Zoe nutrition

[AngelinaJolie21]

Just wondering if anyone signed up to the Zoe app and lost weight? I’ve seen differing views and just really want to know that I will actually lose some weight..I’d like to be healthier n all, but I’d also like to be slimmer…

I’m at about the same stage - let me know how you get on with the spikes
I also had trouble with the blood test - I have 3 puncture holes in my middle finger, I took ages to squeeze enough blood to fill the square and then dropped blood all the way to the first aid drawer for a plaster because it wouldn’t stop and the Zoe plasters were useless

You don't have to do the food challenges, you can pick your own or just not bother, it's a chance for you to see how your body reacts to different things. I discovered bagels sent my blood sugar soaring, no surprise, but white rice didn't have much impact. I'd try it out with foods you like/want to eat to see what's best for you.

I'm massively disappointed in myself, this was a big financial outlay for me and I went into it full of enthusiasm but somehow I stopped logging and following the lessons. Holiday, working away, visit to family all made it difficult to stick to plan. I know the whole point is that this is a lifestyle change and so it should work whatever you're doing but I have lost it. I am eating more nuts 😀 but I'm currently on Holland have been eating bread, crisps, chocolate ...

I had to unfollow the Facebook group that I joined, there were some really evangelical posters on there and it was making me feel even worse about my slip ups.

I feel exactly the same @MerelyPlaying I’m also a bit disappointed in myself, I’m glad it’s not just me!! I started off totally engaged with the Zoe experience. As the months have gone by I’ve just drifted away and struggled to keep up with the daily lessons etc. I think I was eating relatively healthily before starting - for years I’ve tried to avoid processed foods, sugar and so on - and the blood tests weren’t a big surprise as I could tell my blood sugar response was bad for certain foods and generally I lose weight/feel better on a high fat/low carb diet, I just find them totally unsustainable. I was already trying to diversify my whole food and plant food intake - so instead of having just lettuce, tomato, cucumber for lunch, I will add radish, celery, spring onions, fresh herbs etc, with just AC vinegar and EV olive oil as a dressing. But I started doing that after reading Glucose Goddess and looking back I think her book made the biggest difference to how I try to eat now. Zoe is full of great advice for those just starting out and also amazing for cutting edge food/diet related information. But I’m 45 now and have come to realise that I simply need to eat a lot less in order to lose or even maintain my weight, and constantly “adding” foods in to meals doesn’t really help with this. For example, nuts are one of the highest scoring foods for me according to Zoe - so if I add them to chocolate it becomes a “green” food to “enjoy regularly”. But I’m obviously not going to be very healthy (or lose weight) if I eat huge amounts of chocolate nuts every day! I think personally I need a mindset of “smaller portions”, rather than “eat as much as you want of this”. I also think my hormones have always dictated my food choices/cravings/weight gain and loss. Puberty, pregnancy and now peri-menopause (as well as monthly cycles) have all caused me to crave carbs/sugar and gain weight. Whereas certain weeks in a month I could effortlessly eat healthily, some days I would find it totally impossible - I’ve realised it’s not possible to fight your hormones on this and I’m just working on a level of acceptance! I would guess Zoe is transformative for many people, and I’m not trying to dissuade others from trying it. But there are still gaps that I think may never be answered. For example, when I tested porridge the blood glucose sensor didn’t register much of a response, but I have known for years that eating porridge for breakfast makes me starving and crave carbs all day, whereas weirdly something like a croissant doesn’t. The same with fruit - we are encouraged to eat lots of different kinds, but for me it’s a trigger for eating sweet food later in the day. If I drink alcohol I am starving the whole evening and the following morning. I guess I’m saying for me there are lots of additional considerations to changing my diet - and there will be for every individual. So I need to take these into account alongside the Zoe advice.

I am about 3 1/2 months into Zoe and I think I would have been better off just having a monthly sub for a couple of months.

I've had to cut back on carbs a lot to get a decent daily score. It has also made me eat more fruit and veg (and loads of nuts).

I've a fair few recipes in the app now, but have been away a lot and keep finding more and more foods that aren't scored yet.

My observation is that most unprocessed foods are scored. If it's in a pack and not scored then it's likely to be UPF - after reading Chris vanT's book I would not buy it.

After a while you really do get the hang of knowing which foods are ok for your body as staples, which should be occasional and what are rare treats.

Would anyone mind telling me how zoe food scores deal with extraneous factors for example exercise and hormones?

I went down the cgm route (mainly to save money) and what has been really interesting is quite how varied my response is to the same food depending on where I am in my menstrual cycle and what exercise I do.

For example in the week before my period my blood glucose spikes after eating a 3x what they are in the week after my period. I now know that I need to reduce carbs at the end of my cycle but I have a lot more scope at the beginning to eat more.

Also my response will vary depending on whether I exercise before or after food and how much sleep I get.

How does zoe take these factors into account in their food scores? Also if you eat a huge mixed plate of food however does zoe work out what food is doing what?

