A Dorset woman who struggled with her weight for 25 years says a diet based on gut health helped her achieve a four-stone weight loss, while also easing debilitating migraines and symptoms associated with the menopause.
Becky Tucker, from Poole, was 48 when she realised she no longer had the energy to play with her grandchildren in the park. She had been experiencing fatigue, anxiety, mood swings, hot flushes and poor sleep as she went through perimenopause.
At more than 13 stone and with a BMI of 29, she had repeatedly tried weight-loss plans. Although they initially worked, she would regain the weight after returning to a diet centred on chocolate and what she described as “beige stodge”.
Mrs Tucker began following the approach developed by Professor Tim Spector, co-founder of gut health science company ZOE, in April 2023. Rather than counting calories or following a restrictive regime, she focused on eating more plants, fibre and whole foods.
She has since dropped more than four stone and moved from a size 16 to between a size 8 and 10. Now 52, she says she has maintained the weight loss and can keep up with her grandchildren.
How the ZOE diet changed Becky Tucker’s eating habits
Mrs Tucker gradually introduced more vegetables, nuts and seeds into her meals. She swapped crisps and milk chocolate for raspberries, nuts and very dark chocolate, and began experimenting with aubergines, bok choy and sweet potatoes.
She also mixed mashed butter beans into mashed potato before eventually phasing out the potato. Her meals now commonly include roasted vegetables, houmous, salad, lentils, chickpeas, beans and nuts, with kimchi accompanying many of them.
Her fibre intake has risen from less than 10g a day to between 60g and 75g. She also aims to eat more than 30 different plants each week and says she often reaches more than 75.
Professor Spector’s general recommendations include eating at least 30g of fibre a day, replacing some processed meat with plant-based proteins such as beans, lentils and chickpeas, and building meals around a variety of whole foods.
Chicken, lean meat and oily fish can still be included, while highly processed foods such as crisps, biscuits, sugary drinks, chicken nuggets and sugary cereals are discouraged. Fermented foods, including natural yoghurt, kefir, sauerkraut, sourdough bread, kombucha and kimchi, also feature in the approach.
“It’s not about restriction or cutting out all processed foods,” Professor Spector said. “It’s about cutting back on the worst unhealthy ultra-processed foods and replacing them with real whole plants.”
He said research had found that people eating diets rich in fruit, vegetables and whole grains reported improvements in mood, while those consuming the most ultra-processed foods faced the greatest risk of mental health problems and dementia.
Research by ZOE found that 35 per cent of about 5,000 participants lost at least 5 per cent of their body weight within three months. The company has also reported improvements in mood and energy within the first two weeks for most people in its studies.
Becky Tucker says her migraines have disappeared
Mrs Tucker had suffered intense migraines for around a week each month, which she linked to her menstrual cycle. She had also started hormone replacement therapy, but continued to experience hot flushes, anxiety, disrupted sleep and mood swings.
“Within a month the migraines had gone,” she said. “I put it down to a happy coincidence, but they’ve never come back.”
She said that within three months she felt more energetic and less anxious, and that her remaining menopause symptoms had disappeared. She also noticed that her weight was falling without deliberate restriction.
“This hasn’t just changed what I eat, it has changed how I live,” Mrs Tucker said. “I’m not just lighter physically, it’s mentally that a weight has come off too.”
She said she was now able to run around the park with her grandchildren and had recently kept up with them during a trip to Disneyland Paris.
“What’s been most powerful is that these changes feel sustainable,” she said. “This isn’t a short-term fix, it’s a completely different way of understanding how food supports my body.”
Professor Spector’s approach is set out in his cookbook, Good Mood Food, which includes recipes based on high-fibre meals, vegetables, legumes and other foods intended to support gut health.
