I have continued this post on from my first one which is already quite long and slightly different from this one so if you are just starting on the Zoe Health Study then you may want to read that page first.

This is my experience of Day 1 and the questions I had.

There are a lot of instructions in the app if you delve in deep enough but to be honest you have to wait until the day to get everything set out for you in the order in which to do it. I would say, in hindsight, that you really do need to set aside this day. The cookies made me feel horrible for one thing and you need somewhere private to collect your poo sample and do your blood test.

Breakfast Cookies

The first question I had was looking at the timeline for day 1 it said – eat your cookies within 15 minutes. My first question was within 15 minutes of what?! I was thinking it was within 15 minutes of getting up but in fact what it means is in the space of 15 minutes.

However, on the cookie packet and also within the app it then says 20 minutes. This was actually a good thing as the cookies are pretty hefty and it took me 8 minutes to eat the first one! Much as I like cookies, (and these ones actually tasted OK which was a relief after what I had heard about the muffins!) it was a bit of an effort to actually eat 2 of these monsters and I did feel a bit sick afterwards. I did manage it in about 18 minutes so within the time on the pack. I had to drink quite a lot of water with them but if you like plain tea of coffee that would probably be the way to go.

Poo Sample

Ok so they politely refer to it as the gut health test throughout the app and instructions but essentially you are pooing into a paper sling that goes on the toilet seat!

It was actually pretty easy (as long as you have a wee first!) even if not something you particularly want to do straight after eating some hefty cookies!

Fasting for 4 Hours

To be honest I’m not sure that I feel like eating anything else for 4 hours at the moment anyway! I am missing my cup of tea with milk (can’t stand it without!) but I’m sure I will cope without it.

In fact, a few hours in to the fast I feel pretty rubbish. Fuzzy head, bit of a headache and bloated. Not looking forward to eating the other cookies at lunch.

Blue Lunch Cookies

Another 2 cookies for lunch. This time I made myself a very weak black coffee (and I don’t generally drink coffee) to see if that would help to wash them down (can’t decide whether it did or not!). It was a struggle to eat them both and it did take me 19 minutes. Oh and apparently the reason they are blue is so that you can see how long it takes for them to come out!

Thanks goodness that is all the eating stuff done!

Blood Sample

My advice for the finger prick sample is to get everything out and open it before you start. After warming up your hands and pricking your finger you don’t want to suddenly realise you haven’t opened the cleansing wipe to wipe off the first drop of blood!

Also, in addition to reading the paper instructions, read the ones in the app that say you can use a second finger if required and to wait for the blood to get to the line if you have added enough drops.

I did find that my blood started congealing after a couple of drops so had to use another finger. Other than that, it was all good.

Can I Eat Normally After the Finger Prick Test?

This was my next question and I think it would be useful for the app to say this. The answer is yes, which I only found out by searching the Facebook group I am in. Maybe I just missed that somewhere.

Do I Need to Log My Food on Day 1?

This was the other thing that I felt wasn’t made very clear to me. Again, maybe I missed it somewhere (and if I did then maybe others will). The answer to this is that you can, but it only advises you about logging your food for days 2, 3 and 4 in the evening of day 1. I also had another issue…

How Do I Log My Food on the Zoe App?

The only button that said ‘log’ was the one to log my gut transit time which I didn’t need to do. So I went to the help menu and it said there was a red plus button to log food. As this didn’t seem to appear for me I swiped the App off and started it again and there it was:

So that was day one done and dusted!