newsletter update

[Sheri]

Sorry I forgot to put some important stuff into the newsletter that
went out Friday. If you received it Saturday you have the corrected
newsletter!


SHERI’S SCHEDULE
MONDAY: 6:15 PM Muddy Branch
WEDNESDAY: 9:30am Healthtrax in Germantown
THURSDAY: 8:00 & 9:45am Muddy Branch
Noon Montgomery Village
SATURDAY: 8:30, 10:00 & 11:30am Muddy Branch
Doors open ½ hour before meeting!

UPCOMING TOPICS:
Week of 12-12-10 Holiday help from PointsPlus
Week of 12-19-10 Free Fruits and (most) Vegetables
Week of 12-26-10 A second Honeymoon - using PointsPlus to put power
behind your weight-loss efforts


We will no longer be supplying paper for your feet at the scale.
Please bring socks or your own paper!



2010 HOLIDAY CHALLENGE
Need a little extra incentive to stick to the PointsPlus plan over the
Holidays?

How it works....
You have the opportunity to earn points for different behaviors that
support weight-loss each day. Record your earned points in your Three
Month Tracker or on the calendar I attached to the newsletter. The
week of January 9th I will be awarding a ticket for every 25 points
you earned. Each ticket gives you the chance to win a prize! I am
looking for small inexpensive wrapped gifts to use for prizes the week
of january 9th. Some examples of what I am looking for are candles,
gently used books, hand lotion, spices etc. this is a great
opportunity to regift! Just bring in the wrapped gift to your meeting
anytime and I will store the gifts! Thanks for your help!
Earn 1 point for each behavior daily
Tracking
Reaching your Good Health Guidelines
Eating10 or more servings of Power foods
Exercise
Choosing a fruit or veggie over a processed food
Planning a weekly menu
Grocery shopping
Planning for treats
Taking care of/pampering yourself
Attending your meeting

POINSTPLUS
It has been a crazy couple of weeks at Weight Watchers! Overall what a
wonderful experience to be a part of an amazing transition to the
biggest and best innovation in Weight Watchers history! The original
point based plan was introduced in 1997 and it was based on the best
science available at the time. That science is now out of date. the
PointsPlus plan reflects the most recent science available when it
comes to understanding nutrition and weight management. The PointsPlus
plan nudges you towards healthier choices. Offers you more freedom and
gives more flexibility than ever before! As always it is healthy
livable plan.
Don't be frustrated if you are struggling. It can take some time to
wrap our heads around this whole new way of thinking. It will pay
off!

The link to find the PointsPlus Values for the older cookbooks and
corrections for the Food Companion is:
http://weightwatchers.com/templates/gateway/gateway_dyn_3col.aspx?pageid=1188851
Then scroll to the bottom and click on "List corrections" under
"Companion books and Pocket Guide." That will take you to the latest
version. or click on the cookbook link for the new PPV's.


PointsPlus FAQ's

Is 29 PointsPlus™ values low enough to deliver weight loss, especially
for small, older women?

When it comes to weight loss and the calories in/calories out
calculations, the PointsPlus Program is identical to the POINTS Weight
Loss System. All Weight Watchers food plans are designed to provide a
healthful weight loss. A big part of being “healthful” is getting
enough of the right kinds of foods to meet nutritional needs for
vitamins and minerals. Research has shown that there is a minimum
number of calories needed to make this happen. In the POINTS System,
this minimum was 18 POINTS values which included an allowance for the
average number of calories for foods eaten with a POINTS value of 0
per serving (e.g., most vegetables and some condiments). In the
PointsPlus™ System, this minimum is 29 PointsPlus™ values which
includes an allowance for an average number of calories for foods with
a PointsPlus™ value of 0 such as fruits, most vegetables and some
condiments.



Why is my target as a smaller, older woman the same as that for a much
larger younger woman? How can the minimum PointsPlus™ target work for
so many people?

As mentioned above, the minimum daily PointsPlus™ target represents
the same “calories in” as did the old POINTS system. The difference
with the new system is that many more people now have a daily target
at the minimum. This means that for many people, the PointsPlus™
program will offer a greater energy deficit than the old POINTS
system. And for people who were at 18 POINTS values before, 29
PointsPlus™ values is the same energy deficit as before.




Why can the calculation of the PointsPlus™ values lead to different
values when using the PointsPlus™ Calculator versus the values in our
Food Database?

Sugar alcohols in foods such as sugar-free candy, ice cream etc. are
part of the carbohydrate content and contribute calories. However
sugar alcohols such as Sorbitol can contain fewer calories per gram
than carbohydrates. As sugar alcohol information is not often included
on nutrition labels it made no sense to include it as part of the
calculation in the electronics calculator. Therefore using a
calculator to determine the PointsPlus™ value of a product may give a
higher value than that same food in our database, as the sugar alcohol
was provided to us by the manufacturer. If the products cannot be
found in our online database and you are not comfortable with the
discrepancy in calculation, please use the PointsPlus™ value of a
similar product in our printed materials or on eTools if a subscriber.










What is meant by “conversion cost”?

The term “cost” refers to the energy required to convert nutrients
into a form that the body can use. Why does this matter? The calories
listed on a nutrition label are determined by burning small quantities
of that food in a laboratory and measuring the energy in the form of
heat resulting from that process. For this reason, the calories on a
nutrition label reveal the amount of calories in a serving of food
before you eat it. But the calories available after you’ve eaten and
processed a food are the ones that matter to your weight. The new
PointsPlus™ formula reflects these calories. The “conversion cost”
varies by nutrient. Fat incurs the lowest conversion cost, while
carbohydrates (especially fiber-rich carbs such as whole grains)
require a bit more effort. Proteins require the greatest effort to
process. As a result, foods rich in protein and fiber tend to have a
lower PointsPlus™ value than foods that are high in fat or refined
sugar-rich carbs.



