Anyone starting Zoe in November?

[alloutofcareunits]

Not just about weight loss but thought this might be the best place to post the thread. I've just signed up and should be starting in November, wondering if anyone else is and wants to share experiences?

@Vanquishedagain that's a really good set of results!

What sort of foods do you eat? And do you exercise much? Blood sugar control at 80 something is sooooooooo good!

Are you not already a lean mean fighting machine with these scores?!

I'm wondering what are you top 3 gut bacteria? If you'd be willing to share? The ones listed right at the end in a long list. I have some bad ones in there that I'm trying to get rid of. One of mine, bacillus uniformis, is a whooping 40% of my entire biome - which is obviously not right! And my diversity is in the bottom 25%.

I have an autoimmune disease and wonder if this is the cause...

Do you also have lots of the Zoe 'green' good bugs?

Aha ha @SoySaucePls if only!! I am a slightly overweight 50 something mother of two who doesn’t do enough exercise and doesn’t get enough sleep. But, I guess I’ve always beeen pretty healthy - very little refined carbs, lots of vegetables (eat the rainbow!), nuts and pulses, and would happily be vegetarian but cook and eat meat once in a while because everyone else in the family eats it. I drink red wine regularly and logged it carefully during the 2 weeks and was surprised to see little impact on my glucose levels, whereas a gin and tonic gave me an almighty spike!

here’s my list of gut bacteria though I’m still working through what it means. But looks like I have a lot of bacteria associated with lower insulin levels

Of note one of the biggest differences I notice between myself and friends is the amount of fermented / cultured food I eat - a legacy of growing up in a south Asian household I think? So it’s very normal for me to have Greek yoghurt almost every day (with fruit, as raita or tzatziki), and pickles, kimchi etc. I think I picked up the good Asian habits but not the less good ones (samosas, roti, paratha). I also make my own yoghurt from live culture starter. I hope that’s useful info!

Mine arrived today and I’m going to start on Friday. The message just says to avoid testing during Zoe shut down of Dec 25th-1st Jan.

I don’t want to wait as I feel ready to crack on and don’t want to lose the motivation.----

@Vanquishedagain

That is so helpful. Thank you. It’s really interesting to see your good bugs and know more about your diet. You have a lot more and greater numbers than me of the good ones!

I did Zoe back in July and have been offered a retest last week which I bought.

since July I have slowly wended my way towards more fermented foods and now I would say I have at least two servings per day. Kimchi, yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut so I am really trying! it’s been interesting to me how much of an impact Zoe has had on my diet well after the 2 weeks was up.

ive also been supplementing Billy which is one of the good bugs in the green list. Hoping this may mean I’m doing better.

I can’t drink sadly due to my autoimmune disease but I’m very envious of your red won’t consumption. I really do love it but it doesn’t love me.

I’m also a traditional protein eater, so fish, chicken or red meat will usually feature once per day but not huge amounts. 100 grams max. I’m trying to cut back but it’s hard, habit of a life time.

I’ve also introduced more pulses but not very good at cooking with them so just open pre-cooked carton of beans and have them alongside main meal. Find them pretty tasty.

I’m scared to do the next test in case I don’t do very well after trying really hard.

ive given up all sugar any chocolate. Do you have a sweet tooth?

and if youre 50 something are you menopausal? Do you have any symptoms?

I’ve noticed I’m much more balanced on this diet.

I was getting some vaginal dryness but things seem to be better now. Could it be Zoe?

my period pain has also gone away which is brilliant! I am menopausal but periods still showing up with shorter cycles and bleed only 2 days.

sorry for so many questions. No pressure to answer, just lovely to read already what you shared.

And you make your own yogurt! I have just bought a Luvele yogurt maker which is due to arrive late December.

do you have your own starters or do you use shop bought yogurt to start?

I can’t wait to give it a try but also pretty worried I’m going to make a mess of it!

How’s everyone finding it? It seems expensive, is it worth it?
I’ve recently joined a gym and want to eat more healthily so was thinking about slimming world or hello fresh or something but then spotted this thread.

Jeez
Yesterday at work I was absolutely frantic and didn't get time for my planned lunch out, having been fasting since Monday at 8pm. I ran to a corner shop and got an apple and some cashew nuts - I was really trying - then went to a staff meeting where because it was Christmas they had laid out mince pies and loads of biscuits, which I avoided. Then every employee was given a family sized bar of chocolate as a little thankyou, so I had to accept it. I ate a little, shared half with my kids but it was fruit and nut which they don't like, and long story short I ended up eating the lot and thinking sod it and drinking two large glasses of Bailey's as well. I did eat my planned dinner (chicken and veg soup) but ate kids leftovers as well, as since I had broken the dam I may as well.

I don't know if it's a coincidence but today I feel so sluggish and can barely keep my eyes open. I actually think it isn't a coincidence and that my body was enjoying getting food that suits me and is protesting today! Which is great, prevents the temptation to slip back into old habits. Two months ago the crap I ate yesterday would have been an almost everyday occurrence.

Omg @Vanquishedagain . Your results are amazing. Can I ask how old you are?

The gut health was really interesting to me and maybe gives some evidence of what others might see as improvements. I've attached a pic, I don't eat meat but occasionally eat fish, and I eat a really wide range of vegetables and pulses, at least 5-6 different ones each day, have done for decades. My problem is that I also love sugar and bread but since I started I've had neither, it's only been a couple of weeks but I feel really good for it! I've also given up my barista oat milk as I had no idea how low it would score, seems it has maple syrup in it!

