I'm doing pretty well on WW, but there was some initial shock for some foods. For example, salmon. Wow. Everyone is telling you to eat salmon, good in omega 3 fatty oils, eat your fish, etc. And then you put in the numbers and man it is high in points. Yes, I know it's because of the fat content, but it was still a shocker. The other eye opener was sesame seeds. I know nuts in general are high fat (used to eat a lot of those anyway) but sesame seeds? who knew?
I still eat the salmon, but the portion size has to be much smaller than I would have had pre-WW.
What foods did you think would be super healthy and ok in your plan but ended up being high in points?
I was surprised - b/c I think of desserts and appetizers as 'bad' or 'fattening' - not something that I would consider an ingredient in a healthful dinner.
I try to stick with chicken, pork, turkey, and fish (cod, haddock, shrimp) and only eat beef on the rare occassion. (I have to have burgers off the grill in the summer!)
Ya know what else...? More than points, I think I was shocked at many serving sizes... I had never paid much attention to serving sizes b/f WW. I always thought a healthy dinner meant - eat as much as you want. Stay away from the cookies! Cheese has calcium = eat what you want.
I had to change a lot of my thinking!
oh yeah, and cereal. If I had my normal bowl of Raisin Bran cereal and skim milk, it's like half of my alloted points for the whole day. It turns out 2 cups of cereal - which in my eyes, is STILL not a lot of cereal - is not that big of a portion. Supposed to be one cup. that's not a lot!
What foods did you think would be super healthy and ok in your plan but ended up being high in points?
Healthy foods are not necessarily diet friendly foods and diet foods are not necessarily healthy.
For example the Hostess 100 calorie cupcakes they are very diet friendly but they are not a healthy food.
This is where we all get really confused.
Another example is a whole grain bread, with lean meat and veggies and cheese and some dressing made with healthy oils. That is healthy for you but it may not necessarily be diet friendly.
I love the kung pao chicken at my favorite Chinese restaurant (chicken breast, broccoli, carrots, celery, peppers and almonds stir-fried) found online that the average kung pao chicken dish is 15pts. PER CUP! -
Cereals surprised me, too. I like SF puffed wheat and I mix a cup of SF puffed wheat (1 pt) with some other cereal, the puffed wheat keeps the flakes out of the milk and they stay crunchy. I was surprised one cup of total cranberry was 3 pts. I use 1/3 cup with my SF PW and get a decent serving for 2 pts.
It was funny VDay, DH bought me some pecan turtles, it's a box with a bunch of individ. wrapped small ones in it. So, I figured out the pts. and it came to 2 per candy. I thought that wasn't bad, he was surprised and said in the old days, he prob. would have downed 10 of them w/out blinking an eye.
I was flipping through the food companion and was surprised almost every kind of candy bar was at least 7 pts.
My dad died of colon cancer when he was 50, so I started really trying to eat a high fiber (i.e. colon healthy) diet when I hit 40. The veggies were ok, but I love granola and whole wheat bagels. I was eating a whole day's points before lunch! And then I'd snack on a bag of Planter's fruit and nut mix during the day. It's no wonder my weight ballooned up so fast! But I had the healthiest colon in town!
One time before I started WW, I decided to just eat the food pyramid each day. That's supposed to be healthy, right? Healthy maybe, low cal, no way. You'd have to be a marathon runner to burn that many calories.
When I started WW and began writing down all my points, I was mortified to realize that I was probably averaging about 40-50 points a day. It really takes some planning to eat healthy and still stay in the point range!
We had a tuna helper last night, being lent and all, and it's super easy, well I was shocked that there was 15 pts in the mix, before I added anything. I made it with 1% milk and butter and 2 cans of tuna, DH and I split, so I ended up with 20 pts. for dinner, when I thought it was going to be around 10 pts.
Someday, I'll learn to figure before I eat. We eat those Bertolli dinners sometimes and it ends up usu. around 10, so I figured it would be about the same. Dang it.
Last edited by kelijpa; 02-16-2008 at 07:14 PM.
Reason: spelling
oh yeah, and cereal. If I had my normal bowl of Raisin Bran cereal and skim milk, it's like half of my alloted points for the whole day. It turns out 2 cups of cereal - which in my eyes, is STILL not a lot of cereal - is not that big of a portion. Supposed to be one cup. that's not a lot!
I've learned to live with one cup of cereal, which is 2 points, 3 with a half cup of ff milk. If you are still hungry, have a light english muffin (1 point) with it and a small grapefruit or orange (1 point). You will be surprise how full you feel.
When I put a banana in cereal, I slice half the banana in the bowl, then pour the cereal and then add the rest of the banana. It makes the bowl look fuller.
I use 1 cup of sugar free puffed wheat and 1/2 or 1/3 (whatever adds up to 1 pt, depends on the cereal) like right now I'm using 1/3 of cranberry total, and 1 cup of skim milk. I like it because the puffed wheat keeps the flakes out of the milk and they don't get soggy. I think raisin bran is 1/2 c. for 1 pt. It's also a money saver, I buy a bag of puffed wheat for 1.49 and then top it with the more expensive boxed cereal.
It all started with frosted shredded wheat. after eating the SF PW the strawberry shredded wheat was too sweet!
What food Points Shocked you
