ZOE NUTRITION NEW THREAD- anyone want to join in?

[LisaLovedUp]

I've started a new thread as my previous one was titled for techie stuff.
If anyone is fairly new to this please join in and we can share!

I am now on Day 4. All tests done and now recording my food each day. It takes me ages as my phone is slow (needs replacing) and some things I eat aren't listed (it relies a lot on packaged foods.)

eg yesterday I made a veggie curry and the only options were branded readymade ones so I just had to pick one I felt was close enough, rather than itemise every veggie in the one I made.

I noticed this as some 'negative' feedback on another platform.

Has everyone/anyone done the advanced health questionnaire? I started it but gave up. I felt it was more for their data gathering (which is fine to an extent) but also very intrusive and I didn't want to give my personal medical history when it may not be 100% safe from hackers.

I'm going to feedback on this to them.

My blood sugar readings so far are in the 4 - 5.4 range mainly although on a couple of mornings it was below 4. The highest was 7.3 after a sweet dessert ( a one-off for me - out with friends) plus ice cream.

Any tips from more experienced users welcome!

Yes, I believe that's how it works, as I was already on the waiting list with a 4m expected wait. I got an invitation via a referral code and was able to order my kit and subscription the same day. joinzoe.mention-me.com/m/ol/gz8ss-9746352440

How much does it cost? Website won't tell you unless you sign up

Is it that there's a difference between being on the waiting list to sign up, and signing up but still being allocated a date, a couple of months in the future?

I expressed interest in around August and was added to the waiting list. In November I got an email inviting me to pre order. Clicking the referral link gives instant access.

That's the same as me @Wazzzzzuuuuuuup I signed up on the waiting list and then got a referral code from here and jumped the queue.

@Swanna there's a fixed cost for the tests (something like £250 but I might be wrong) and then you can choose to sign up for different coaching packages from 1 month to a year. You have to do at least a month. I think they work out about £36 a month with discounts for longer subscriptions. This is from memory though, but will hopefully give you an idea

@Wazzzzzuuuuuuup Bum! I used a link from someone on here so I am stuck with April unfortunately but it is what it is. I am still excited just too bad I couldnt sort it sooner!

Hi, has anyone had just the 1 month membership - what happens on the final day? I originally signed up for the 4 month option but just reduced it to 1 month (and was given a refund via the chat function) which means I only have 1 week left. I’ve taken screen shots of any useful scores, but I’m wondering if it finishes up in some way at the end or just abruptly finishes?

Actually I’ve just looked ahead and currently can still access all the ‘lessons’ into March and through to ‘graduation’ and after that it’s blank and asks you just to log your daily food. I’ll have a look ahead and work through anything that’s useful over the next week before I lose access. I’m planning to just log for free on MFP after that (if I decide to carry on logging).

I signed up to start in January but have heard nothing since handing over my credit card. Do Zoe email to let you know when to expect all the testing stuff? Or does a box of equipment just turn up at some point?

If you buy the 12 month plan, testing is included. That’s what I did as I think retesting will eventually become available on annual plans.

For me, I process sugars and fats badly & my gut biome is crap too. I had my first proper plan day today - scored 70 with 7 types of fruit/veg - blueberries let me down. Tomorrow I’ll replace blueberries with apples.

Just slapped on my sensor for the day 1 tomorrow! Pain free!

@Neolara I would maybe just message them via the Zoe app. I have had great and prompt responses from the zoe team.

I was on the waitlist then a friend pinged me a code that expediated it to application in December and the box arrived just before xmas. When I was setting up today, there was a sort of out of office message saying that the team was off until tomorrow and normal service would resume on 3rd. Maybe something to do with festive period.

I heard about this on a podcast yesterday but don't understand it.

how does knowing when your blood sugars help you choose better food?

*blood sugars spike
pressed send too soon

Hello @MotherOfRatios

When your blood sugar spikes it can A) have a negative effect on your health such as increased inflammation and links to other poor health outcomes especially if it's a constant rollercoaster of up/down spikes, and B) after a spike it will crash, often dipping lower than it was before making you hungry and likely to overindulge or reach for sugary/fatty foods.

Avoiding spikes promotes better health and better food choices and can sometimes be quite surprising. An example of this would be a smoothie versus eating whole fruits. Even though the ingredients could be exactly the same, with a smoothie the food is broken down and therefore the sugars are readily accessible to your body and hit your bloodstream much quicker than if you ate individual apples, oranges etc. The aim is to flatten that curve as much as possible.

I found the blood glucose monitor fascinating, something simple like a bowl of cereal could make my blood sugar rocket (crunchy nut cornflakes were as bad as a bottle of Lucozade for me) - I've now switched to porridge or wholemeal toast with peanut butter and I stay full for hours.

Good luck,

Matt

how does knowing when your blood sugars (spike) help you choose better food?

@MotherOfRatios

I've always had a sweet tooth and was just used to being on the sugar rollercoaster: overeating sugar leading first to a high and then a crash, when my body and brain would urge me urgently to eat more.

