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!

There is a Facebook group called UK Zoe Nutrition Chat (Unofficial) which has some really useful stuff on it.

Hello All, I want to share a shameful news: Sainsburys cheats us! I have bought a nitrate test strips from ebay (aquarium water tests) and tested a few fruits and vegs from various shops. Sainbury organic Cos lettuce and organic cucumber have let me down. Below is a comparison of Sainsbury's organic vs Lidl organic cucumber. The nitrates are 25 mg/l in Lidl and around 300 mg/l in Sainsbury's! Shame on Sansburys

nitrate test is the leftmost square on the test strip

I’m going to have to ask what difference does it make to our bodies with the differences in nitrates? Thank you

Nitrates partly turn into nitrites in our body, and nitrites are cancerogenic. Also, excessive nitrates are causing diarrhea and even vomiting in some people. As a side-note, nitrites (that are present in the bacon), can turn into even more dangerous N-nitrose-amins upon heating of the bacon... So, this "british breakfast" is not healthy.

I am geuninely curious, trying to understand why you tested vegetables with the aquarium nitrate strips? Many vegetables naturally have nitrates in them, specifically green ones. Celery juice or extract is often used as a replacement for ingredients in bacon curing to make it 'better'. So I would imagine as different fruit/veg grow on different farms but may be the same fruit/veg they may take up different amounts of nutrients because of the use of fertilizers etc. What has led you to testing your produce with the strips? A book or podcast or genuine intrigue? I don't doubt grocery stores don't really care about health of its customers, but I genuinely am intrigued by your post and just trying to understand more. Cheers.

Thank you for tipping me about celery. Tesco Organic celery has miserably failed the test with around 500 mg/l nitrates and 5 mg/l nitrites.

Well, there was a lot of attention to nitrates in food in 90-s in Russia, one could buy cheap nitrate test strips at that time and test all vegs... Then, a few years later, the tests disappeared from the stores... The fruit producer lobby did not want us to test the produce...

Now, I can, finally, find these tests again from ebay (5 pounds for 50 tests)(does not matter if these are intended for aquariums).

As for dangers of nitrates, my wife always vomited from ordinary strawberries in the shops (I was not puking, but just was feeling bad). Only organic and "perfectly imperfect" strawberries are fine.

Tesco organic carrots are fine (nitrates below 25 mg/l). Parsnips (even the non-organic ones) are fine - almost no nitrates found.

That makes more sense to me. and thank you for explaining, I am genuinely intrigued. I would imagine root vegetables have less as they are below ground veg. If your wife is sensitive to nitrates it sounds as though its definitely worth what you are doing. If you are able to grow your own veg it may give you more control.

I shall leave this here, re Nitrates and suggest people have a read. Nitrates are essential for good health.

www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-what-are-nitrates-in-food-side-effects

One interesting observation I constantly confirm is that vegs with excess nitrates are getting bad (start to rot) much faster. Even now, the Sainbury's org cucumber starts to rot, while Lidl one is ok.

This is a known phenomenon: for example, if you want to remove an old tree-stump, just make a hole in in and put nitrates in it - the stump will rapidly turn into a mash.

Today's revelation: how much (or how little!) fibre I eat. I'm halfway through zoe 202 and just did the lesson about fibre and how much I should be eating. As a veggie who gets my 5 a day I had honestly never considered I may not be getting enough. I've done over 20g most days since starting the programme, but only hit 30+g on two days (where I felt I ate a lot of salad and veg).

I've checked back to me early days when I was in the test phase and can see I was mostly eating between 10 and 20g a day.

I haven't noticed much change in my bowel habits but think my little microbe friends must be loving it in there now 😁

Microbe party @Wazzzzzuuuuuuup 😀

I'm definitely doing better with adding healthy food and building better more balanced meals but still struggling a bit with taking away meat which always brings the score down and would obviously be better in moderation. Trying to do some swaps to white meat where I can but we still have quite a meat heavy diet. That's my new challenge!

I'm also prioritising sleep in January and have to say it's so much easier to make better choices when not stumbling through the day in an exhausted fog!

I’m on day 2 today- ate there any new joiners?

Starting this week!

I’ve just ordered a whole heap of vegetable / lentil and spelt pastas from H&B as they all score really high.

I went into my local health food shop - confident I'd find edamame pasta but no luck. Normal wholewheat scores well for me though.

Still loving it - trying out a few new dishes this week - though having to modify some of their recipes as I'm still trying to use up the xmas cheese 😂

Re: Pasta

I can recommend ZenB pasta - it's just the same as regular pasta in terms of taste and texture (well, very similar anyway) but it's made from yellow peas so it's essentially another pulse/legume. We swapped to it last year and haven't looked back.

It scores highly for me, much better than normal pasta. It's available direct from them online with a 40% discount but I just tend to buy it in a 3-box pack from Amazon.

Cheers

Matt

I just can’t get away with any of the lentil/edemame/pea pastas etc. I’ve tried but the taste and texture turns my stomach for some reason. I’ve switched to wholewheat instead as it still scores quite highly for me.

Hi all! I’ve just pre-ordered my kit, and about to start the Glucose Revolution book - can’t wait to start! PM if you’d like a referral link :)

I just signed up for a further year - I could have survived without it as I've learned enough but it's become a part of who I am now, it works for me and I feel it's worth the investment to remain fit & healthy all year.

Definitely going to make the most of the new service where they will score new foods for you by submitting images though!

I tried lentil pasta a couple of weeks ago as my sister has coeliac and was staying for a few days - it was really very nice so I'm going to try some of the other pulse versions.

I haven't tried any other pastas. Are they super expensive? My blood sugar is OK so I wonder if swapping pasta will really give me any benefit.

My last few days have been a bit hit and miss. Still on zoe 202 and tracking everything. I've had some good individual meals and my snacks are way better. However I have had a busy week at work, and so had a tesco meal deal for lunch. Apparently eating tuna sandwiches, sushi and Ribena is NOT a win for me.

Yesterday I went for a lovely long walk, followed by a pint and a half in the pub with some crisps which basically decimated my score for the day. I'm trying to reset each day as new rather than carrying a hangover from yesterday's poor day.

Today I have had grapefruit, some Walnuts and cashews and a small slice of toast with almond butter, looking at 79 so far.

£2 a pack at Holland and Barrett for the Explore Cuisine edamame pasta ATM - and £12.75 for 6 boxes of the Lentil Penne on Amazon. Supposed to serve 4 - but I haven't checked it out yet. Bought some to try though so might have it tomorrow. My blood sugar is OK as well, and ordinary wholewheat pasta is fine for me at 70 - but these ones are in the 80's - so even better. It also adds variety for the gut bugs!

I've received my testing kit today and wondering when to start. I can see day 1 is busy, but why does it say to keep the first four days free because there is lots to do?