{"id":1308,"date":"2018-10-14T18:05:13","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T17:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1308"},"modified":"2018-11-14T11:16:58","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T11:16:58","slug":"slimming-world-the-basics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/slimming-world-the-basics\/","title":{"rendered":"Slimming World &#8211; The Basics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800080;\">Please note: This post has been edited to reflect the changes SW has announced this week.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the questions I get asked often is how does Slimming World (SW) work? So I&#8217;m going to give you an overview of the plan. It is a very easy and simple plan to follow. If you&#8217;ve ever tried any diets in an effort to lose weight before and maybe were not as successful as you&#8217;d hoped or just want to give SW a go, please be open minded! You may be surprised at how generous the eating plan is, but it all works perfectly well together when you follow the simple 3 steps bellows.<\/p>\n<h4>Step 1 Free Foods<\/h4>\n<p>Most of the food you will be eating from will come from a list of foods called <strong>Free Foods<\/strong>. These are called Free Foods because they are unlimited &#8211; you can have as much or as little of these foods as you like without weighing or measuring a single thing! Sounds great, right? So what exactly are these Free Foods you may be wondering? These are foods that are naturally lower in calories and high in satiety (that means appetite satisfaction). You can fill up on these foods whenever you like as long as they&#8217;ve been cooked without any fat or oil. You will be able to find the full list of the hundreds of Free Foods available to choose from in the <strong>Food Optimising<\/strong> book you receive when you join a SW group. The following is just a summary of what is included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Fruit &#8211; only when fresh or frozen whole (cooked, canned, dried &amp; pureed fruits are NOT free foods)<\/li>\n<li>Vegetables<\/li>\n<li>Fish<\/li>\n<li>Meat &amp; Poultry (including some vegetable proteins)<\/li>\n<li>Dairy products &#8211; fat free natural yogurts, low fat plain cottage cheese, quark<\/li>\n<li>Eggs<\/li>\n<li>Rice, pasta &amp; grains<\/li>\n<li>Beans, peas &amp; lentils<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Enjoy filling up on these foods any time, day or night, without any limits! Free Foods will keep you feeling fuller longer than other foods &#8211; especially protein rich foods such as lentils, eggs, meat and poultry.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure a healthy balance of food, SW recommend you fill at least 1\/3 of your plate with <strong>Speed Free Foods<\/strong> where you can and make them your first choice between meals. Speed Free Foods are even lower in calories which means it will help you lose even more weight. In your food optimising book, these food will be marked with an <strong>S<\/strong>. These will include fresh or frozen fruit and fresh, frozen, canned or pickled vegetables.<\/p>\n<p>One main point to remember with fruit is that fruit is only a Free Food when it is fresh or frozen and whole. That means cooked, canned, dried or pureed fruit will not be a Free Food when consumed in those forms.<\/p>\n<p>On top of all these Free Foods, you will also be able to use some store cupboard staples freely to add flavour and variety to your meals. Things such as herbs and spices, stock pots and cubes, soy sauce, tomato purees, fat free dressings (vinaigrette, Italian or French style dressings, must be 50kcals or less per 100ml to be Free), low calorie cooking spray (must be 1 calorie or less per spray to be Free), Marmite, Tabasco &amp; Worcestershire sauce.<\/p>\n<p>Drinks that are included in the Free Foods list include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Water &#8211; still or sparkling!<\/li>\n<li>Coffee<\/li>\n<li>Tea (including herbal teas)<\/li>\n<li>Sugar free\/ diet fizzy drinks<\/li>\n<li>No added sugar cordial<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Swap sugar for sweetener tablets in your drinks! Any milk used in your hot drinks is not a Free Food but comes under Step 2 Healthy Extra s below.<\/p>\n<h4>Step 2 Healthy Extras<\/h4>\n<p>In addition to all the Free Foods, you can choose 2 options from the Healthy Extra choices to ensure you are getting enough calcium and fibre in your diet. You\u00a0can make\u00a0<strong>two<\/strong> choices a day from the <strong>Healthy Extras A<\/strong> choice and <strong>one<\/strong> choice a day from the <strong>Healthy Extra B<\/strong> choice. Again, you will find a full list of these choices in your food optimising book or the SW app.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Healthy Extra A<\/strong> choices are dairy foods that are a good source of calcium. These include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>350ml skimmed milk<\/li>\n<li>250ml semi skimmed milk<\/li>\n<li>400ml unsweetened calcium-enriched plain soya drink<\/li>\n<li>40g reduced fat Cheddar\/Emmental<\/li>\n<li>30g Cheddar\/Double Gloucester\/Red Leicester\/Gouda\/Emmental<\/li>\n<li>50g Mozzarella<\/li>\n<li>35g Halloumi<\/li>\n<li>3 Mini Babybel Light cheeses<\/li>\n<li>2 Laughing Cow Original Triangles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Healthy Extra B<\/strong> choices are foods that contain a good source of fibre. These will include many high fibre wholegrain cereals, wholemeal bread, crispbreads, cereal bars, nuts &amp; seeds, dried, canned &amp; cooked fruit. Below are some options you can chose from:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>40g unflavoured porridge oats<\/li>\n<li>45b Bran Flakes<\/li>\n<li>40g Weetabix Crispy Minis (Banana\/Chocolate Chip\/Fruit &amp; Nut<\/li>\n<li>2 Weetabix (including flavoured varieties)<\/li>\n<li>2 SW Hifi Bars\/Alpen Light bars<\/li>\n<li>4 Ryvita Dark Rye\/Original<\/li>\n<li>60g any wholemeal bread<\/li>\n<li>16 almonds<\/li>\n<li>35 pistachio nuts<\/li>\n<li>2 level tbsp. sunflower seeds<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You must ensure that your healthy extra choices are weighed and measured accurately. Please do not guess or estimate!