Having worn the sensor, seen the impact in real time has completely put me off sugar. I eat good quality veg/fats and protein and have lost that urge for something sweet after each meal. Such a relief.

thanks @FinallyHere @MrJellyBelly

I don't really have a sweet tooth wonder if I'm better just to pay for a gut health check?

its about understand your personal responses to foods ( and other things like stress , lifestyle or exercise, if you log them) and looks at response in terms of data and stiol bacteria ( microbiome) too.
this helps you understand your responses to optimise your health.

Big blood sugar swings and long episodes of high blood fat concentrations can trigger a chain of bad metabolic responses: medics are Looking at whether this is a source of inflammation in the body.

They think this might contribute to weight gain and chronic diseases tied up to metabolic health, like diabetes and heart disease. I wonder whether things like rheumatoid might also be mixed up there.

I was absolutely sold on the idea gaining an understanding of my personal response to food. It turns out my responses are pretty standard, there were no surprises: beige carbs bad, green carbs good.

Sigh.

I now think of myself as responding to sugars and starchy veg the way an alcoholic reacts to alcohol: impossible to moderate responses, much easier to abstain than try to moderate.

This is easy while the weight melts, at some point I shall need to review when maintenance is back in the table. I suspect that my range of tolerance will accommodate maybe once a week rather than the daily, increasing consumption I have tended to go for once restrictions have been moderated and whoosh the weight all goes back on.

I think I am the same @FinallyHere . A whole lifetime of yo-yo dieting because I simply cannot do moderation. And I can only deprive myself for so long before I fall off the wagon. Sometimes in spectacular style, sometimes just via creep, but ultimately always off it eventually. It's so depressing.

Hello all, I'm 4 months into Zoe and I just wanted to add that for me it's absolutely not about moderation or restriction, it's quite the opposite, it's about adding in as much good stuff as you can - loads of plant-based foods typically.

When I've thought about healthy eating before it may have been a boring-looking leaf-based salad with some tomato, cucumber, etc - uninspiring and hard to maintain. Under ZOE I have a huge plate full of stuff like hummus, bulger wheat or wild rice, lentils, tuna, peppers, shallots, parmesan, sundried tomatoes, extra-virgin olive oil, etc ...... you literally create a big delicious plate of food.

For breakfast this morning I had a massive bowl of rolled-oat porridge, with a spoon full of almond butter mixed in, some chopped-up fig and apricot, a handful of seeds, and some sliced banana - it's delicious, it's huge, it keeps me full for hours and it scores really high.

Before Zoe I might have had plain cornflakes, with no sugar and just milk - I'd think it was healthy yet I now know it isn't, it would score in the red for me and I'd be hungry half an hour later.

It's a different mindset.... eat lots but eat the stuff that works for your biology. You can literally see the score improve as you add more and more good quality plant-based food onto your plate.

I'm only a couple of months in - and I had a good, mainly plant based, diet to start with. Healthy weight but annoying rolls of waist fat that never seemed to go.... I had just accepted it as old age.

The whole process has been fascinating. I was shocked by some of my blood sugar reactions to ordinary foods - and my blood fat control is terrible, but I'm far from disheartened because of the HUGE variety of foods that ARE good for me and I love the recipes - realised I was actually getting very boring and predictable with my food choices, this is really shaking it up, food is becoming a really pleasure again.

I love the fact that nothing is off limits, I had a couple of "poor" scoring (for me) items in my dinner tonight, but so many high scoring ones that it balanced them out.

My gut microbe score was very good - but I'm more than happy to eat the gut boosters to get it even higher - especially as my gut boosters are all foods I like .

I'm eating loads, never hungry, I've lost a bit of weight AND I've got more energy.

Nice to be able to rave about it on here TBH as I'm wary about coming across as some evangelical diet nutter in RL so I'm not saying much unless asked🤣

@ohyesiknowwhatyoumean - completely understand what you mean about not wanting to appear an evangelical nutter, I feel the same, but inside I find myself quietly berating the large amount of calorie-counting fad stuff that you see and hear everywhere at this time of year.

Having spent time reading Tim Spector's books, going through the Zoe tests, learning from the App lessons, listening to podcasts, and seeing my own health (mental and physical) improve as a result - it's almost like I feel that I am are part of a secret club that knows a better way of living.

Yes, Zoe is expensive, its absolutely a difficult decision to spend that much money, time and effort on Zoe, especially during the current economic times, but if you compare the £400 investment in testing/4 months of access to what many people spend on yo-yo dieting or holidays, nights out over the course of a year then its a relatively small investment in your long-term health.

Ooooppps I've gone all evangelical nutter again!

So my results came back rubbish - poor sugar control, abysmal fat control and a very meh microbiome. Im a bit daunted to be honest, when I put meals together its really hard to get great scores when I have to watch all 3 factors!! Its been really helpful reading comments on here....I just wanted to check, has anyone come across a forum that is Zoe diet focused? I can't find anything like that in the app or on FB, but it would be really good to share worries/ideas etc. Or perhaps I just need to keep posting 'Help me!' posts here 😅