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?

Very interesting posts MsRinky and Fretful - thanks for being so open. It sounds like the podcasts contain all the useful information and maybe the personalised testing is a bit of a red herring. I was tempted to go for it because I'm curious to know my scores for gut microbiome, fat and sugar response, but I've been basing my diet on zoe principles for most of this year so I'd expect my microbiome to be fairly good and I'd feel very disillusioned (like you, MsRinky) if that turned out not to be the case. So really, if I joined I'd be paying for some sort of reassurance about something I'm not currently worried about, but I'd risk actually getting the opposite.

On one of the recent podcasts an American doctor said that we would all benefit from trying a CGM and getting to understand our personal blood sugar responses, so I'm thinking I might buy one of those instead of doing the zoe programme. It would be a financial stretch for me (though health is a personal priority) so I particularly appreciate your insights.

Ooh - I've also just seen your post Bubbles! Very interesting info - thank you.

I am glad I’m not the only sceptic!

I agree it is a data-gathering exercise and also it’s not great for weight loss (it is quite careful not to sell itself as a weight loss plan specifically but at the same time there are many highlighted testimonials that indicate the user ‘dropped’ kilos). I wouldn’t be surprised if I gained weight with all the ‘nutrient dense’ recommendations.

a lot of the money goes on tests and monitors, I am sure, so if you are curious about your blood sugar patterns, I’d say get a monitor and use the app. That’s your data and it’s not tricky to interpret. The way of eating isn’t rocket science if you can use google and throw in the odd Zoe podcast (and the like).

Can someone please tell me how much Zoe costs?

It costs about £500 to do the testing and for a 4 month subscription

Really interesting reading these replies after I now have my results

My blood glucose and blood fat control are both excellent but gut health is poor. Now doing the scoring it was confusing me how a Thai curry scores really high despite giving me the biggest glucose spike then dip the whole time on the cgm so it makes sense that they only look at the muffin tests and not the whole fortnight. I'm finding the diet advice very generic and not based on my personal data at all

Check out Dr Idz on social media. His channel debunks a lot of the blood sugar hype out there. He critiques posts from people like the Glucose Goddess

I’m sure Zoe is a credible programme, but Dr Idz argues that we shouldn’t monitor our blood glucose unless we’re diabetic. This has made me stop and think before signing up .

@toefingers I agree there is a lot of hype over blood sugar monitoring however with 1 in 3 people in the UK being diabetic or pre diabetic and even more on the route to this I think it is really useful to do a little short term monitoring to see how your body responds so you can make preventative changes.

For me the main takeway was that exercise is key in managing mine so now I am a lot more active and am building muscle. I feel them cgm gave me the real impetus to make these changes as I could actually see the impact it was having on my blood sugar. As I result I feel much healthier, I have lost all my peri menopausal body fat and sleep better.

If anyone needs a cgm I recommend Abbott. You can even get a 2 week free trial

https://www.freestyle.abbott/uk-en/getting-started/sampling.html

I'm due to start this month and will reserve judgement until then re the program but I have paid £600 for the tests, monitor and a years subscription. There's a ten percent discount via the podcast I wasn't aware of so could have been cheaper.

Today has been interesting. The help-centre finally responded to me and I gave them the details of the blood test I posted last Friday. It can't be logged without these details, apparently.
BUT then I noticed the app was also telling me my results were in. Blood sugar control 'good', Microbiome score 'excellent', Diet assessment 'good' and . . . blood fat control 'good'. Except there should not have been a blood fat control because they haven't had a test from me that they could log.
Call me sceptical but does this suggest the test results are not as advertised, i.e. not my test results but something more generic? One the one hand, it seems unlikely as it would surely be mis-selling and certainly misleading if not dishonest (I'll have to review their exact wording) but on the other, hard to see how they have a result with no test. I've asked for an explanation and it may be that they don't need the start/end/test times I just gave them to analyse the blood but only to finesse the score. I think there is a bar code on the test and it certainly has my name, dob etc. so that is plausible.

Response from customer support leaves me more confused

'Thank you for confirming [the blood test times]! I have requested that these are logged for you.
These will be without your blood test as your results shipping wasn't paused, but I have requested that a new insights report is generated once your blood test results are ready [angel emoji]'

I've pointed out my blood test result is there so how have they got a result with no test? Is it invalid and if so, is just the blood test invalid or all of them?

Ah, now they tell me the blood fat result is 'predicted' but none of my other results were, that the customer service person 'can see'.
I have pointed out that the result is not labelled as 'predicted' and this is misleading and undermines my confidence in their operation.

Yes what's the point of all the individualised testing if they're just "predicting"

The result isn’t exactly flagged as estimated but the explanation that comes with the figures will clearly say that it’s predicted/estimated.

What are the T&C when people sign up to Zoe, how much can Zoe use the data from Zoe (nutrition) App users? Zoe publshed lots of studies about the (covid) ZoeApp data. So they can publish lots about the nutrition version, right?

That's what people are paying for... to be their research participants, I suppose.

There’s a very clear participant consent t required for the glucose monitor data.

I assumed they would use my other anonymised data otherwise how can their understanding evolve?

Just read the whole thread: 2 people gained weight, 4 people say they lost weight (the lowest says 4lb, the highest being 9lb). That's not many success stories, and not much in the way of weightloss.

Agree @lljkk , it's interesting that for all the data they collect, there are no statements about the average weight loss.

Also, as the tests aren't repeated, they can't make any statements about how those improve either.