@alloutofcareunits wow! Another great set of bacteria!!

I'm feeling like the poor relation here.

Here's mine from back in June/July.

It does seem as though low meat and high veggies and pulses is the way to go. I have been trying pretty hard the last few months, steadily introducing more and more fermented food and pulses too and much wider variety of fruit and veg and nuts but I am finding giving up meat and fish quite hard.

For instance tonight we are having rump steak. Again not more than 100g each so it's not a huge portion.

Before this I was eating chocolate, biscuits, bread, pasta, but I was also eating a lot of veg with fairy good variety and always a big bowl of blueberries every day and some mango often too. I thought that was good enough but Zoe said no!

I have noticed some improvements in digestion. I used to burp every morning when I woke up, over and over and over again. Nowadays that has stopped completely. I don't have the energy peaks and troughs. I'd say I'm sleeping better. So hopefully my next test will show improvements. I'm 48 and was getting some quite bad menopausal symptoms but things are generally quite a lot better now.

Why did you decide to do Zoe may I ask? Your results look so good already!

Re above, it does not have maple syrup in but when I did auto generated ingredients Zoe stated it did, so maybe not as bad as I thought but still UPF

@SoySaucePls I did it because I thought I might be pre diabetic, my dad had diabetes and I love and crave really crap sugar like jelly beans and liquorice all sorts. I also have really sluggish digestion and can go all week without pooping despite the veg and pulses. I wanted the motivation and to see what my results were, blood and fats are both good with fats on the border of excellent, which suits me well as I love cheese! I'm 56 and probably almost post meno so also wanted to be in the best health I can be. Quite a few women I know have died fairly recently and my dad died at 62 to just hoping I can do the best I can to live healthy and enjoy life

It's completely different to Slimming World.

Literally worlds apart.

Hello Fresh might be interesting and healthy for a while but nothing will change your eating habits like Zoe.

I'm a big fan though so maybe don't talk to me :)

I've gone well and truly into the rabbit hole of gut bacteria and health so for me this is the only place I could get that kind of information which is essential to me (and I believe everybody) to stay properly healthy.

@alloutofcareunits are you seeing any difference in bowel movements now? And how the blood sugar test come out?

I understand the desire to want to be in best health.

My Dad recently died of cancer and it was such a shock. It made me wake up and realise you've only got this one body and life and you must look after it. He was really very healthy and not that old in terms of life today - 80. It was so strange to see him fall sick. It made me wonder what else is there that keeps you healthy if he couldn't have prevented that.

Just a note on blood sugar, my Hbac1 came out with Zoe at 27 with the abbot flash glucose monitor but when I had it tested with the GP it was actually 33. It may have been a lag of my previously quite sugar laden diet, prior to this as Hbac1 goes back 3 months whereas the Zoe test is just 2 weeks...

For bowel movements, I have found Bifido and Fibre very good from Optibac. It's one of the good bugs in the Zoe list. It's softened things up and things are more regular. I was always pretty regular but not soft enough. Now it's much softer with the bifidobacteria.

They are worth having as they produce short chain fatty acids which are generally all good round things to have in your system. Anti inflammatory, anti viral, anti tumour etc.

@SoySaucePls thanks for the info I'll definitely look that up and try and get some, not much difference yet but I've only had the monitor off for 10 days but there has been some improvement! I'll share my other scores below

My diet score is probably lower than usual as I was using the monitor to test out some junk e.g., cake and biscuits etc.

ive also been supplementing Billy Could I ask what this means? How are you supplementing a specific bacteria?

Also, a more general question is, does the feedback give guidance on how to improve your range and proportions of the good bacteria and how to reduce the bad?

This Billy https://www.optibacprobiotics.com/uk/product/bifidobacteria-fibre-30-sachets?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_bau&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyeWrBhDDARIsAGP1mWSd5FgffDEnuVlzi-W14_E0PgMV94L0yNGNDQKTeUZObQw-qeZmC5oaAvndEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Well it's one strain of Billy, or bifidobacteria. There are many different types. This is a dairy one but human strain bifidos exist also. They are also very worthwhile having too. Getting those are more difficult but they do exist.

The only guidance to increase your microbiome you get is through foods. But there are lots of podcasts/YouTubes from Zoe and Pub Med is also useful for checking stuff.

Really fascinating to see everybody’s results, and the changes we are all trying to make to our diets. I do hope that there will be some coaching around exercise soon too.

To answer previous questions- I’m in my early 50s and peri menopausal. And yes I do make my own yoghurt (easy in the instant pot!) using different Greek yoghurt starters depending on which supermarket I visit at any time.

I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but my kryptonite is crisps, crackers and things like breadsticks. And savour pastries 😭 I was quite surprised to see how low (relatively) oatcakes score and then when I thought about it I realised I never really feel full after eating them. Perhaps I just need to eat more cheese!

How do you find out your hbac1 with Zoe?

Look at your Librelink app.

go to the menu, tap on it and on the drop down menu, scroll down almost to the bottom.

It’s got a different name, A1c and it’s listed in the drop fork menu. You’ll find it there.

I don’t think it’s there for me?

My scores are in - better than I'd expected given that I've got PCOS (associated with insulin resistance) and my cholesterol levels are a bit high.

Well done Errol! When did you post yours off?

My sensor finished on Tuesday so just over 2 weeks ago