How are the Power Foods determined?

Power Foods are determined by the energy density of a food as well as
the nutrient content of a serving of food. We combined foods into
categories, for example beef, and ranked all the foods in each
category using a proprietary formula tailored to the category. (Some
categories, such as cookies, do not have any items that make the cut.)
The types of beef that rose to the top of the list based on the lowest
energy density, as well as lowest fat and saturated fat content, are
determined to be Power Foods. They are the healthiest and most filling
choices within the category. These foods were assigned the green
pyramid to identify them as Power Foods.



Fruit without PointsPlus values, really?

All fruits are healthy. To emphasize this and to make the plan easier
and more flexible, we have made all fruits zero PointsPlus values. To
do this, we factored fruit consumption into the new daily PointsPlus
Target. We verified that people still lost weight in clinical studies.
Yes, fruits have calories. But they are always a good choice, and
often the best alternative for a snack. Just be sure to pay attention
to how much you are eating—eat until you are satisfied.




How did you factor “free fruit” into the formula?

Every PointsPlus™ target starts with the base number of calories a
person needs to healthfully support their height/weight/age/gender,
which usually represents a significant change from what they were
eating before starting Weight Watchers. It also includes an allowance
for the average number of 0 PointsPlus™ value fruits, vegetables and
condiments people eat, which is about 5 servings daily.

But why am I able to eat so much more food?

While it’s possible to compare the daily targets between the two
programs, it is impossible to compare food values; the systems behind
them are completely different and incomparable. That said, there are
two important factors to consider.

With the new system, food choices matter much more than they did under
the old POINTS system. The new program rewards good, healthy choices
like the Power Foods. At the same time, it often penalizes empty
calories. Thus if you are making great food choices like Power Foods,
you’ll have room left in your a day for the foods that make the
program sustainable, like a glass of wine or some dessert.

In addition, accurate portions matter more than ever because there is
more sensitivity per PointsPlus value. It’s much more likely in the
new system that 1 serving is 1 PointsPlus™ values while 2 servings are
3 PointsPlus™ values.



Why don’t the PointsPlus™ values I calculate for my wine match those
in the Complete Food Companion?

The key ingredient you need for calculating wine, beer, liquor etc is
grams of alcohol. Generally that info is not available on bottles or
cans--when they list carb info it does not include the grams of
alcohol. For our food database, we obtained the grams of alcohol
information from the manufacturer. Generally 1 1/2 fl oz liquor, 5 fl
oz wine and 12 oz beer each have 14 g alcohol, light beer has 11g or
less. This works out to 4 - 5 PPV's for regular depending on
additional carb info and 3 for light. Because 1 g alcohol has 7 cals,
you can enter the grams of alcohol as fat grams when calculating for
wine, beer, or liquor on the calculator





The objective of the comparison is to show that the new PointsPlus™
formula is not a simplified view of calories. Instead it’s a
different way to look at food that considers the food’s satiety
quotient as well as its conversion cost. In contrasting how the
PointsPlus™ values work out versus the calories, we needed to use
exact numbers, not rounded values, for an accurate comparison.
Therefore we used the nutritional information for each food, summed it
and calculated the PointsPlus™ values from those numbers.


It has always been our policy at Weight Watchers to incorporate the
nutrients of vegetables (and now fruit) into recipes. Why? A few
reasons.

Vegetables and fruit add fiber and other nutrients, and without
including them it can impact the Points value.

Our recipes are often featured in articles and magazines nationally
and as a result we need to disclose this info to ensure the
appropriate calories and nutrient content are displayed if evaluated
by organizations outside of Weight Watchers.

Since many non-Weight Watchers recipes include nutritional information
these days, we want our calculations to match those you may do for
recipes you find in other places. We don’t want to unfairly advantage
our own recipes.

Once you start combining vegetables and fruits with other foods, you
change the experience of eating them. Few people “pig out” on carrots
but might on carrot cake. To ignore them in recipes would place our
member at risk for abuse potential.

How should we count fruits in recipes?

You should find the technique that works best for you. There are three
ways to figure recipes (described on page 42 of the Getting Started
book). If you feel that you have a tendency to abuse certain 0-
PointsPlus™ value foods, you can use the nutritional information for
all ingredients, sum them and input them into your PointsPlus™
calculator or Recipe Builder online. If you choose to exclude 0 pts
foods, you can use your recipe builder, excluding 0 pt foods, or use
Simple Recipe Math. As always, let your weight loss be your guide, and
work the plan that works best for you.

Why is there no POINTSFinder® slide?

The addition of a fourth variable to the PointsPlus™ formula made it
very difficult to design a paper slider that worked correctly. We
engaged some of the best slide chart designers in the country to help
us. But even with their help, the sample products were difficult to
use. The participants in many of our test groups said it was hard to
learn, difficult to operate and impossible use in a grocery store or
other environment that demands speed and discretion. That’s why it was
essential for us to develop our best calculator ever, and to offer it
to members at the best price ever. We will be selling the calculator
at cost. In addition, eTools subscribers will have a variety of free
applications available for smart phones. We also added more foods than
ever to the Pocket Guide lists.