Something I never understood about EE syns.

papercrane

Lost in the harbor
There's something I don't understand about the way SW just uses the lowest syn value for EE syns.

Take for example Pret A Manger's fish Sushi:

Deluxe Sushi, per pack: EE=5, Orig=10, Green=5

Now, sushi is pretty much just rice and fish, plus a few synned ingredients in very small quantities (rice wine, sugar, etc.).

So if it's 5 syns on green, those syns must be found in the fish, and the extra ingredients.

If it's 10 syns on original, those syns are found in the rice, and the extra ingredients. (This makes sense, as there is far more rice than fish in sushi.)

So EE ought to only syn for the extra ingredients, which must logically be less than 5 syns (because as deduced above, 5=fish+extras, but on EE only the extras should be synned)

Does that make sense?

If I make my own sushi on EE then I only syn for the extra ingredients, so exactly the same product would be lower in syns.

Am I missing something?
 
My [controversial] theory is that basically they've just not bothered. Because for 98% of products the lowest syn value will be right, 'cos they either have no free food at all, or they're consisting of only Green OR Original free food. BUT for the few products which are evenly of things from both Green AND Original free foods (ie. sushi, any meat+rice or meat+pasta ready-meal or takeaway) this logic doesn't hold up.

I just find it slightly irritating, as the major selling point of EE is the fact you can have free foods from both of the old programmes - this should make snacks and lunches on the go easier. If I do an EE day and buy Sushi I just call it a couple of syns, and I don't think it's affected past losses hehe.

Only a small gripe though. Still believe in Slimming World FTW! I just wish they'd make a proper list of low-syn EE branded products. x
 
Is it perhaps to do with the fact that you have such an array of free foods to eat on EE that you don't eat as much proper food as syns ( mainly treat on alchohol for me) so they keep the syns on so something like sushi high to prevent overeating? Not sure if that even makes sense and i wrote it!
 
Is it perhaps to do with the fact that you have such an array of free foods to eat on EE that you don't eat as much proper food as syns ( mainly treat on alchohol for me) so they keep the syns on so something like sushi high to prevent overeating? Not sure if that even makes sense and i wrote it!

Yeah, that does make sense. You could be right - maybe it's because if snacky things like that are too low then you could go mad on them... But then again you are still going to be eating them as you would normally - it's not like using couscous for flour etc...

Intriguing!
 
Well with EE sorry thought i had dealeted this post -_-. Well i think its because you have such a huge verity of food on EE which is free you are less likely to consume syned food. Dunno baffles me. I know with the HEX;S the balanced EE out by only giving you the one of each or thats what the C said LOL
 
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I think there must be some oil in the rice

From their ingredients the fat is
6.8 x 9 cals is 61 cals per portion +
Sugars is 12.5 x 4 cals is 50 cals
Altogether that's 109 cals per portion which is about 5 syns
 
I don't think it matters what you use your syns on ie what some may call proper food others treats alcohol (there was a convo about that on here the other day)
Perhaps it is to help limit the free foods because there is no superfree in the sushi say but that wouldn't apply to everything or maybe because it would involve making a whole new system for synning and people find it all confusing enough as it is :confused:
 
Stepout said:
I think there must be some oil in the rice

From their ingredients the fat is
6.8 x 9 cals is 61 cals per portion +
Sugars is 12.5 x 4 cals is 50 cals
Altogether that's 109 cals per portion which is about 5 syns

Think you've cracked it hun
 
Rather than work out a separate formula for extra easy, I think slimming world have kept it this way to try to limit our consumption of ready prepared foods. It would be impossible to look at each item individually and while the sushi has little in the way of ingredients which would not be free, the majority of ready prepared foods have heaps of other ingredients which are not free in the slightest, not to mention additives and preservatives. So it makes sense to me.

While ready prepared foods are convenient at times, I think Slimming Worlds main goal is for us to look at fresh ingredients and the massive free foods list that is available to us.

there are also many foods which some members assume qualify for a free food allowance, when actually they don't at all. For example - a chicken pasty, while it may have chicken in it, the main ingredient wont actually be chicken, it will be pastry, so this type of food will not qualify for any free food allowance what so ever. The same goes for pizza and ready made sandwiches and various other items, as although it they may have a free food such as vegetables or meat on it, the main ingredient is actually bread. The same rule applies to certain snacks, which is obviously a rule set to limit our consumption of them. Like crisps for instance, the main ingredient is potato, but if they allowed crisps to have a free food allowance , the syn value would be far too low and we could consume far too much, which would jeopardise our weight loss.

