Weight loss & Obesity

Here’s What You Can Eat on the Noom Diet

The Noom diet plan is a personalized weight loss plan accessible through the phone app of the same name. The app’s makers claim that it supports people reaching their personal weight goals. The Noom application provides its users with access to a health coach and a personalized diet plan. 

Individuals can also use the app to record their exercise and diet habits and to discuss their weight loss progress on Noom’s social platform. In this write-up, we explore the Noom diet and outline the research into its effectiveness.

What is the Noom diet?

Noom is an app designed to help individuals shed weight, get fit, and stay healthy. It uses a special traffic light system to rank foods according to how many calories they have.

“Green” foods, like broccoli and spinach, are the least calorie-dense, whereas “red” foods have more calories and must make up less of a quantity [2].

Using these statistics, the app’s makers develop personalized weight loss plans that they assert can help bring long-lasting weight loss results [3].

To obtain a personalized weight loss plan, an individual will need to buy a subscription and answer some questions on the Noom app or website. The algorithm will then create a weight loss plan to fit the person’s requirements [4].

Shortly after an individual logs in for the initial time, the app will pair them with a relevant health coach. The coach will provide appropriate advice and dietary information to help the person achieve their weight goals.

[Read: Complete Guide To Lazy Keto Diet]

What Can You Eat?

The green-labeled foods on the Noom diet generally have the least amount of calories and the most nutrients, while red-labeled foods have fewer nutrients and more calories. Yellow-labeled foods fall somewhere in between.

If you’re unaccustomed to counting calories, tracking the daily caloric intake on the Noom diet plan can take some getting used to.

To track the food, you may scan supported barcodes on packaged foods or search the Noom food database of more than 1.5 lakh items. You may also log the food manually, which helps those who like to cook homemade recipes.

The Noom diet web portal suggests concentrating on “natural weight-loss foods” that provide energy and leave an individual feeling satisfied without offering too many calories. Examples include high water content foods, as they are satiating.

An individual should ensure that their diet is providing them with:

  • a variety of macronutrients, such as carbohydrates and protein 
  • a range of micronutrients, which comprise minerals and vitamins, and antioxidants
  • a limited amount of unsaturated or healthful fat

Suitable foods include:

  • Fruits, such as cherries, grapefruit, berries, Pink Lady apples, nectarines, watermelon and banana.
  • Vegetables, including green leafy vegetables, onions, peppers, mushrooms and cucumber.
  • Protein-rich foods, such as beans, lentils, chicken, eggs, and fish.

The Noom web portal also advises people to eat so-called superfoods, which are nutritionally rich. Superfoods include:

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  • chia seeds
  • spinach
  • blueberries
  • flaxseeds
  • sweet potatoes
  • pine nuts
  • quinoa

Individuals on the Noom diet may also find the following useful for weight loss:

  • drinking plenty of water and green tea 
  • tracking all food intake using the app
  • avoiding added sugars and processed foods 
  • exercising regularly
  • eating breakfast every day

Is there any evidence for its effectiveness?

Apps such as Noom encourage individuals to self-track their weight loss regularly. A 2017 research found that individuals who consistently and frequently record their dietary habits experience more long-term and consistent weight loss.

However, self-monitoring weight loss is a process that tends to decrease rapidly over time. To prevent this, the Noom app offers features to motivate individuals to continue self-monitoring.

These features include access to both a social platform and a health coach where individuals can discuss their weight loss successes and challenges with other users.

Health Benefits of Noom Diet

Despite its relative newness to the wellness field (Noom was launched in 2009), Noom has quite a body of scientific research behind it. Here are some critical studies about Noom that help determine whether the program is powerful:

  1. In one 2016 research of more than 35,000 individuals, scientists found that 77% of Noom users reported losing weight after using the application for 9 months.
  2. Another 2016 research—this one on the NDPP National Diabetes Prevention Program—noticed that the participants all showed substantial weight loss after 16 and 24 weeks of using Noom. However, this research was limited in that it didn’t compare Noom to another diabetes diet, so it’s tough to make any conclusions about Noom over another diet plan.
  3. A 2017 research showed that after 12 weeks of using Noom, participants lost an average of 7.5% of their body fat, and after 12 months, they had maintained a loss of 5.2%.
  4. This 2017 research shows that Noom’s psychological approach is scientifically grounded and can lead to considerable weight loss with self-adherence from the participant.

Health Risks

A drawback of the Noom app is that it does not allow the user to record information on nutrients other than calories. However, a healthful diet should have the right amount of micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins.

As a result of this limitation, individuals using the Noom app will have incomplete information on their food choices’ healthfulness. It also means that dietitians and doctors may be reluctant to recommend the app.

Furthermore, some Noom coaches do not have certification from the NBHWC (National Board for Health & Wellness Coaching). This certification requires a tutor to meet the minimum standard of skills and knowledge necessary for wellness and health coaching.

Trainers without this certification could potentially offer improper advice.

Also, individuals who have a complicated medical history should take extra care when using Noom or similar weight loss applications. These persons should seek additional weight loss advice from a dietitian, doctor, or other healthcare professional.

Bottom Line

Noom is a weight loss application that offers access to a health coach and a personalized weight loss plan. Its designers claim that these tools, along with the accurate food calorie counter, can help individuals reach their weight targets. So far, studies indicate that the Noom app can be an effective aid to weight loss.

\However, scientists have not yet compared Noom with other weight loss methods or apps. Individuals with underlying health issues should take extra care when using Noom or similar weight loss apps. They may require the advice of a dietitian or doctor to ensure safe weight loss.