by Julia Zumpano has loved one-on-one counseling for the past 19 years. But the nutritionist recently got the chance to expand his reach – and jumped at the chance.
Zumpano is a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Human Nutrition, and her expert insight helped inform the guidelines for two programs featured in the hospital’s new diet and fitness training app, the Cleveland Clinic Diet app. Both programs aim to educate and empower users to make healthier diet and lifestyle choices.
The app was developed in collaboration with FitNow, which is part of the Everyday Health Group.
“Often we give our health to the provider we seek,” says Zumpano, who is also the Nutrition Media Liaison for the Cleveland Clinic. “The goal of this [app] than to take ownership of that and to understand what is going on in our companies — to be involved in the decisions that are being made [in order to] be able to make lifestyle changes that support your health and overall health outcomes.”
We spoke to Zumpano about what the app offers and how it can help people achieve their health and fitness goals.
Daily Health: How does the app work and what can users expect after downloading it?
Julia Zumpano: You start with a questionnaire, which puts you in the right plan. There are two: the Smart Heart plan and the BodyGuard plan. The BodyGuard plan is designed from a weight management point of view, but even more so from a health point of view. By design, it aims to reduce inflammation and reduce things that can stimulate your appetite or overconsumption. It also encourages eating foods that provide you with solid nutrition – nutrients, fiber, healthy fats.
The Smart Heart plan is for those who are experiencing any cardiac symptoms or have a family history of heart disease. This plan is more focused on protecting your heart. It’s similar to the Bodyguard plan in that it aims to reduce inflammation and sugar, but it takes an extra look at sodium, saturated fat, trans fats and fiber.
Once you are in your plan, you will be placed on a course that has been curated specifically for the program you are on. The course is designed to be easy to complete during your first week of the program and will help you understand where to focus your efforts.
EH: How does the app hope to achieve its goal of empowering people?
JZ: The main goal was to have an app that would provide a dietetic service and then evolve to provide a physician or psychologist service. Although it can in no way take the place of a real health professional, it provides information that empowers the client to take ownership of their own health.
EH: As a dietitian, you know firsthand how much people struggle to lose weight often. How did previous experience inform your recommendations for this app?
JZ: There are culprits in the Standard American Diet that we are all banned from. These hyper-processed, hyper-palatable foods that are so easy to over-consume are readily available everywhere. It is so in your face. So much processed food is being pushed onto our society that it has become commonplace to have potato chips, a candy bar, or even a protein bar that is marketed as healthy food, but isn’t (it’s still ultra-processed food). These are to blame for our systems, causing inflammation and dysregulation of our taste and satiety. All of this is affecting our weight – and no one really looks that way. The foods that are available to us on a daily basis — it’s a whole health issue for society and food service.
Taking ownership and being able to watch what you are eating and how it affects your body will lead to change. The more people want to change and start buying our healthier products, the more we will change that as a whole. That is the goal.
EH: Are there any particular aspects that arose from this experience as a dietitian?
JZ: The app combines the basics of food tracking with advice and guidance from my experience as a dietitian. It’s like the Lose It! app (also developed by FitNow) in that you can write down all your foods, log your foods, and take a picture of what you’re eating, and the app calculates how much you eat. You can track your entire day and it will provide you with nutritional guidelines for all the macronutrients and minerals based on your goal. These plans are designed to be nutritional health and not just for weight loss. The guidelines are aimed at controlling and managing heart health and weight management, but from a disease prevention perspective.
EH: We understand that Cleveland Clinic partnered with FitNow to build this app. What did each side bring to the table during development? How did this partnership affect the final product?
JZ: Both sides offered their expertise. As Cleveland Clinic, our expertise is patient care, and that is what we have provided. After almost 20 years of experience in patient care, I have seen trends including what is driving people’s lack of success or limitations. I really tried to use this experience to decide what to include in the app and how I decided the criteria.
Apart from nutrition, the content we provide in this app is what we tell patients every day. We have just described it in a post, blog article, or course. In all of these topics that we talk to our patients about, we’ve now created content that you can read and that we’ve given you very strategically.
FitNow launched one of the first food tracking systems ever, and I recommended that my patients use the Lose It! for years, long before this relationship began. I’ve always recommended food tracking because I think it’s a great way to take ownership of your nutrition and eating plan. They have a lot of great features, they’ve been in this space for a long time and have a lot of experience, and they have a great team that can build a great app. That is not our expertise by any means. So we put two great companies together to achieve a great result.
EH: Who are the best candidates to use this app?
JZ: Apart from those undergoing cancer treatment, children, the elderly, and anyone with a history of disordered eating behaviors, any adult could benefit from using this app. Of course, always check with your healthcare professional before starting a new eating plan.
— Julia Zumpano, RD
EH: How do you imagine this app will work for those taking semaglutide and other GLP-1 weight loss drugs? Are there any special factors they should take into account?
JZ: There is a high risk of sarcopenia with some of these drugs and not getting enough nutrients and calories – even to the point of malnutrition. This is a great way to find out if you are getting enough protein, fiber and water each day. It can also help with the outcome of those drugs, ensure adequate fiber intake, and help prevent possible side effects including loss of muscle mass, nausea, and constipation. Additionally, if you’re not eating enough protein or skipping meals, the app can identify these trends for you. It provides data and feedback on how the nutrition part of your weight loss journey is going.
EH: When it comes to weight loss, people often struggle to make permanent lifestyle changes. How does the app help support users through this challenge?
JZ: Many of the persistent lifestyle issues stem from the fact that most dietary trends are restrictive. They are restricting or eliminating foods or fearing something. Hyper-processed foods can sometimes be eaten, but it is the over-consumption that creates the problem.
This app is really focusing on getting what you want rather than not eating something. If a person focuses on getting all their nutritional needs, they won’t even worry about what they can’t eat because they’re so focused on things like “Am I getting enough protein?” “Have I met my fiber needs?” “Am I eating enough omega-3?”
I love seeing the mindset of supporting your body and health rather than restricting it. Is your goal to improve your health or lose weight? They can go hand in hand, but, in my opinion, it should really be to support health and take ownership of the foods that can support your body to work the best that it can maybe work and then the weight loss will come naturally. It must come with attitude and understanding. This is a health app, not a weight loss app.
EH: As a dietitian, what part of the app makes you most excited or proud?
JZ: What I love about the app is the tutorial feature. It’s not just tracking, it’s teaching. It’s providing a lot of great content, a lot of great options. The whole point of the app is to teach as it goes along. It’s what I could give someone if I could see them every day, but now the app can empower users and provide them with good and accurate content.
