The Syn Conspiracy

For those who follow the food and diet culture or dabble to one extent or another in Slimming World, you may have heard the big news recently… MÜLLER LIGHTS ARE NO LONGER SYN FREE.

It’s a shocking story that has gripped the nation’s slimmers.

For those who may be a little in the dark at this point, let’s give you a quick run-down:

Slimming World followers use the simple rule that every food falls into a category: speed foods (most fruits and veg), free foods (starchy veg, carbohydrates, most proteins, low calorie foods like sweetener), healthy extras (cereals, bread, milk, cheese), and ‘syn’ foods (everything else). Syn supposedly stands for synergy, but sounds a lot like what the Devil would tempt you to do…coincidence?Speed foods and free foods can be eaten with impunity. You can also have 2 healthy extra A (dairy) & B (carb) choices per day. Your syn allowance is based on your weight and target weight but is usually around 15 a day.Müller lights, along with a few other interesting foods (Quark, Curly Wurleys, Mugshots, Frylight), are the holy grail for Slimming World members because they provide easy and tasty food solutions at a free or low syn value.Müller lights have always been free on slimming world. It has recently been announced in the most recent Slimming World update that they are now 1 syn each.Müller lights have not changed – they have exactly the same nutritional values and ingredients as they did when they were free.

And the story of the increase in syn value is BIG news. It’s been featured in national newspapers including The Mirror, The Express and The Sun and is of course an absolute outrage to slimming world members…and if you don’t quite understand the magnitude, check out the Slimming World tab on mumsnet.

The way I see it, this huge decision by Slimming World and the reaction it has received is actually very revealing of the damaging diet culture that they endorse and encourage. A diet culture full of marketing ploys that direct slimmers towards sometimes unhealthy habits rather than educating them on intuitive eating and nutrition.

The change demonstrates that the fat content of an item of food isn’t the only factor in whether it is ‘free’ or not. With Müller lights being fat free and therefore deemed as free foods, they were essentially equal with fruits and vegetables, rice and beans, and slimming world followers could eat as many as they wanted. But anyone can see that Müller light yoghurts might well be light but do not nearly carry the same nutritional benefits as a piece of fruit or a garden salad. I’m not saying one is good and one is bad; nutrition is not black and white and I certainly think there is a place in all our diets for both. But categorising them as equal doesn’t seem to make sense, especially when it’s basically saying you can eat as many of the yoghurts as you like and it still be considered “healthy”. This change in syn value appears to me to be an admission by Slimming World that, for a long time, they have been promoting a tunnel vision approach to food rather than appreciating the full nutritional value of a food, how it can benefit us in many different ways and the importance of moderation even when it comes to “diet” foods. (This could therefore be seen as a positive change, but in my view, categorisation of foods and giving foods a syn value still doesn’t promote healthy and intuitive eating habits).

The panic surrounding the change is understandable. Dieters have been relying on the fat free, sugar free yoghurts to curb their sweet-tooth cravings for years and suddenly they have been told that they are effectively being charged to eat them. Their food routines will have to change; their usual snacks don’t add up anymore. Slimming World is a religion, and its followers have just been told that praying is only allowed in moderation. Of course there is panic.

But my point is that Slimming World shouldn’t be a religion. Dieting shouldn’t be a lifestyle. Your weight or how many dress sizes you’ve gone down shouldn’t be your identity. And you definitely shouldn’t ever have to worry about yoghurt. My point is that whether Slimming World says it’s a syn, or a sin, or neither, or both!, doesn’t actually make a difference to what it is. At the end of the day, if you were eating Müller lights and not seeing any negative weight effects, and your main motivation is to lose or maintain your weight, then why should you change the way you eat them. Changing their syn value doesn’t change how they will affect you.

What has been revealed is how food anxiety can be caused around certain foods because they’ve been labelled. Moralising foods as good & bad, right & wrong, and categorising foods, allowing some in unlimited amounts and other not, doesn’t breed open-mindedness or intuition around food. It breeds worry and concern, and a warped view of nutrition that says “what Slimming World says, goes”.

Food anxiety is very real and something I experienced first hand during my recovery from anorexia. It’s an irrational fear or worry about the effect a food will have based on misconception and misinformation (usually by those who profit from it), and it’s scary. It’s your heart beating harder, your breath getting shorter, your eyes welling up and a lump appearing in your throat just considering eating something that you’ve told yourself is off limits. It’s screaming inside and hating yourself when you’ve eaten something you told yourself you shouldn’t. It’s real, it’s scary, it’s disordered eating and it shouldn’t be brought about by diet clubs.

Of course what I’m referring to now is a bigger issue of diet culture with many ifs, buts and whereforths, and with so many contradictions its difficult to know where to start. But I want to make two points clear: 1. A set of rules around food might help you to lose weight, but it’s so important to consider how it affects your mind, and if it’s causing anxiety or stress then it’s not good for you. 2. Please, please never worry about yoghurts.

When slimming world announced Muller Light Yoghurts were no longer syn-free, I couldn't not write about it