Zoe? (Or similar programmes)

[eurochick]

Does anyone have any views on whether zoe is helpful? I wanted to do it when it was very popular but didn't have the spare cash. Now the initial buzz around it has died down I wondered whether people who had done it had found it helpful.

Also, has anyone tried any alternatives? I am mainly interested in the blood sugar side. I have PCOS and have always reacted a bit oddly to sugar but now I am in peri my reactions seem extreme. I think it would be useful to track what I react to.

@eurochick , I did consider buying a blood sugar monitor and testing my blood sugar after eating and drinking to get an idea what spiked it. My elder son is a GP and has said patients of his who have purchased Zoe are generally very happy they had and find it useful.

Thank you for your response.

The only people I know who used it were borderline orthorexic.

This is a good article: www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/18/zoe-nutrition-app-diet-tim-spector-wellness-science

DH and I did Zoe last year. I have PCOS, his dm had type 2 diabetes and he's always seemed to be prone to 'sugar crashes'. We found it quite interesting and useful - although we had the same HbA1c (high end of normal) his 'peaks and troughs' were much bigger than mine.
We quite liked some of the food advice and recipes (mostly more veg and pulses) and adjusted our diet somewhat. He's been able to lose a fair bit of weight and his HbA1c is lower. He buys cgms and uses them occasionally to see how he's responding.

I've just finished Zoe, I've found it very helpful. Wearing the glucose sensor really made it clear how my system was reacting to sugars and carbs, it's not the same for everyone. It seems to take people a while to really get that it's a lifestyle change, not just a diet.
I'm now feeling loads better, I didn't need to lose weight but I've slimmed down, my skin is clearer, I rarely get hungry and I don't crave carbs any longer. I have lots of energy and I feel kind of calmer.
You get put in a support group and Zoe coaches comment and answer questions. There are articles to read on the app and video lessons. The Food for Life cookbook by Tim Spector has loads of interesting recipes and there are lots on the app too.
I think it's been very good value, I'm glad I've done it.

I did Zoe a couple of years ago, I don't think it was worth the money, as I don't think it was personalised in the way that they sold it and it wasn't worth the money to me. But then it depends on your level of knowledge in the first place, I don't think I really learned anything as I already had good knowledge around nutrition and I ate healthily.

I think you can get just as much knowledge from reading books and listening to podcasts, which is much cheaper, but if you're a sort of person who needs more outer accountability and a structured program and it could be good for you.

You can do a blood sugar monitor without doing the Zoe program. I think so many things can affect your blood sugar response, such as level of exercise, sleep, stress et cetera and I'm not convinced that Zoe with their snapshot monitoring got mine right. They said I had good processing of blood sugar, but I often get shaky a few hours later if I've eaten a lot of carbs. It was useful though to watch the monitor over a couple of weeks.

I also wanted to do Zoe back in the day, but it was sold out. Instead I went solo, and just bought a CGM off the shelf and read all the books. I really got sucked in learning about low carb and ketogenic diets by listening to the STEM talk podcast, the research and the things that blood sugar/insulin impacts on the body is amazing.

If you want a back to basics blood sugar plan take a look at the real food revolution by the public health collaboration.
And if you want the up to date science, the STEM talk podcast, any episode with ketogenic or sugar in the title.
And for a good, if terrifying summary in book form, The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes.

On a side note, the link between PCOS and sugar is insulin resistance, for the scientific explanation try looking at Ben Bikman on YOuTube, and for a more conversational rundown, Metabolic Mind on PCOS.

I have not put direct links, as people are right not to trust random links, and also if you are on this site and vaguely interested google will help you.

Best of luck!

@Sajacas gives really good advice. I think insulin resistance is so important to understand.

Interesting @Sajacas - there's a link between insulin resistance and endometrial cancer too.

I totally agree with this.

Tbh I think most of the value is the CGM - the microbiome analysis may well be useful for research purposes but I don't think is of much practical value beyond the general advice to eat a good variety of plants, fibre and some fermented foods.
I think the podcasts are freely available, some of these were quite interesting - I keep meaning to listen to a few more.

I agree that they've oversold the microbiome stuff, which is also more complicated than a snapshot. They completely changed the measurement after I'd done it as a fairly early adopter, so the legacy of doing it was completely useless, but having read more, I also think it is just a matter of eating more and more diverse plant stuff.

Zoe doesn't cope very well either if you have any health conditions or other issues that make you not average. I didn't have major things going on for me, other than low sodium, but I ended up quite depleted in iron and B12.