I tried it - similar to @Fretfulagain , I didn't find it great. No weight loss at all, and it discouraged varied home cooking unless you wanted to spend hours logging ingredients. My blood glucose remained in the green range, despite even drinking coca cola to push it out of range, all in all, waste of time and money.

I've done Zoe and am about 4 months in. I had poor BS, Good BF and Good Microbiome.

I am now eating a larger variety of plants and more balanced meals. I haven't lost any weight but it isn't supposed to be about weight loss, it's about health. The benefits for me have been more energy, better sleep, more stable mood, menopause symptoms have massively reduced and my long term chronic autoimmune disease symptoms have decreased to almost nothing.

I think the benefits you get from Zoe are going to vary massively depending on your starting point. If you are healthy now, you are eating to protect your future self so may not see much in the way of improvement but may be preventing serious disease later. If like me, you are old and creaky then you may see improvements quite quickly.

I have read through the thread. I signed up and got my results at the end of May.
I am menapausal and have an underactive thyroid which make it difficult to loose weight. I am however very overweight.
Since beginning I have lost around 16lb. I am hoping this continues.
I finfmd that the weight loss is more likely if my logged food scores highly regardless of the number of calories.
The issue is I have trouble digesting too many pulses and so have no intention of giving up meat, frequently resulting in fat warnings as I apparently have poor fat clearance.
I found the lessons very dumbed down and "americanised" over enthusiastic slant annoying, but putting that aside what was said did seem sensible advice.
I'm still waiting for tge recalibrate gut score to see how much my "excellent " score plummets.
One thing I have definitely noticed is that we were on holiday a couple of weeks ago and my tastes have definitely changes and I was looking out for salads and veg and refusing desserts on the whole as they just didn't look appealing. This is a BIG change to previous habits.

I think it's very clear that this isn't a weight loss program, more of a health program. Any weight loss a result of better nutrition and diet is emphasised as a positive but not a goal.

I certainly don't need to lose weight, I'm a 7.5 stone, I am interested in having as much life in my years as I can, and at 50, need to consider my choices more than I did in my 20's.

Resurrecting this thread to ask about health messaging. I am doing Zoe ATM, 8 days in. Blood sugar monitor is interesting but I am not sure what the ideal is.

I am obese (15 stone) and pretty sure I am prediabetic as my waking blood sugar is around 6-6.5. It then stays very stable most of the day. I found a huge spike (to over 11!) today from a steak slice and cornflake bake from the bakery for lunch. I kind of chose them to see what would happen. Bananas give me a spike as does porridge. But crisps, not particularly. Salad and chicken, not particularly. Does this mean these latter are better foods for me? Or is a spike expected and it's what happens after wrt a crash that matters?

Attaching today's blood sugar graph. Huge spike from lunch. I had no breakfast. Dinner was chicken and roasted veg, and Greek yoghurt. The 6 pm rise was a bag of wotsits. Does the results info, when you get it, make all of this clear?

Hello - I'm no expert but I think the test results will put your blood sugar spikes in context and maybe give you a bit of a steer on how your body reacts to sugar/fat but it sounds as though you clear fat better than sugar.

The lunch from the bakery wasn't exactly a Zoe endorsed healthy choice and I guess you expected to see a spike in response. Depending on the bakery and the quality of the steak slice, there probably wasn't much meat or any veg in there so just delicious fat laden pastry (was it hot? Even better!) no fibre to speak of so fat and carbs and the cornflake bake, I assume was low-scoring from a nutrition pov although I'm not sure what a cornflake bake is (does it involve treacle?! and pastry? or is that my fevered imagination?) but if you enjoyed it, then that's a benefit.
Your dinner seems pretty good as far as Zoe is concerned, lots of veg, lean protein and greek yog.

Once you have your results the app will rank foods for you so you can see which sort of grain or fruit or veg is highest scoring for you which allows you to create meals with balance - so you might choose a really high scoring grain but mix it with a lower scoring fat for taste and still come out with a 50+ score. That will make more sense when you get your scores. Zoe is very fond of black beans, lentils and avocado, even on the same plate, and for breakfast, be warned.

Did you do the main [optional] challenge @TerribleWoman ?

I'm also obese too but my blood sugar result came back as 74 (good).

I'll share my challenge results for you for comparison, if that helps. I didn't pay a massive amount of attention to the CGM after that really. Hopefully if won't be too long before you get your results and then you'll know what is best for you etc.

This was my 'muffin day' up until four hours after the lunch muffins.

Definitely need to click on the images for them to make any sense I see!

I started Zoe today. Have worked my way through the breakfast and lunch cookies which was an ordeal. Not to my taste at all so it felt like a bit of an ordeal - but it's done. Just over an hour now until finger prick test . Poop already in the bag. Hopefully both in the post today.

Anyone on here doing Zoe and have their results back yet ?

Just came on to say that I have been unimpressed with Zoe. All that food logging and searching is a pain and the customer service is non-existent. Their food database is not as good as MFP. I have a feeling it is only worth it if you are militant about logging and searching for foods and eating home-cooked meals all the time.I didn't lose any weight and I question whether the food points are really as personal as they make out. I think their food suggestions are what is readily available for free eg don't eat too many carbs, don't eat processed food, eat more fruit and veg, eat less sugar. WOW!I have cancelled my Zoe subscription. It really is wayyy too expensive for what you get. The SM adverts make it look as if you have a glucose monitor all the time rather than an initial 2-week period. I really wanted to like it but the costs of this are just too high.