Evening all!
I’m currently on the last day of good challenges which then gives me a few days to practice with my favourite foods
what I’m concerned about is the interim period - between BGM removal (after 14 days monitoring) and the results being sent approx 4 weeks later - and then even after the results are in and I decipher the results - how do I know how I’m doing?????

I understand that Zoe only takes measurements (& makes recommendations) on empty stomach, no exercise before or affecting their numbers. Dunno about hormones.

I have just removed the BGI monitor and I was wondering how Zoe direct you between this time and receiving results

Just carry on logging your food. When your samples have been analysed the app will retrospectively score what you've eaten and give you an overall score on the quality of your diet so far.

I know it seems like a lot to pay - but I am around 10 weeks and don’t regret the splurge on my own health at all. I feel so much better, more energetic, clearer skin, sleep better and understand my body. As a bonus, I have steadily lost between 0.5 and 1lb per week, without even trying.

If cost is a thing for you, I am happy to share my link to get a discount: https://joinzoe.mention-me.com/m/ol/kn1qz-becky-tucker

I am a bit disappointed that my results have been delayed - I had to redo my poop sample and my results should be through around 10/8 not 10/7 as was first predicted.
I am on holiday at the moment but had lost 10kg since starting Zoe but more through intermittent fasting I think. Still looking forward to receiving the results - not sure how easy it’ll be to interpret

Has anyone received their results? I have mine- good for blood sugar and fat and excellent microbiome. I’ve been looking at the points for my foods and honestly it’s just what I would have guessed- veg, fruit, fish, pulses and olive oil are all good. Nothing is really bad that I wouldn’t have guessed.

Just wondering if anyone else received results and points that were different at all (eg advising you not to eat things you’d otherwise have thought were healthy). It may be that mine weren’t very enlightening because my test results were all good so I’m just the average joe.

@BinFace
I was surprised that these 'healthy' things score lowly for me:

watermelon, pineapple, mango, grapes, banana, pomegranate, dates, figs, wholemeal seeded sourdough & all other breads, oats, wholemeal pasta, potatoes including baked with skin, parsnips, minced beef and marmite!

Mine was very poor for blood control and poor for fat control so count yourself lucky @BinFace . Thankfully the gut biome was fine otherwise I’d start eating crisps and drinking beer as clearly there is no hope!

The scores for friends with less horrendous scores are very different to mine. Basically I shouldn’t eat any bread, refined carbs at all and only rely on some potatoes on occasion.

You can still eat all of them.

Watermelon scores 24 for me and I put 400gm into a 4 serving bean salad yesterday. The salad scored 90.

That's the trick with Zoe, learning what foods to combine. From your low scoring food list (none score high for me), so far this week I've had 5 of them. No day has been below 75.

Tim Spector called a 50 scoring food, for him, "average" and that's the way to think about it - some foods in the 40-60 range are average for us, not fantastically good, not bad, we can eat them often but not daily.

Lower scoring food is often something we don't need in huge quantities- so can easily be incorporated into dishes - I use dates a lot, but to enhance dishes not as a main. If I eat a dates as a treat I will pair them with nuts. 4 dates scores 27 for me, add a handful of walnuts and it's a treat of 82!

I'm loving it, lost 7kg, feeling more fit and healthy approaching 70 than I did 20yrs ago.

Does anyone know how to contact Zoe? I signed up and paid but added my email address incorrectly - so haven't received any emails. I can log in to the app using the incorrect email address (it saved in my keychain, so I know what the error is) - but the ;chat' option is so restrictive and there is no free text option. I am beyond frustrated with it.
I hate it when companies control what you can contact them about. Arrrgggh

In the FAQs on the website they say to use this email address for membership queries

[email protected]

Thank you!

I saw a message that suggested that every score they had was low except their gut biome - and they may as well live in a diet of beer & crisps!!
Mine are all bad!! I haven’t started the membership 201 yet, I’ve just got back off holiday and need to get a quiet house to concentrate - but I honestly don’t know where to go from here

I don’t understand; I know my portion control is horrendous at night but I fast until dinner most days and cook from scratch in the evening. I make my own yogurt and granola and when I do have breakfast, I have that with roasted, unsweetened rhubarb
I am overweight, I have lost 10kg since starting Zoe but still some way to go but my BMI is still 33 and I am pre-diabetic

@nonnjo your scores dont reflect your diet, whatever you eat your scores would be the same. BUT it seems incredibly likely that your very poor microbiome is what’s causing you to have the poor diet they’ve scored for you, and also making it hard to change eating habits.
As you move forward the app will help you find and put together food combinations that will work for you and all your scores.

Hopefully!! I don’t know why my gut biome is sooooo bad???

I've come across this on Instagram and it does look intriguing to me, but I think I have some food intolerances and don't know if this will actually help identify them or not?

SpinningOutWaitingForYa - to be fair I haven’t started stage 2 for all the info ( just back off holiday and waiting for the house to calm down and everyone back to normal so I can concentrate) but I would think Zoe would be helpful - it probably won’t identify your particular intolerances but the gut test will tell which part of your diet is causing problems so that you can adjust your diet accordingly