Going Pro

Massive excitement on Monday morning when Weight Watchers launched its brand new plan, “Pro Points” to existing members (with a roll out to non members in January). It seemed to spark a bit of interest in the mainstream press, as the new system moves away from assigning food a value based on its calorie and saturated fat content to some kind of jiggery pokery where you have to think about protein and carbs and speed of digestion or something. I’m no scientist (unless having a Double Science GCSE counts for anything, which I’m pretty sure it doesn’t) so I just tend to adopt a “nod and smile” policy when people try to explain any sort of scientific theory to me. All I heard, during the explanations of the new plan, was that fruit was henceforth to be zero points. Bring on the bananas!

My instinct tells me that a well established company like Weight Watchers does not rock the boat, particularly the popular, money spinning boat, unless it thinks it is on to something. Yes, the cynical amongst us may point out that by forcing people to pay out for an entirely new set of equipment, the tills will be set ringing. But actually, a massive re-branding exercise like this costs a great deal of money, and they run the risk of alienating their core customer base. So I’m going to assume there is method to all of this and embrace it wholeheartedly.

Zero point fruit is wonderful. And has also made me realise how many times in the past I eschewed an apple or a satsuma in order to squeeze in an extra biscuit. I’m not even sure why because I like fruit. I think dieting tends to bring out the rebellious child in me to a certain extent – why waste two points on a banana when for two and a half I can have a Kit Kat. Never mind that I might have actually wanted the banana more than the chocolate. And going back to basics is kind of fun as well. I’ve been recalculating favourite food items, getting a feel for how I can make best use of my allotted allowance while still enjoying gorgeous, fit-for-a-foodie food. Stay tuned for some Pro Point recipes as I begin to get a bit more au fait with it all…