Wholemeal pitta bread - points?

babyguinnessfan

Anyone happen to know off the top of their head how many Weight Watchers points are in a wholemeal pitta bread - one of the small round ones that you can get in packets of six? Thanks.

neuro-praxis

I would estimate 1-1.5 points. The mini wholemeal ones from M&S are 0.5 points each, so I would estimate that there is twice or three times as much bread in the kind you are having. Anyway, a low points, low GI, healthy choice.

babyguinnessfan

Thanks for that neuro-praxis.

rubadub

In tescos a lot of "healthy foods" have the WW points on them. Just compare like with like in these cases.

I never liked the points system, too rounded, especially for low portion items. If an item is 0.7 points it is called 1/2, and if one is 0.3 it is 1/2 too- even though one might be twice the "true points" of another. I suppose some things even out, but some people might be wolfing down lots of 0.7 things without knowing. Clever marketers would also use this to their advantage.

e.g. a 70g pitta or 30g pitta from the same recipe will both be a 1/2 point. So the consumer might naturally go for the 70g one, fooling themselves that they are equal.

I prefer calorie counting.

I heard a girl I know talking about points and saying a "bar" has so many points, but referring to those thin little dairy milks for kids, but then branding all bars equal! wispas, flakes, malteasers etc are not low calorie, or low points, they are just small portions! they are the same points/calories per gram as most bars

neuro-praxis

rubadub, your friend's attitude is not typical of someone following the points plan. It is idiotic to assume a "bar" has 2 points or whatever and I do not know anyone who does this.

There is a lot of snobbery regarding WeightWatchers but it is in fact a great re-education on how to eat, and more than that, how to manage out-of-control eating and manage planning, emotions etc. I cannot speak about other meetings but at my meeting the leader even speaks against eating processed WeightWatchers products except as a last resort, but rather encourages variety, low GI, low saturated fat and high-fibre options.

It is true that you round up and round down the points value of foods but the rounding up and down makes a negligible difference to weight loss. You are perpetuating the myth that it is some kind of idiot's program. Nobody thinks that a 30g portion and a 70g portion have the same value - where on earth did you get this idea? We work out the points according to the 100g value and then divide as appropriate to our portion size.

It also should be pointed out that there is more to WeightWatchers than the Points Plan. There is also the Core plan where you can eat freely from a long list of Core foods, measuring your portion sizes by your body's hunger. The amount of weight lost is exactly the same as on the Points plan.

I have been following the Points plan for 13 weeks and have lost 25lbs and my diet is very good, packed with fresh wholefoods. This has been achieved by following the advice of my WW literature and my great leader. I have also had treats every single week and (because I've had one illness after another for the last six weeks) not a lot of exercise. You can't really argue with results rubadub.

I expect this to speed up when I start hitting the gym shortly.

rubadub

First off- I am not attacking the WW program at all, if followed correctly I am sure it is great. It seems sensible and works for lots of people, well done on your own progress.

neuro-praxis wrote: »

rubadub, your friend's attitude is not typical of someone following the points plan. It is idiotic to assume a "bar" has 2 points or whatever and I do not know anyone who does this.

I overheard her, her mother & sister discussing stuff. I am not sure if they do follow the program, but they were talking about items, and points, the sister was putting them straight on some things. I really feel peoples main problem is portion size. This girl was deluding herself that a bar is a bar. She is intelligent but I have found a lot of intelligent people can be completely and utterly ignorant about food/nutrition/calories/metabolism etc. Some are not aware of the real calorific values of food, and guess stuff or presume.

A lad in work was telling me he was "dieting", and cutting out the crap. I saw him sit down to lunches in excess of 1000kcal, he probably just presumed it was fairly good. I will sit down to big plates of chicken or steak in work, and people saying "jesus, are you hungry?" "where do you put it all", while they can easily be eating twice to 3 times the calories I am and be oblivious to that fact.

In another thread one poster was once saying he knew a girl who thought the more lean cuisines you eat the thinner you get! I know mates who devoured entire packs of "go-ahead" buscuits, convinced they were a fraction of the caloires of others.

neuro-praxis wrote: »

You are perpetuating the myth that it is some kind of idiot's program.

I honestly never heard this said before. Maybe thats why you are picking me up wrong. No matter what program there is some idiots will do it, be it low GI, low calorie or WW. Some will not follow it correctly, and try and find loopholes and fool themselves. Others will honestly be ignorant of the mathematics behind these systems, and be exploited by marketers. That is my main concern.

neuro-praxis wrote: »

against eating processed WeightWatchers products except as a last resort, but rather encourages variety, low GI, low saturated fat and high-fibre options.

That is good to hear. WW products are doing the kind of marketing I warn against. If you look at most WW products they are lower in weight than other ones, and quote very small portion sizes. If followed correctly people will weight and portion accordingly. Look at breakfast cereals, the portions quoted barely cover the bowl. In my old days I could eat a 800kcal portion of museli with ease. In many threads people quote diets with no portions given.

Look at WW bread, there is little or no difference between it and normal bread calorie per 100g wise. They quote small portions to make it appear low in calories/points. The frozen ready meals are all low weight, and if you read the ingredients list you quickly figure out there is a high % of water in there, they will simply dilute stuff down, and charge the same as a similar brand. If you take the excess water out they are very similar ingredients and calorie/points wise.

This is all fine, as long as people realise it. Small fixed portions can work for people. I cook batches of food and portion it into jars with a scales.

You will find a huge amount of products do not directly state the weight of portions on them, they might indirectly do it which requires a calculator to figure out. A prime example is chocolate bars. Go to the shops and look for yourself, 95% of bars that cost ~80c and are over 50g will have the weight clearly displayed. 90% of bars at a similar price and UNDER 50g will not have the weight clearly displayed. e.g. aeros, malteasers, wispas, creme eggs (some of them might). They will quote values, "per bar", and "per 100g". In this way the weight is figured out. So now you see ads on TV "malteasers only have 1X calories per pack", some ignorant people take this to mean it is a not a calorie dense food, not that the portion is simply half of another bar. The makers are preying on ignorance, people pay the same price for half the amount! and are delighted thinking it is a low cal option. Just eat half the bar of the one you actually like most!

Other clever marketing tricks are kcal per g or %. So milk is "only 4% fat", -yeah but I drink 500grams of it at a go! in which case my portion is high in fat. So when portions are heavy quote the %, when portions are light quote the g, "walkers crisps, only x grams of fat per pack" -yeah 30% fat, tiny portion

Nobody thinks that a 30g portion and a 70g portion have the same value - where on earth did you get this idea?

So the pitta bread might not have the weight openly displayed at all. So in this case you have no idea what they weigh. A person picks up 2 packs, one full of big 70g pittas, one with small 30g ones. The ignorant person, be it ignorant about the points system, or "forced ignorance", i.e. marketers not giving information- the person looks at both packs and both say 1/2points per pitta, then they go for the bigger size ones. THIS is how somebody can think they have the same value- they DO have the same value, 0.5points, and it is written down on the pack.

Just be careful of this, never trust a salesman!