Health products and programs can be helpful when you want to create healthier habits. However, deciding which health product to use can be difficult. Everyone is different, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing a program. Many people find online health products more convenient and easier to fit into their daily life. To save you some tiresome research and help to answer some important questions, we’ve compared two popular healthy lifestyle products; Youfoodz and Second Nature.
Youfoodz and Second Nature both focus on supporting individuals to make healthy choices by promoting consumption of a wide variety of whole foods. The main difference between them is that Youfoodz is primarily centred on providing consumers with ready made meals and their nutrition ethos is focused on calorie content. In contrast, Second Nature is an app based program based on a lower carbohydrate approach to nutrition.
The Second Nature program also looks into more than just nutrition, encompassing mindset, exercise, sleep and stress into their education pillars. These pillars are crucial in building a healthy balanced lifestyle, and are discussed throughout different sections of the app; educational articles, exercise ideas/workouts, meal planners and guides.
Furthermore, Second Nature clients are provided support from a dedicated Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD) who is available Monday to Friday via a built in group platform. Youfoodz have a resident dietitian available to support any ad hoc questions however, no regular support is offered.
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Trustpilot score
Trustpilot is a platform where consumers can leave reviews and scores reflect overall customer satisfaction.
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | |
| Star rating |  |
 |
| Score | 4.2 / 5 read reviews |
4.8 / 5 read reviews |
Signing up
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | |
| Free trial | ✗ | ✓ |
| Clear breakdown of costs | ✓ | ✓ |
| Clear cancellation policy | ✓ | ✓ |
| Length of program | No program is offered at Youfoodz however, customers are able to order meals for up to 1 year, on a recurring basis. | 12 week minimum, then ongoing |
| Easy to cancel | ✓ | ✓ |
| Refund policy | Refund or replacement is offered if customers are not satisfied with quality or taste of meals. | Full refund if cancelled within 14 days. After this point, any charges non-refundable. |
| Refer-a-friend scheme | ✓ | ✓ ($10 credit for referring family or friends.) |
| Easy to include family | ✓ | ✓ |
Nutrition
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | |
| Dietary approach | Calorie Based | Lower-carb |
| Caters to vegetarian | ✓ | ✓ |
| Caters to vegan | ✓ | ✓ |
| Vegetarian/vegan recipe section | ✓ | ✓ |
| Supplements encouraged | ✗ (Protein powder and multivitamin drinks are sold as part of the meal delivery package) |
✗ (Other than Vitamin D.) |
Support
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | |
| Tailors the plan around diabetes | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tailors the plan around other health issues | ✗ | ✓ |
| Access to registered dietitian or nutritionist | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dietitians based locally in Australia and New Zealand | ✗ | ✓ |
| Assigned to local support group (timezone friendly) | ✗ | ✓ |
| Weekend support available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Daily support from coach | ✗ | ✓ |
Program features
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | |
| Encourages daily weigh-ins | ✗ | ✗ |
| Makes you take numerous body measurements | ✗ | ✗ |
| App | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recipe videos | ✗ | ✓ |
| Exercise videos | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks steps | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks exercise | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks water intake | ✗ | ✓ |
| Tracks custom habits | ✗ | ✓ |
| Education of nutrition science | ✗ | ✓ |
| Requires calorie counting | ✓ | ✗ |
| Food diary feature | ✗ | ✓ |
| Meal planning tool | ✓ | ✓ |
| In-app journalling tool | ✗ | ✓ |
Pricing
When products provide price plans in different formats, it can be hard to accurately compare prices. To make this easier, we have calculated the price of monthly basic price plans on each product (as of July 2021). All admin fees are included in these prices.
When comparing the two, the Second Nature program works out to be significantly cheaper than any of the Youfoodz services*, not only secondary to cost but also value for money. As mentioned above, Youfoodz focuses solely on nutrition and is a meal delivery service rather than a multifaceted product. In comparison, Second Nature focuses on making holistic lifestyle changes and provides members with a dedicated dietitian throughout the whole program. Support to make lifestyle changes is also provided through some of the app features; recipes, educational articles, tracking tools and meal planners.
Registration to a professional body requires a nationally recognised nutrition or dietetics degree. Weekly face-to-face sessions with a registered dietitian or nutritionist can be very expensive ($40-$100/hour). We have added a column representing this to compare costs (Weekly Nutritionist – WN).
Monthly (basic) digital subscriptions:
| Youfoodz | Second Nature | Weekly Nutritionist | |
| Registered dietitian or nutritionist coach | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| The same, personal coach throughout the programme | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Price | $650 / month* | $75 / month | $400 / month |
*Youfoodz bundles and packages vary and include ready made meals. Due to the different options available the pricing above is based on the lowest cost of following these for a month.
Example nutrition query response
Nutrition is a major part of any weight loss journey. Therefore, it is important to receive accurate and reliable nutrition advice. We asked each program a common nutrition-related query to see how the information provided as an answer compares.
Q: Are eggs bad for your cholesterol? Should I avoid them?
Youfoodz answer:
‘Eggs are absolutely fine for cholesterol, you can still have them! Ones to watch for cholesterol would be deep fried foods, takeaways, coconut oil and discretionary/junk foods’
Second Nature’s answer:
“Eggs are a rich source of dietary cholesterol. It was previously thought that cholesterol-containing foods increase blood cholesterol and the risk of heart disease and strokes. However, this has not been shown to be the case as dietary cholesterol is poorly absorbed from the digestive system, and if cholesterol is absorbed, the body will produce less of it to balance out (and prevent blood cholesterol levels rising). Therefore, you do not need to be restricted unless recommended to do so from your GP/Healthcare professional. Eggs are among the most nutritious foods on the planet providing good quality protein as well as being loaded with vitamins and minerals.”
Take home message
- When choosing a weight loss product, it’s important to consider what would fit into your lifestyle and help you achieve your goals.
- For those who find face-to-face weight loss meetings uncomfortable or inconvenient, online and digitally led programs are a better option.
- Youfoodz and Second Nature are both predominantly available online.
- The Second Nature app gives you access to recipes, exercise videos, meal planning tools and allows you to track exercise, sleep, steps, water intake and custom habits. You are also supported by an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD), Monday to Friday.
- Second Nature provides you with an education of nutrition science, allowing you to make informed decisions yourself and develop a healthy relationship with food in the long-term.
- Youfoodz focuses primarily on providing ready made meals via their home delivery service. No in-app group support is available
