WW Core Plan

[mountainpuddles]

Hi Gals, I was wondering if anyone is on WW Core Plan. I just joined and looking for feedback. Also, if someone has the Core list on a doc. they can send me that would be awesome!! I have it in my book, but I don't want to reinvent the wheel if and take forty minutes to type it up.

Thanks,

Becky

[kelownagirl]

Someone gave me this list. It's not exact but it might be a start for you...


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Here's the jist of the core foods list as I understand it. I in no way guarantee this is correct, but please help me correct any misconceptions you notice, or I won't lose weight and I *will* get frustrated.

It's NOT just like Atkins - Fruit! Whole-wheat pasta or brown rice daily! Conspicuous absence of fats! And if I can stick to it faithfully, I'm pretty sure it'll be successful, as well as good for my slender husband and son.

Meat and Meat Substitutes

* Lean beef, lamb, pork and veal (loin or round and trim visible fat)
* Ground beef (7% fat or less)
* Organ meats (eww, for me!) fresh, frozen or canned (canned organ meat? double eww!)
* Poultry – Chicken and turkey, again trim visible fat, no skin
* Ground chicken or turkey, once a day only
* Fish and shellfish, fresh, frozen, or canned, any variety as long as not packed in fat or oil. Sign me up for all-you-can-eat shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce with Splenda instead of sugar.
* Tofu, any type
* Frozen veggie burgers - wonder if this means not the large, delectable ones in restaurants? Probably not.
* NO deli meats or hot dogs - so much for the Atkins connection, but how many of us have followed Atkins only to remain fat? I know I have!

Eggs, Dairy & Cheese

* Whole eggs or whites (yay, rah!) as long as we prepare without butter or fat OR count the FLEX points
* Eggbeaters and other egg substitutes
* Fat-free milk, cheese and sour cream
* Soy milk and soy cheese
* Plain yogurt. I take it that the aspartame-only - no sugar varieties would be OK, or that it's OK to sweeten it myself and add my own fruit.
* Weight Watchers Smoothies (or ALBA) or fat-free, sugar-free instant hot cocoa are OK, but only once a day (danger, will robinson)
* NO real, yummy cheese, unless you spend your Flex points on it, apparently not even Parmesan over the lowfat spaghetti sauce

Fruit

* Any fresh, frozen or canned fruit (no added sugar; canned must be packed in water or juice (not syrup); AND drained before eating, as they don't allow JUICE, see next item
* NO juice - too easy to overdo, I suspect
* Unsweetened applesauce
* NO Dried fruits, too high caloric density, they're too dangerous

Veggies

* ANY fresh, frozen or canned veggies without any non-Core-Food ingredients, especially watching for added oil or sugar.
* Yes, potatoes - no, French Fries
* Yes, sweet potatoes
* Yes, corn
* Yes, beans and lentils, fat-free refried beans are OK
* Tomato paste, puree and sauce
* NO vegetable juices; I suspect they think I'll gorge on carrot juice or somesuch. But does this mean no more free v-8? Doesn't that contradict the tomato sauce or tomato soup ruling?

Soup

* If you make soups only with core foods, we can go for it!
* Bean soups like lentil or split pea are fine, even corn chowder, though I'd go sparingly on that unless on maintenance!
* Bouillon broth are fine, add core foods only
* Tomato soup is allowed; again, why not V-8 then?
* NO Cream soups, though it's OK to use soymilk or fat-free evaporated milk.

Cereal and Grain
Once a day, we can have:

* all-grain cereal with fat-free milk or soymilk (I like Silk). For dry cereals, this means ONLY puffed wheat or rice, shredded wheat, and all bran cereals with no added sugar. Rice Krispies and Special K and the like have added fat AND sugar, unfortunately. Look them up on the web, like at Kellogg's. For hot cereals, we can have Cream of Wheat, oatmeal and such. I'm liking Fiber One, Puffed Kashi and Spoon-sized Shredded Wheat.
* Hot cereals: Malt-o-Meal is tasty and filling, also Bob's Red Mill oatmeal, which is thick, and doesn't cook up slimy.
* Add fruit! It makes the cereal sweeter, and not so boring and tasteless. Sliced apples, peaches, blueberries, strawberries make it so pretty! Splurge on the fruit you buy. Shake a little frozen fruit out ofo the bag into your hot cereal and stir; it'll defrost in no time.
* Add a packet of Splenda if you need extra sweetness. Sometimes I go for cereal as my "bednight snack" (as my son calls it).
* Once a day, we can have whole-wheat pasta, brown rice, or potatoes. Note: Beware of the new American Beauty Healthy pasta, which is secretly regular pasta with a smidgen of added whole grain.
* Other whole grains, such as barley, grits, cornmeal and couscous, are unlimited. (Thanks for the correction, Linda!) Try cooking couscous in ff broth instead of water; it's quite tasty!

Fats, Oils Dressings

* 2 teaspoons (NOT tablespoons heart-friendly oil per day
* other than that, none, nothing, zip, nada. Get ready to use your Flex points for this good stuff.
* Nonstick cooking and baking spray

Other Free Stuff

* Ice and water, including sugar-free, clear beverages such as any diet soda (NOT coke's new C2 though)
* No-calorie sweeteners like Splenda, Equal or Sweet - n -Low.
* Seasonings and herbs, without added sugar - have to read those labels.
* Fat-free salad dressing; I find all the fat-free butters and dressings yucky, myself and will be using flex points.
* Fat-free margarine (I stay away from this hydrogenated stuff; it's supposed to be bad for the arteries, isn't it? Besides just dampening the bread that I already can't have)
* Fat-free mayonnaise (I'd rather spend flex points for the real deal)
* Extracts and flavorings. Vanilla extract in FF cottage cheese, with cut-up pears and wheat germ is great in a cheesecake-y sort of way.

[Zen]

No fats?
This is a Weight Watchers plan?

No fats at all isn't healthy.

I used just the points and it worked well for me. I'd rather exercise than diet.
Fat-free cheese tastes like feet.

[maillotpois]

No fats?
This is a Weight Watchers plan?

No fats at all isn't healthy.

Fats, Oils Dressings

* 2 teaspoons (NOT tablespoons heart-friendly oil per day
* other than that, none, nothing, zip, nada. Get ready to use your Flex points for this good stuff.
* Nonstick cooking and baking spray

There is fat listed, plus whatever is in the eggs, meat, etc. that is on the list.

[Thalia the muse]

I've done Core, and I LOVED it! I was never hungry, never felt like a dieter, and I ate extremely healthfully.

It IS lower in fat than is probably ideal -- you can tweak that a lot, though, by what you choose from the list. If you want more fats, include lots of olives, avocado, fatty fish like salmon and mackerel, dark-meat poultry, and tofu and soy cheese (yuck!) in your diet. You also have 35 "points" a week to spend on anything you want, so you use them for additional olive oil, non-fat-free dairy, or peanut butter/nuts/seeds if you want more fat. You earn points for exercise as well.

I wouldn't do Core if I couldn't "buy" other foods than the ones on the list with my points. There are too many good, healthful, delicious foods that aren't on the list because you can't eat them "to satisfaction" without taking in too many calories. I mostly used my points for wine, dark chocolate or the occasional low-fat frogurt, nuts, corn tortillas, and honey to put in my yogurt. Plus restaurants.

[sassyc]

Do you get activity points to use the same way you do on the points program?

[PinkBike]

i'm on the flex plan because i have no idea what it means to eat until you're satisfied, thus i need the structure of flex. but i just went to WW etools and it looks like there are activity points swaps on core also.