claims that weight loss will come from it. I'd be interested in doing things myself without having to pay for the subscription and tests. The podcasts are great.

everyone’s weak spot is saturated fats!

Oh that's funny. I wonder what Zoe Harcombe thinks of ZoeApp (please say someone else likes the irony)

TorroFerney From my listening I feel that they have actually reduced the demonisation of these foods and made it so I am able to understand the impact more. It has enabled be to make an informed choice and actually I feel less guilty having white bread or white rice now.

With regards to the organic element, it's not the foods in themselves but how they are produced that is problematic. Whilst we have been eating rice and oats for years, it is only recently that they have been mass produced and the processes and chemicals involved in this production is the problem not the food.

But everyone’s weak spot is saturated fats!

Ive been listening to the podcasts and the food advice in the main is sensible but not earth shattering eat natural eat brightly coloured eat fermented don’t eat upf and don’t snack all the time.

but the demonisation of white rice and porridge oats unless the latter are organic is just bollocks. The healthiest peoples in the world have rice as a staple, it’s not eating rice that’s an issue it’s the amount the things we eat it with the other crap we have in our diets that these long lived nations don’t have.

and no matter how it’s marketed people will buy the Zoe thing thinking they will lose weight. Or thinking that if they pay they will get let into some secret so it’s not hard work to lose weight and requires no effort. It’s just human nature.

A bad Zoe app cannot be saved by customer services

A bad Zoe app cannot be saved by customer services

Yes, I doubt I'll feel the need to continue after the 4 months. I'll probably use one of the CGMs at some point as a reality check.

Also I am - to my surprise - taking quite well to the food logging. I've always detested calories counting but that was in the old days of having to look things up and do the arithmetic. Scanning and the database makes it easy - but there must be other apps that do this part now. I think ideally I'd like one which did that and also integrated to my Apple Watch, I'd such a thing exists.

I did it and found it quite informative. I felt after 4 months of 'coaching' that I'd learned all I was going to so now I'm just trying to stick to the 30 per week etc myself. Although, as Weight Watchers or any eating guidance programme will tell you, it's usually easier with somebody telling you what to do.

One customer services person could not be better - one was a bully who did not listen and blamed me for app's shortcomings. There seems to be a systemic problem of promising a fast response which is not met. In my experience communication is poor.

That sounds bad! Is the customer service shit then?

Have asked for full refund and compensation for bullying by chat responder.
Suggested response times by complaint team not met - why create an expectation which is not met? After 4 days no contact from complaint resolution team.
One customer service person has undertaken not to close thread until the end of the complaint resolution. Has written no further charges will be taken. Offered one free month but want no further interaction with Zoe due to poor quality of the app and patchy customer services.

Found that a bit disappointing too.

The free content is excellent (I'm watching the latest one right now), but it's turning into a bit of a racket.

Their M&S probiotics move completely undermines their research based approach and I would never have signed up to a programme which promotes this (I am very familiar with the research on probiotics). I am t almost two weeks in and regret signing up, as per most of the previous comments.

My thoughts mirror yours @JacketAndJumpet - I'm fascinated by the subject, really enjoy the podcasts and follow the general advice, but think the benefits of joining the programme so marginal as to not be worth it.

The strength of the podcasts is that they demystify the subject and make it accessible, and there's a danger the programme does the opposite. Not for me.

Zoe is a good concept let down by software glitches and patchy customer service.
I followed instructions meticulously. Responder A acknowledged a "glitch' with the gut transit time flagging up as overdue after it had initially shown completed successfully, but then disappeared. Software glitches happen and she was polite and helpful. The prompt asked me to use the plus icon but this 'was not available on first day of testing' - so why show the prompt before the icon is available?
I waited as instructed for the prompt to activate the LibreLink. I followed the instructions carefully on the page I was taken too. It seems this was not the page Zoe intended and as a result the sensor results were not available to Zoe. Responder B wrote 'In relation to your sensor you have incorrectly logged in with your personal information and not the credentials provided by us'. In my brief experience Zoe software has too many glitches and customer service do not take adequately take responsibility for errors in the software but blame the user.

Zoe is a good concept let down by software glitches and patchy customer service.
I followed instructions meticulously. Responder A acknowledged a "glitch' with the gut transit time flagging up as overdue after it had initially shown completed successfully, but then disappeared. Software glitches happen and she was polite and helpful. The prompt asked me to use the plus icon but this 'was not available on first day of testing' - so why show the prompt before the icon is available?
I waited as instructed for the prompt to activate the LibreLink. I followed the instructions carefully on the page I was taken too. It seems this was not the page Zoe intended and as a result the sensor results were not available to Zoe. Responder B wrote 'In relation to your sensor you have incorrectly logged in with your personal information and not the credentials provided by us'. In my brief experience Zoe software has too many glitches and customer service do not take adequately take responsibility for errors in the software but blame the user.

I guess rather than being 'emperors new clothes', it's 'luxury clothing that will suit some people very well but not others'.

No its emperors new clothes.

I’m “on” Zoe - personally think it’s great. It teaches you about your blood sugar, blood fat and gut microbiome health and helps you find what foods work best for you. I’ve found it super helpful and interesting - but it is expensive, and, ultimately, if you’re not prepared to eat a lot of fresh, whole food (which means a lot of cooking) then it may not be for you. If you are, though, I’d recommend it!

The thing is, I suspect that the people who aren't eating 5 a day aren't likely to be in the market for Zoe, while the people who are in the market for it (by definition rich and interested in health) almost certainly already are.

Yes, I agree.

The people who might benefit from Zoe probably don't have an extra £300 cash to spend.

But in general, for anyone, that £300 is better spent on fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables and gym memberships

I'm sure we'd also agree that improving our nutrition and health should be for everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for Zoe.

Yes - and I very much hope that one of the outcomes is more good evidence-based nutrition-health info, of the sort that healthcare systems will be able to make use of.

The blood fat test isn’t a cholesterol test as per the GP. It’s measuring your specific response to food you have eaten and how long the fat stays in your system, which isn’t the same for everyone. Why yes! I have just been listening to a Zoe podcast.

I'm glad we agree 😊. I'm sure we'd also agree that improving our nutrition and health should be for everyone, not just those who can afford to pay for Zoe.

I find it interesting that Zoe seem to be branching out from health testing and into the food and drink sector. I suppose it was an inevitability. Here’s your £2 150ml of fruit kefir. Whether the product is good or bad, the commercialisation makes me less likely to recommend Tim Spector and Zoe’s advice to people who are sceptical. Their obvious rebuttal (and I don’t entirely disagree) is “of course Zoe recommends that. They’re selling it”.