<\/p>\n<h4>Step 3 Syns<\/h4>\n<p>On top of all the Free Foods and the Healthy Extra choices, you can choose &#8216;<strong>Syns<\/strong>&#8216; &#8211; these allow you to enjoy the foods that many diets ban! All food that isn&#8217;t Free has a <strong>Syn Value<\/strong>. You can enjoy between 5-15 Syns a day (your consultant will be able to help you decide the number of Syns to aim for each day). You will find Syn Values at the back of your food optimising book or on the SW app (a fab tool available for all SW members).<\/p>\n<p>So now you&#8217;ve got an overview of the SW food optimising plan you can see that it is not that difficult! It is a simple, easy to follow plan that is suitable for everyone. You will get a lot more in depth information when you join a group and receive support from a knowledgeable and supportive consultant and of course great motivation and ideas from fellow slimmer&#8217;s. Remember, this additional support occurs during Image Therapy, so always aim to stay in group until the end of the session.<\/p>\n<p>Hope you find this useful, if you have questions or need me to clarify anything, please comment below.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please note: This post has been edited to reflect the changes SW has announced this week. One of the questions I get asked often is how does Slimming World (SW) work? So I&#8217;m going to give you an overview of the plan. It is a very easy and simple plan to follow. If you&#8217;ve ever [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[5],"tags":[579,587,16,582,583,76,120,24,578,319,584,585,586,204,581,14,115,580,43],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p89etY-l6","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1769,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/ramadan-2020\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":0},"title":"Ramadan 2020","author":"Rahema","date":"April 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Ramadan is almost upon us and this year it is going to be challenging for many Muslims around the world with the pandemic going on. Please remember to observe social distancing guidelines and stay safe. For the last few months I have kind of fallen off the Slimming World wagon\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Slimming World&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Slimming World","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/slimmingworld\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/ramadan_2020_planner_wk13462875228431838929-300x274.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1336,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/extra-easy-sp\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":1},"title":"Extra Easy SP","author":"Rahema","date":"November 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Please note: This post has been edited to reflect the changes Slimming World has announced this week. Picture this, a weekend spent going over your syns limit, some may be worth the extra syns, others not so much. Then you remember weigh day is looming so you're in\u00a0need of\u00a0a quick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Recipes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Recipes","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/recipes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/cheesyomelet-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1351,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/slimming-world-changes\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":2},"title":"Slimming World Changes","author":"Rahema","date":"November 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"By now you're probably aware that Slimming World has shared some exciting news that will take place at the end of the year\/ new year. I have posted below a copy of what has been shared. Remember you can find out more info about this from your SW consultant. He\/she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Advice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Advice","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/advice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":797,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/ramadan-survival-guide-the-slimming-world-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":3},"title":"Ramadan Survival Guide \u2013 the Slimming World way","author":"Rahema","date":"May 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've published my Ramadan Survival Guide for 2017 as a page on my blog, please click here to visit it OR use the link on the left","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Recipes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Recipes","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/recipes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":71,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/top-tips-to-help-you-stay-on-track\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":4},"title":"Top Tips to help you stay on track","author":"Rahema","date":"January 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Losing weight can be challenging for\u00a0many of us, we all have\u00a0our own daily\u00a0trials to\u00a0overcome as well as trying our very best to\u00a0eat well too.\u00a0Luckily with Slimming World you can eat generous amount of food! For many slimmers who have not\u00a0yet found a Slimming World group, they may be out there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Advice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Advice","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/advice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":234,"url":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/snacks-nibbles\/","url_meta":{"origin":1308,"position":5},"title":"Snacks &#038; Nibbles","author":"Rahema","date":"January 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I absolutely love this feature\u00a0on the SW website, which I've included\u00a0below, that is all about snacks & nibbles! This is perfect whether you\u2019re in need of a tasty lifesaver to keep you going, a mid-morning munch or simply a healthier alternative to a high-Syn snack, for when a \u2018nibbly\u2019 moment\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Advice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Advice","link":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/sections\/advice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/wp-1484658426336-300x256.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1308"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1350,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1308\/revisions\/1350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rahema.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}