Zoe 2024 - a clean slate

[thinkofablinkingnamewoman]

Hi all - new year, new thread 😁 Will try to link to this from the previous one but not sure if I can do it from the app.

In keeping with good beginnings I am off to have berries, nuts and yoghurt. Could murder a load of toast though!

I'm sure mine were something like two or three weeks at the start of December.

Thank you! That's good to know as I'm keen to hear after all the rigmarole of testing.

I reckon the testing day is the most onerous :)

Just had a lovely tea of garlic prawns with cauliflower rice (recipe attached, though it's so small it's probably useless). So tasty. Finished off with a bowl of strawberries and a teaspoon on chocolate spread to dip them in. Lovely!

Sounds delicious, but you're right that photo isn't readable.

https://realfood.tesco.com/recipes/garlic-and-chilli-prawns-with-cauliflower-rice.html

There you go. Scores in the 80s for me.

Thanks! I just tried the import recipe function, it worked fairly well though somehow had 340g chillies rather than one. I edited it and also changed the veg oil to olive and it scores 87 - I'll have to give that a go.

Funny you should say that - I just checked and my.import says 480g chillies!!

It scores 83 for me.

I tested & sent everything off during cheese week (about 29th Dec from memory) and I got my results on 9th jan.

Thank you @RobinEllacotStrike - I posted mine a week ago so hopefully will hear soon 😊

I've just signed up for Zoe. What can I expect from the test weeks?

Cookies all down, not sorry to see the back of them. Quite worried about blood test as I don’t give up my blood easily, GP books a double appointment.

Have a look on YouTube. There are some good vloggers on there who run through the whole thing which I found really useful to see before starting. I realised I was going to need to dedicate a whole day really to the test day and make sure it was peaceful and quiet, no stress to make it as easy and simple as possible.

Test day over for me and I am definitely glad I chose today as needed it to be quiet and also DH’s help to do the blood collection which took a bit of doing.

I AM SO HUNGRY

I don’t think I’m compatible with Zoe 😂 seriously, I’m hungry all the time. I had bran porridge for breakfast with oat bran, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cherries and soya milk for breakfast at 8am. That scores 86 for me, so that’s great. By 9am, I felt so hungry. I desperate for something sweet like chocolate. Surely something high scoring shouldn’t leave me craving sugar an hour later?

Oh dear. I don't know - tbh I'm not getting much hunger and I seem to be equilibrated at about the right number of calories for me. I very rarely have breakfast anyway though, just tea until a mid morning milky coffee.

Do you feel hungry before you have breakfast?

Are you confusing a craving for sugar with being hungry? When you are your breakfast were you satiated? If not, I’d have a bigger breakfast. If yes, you were satisfied, I’d add something sweet such as fruit and nuts.

I was considering if I am really hungry or not. I tell my kids all the time that wanting food isn’t the same as being hungry….i need to apply that to myself!

I did intermittent fasting for years and never used to eat breakfast, however I am starving when I wake up now, I can’t wait to eat my breakfast.

This may be a daft idea but maybe if you did some IF for a while you could retrain yourself to not want breakfast (I did 5:2 some time ago which was when I lost the desire for brekkie).

Or maybe you could try a protein breakfast eg eggs rather than a carby one even if it is 'good carbs'?

Yes I could. Dr chatterjee says have a savoury breakfast. I should try that. Or no breakfast.

When I fasted before, I really got in the zone and lost my sweet tooth. I would turn down anything sweet, which is not like me! I’m not sure how I ended up back where I started!

Do you eat to capacity at breakfast Greenthread?

I eat porridge made with semi skimmed milk and a little water. I eat until I’m almost full. Then I allow myself unlimited nuts. I also make sure I start the whole thing with a massive cup of tea before I start eating.

By the end I’m full to the point of bursting. I don’t need to eat for another three hours.

I have an eating window between 11am and 8pm. Rest of the time I’m not eating. I don’t feel hungry until 11am though.

Im not moving much though until 11am. If I was I’d eat earlier at 9 or 10am, same breakfast.

No sugar. It’s savoury.

I’ve just noticed that Zoe wants me to aim for an eating window between 8-12 hours. It says no documented benefits beyond that . Any others fasters here?

@Peae I've not had my results so no recommendations from Zoe but I do try to intermittent fast - ideally 16/8 so I'm eating in a 8 hour window but generally more like 14/10.
Although Zoe hasn't given you reasons there's been a lot of credibility given to IF by medical professionals as a way to manage blood sugar where it's problematic. My GP suggested I do it after I got borderline type 2 pre-diabetic blood results. I know I have a blood sugar issue.
IF definitely suits me and I can manage a better diet if I do it as my cravings reduce and I tend to eat less.

I’d see if you can get back to fasting, I think it takes a bit of time. Eating 12-6 is working well for me and definitely helps regulate my appetite and my sweet tooth has defo decreased.

Sunday was test day and I ate the cookies at 8am, found it much harder to fast yesterday. I think today is feeling a bit better on that front. Stupid question but can you see recipes before your test results and if so where are they?! Thanks.

I've been doing more or less 16:8 for a while - I found I didn't want breakfast and then stopped having a bedtime snack after my dog died last year (it was really just a habit I'd got into to get something when I put him to bed for the night).
And DH had pointed out it probably wasn't a good idea when my HbA1C was as high as his. And also being 5'1" and 63 with a sedentary job,I really don't need 3 full meals worth of calories on a normal day.

He's listened to more of the Zoë podcasts than me including one on IF - iirc from what he told me there's some evidence from observational studies for keeping to an 8-10 hour eating window so that's what they're currently recommending. They'll mark your week for that as good rather than excellent if it's below 8 hours... I don't think you need to overanalyse this metric, it doesn't allow for the time taken to eat dinner if you've logged it at the start