Anyone using ZOE?

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I’m tempted but the cost! Anyone doing it/using it and can offer feedback?

I’ve done it. There is an unofficial Zoe Facebook group in which people often ask that question. There are mixed views, I think it depends where you’re starting from. Personally, I think it was a lot of money to tell me pretty much what I already knew, and I don’t think the science around the monitoring they do is far enough ahead to really give you a very personalised approach. I particularly lost confidence when the basis on which they analysed your microbiome completely changed, and those of us had been early adopters had no access to the new measurements, which had been based on the samples that we gave, unless we paid a lot more money.

Books and listening to podcasts, including the Zoe podcast, have been a much cheaper way to get that knowledge. It’s also not very helpful if you have specific health requirements that aren’t taken into account. But if you’re starting from a position of not knowing very much about food and nutrition, and or want a structure around you to make decisions, then it could be useful, lots of people love it!

Thank you, that’s a really detailed and helpful reply!

I wrote about Zoe on an earlier thread, hope the link works. Edited to add the text I posted on the linked thread.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/foodandrecipes/5235671-ultra-processed-foods-lindt-70-dark-chocolate?reply=140755325&utmcampaign=reply&utmmedium=share

I tried Zoe and, while the continuous glucose monitoring (2 weeks), blood test (at the start) and stool sample tests (one at the start and one after 4 months on Zoe) are interesting, at the end of the day it’s nothing you don’t already know. CGM showed that my blood sugar spiked with carbs and that eating protein with/before carbs or doing exercise would help flatten the curve (what’s new). The blood test showed I could tolerate fats such as cheeses better than DH, who also went on Zoe with me. The stool sample tests showed my gut biodiversity profile wasn’t great pre-Zoe, and after 4 months of more or less following Zoe it improved.

The Zoe app essentially helps monitor what you eat in terms of fibre, UPF content, gut friendliness, etc. and congratulates you for hitting targets plus gives tips on how to improve your diet. I’ve attached screenshots of what my app told me earlier this year when I was religiously following it.

I suppose it’s nice to think that I have a ‘personalised’ list of good / less good foods (see screenshots), which differs slightly from the list on DH’s app, but really it’s not rocket science to know that lentils, tofu and green beans are good for one’s gut and that burgers, bacon and UPFs are bad.

I eventually got tired of weighing and logging in everything I ate, and I also enjoy eating out so found it difficult to log restaurant meals. Admittedly the app has been designed to make logging foods as easy as possible with features such as the ability to enter recipes, scan food barcodes, save favourite foods and to get the Zoe team to score and add new items to the list (e.g., a specific brand of olive oil). The little quizzes imparting information are also a bit tiresome, but maybe it depends on your level of interest.

I think you can try Zoe and maybe find things to tweak further in your diet using it, however you can save £££ by simply watching the Zoe podcasts on YouTube. The themes include intermittent fasting (you will have already smashed that), perimenopause and it’s effects on health, enhancing gut biodiversity, exercise and food, olive oils and polyphenols, you get the drift.
You can also buy their Zoe Daily30+ wholefood supplement online or from Waitrose, however we’ve had to bin 4 packs recently due to a product warning about contamination with bits of metal or small stones.

Also some screenshots from the Zoe app, which “gamifies” your eating by taking the information from the meals you log into the app and quantifying how much fibre, fat, variety, etc. is in your diet

This is so useful, thank you!