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What are the best ways to improve a meal's score?
What are the best ways to improve a meal's score?

Use this guide to help you build 75+ scoring meals for you.

Dr Haya Al Khatib avatar
Written by Dr Haya Al Khatib
Updated over a week ago

Small tweaks go a long way

The ZOE Method does not mean letting go of the foods you love, or even being perfect all the time. It's all about finding the little tweaks, swaps, and additions that work best for you. Your personal scores are your tool to help you do this. With the ZOE Method, you can enjoy eating the foods that you love and use the ZOE app to explore all the different ways to boost their scores. Last week you mastered learning the best foods for your body. This week, you can use this new skill to your advantage.

We've put together a list of hacks to help guide you on how to use your knowledge of the best foods for your biology to improve the scores of your favorite meals.

Ways to improve a meal's score

Here are our tips and tricks that can help you boost your scores. As you learn how to build 75+ meals this week, play around with the ZOE app and see which of them works for you.

  1. Substitute starches. Starches are an important source of carbohydrates that your body needs to sustain energy and thrive. Different sources of starch will have different effects on your biological responses, particularly your blood sugar levels. Can you substitute out lower-scoring starches for ones that score higher for you? These will have more fiber and are less processed, which is great for your gut health!
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  2. Pile on the plants. Plants can help you feed your bugs. Try to include as many as you can everyday. Your daily plant counter will encourage you to hit at least 5 portions of different plants!
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  3. Add healthy fats. Fats enhance the flavor of meals, help keep you full, and also help to keep your blood sugar levels in a healthy range. Try pairing ingredients richer in carbohydrates with fats that are high scoring for you.
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  4. Adjust the amount of fat. Depending on how well you respond to fats, you'll have a personal fat tolerance that your body can handle.
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  5. Choose higher-scoring fats for your biology. The type of fat you use will affect your meal scores. Scan through the ingredients in your meal, and see if you can identify fats that you could easily substitute for higher scoring options.
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  6. Choose higher-scoring cuts of meat and poultry. Switching up the types of cuts and switching up your cooking methods can go a long way!
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  7. Play around with portions. No foods need to be off-limits. It's very possible to create high-scoring meals that include low scoring foods for you just by simply adjusting their quantities.

You don't have to use all these tips at every meal. Choose the ones that you feel work best for you. Which tip speaks to you the most?

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