CORE/No Counting: Can you handle the freedom?
Written: May 19 '05 (Updated May 20 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Health-conscious; wide variety; flexible; can cook for your family without giving them diet food
Cons: Dieters can go overboard if not careful; website needs improvement
The Bottom Line: If you can handle the freedom and wish to focus on nutrition, Core is an outstanding program. Weight loss is healthy and steady, and you will not feel deprived.
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| buonasera99's Full Review: Weight Watchers TurnAround Program (Core / Flex Pl... |
I love the Core/No Counting program. I'm on it to lose my post-pregnancy weight, and have found it to be a nutrition-focused, flexible way to keep me on track. Core's premise ensures that the majority of the foods you eat are nutrient-dense, while allowing 35 Flex Points each week for non-Core foods. You don't have to measure and count each bite of food (provided it's on the extensive, diverse Core list).
People who are lifetime dieters may have a problem with this kind of freedom. You are allowed to eat as much Core food as it takes for you to feel SATISFIED ~ which isn't a license to eat as much as you want all day long. However, as long as you listen to your body, sticking to the Core foods can provide you with a virtually unlimited number of ready-to-eat foods (fat free dairy, veggies, fruit) and recipes. Also, it's important to stay in the spirit of the Core program: eat a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains ~ do not eat 3 cups of fat-free, sugar-free pudding for lunch just because it's on the Core list.
I've been pretty health-conscious in my adult life. However, being on Core keeps me focused on eating the right kinds of food to keep me full and with balanced blood sugar.
I am utilizing the on-line program exclusively. The site is still pretty focused on the Flex program (as opposed to Core), and needs some user-friendly updates. For example, if you need to lookup a point value for a non-Core food, you must visit one page, lookup the value, then go to another page to enter that value into your weekly FlexPoints pad. It is up to the user to reset her FlexPoints values every week, and the site does NOT keep track of how many FlexPoints you've deducted and how many Activity Points you've added. It gives you only a basic running tally. This can become a problem if you cannot remember what you entered on a particular day. They do provide a textpad next to your FlexPoints pad so that you can keep notes. However, it would be such a simple bit of programming to allow users to see what they've entered (for example, "5/15/2005: 4 FlexPoints deducted, 2 Activity Points added"), and to allow users to deduct FlexPoints from their tally directly from the Points Calculator.
Additionally, while you can enter several search parameters for a recipe (keywords, course, prep time, etc.), you cannot search for Core recipes. Core recipes are noted on the search results pages; however, you must find them yourself. Again, this is a simple bit of programming that WW should implement to incorporate Core into their site more thoroughly.
One of the huge benefits of the Core diet is the ability to make virtually any recipe Core-friendly. Your usual pasta can be replaced with soba noodles; fried chicken can be traded in for cornmeal-coated oven-baked chicken; fat-free evaporated milk can be used in place of cream and whole milk in soups and desserts. I'm not a fan of artificial sweeteners, although they are allowed. I recommend using Core-sanctioned stevia (an extremely sweet herb) to sweeten your fat-free yogurt (try Greek-style), coffee, and desserts.
While I cannot go into the details of the Core program without violating WW's strict copyrights, I will tell you that potatoes are allowed ~ which means that you can easily whip up Core-friendly oven fries or mashed potatoes (use chicken broth or fat-free evaporated milk). Their online recipe database contains several useful "recipe makeovers" for both the Flex and Core programs, and most of the Flex recipes are easily adjusted to Core.
Rather than looking at what you cannot have on Core, print out the Core food list and take it to the grocery store. Your cart will be full of possibilities.
Recommended:
Yes
Approximate Monthly Cost (US$) 18
Food Variety Restrictions A wide variety of allowed foods
Restrictiveness of Portions Satisfying
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Epinions.com ID:
buonasera99
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 1 member
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