Core Foods On The Weight Watchers Diet

The Weight Watchers Momentum program largely replaces the Turn Around program which included Flex Points and the Core Plan. However, Weight Watchers has combined features of both in its new program to encourage you to make healthy food choices without exceeding your daily points target. Weight Watchers incorporates the core food list into the Momentum program, revising it slightly and renaming it a "filling foods" list.

Significance

The core foods list was originally offered as an alternative to the Flex Plan. On the Core Plan, you eat any items you want from the core foods list to satisfy hunger with no point-counting required. You only keep up with points on the core foods plan when you eat foods not listed as core foods. The Core Plan is still available to Weight Watchers members.

Function

The Core Plan serves to help dieters make lower-calorie food choices that are filling and nutritious. The plan encourages you to eat healthy selections from every food group, including fruits and vegetables, grains, starches, lean protein, eggs and dairy, according to Weight Watchers. By promoting healthy eating, the plan enables you to get the most from your calories and lose weight at a healthy rate.

Fruits and Vegetables

Any variety of fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables without added sugar, sauce or fat qualify as core foods. Exceptions are dried fruit, fruit juice and vegetable juice. Other exceptions include any packaged fruit or vegetable that contains other ingredients not listed as core foods. Fruit packed in juice must be drained in order to qualify as a core food.

Protein

Lean cuts of meat such as loin or round leg qualify as core foods. Examples include top round roast, filet mignon, sirloin, lean ham and organ meats. Fresh, canned or frozen varieties of chicken, turkey, fish and shellfish are considered core foods, with the exception of varieties packed in oil, according to the Weight Watchers Filling Foods List. Meat substitutes such as legumes, tofu and veggie burgers qualify as core foods, as do eggs and egg substitutes.

Starches and Grains

Core foods from the starches and grains category include any hot cereal without added sugar and whole grains such as barley, bulgar, couscous, fat-free popcorn, quinoa and starchy vegetables. Whole-wheat pasta, potatoes, brown rice and cereals such as puffed wheat, shredded wheat and bran are limited to one serving daily on the Core Plan.

Other Foods

Fat-free milk cheese, sour cream, pudding and plain yogurt make the core foods list, as do soy milk, cheese and yogurt. Unsweetened beverages on the core foods list include coffee, tea, water, seltzer and diet soda. Other core foods include fat-free dressings, margarine, cooking spray, extracts, mustard, herbs, fat-free salsa, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and spices, according to Weight Watchers.