SLIMMING WORLD RED & GREEN DAY FOOD OPTIMISING STARTER GUIDE
There are 2 main ways to Food Optimise – there is no reason why any of these should be more of less successful in terms of weight loss so you decide for yourself based on personal preferences. The GREEN choice Lots of filling, healthy carbohydrates, plus generous servings of protein for a balanced diet and low in fat The RED choice Plenty of lean, satisfying protein plus energising carbohydrates for a balanced diet, and low in fat
GREEN Choice On days when you feel like filling up on pasta, jacket potatoes, vegetable curries and chillies, you will love the green days. Enjoy unlimited pasta, rice, baked potatoes, bakes beans, pulses and grains, plus vegetables, fresh fruit and very low fat yoghurt and fromage frais. RED Choice If you feel like an all-day breakfast of eggs and bacon, roast beef, fresh fish or seafood, you will be in heaven on an Red day. You can enjoy unlimited lean beef, lamb, pork (including bacon), chicken, turkey, fish and seafood, plus fresh fruit and most vegetables, very low fat yoghurt and fromage frais. You can choose to alternate the days for variety or you can do all green days or all red days – the choice is yours.
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Decide whether you want to do a Green or an Red Day first, then 3 Key Steps:
Choose your Free Foods from the lists of free Green days foods or free Red day foods. There are 3 Free Food Documents attached – 1 lists all foods that are considered to be Free on Red Days, 1 for Green Days and 1 for those foods that are considered Free on both days.
Choose Healthy Extra Options. You must choose 3 or 4 options from the Red or Green Healthy Extras lists per day (1or2 from section ’a’ and 2 from section ‘b’). These are designed to give your body the vitamins, minerals and fibre you need. Healthy Extras include milk, cheese for calcium and wholemeal bread and breakfast cereals for fibre. There are 3 Healthy Extra food Documents attached – 1 lists all foods that are considered to be Healthy Extra foods on Red Days, 1 for Green Days and 1 for those foods that are considered Healthy Extra foods on both days.
Syns – Any food that is not free, has a syn value. If you cannot take what you want as a free food or a Healthy Extra, you may still be able to have it if you count it as a syn. You choose how to ‘spend’ your syns every day e.g. chocolate, mayonnaise etc. You should aim for 5-15 syns per day, averaging approximately 10 syns per day ideally.
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Food Optimising is about deciding which foods you prefer to fill up on and choosing a Green or a red day accordingly. A lot of family meals can work easily on both days but the proportions would vary. For Example: Spaghetti Bolognese: Green Days - you would have heaps of spaghetti (a free food on green days). A serving of Bolognese sauce made from extra lean minced beef, chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, mixed peppers and carrots (allowing 85g of lean minced beef per serving from the green Healthy Extras section). Or replace the beef with minced Quorn, which is a free food. This meal would have 0 syns on a Green day. Red Days – Heaps of meaty Bolognese sauce, which is a free food on Red Days (no additional fat added if using Fry Light instead of Olive Oil). Take 100g (boiled weight) of wholemeal spaghetti as a Red Day Healthy Extra. This meal would have 0 syns on a Red day. Roast Beef dinner: Green Days - 85g lean roast beef from the Healthy Extras section Eat lots of garden peas, broccoli, carrots, dry-roasted potatoes, parsnips and mashed potatoes (no added milk or fat unless takes as a syn or additional healthy extra). 1 Yorkshire pudding (small), which counts as 3 syns. 4tbsp gravy (no added fat), which counts as 1 syn This meal would have 4 syns on a Green day. Red Days – As much lean roast beef as you want as the meat is free on Red days. Plenty of broccoli, carrots, green beans as these are all free on Red days. 198g new potatoes boiled in their skins (taken as a Healthy Extra from the Red day selection). 1 Yorkshire pudding (small), which counts as 3 syns. 4tbsp gravy (no added fat), which count as 1 syn This meal would have 4 syns on an Red day.
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Helpful Tips Aim to drink lots of water – 6-8 glasses recommended. Bovril from a jar (not granules or cubes) is free. Coffee, low-cal fizzy and low-cal squash drinks, mineral water and tea including herbal teas are all free. Milk must be taken as a Healthy Extra or counted as 0.5 syn per dash of milk put into tea or coffee. Artificial Sweeteners – granulated tablet form or drops are all free e.g. Splenda, Canderel etc. Flavourings such as herbs and spices are free. Marmite – free Mint Sauce no added sugar – free Oil – Only Fry Light is free. Olive Oil must be taken only as a Healthy Extra or as a syn. Soy, Tabasco, Worcestershire sauces – free Salad dressings – only very low fat vinaigrette type dressings are free (these must be less than 40 kcals per 100ml.) Otherwise, count this as syns. Vinegar – all types free Exercise: Any additional exercise you can do will aid weight loss as with any diet.
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