Starting Over, Take 1,847

I recently added a new (old) book to my collection of exchange-based diet and cookbooks.  The 1988 Weight Watchers’ Quick SUccess Program Cookbook by Jean Nidetch (the founder of WW).

The plan is unnecessarily complicated in my opinion,  Rather than allowing you the full list of exchanges - you begin with a limited list for each exchanges, and the food lists are expanded each week until week 5. Week 5 is the full plan, and no changes are made afterward.  It seems logical to me, to just start with week 5).   Because the carb and calorie contents are still quite similar within all choices within each exchange group, there’s no logical reason (in my opinion) to limit the lists (except as a marketing ploy by WW to keep you coming back, at least for the first five weeks until you have the whole plan.  They still do this today with the point system). 

One thing I love about the 1988 and subsequent WW exchange plans is the floating exchanges and optional calories.  It’s a nice way to ”count” combination exchanges and foods that really don’t fit well into any of the exchanges (I was never comfortable counting table sugar as some plans do).    The floating exchange was an optional exchange (after week 5) that you could spend on a fruit, protein, bread, or milk exchange.  Joann Lund in her Healthy Exchanges series of books uses a similar system, though I believe she calls her flexible-choice exchanges ”flexible exchanges” rather than floating exchanges. 

Since I have no interest in changing the format of my exchange plan, I didn’t buy this book for the program (though for anyone who is curious, I’ll describe the basic plan from the book at the end of my book review), but rather for the recipes.

It’s an “old-school” cookbook in that most recipes do not come with photos, and none of the photos are paired with the recipes (instead they’re grouped together in clusters of several glossy pages, distributed throughout the book).  The recipes themselves are written on matte paper, and the nutritional information is at the bottom of each recipe.  This is a vast improvement over some older Weight Watcher’s cookbooks in which the nutritional information was not listed with the recipes, but rather was listed in an appendix at the end of the book.  So you had to look up the information every time you made the recipe (or write it in the margins of each recipe.

As far as the recipes go, they’re fairly standard for the time.  A nice variety, but nothing too far from the ordinary.  A nice basic, “white bread american-style” cookbook, with the occasional americanized asian or latin inspired dish.  A nice addition to my collection, but not a must-have (not that I’ll be givng it away any time soon).

The Plan as described in the book:

The first number is the number of exchanges for women,  Exchanges for men and youths are in parenthesis - except for the milk exchanges in which case only the youth’s servings are in paranthesis.  Adult men get the same number of exchanges as women.
Week 1

Fruit 2-3 (3-4)
Veg 3, at least
Fat 3 (3)
Protein 5-6 (7-8)
Bread 2 (4)
Milk 2 (3)

Optional:
Floating 0 (0)
Optional calories 150

Week 2

Fruit 2-3 (3-4)
Veg 3, at least
Fat 3 (3)
Protein 5-6 (7-8)
Bread 2-3 (4-5)
Milk 2 (3)

Optional:
Floating 0 (0)
Optional calories 200

Week 3

Fruit 2-3 (3-5)
Veg 3, at least
Fat 3 (3)
Protein 5-6 (7-8)
Bread 2-3 (4-5)
Milk 2 (3-4)

Optional:
Floating 0 (0)
Optional calories 300

Week 4

Fruit 2-3 (3-5)
Veg 3, at least
Fat 3 (3)
Protein 5-6 (7-8)
Bread 3 (5)
Milk 2 (3-4)

Optional:
Floating 0 (0)
Optional calories 400

Week 5 and onward

Fruit 2-3 (3-5)
Veg 3, at least
Fat 3 (3)
Protein 5-6 (7-8)
Bread 3 (5)
Milk 2 (3-4)

Optional:
Floating 1 (1)
Optional calories 500

Guidelines:

No more than 3 eggs
No more than 4 oz of hard or semisoft cheese (”slicing” cheese. Cottage cheese would be ok any time)
No more than 12 ounces of limited meats (red meats such as lamb, beef, and pork).
Between 9 and 15 ounces of fish or shellfish

I’ve become increasingly interested in nurtritional anthropology and “ancestor diets” and research.  It’s been on my “to read” list for quite some time.  However, as the subject matter is weight maintenance and not weight loss, I was in no particular rush to read it.  However, it kept coming up in the ancestor diet reading lists, that I finally decided I’d order it from the library.

I just finished reading it, and I was really impressed.  I could relate to and/or agreed with nearly everything the author had to say.  I think I thought “I’m not sure that would work well for me,” only once or twice.  I think it may have been the first book I can truly say that about. 

I wish I’d read it sooner.  It’s entirely compatible with my current food plan, except that I had to seriously review my views on moderate use of modern foods, and on the very concept of moderation itself.  I really appreciate the advice to review every choice, asking “is it worth it.”   If I’m honest with myself that’s where I fail most often, I tend to  ask “was it worth it,” more often than “would it be worth it.” 

I was so impressed, that I took a lot of notes, and am considering buying the book as it seems like a book I’d refer to repeatedly.