Klinio is a diabetes and weight management app designed to help individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as prediabetes, manage their condition through diet and lifestyle changes. Formerly known as MyDiabetes, Klinio was founded in 2019 by Gary Scheiner, a Certified Diabetes Educator and Exercise Physiologist living with type 1 diabetes. This article delves into a comprehensive review of Klinio, examining its functionalities, costs, benefits, and drawbacks, while also addressing user concerns and controversies surrounding the app.
Overview of the Klinio Diet
The Klinio diet is a program geared toward helping people better manage prediabetes or type 1 or 2 diabetes and lose weight. The program consists of three main components.
Klinio Diet App
The app is Klinio's flagship product, providing personalized calorie and macronutrient goals and a customized meal plan to help users lower their blood sugar and lose weight. Anyone who wants to lose weight might try it. The app offers a choice between a moderate-carb diet, a ketogenic diet, or a 28-day no-junk-food challenge. However, they do not recommend following a ketogenic diet if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, are at risk for disordered eating, or have renal disease. The two other diets offered do not have any restrictions, but the company does suggest you speak with your doctor first.
Key Features
The app includes workouts, educational resources, tracking capabilities, and personalized meal plans. The meal plans provide targets for calories and macronutrients, personalized based on your health status and goals. To support health-promoting eating patterns, the app also includes thousands of recipes that are designed to be quick and easy to prepare.
Meal Plans
Klinio offers three meal plans:
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- 28-days no junk food challenge
- Ketogenic diet
- Moderate-carb diet
Each plan includes recommended targets for calories and macronutrients. Once you choose a plan, you’ll log in to the app daily and track your food and activity levels against the suggested targets. Additionally, you’ll have access to thousands of easy recipes, grocery lists, and educational resources to help you succeed with the program.
Blood Sugar Tracking
Tracking blood sugar levels is another important aspect of Klinio. You can either log your blood sugar information manually, or you can connect a compatible glucose tracking device with the app.
Weight Loss Fuel Supplement
Lastly, Klinio offers a supplement called Weight Loss Fuel, which can be purchased separately. According to Klinio, it’s designed to decrease appetite, increase weight loss, decrease low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (commonly referred to as “bad” cholesterol), and more.
How Klinio Works
Once you choose a plan, you’ll log in to the app daily and track your food and activity levels against the suggested targets. The food you can eat on Klinio will depend on which meal plan you choose. For example, someone following the keto meal plan would need to avoid most carb sources. These include healthy fats like vegetable oils, nuts, seeds, and fish, as well as what Klinio considers “good” carbs, which tend to be higher in fiber. These include sweetened and processed foods.
Effectiveness
Klinio notes that it was “designed to fit the needs of a specific customer,” a woman with type 2 diabetes. But there’s no evidence presented to support these claims, and a timeframe for these results is not disclosed.
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Potential Benefits and Risks of Klinio
Weight Loss
While Klinio offers 3 different types of meal plans, they all emphasize calorie restriction to support weight loss. It’s reasonable to expect that sticking to a reduced calorie meal plan would cause you to lose weight. However, some Klinio meal plans are very low in calories. This may be too low for some people and may make the diet difficult to sustain in the long run.
Diabetes Management
Another focus of the Klinio app is diabetes management. Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are typically managed through medication, blood sugar monitoring, and lifestyle factors like regular physical activity and a diet high in fiber and antioxidants and low in saturated, trans fats, and sugars. For both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, maintaining a moderate weight is also important. Type 1 diabetes is typically managed with insulin therapy and blood sugar monitoring. It may also be responsive to some lifestyle changes, such as increases in physical activity, though weight loss is not indicated unless a person has overweight or obesity.
Some research does support the use of low carb and keto diets in managing type 2 diabetes. But adherence to these diets can be difficult for many people. Additionally, it’s unclear whether these diets are safe for people with type 1 diabetes. Ultimately, there’s no specific research that confirms the effectiveness of Klinio for diabetes management. However, because it may help individuals lose weight and encourages physical activity and blood sugar monitoring, it may be effective. If you choose to try Klinio as a part of your diabetes management, it’s important to continue working with a healthcare professional as well. Do not stop any medication or other part of your treatment plan without first talking with your doctor.
Weight Loss Fuel Supplement
Klinio’s Weight Loss Fuel supplement is a strawberry-flavored powder that’s meant to be mixed with 10-12 fl oz (300-360 mL) of water and consumed 1-2 hours before your first or last meal of the day. Klinio says this supplement helps with bloating (including colon cleansing), skin health, sugar cravings, and weight loss. The powder is made up of glucomannan and cellulose. Glucomannan is a dietary fiber that may help promote weight loss, but the research on this claim is a bit mixed.
Pros and Cons of the Klinio Diet
When it comes to diabetes programs, there are a variety of options to choose from. Weighing both the perks and drawbacks of the plan before committing to a subscription can save you effort and money, and help you find the plan that best aligns with your goals. Here’s what you need to know about the Klinio diet.
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The Pros
- With guidance, a shopping list, and progress tracking, the app can help you stay on track toward your goals. The app allows you to log your food, keeping you accountable.
- The program's meal plan is geared toward providing the calories and macronutrients that you need to manage diabetes, and they say it's customized to you.
- The app syncs with glucometers. You can connect a glucose tracking device to your Klinio app to monitor your blood sugar changes throughout the day.
- The app provides recipes and a grocery list. Planning can be a big part of success, so any time-saving tool, such as a grocery list or meal ideas, can help you incorporate this into your life.