With the free foods list, we have such a huge array of stuff available to us, that these little rules slimming world set really shouldn't make a difference. If we were allowed too much freedom, I could easily guess that not many people would lose weight and what kind of a successful healthy eating plan would that be?

Slimming World is quite clever really, we should trust their advice ;)
 
Haha, you can't be suggesting that sushi is to rice & fish what crisps are to potatoes, or what chicken is to a pasty?! I'm not a complete idiot ;).

Yes, the free foods lists are extensive and great. And I generally cook and try to avoid as much artificial junk as possible. But wonderful as SW might be, let's face it - if you're out of the house for the whole day unexpectedly and have to pick up something for lunch on-the-go... that's SW's weakness I think. The kinds of things that regular people would grab for lunch from a supermarket (sandwich, salads, etc.) are almost all crazy-high in syns. My point is that EE ought to help with that - things like sushi, or salads which mix pasta and meat. EE ought to make those kind of things a BIT lower than they ever were, aside from any other ingredients. In the past I'd do things like get some cooked chicken, raw carrot, etc... and feel slightly embarrassed to be eating it...!

And besides, SW encourages you to eat low-syn prepared/artificial food almost as much as it encourages you to cook for yourself. Not a class goes by our consultant doesn't mention Pasta 'n' Sauce, Muller Lights, or some brand of processed cheese triangle.
 
I never compared sushi to crisps and pastries. That was a completely different paragraph where I discussed foods which don't qualify for a free food allowance. I was just mentioning why slimming world set some of the rules that they do.

What I did say though, is that sushi is just one ready prepared item out of thousands of different others and while I agree that perhaps the sushi theoretically should be lower in syns, it would be impossible for them to apply a rule to every individual item out there, it just isnt possible. It may seem you are short changed on that bit of sushi or that salad etc, but it certainly wouldn't be the case with many other foods when working out syns were a free food allowance might apply, because it isn't always the case that most of the ingredients are free. Hence why they have kept the formula as they have.

Besides, the syns calculator looks at the full nutritional value when working out the syns in a food item which contains a free food allowance, so you are not going to be short changed by much, even if the majority of the ingredients are both green and original foods.
 
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I agree, as I said earlier... The vast majority of foods will of course be correct by the current rules. But it wouldn't do any harm for them to bring out a little list of products which end up being notably lower in syns on EE. That is my opinion. Maybe there just aren't enough for it to be worthwhile.
 
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Yeah I've always thought it very lazy of SW as there are food that could be free on EE sushi being one, I understand the theory of them protecting weight loss with ready made food stuffs but I've also never understood why those pasta sauce things are free.

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Ah yes - but free doesn't mean unlimited so you wouldn't expect to lose weight if all you ate was pasta n sauce. Thats why 1/3rd superfree is so important on ee to help you not over indulge!
 
I've wondered this too - with things like sushi and my favourite, chicken chow mein.
Now on green a chicken chow mein is 6 syns - I'm guessing most of the syns will be for chicken and maybe a couple for oil.
However, on EE the syn value is 6 - why isn't the syn value of the chicken deducted for EE?

Doesn't overly bother me but I can see exactly where the OP is coming from with regards to sushi.
 
I want to know about sushi too because I do green and can only assume that some of the syns are the fish. I know there is mayo in some of the rolls and a bit of sugar in the stuff the rice is mixed with. So when I eat sushi I'd like to know the breakdown so I can put the fish as a HexB and then just count the syns in the rice mix and mayo etc. It's a bit annoying because I love sushi!
 
I want to know about sushi too because I do green and can only assume that some of the syns are the fish. I know there is mayo in some of the rolls and a bit of sugar in the stuff the rice is mixed with. So when I eat sushi I'd like to know the breakdown so I can put the fish as a HexB and then just count the syns in the rice mix and mayo etc. It's a bit annoying because I love sushi!
This probably needs confirming by someone like Britmum or Jayou as they know the plan much better than me but I think this would be considered 'tweaking'
 
I really wouldn't use the fish as a B choice, you wouldn't come anywhere close to a B choice allowance of fish (in my opinion) unless you ate a ton of sushi!

The syn value for sushi on green is pretty low - the syn values for EE are in question here as both the fish and rice are free foods.
 
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