Experiences with Zoe

[MrsLeBon2]

I’m thinking about signing up to the Zoe app. I’m a ‘normal’ weight though at the top end but with a lot of bloating/flab and I’d like to find out more about how I react to food to I can try and minimize the menopause weight gain. It’s pretty pricy but wondering if it’s worth it?

I'm also considering it and would like to know!

I'm a month in. Joined for very similar reasons. Just had my results which were as expected, and really liking it so far.

from what I can tell, Tim Spector is the only person who lost a lot of weight on his own regime.

May I say he looks gaunt...

Get his book! Some good ideas x

I Take it back, I don't think Spector was ever fat.

I've done it and am 2 months in. I'm late forties and overweight. The testing is interesting, but where I have found it most useful is after the results come in and the app opens up with your personalised scores. This has really driven home to me how bad some foods are for my health. I feel so much better and have so much energy. My mood is better, and I sleep well. I felt an improvement within a day or two. I was shocked at how quick it was. I have lost weight, but not quickly, but that's fine for me. I genuinely feel it has helped me shift my thinking around food.

No doubt it is expensive, but for it was worth every penny. I don't know if my experience is typical though.

Ahh haa, well I have just finished my 4 months, I am in the normal weight range but gained 9lb menopause weight. Harder to shift lbs as I’m near to ideal weight and it’s hormonally driven.
I actually lost all 9lb of it without “dieting” or going hungry!!
Ive actually just resubscribed as things were starting to go off track a bit again.
I can share a referral discount (10% for you and possibly heavily discounted subscription, 1 month free for me).

I would just get a cgm and test your blood sugar response to different foods yourself, you may even be able to get a free trial of the libre 2 from abbot.

I don't think the microbiome test is that useful, just make sure you are eating fermented foods and at least 30+ different fruit/veg a week, lots of fibre and avoid upf/emulsifiers.

The other component is the fat response. This may be useful if you have concerns over chloesterol etc but you can get the basic tests for this done by your gp.

I lost 11kg and lost all my belly fat purely by cutting out upf, no need to spend out £100s on zoe.

I signed up for Zoe and joined a Facebook group for it. The waiting list for Zoe was quite long and before I got to the front of the queue I cancelled. I could see from the Facebook group that people were mostly given the same advice on what to eat with relatively minor variations in scores out of 100 for different foods and recipes. Therefore it's just as easy to eat "the zoe way" without testing yourself. I feel like the personalised element to Zoe is pretty oversold.

I completely disagree with meadowdog (who hasn’t done the Zoe program).

The nutritional advice is completely varied depending on test results. This is made very clear eg when people share their high scoring personalised recipes which score very badly/low for me.

Also if useful to know, the blood fat test isn’t really anything to do with cholesterol, a doctors cholesterol test is testing for something completely different.

I’m a few weeks in. I would stress it is not a weight loss diet! It’s for health and well being.I have changed my diet completely and feel a lot better.

Personally, paying for it and engaging with the tests and the app made me more committed to change. My glucose is just below the pre diabetic range which my GP didn’t even bother to tell me about (blood test at GP in last few months also shows this).

I found the glucose monitor incredibly helpful and have made permanent changes based on that. The results from the other tests were less clear and they lost the blood test result so gave me a generic answer that I couldn't process fat - they certainly did not suggest that I could do the test again.

This meant I had an incredibly limited range of foods which I just couldn't stick to.

I have done the CGM again though and find that really helpful. Monitoring blood sugar has made a big difference to my health.

@Playfulpups genuinely curious what meals score low for you and high for everyone else? The only times I've seen that happen in the Facebook groups its been because someone entered the amounts incorrectly (100 ml of olive oil instead of 10 for example). Otherwise it's all been pretty consistent - don't eat white bread or almost any bread from the supermarket except for small amounts of something called LivLife bread. Otherwise wholegrain sourdough from a proper bakery. Don't eat white rice or white potatoes, do eat lots of veg and fiber and some fruit but not on its own. Add nuts and seeds to everything. Don't eat pork but fish and chicken are OK in moderation. Eat tons of beans. Barley is good, oats not great. Eat olive oil instead of butter.

@jotunn that happens frequently. If you insist they will retest you (but they won't offer, you have to pursue it).

@meadowdog well loads, someone with an opposite profile to me will get opposite scores iyswim

I've been considering paying for Zoe and I would also be very interested in the type of variation you have seen. I understand it's not your responsibility, but if you could give a recipe or a few food stuffs that score well for others but badly for you that would be really interesting to see.

I'm toying with this, but not sure I have the willpower to stick to the advice 100%. I guess that the financial commitment might give me the right incentive. But need to get in the right headspace first.

How long is the sign up?

No that is completely incorrect, no one is going to get a good score from milk chocolate for example or even from something like tuna mayo on white bread or a jacket potato with cheese. The high scoring meals are remarkably consistent across everyone I've seen with relatively minor variations in scores. That's why there are recipe groups on Facebook for eating the Zoe way- because homemade lentil flatbread with a homemade mixed bean curry for example is going to score very well for everyone. Does it really matter if it's say, 92/100 for you and 85/100 for someone else?

@Gazelda sign up ranges from one month to one year with option to renew. Obv longer = lower monthly cost. Some annual subs get a very very good price but I’m not sure which people get this. My son did when he used my referral code but I didn’t when I first signed up with someone else’s.

Also re headspace, over 4 months you are guided to very slowly increase your scores, the starting point is generally just a slight improvement on a pre Zoe score. For context, scores range from 0-100. Pre Zoe is often high 40s, first week of Zoe is 50, end of 4 months the goal is around 75 (not 100 and with no objective of slavishly sticking to it every day).

What tends to happen (due to the microbiome Science of it) is that the longer you do it the easier it is and the less headspace is required.

Can everyone please ignore meadowdogs incorrect comments and do the research yourselves as measowdog has never been a member of Zoe so isn’t really in a position to comment.

homemade lentil flatbread with a homemade mixed bean curry

Please tell me other meal suggestions are available...

You can eat whatever you like, nothings “banned” or whatever. Idea is to nudge your usual meals in the right direction to improve scores since scores reflect the amount of inflammation/negative gut microbiome activity that foods generate for me personally.
Eg say I like cottage pie and peas. Over time I’ve now switched out the beef mince to a third mince a third lentils and a third veg. I’ve added more veg on the side, specifically veg that score highly for me. I still enjoy this meal but it’s now having a beneficial instead of a neutral or harmful effect on my long term health.
Say I like leek and spinach quiche (scores quite low for me). Ditched ready roll pastry but still scores low. Subbed 50% whole meal flour, a bit better but not good enough. Added more of my personal high scoring veg on the side, melt baked beans and ditched the potatoes. Is now a high scoring meal. But I could have stopped at any of the previous points and felt a little virtuous at the improved health benefit of my changes.

I have enthusiastically made the banana and avocado bread using a recipe from the app.

@Playfulpups if you have a referral code you’re happy to share would you mind PMing me? I need to make some drastic changes and have been contemplating this one..

@Meadowdog there are lots of examples of this in the facebook groups and in the app.
A simple explanation is that cheddar cheese might be ok for one person to eat regularly, but another person should eat it only occasionally. This then impacts on food combos, meals and recipes.