- The app has multiple functions. “It’s an all-in-one app and may be a good place to start for some people who are new to managing their diabetes.
- There’s a progress tracker. You can see how far you’ve come - and where you’re going - by tracking measures like your blood sugar, A1C levels, steps, food, and weight.
- Meal planning can be helpful for people looking to lose weight and improve their nutritional intake.
- Klinio meal plans use simple, easy-to-follow recipes. If you’re looking to improve your health-promoting cooking skills, this could be helpful.
- Klinio includes beginner, equipment-free workouts and encourages users to increase their physical activity.
The Cons
- Some experts question the long-term results, the lack of research, and the focus on body change.
- You may not be able to stick to it long-term. This often comes from a recommended calorie intake that may be too low to maintain as a lifelong strategy.
- There is an emphasis on aesthetic goals. In the supplement section, the company promises that the supplements will help you get your “dream body.”
- The expert panel lacks a physician.
- It's a significant time commitment. You will be shopping for and making your meals, which will take time out of your day.
- There is no published research.
- The app requires an additional expense.
- While the number of calories a person needs depends on their age, sex, and activity level, 900 calories is likely too few for most adults.
- Counting calories can have the potential to lead to disordered eating patterns for some people.
- The meal plans themselves also may be too strict for some. For example, the keto diet severely restricts carbohydrates, which may not be realistic or sustainable for many people.
- Klinio also labels foods as “good” and “bad,” which can further perpetuate negative feelings around food and make it hard to stick to the diets.
- The Klinio Weight Loss Fuel supplement claims to promote fat-burning and cleanse the body, which is not supported by clinical evidence. What’s more, there’s no evidence to support the use of a cleansing or detoxing supplement.
- Unlike apps such as Noom or WW, Klinio does not offer the guidance and accountability of a coach.
Klinio Diet Reviews: User Feedback and Concerns
Klinio has a 4.2 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot with many reviewers stating that the program helped them manage their blood sugar and lose weight. Still, the reviews overall are a bit mixed. Happy customers mention that they appreciate the wide variety of recipes and the fact that they’re mostly quick and easy to follow. Many are also happy with the workouts included in the app. Still, others feel that the recipes include too many expensive and difficult-to-find ingredients.
Billing and Cancellation Issues
Billing and cancellation issues are a major complaint from many users across Trustpilot and Reddit. Customers report being charged unexpectedly for automatically renewing subscriptions, and they face great difficulty and refusal when trying to get a refund. Some reviewers describe the app as a "money suck" and a "scam," highlighting issues with unauthorized charges and auto-renewals. People also express frustration with customer service, reporting that they are unhelpful and unwilling to provide refunds. Several customers express concerns regarding refunds, particularly when they attempt to cancel their subscriptions. People report difficulties in unsubscribing and feel they are charged without proper authorization.
Negative Experiences
Many reviewers report negative experiences with the app, citing that it is cumbersome and not user-friendly. Some users have reported being charged even without completing the sign-up process or providing bank details. Others have had money withdrawn from their accounts without permission, sometimes amounting to significant sums.
Customer Service Issues
Many users have expressed frustration with Klinio's customer service, describing it as unhelpful and unwilling to provide refunds. Some customers have reported that the company reactivates subscriptions even after they have been canceled, leading to further unauthorized charges.
Positive Experiences
Despite the negative reviews, some users have reported positive experiences with Klinio. Some customers have praised the app for its excellent customer service, noting that their issues were resolved promptly and they received refunds for unauthorized charges. Others have found the app helpful for providing new meal ideas and supporting their weight loss and diabetes management goals.
Cost of Klinio
A Klinio subscription varies according to the terms you choose. For example, a 2-month subscription costs $33, while a 12-month subscription costs $156. That breaks down to $16.50 and $13 per month, respectively.
Getting Started with Klinio
Interested in giving the Klinio diet a try? Here’s what you need to know.
Talk to Your Doctor
If you’re considering dramatically changing your diet - even if the plan you choose involves making more healthful food choices - you still need to let your doctor know first. This is especially important if you’re managing diabetes. In this case, your healthcare team can work with you to monitor your blood sugar and make adjustments to medications, because weight loss can affect your dosage. Likewise, if you’ve been sedentary and are going to start to exercise on Klinio, ask how you can best ease into movement to avoid injury.
Answer the Quiz
The first step is to determine your goals and develop a plan. You’ll do that with the “Take Quiz” button at the top right corner of the homepage.
Download the App
You can’t follow a Klinio diet plan without the app. Choose the subscription duration that’s realistic for you and is in your budget. You can renew for as long as you want.
Sync Your Glucose Monitor if You Have One
This allows you to see how your meals and snacks affect your glucose levels.
Go Shopping (and Start Chopping)
Get acquainted with your grocery store or your grocery delivery service, and start learning how to make the meals and snacks Klinio recommends for you.
Alternatives to Klinio
For advice about diabetes management, what to eat, and recipes to make, as well as resources that make insulin more affordable, go straight to the ADA.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
For a resource on living with diabetes, this page is a go-to for all your questions. Learn about creating a diabetes care schedule, managing sick days, and lifestyle changes that will help better manage your blood sugar.
Best Weight Loss Hub National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
There’s a lot of info out there about how to lose weight, but the NIDDK has a hub that provides everything you need to begin in a healthy and sustainable way. Links on the page include a Body Weight Planner tool, information to understand overweight and obesity, how to choose a weight loss program, as well as nutrition and activity tips.