What Are Speed Foods?

You have joined Slimming World and all you have heard so far is, speed speed speed…. Don’t worry I completely understand! It can be really hard to get your head around everything at first.

Speed foods do not mean you have to eat them really quickly! Let me try to explain without confusing you even further….

Speed foods are not only classed as a free food, but almost all fruits and vegetables will be Super Free Foods “Speed” too. These will help to boost your weight loss and keep you feeling full for longer. 

Slimming World state that at least a third of your plate should be full of speed foods first. Also if you feel the urge to snack, try and reach for speed foods first. 

How can I add more speed foods to my diet?

  • Add some berries to your jelly/yogurt
  • Top your breakfast cereal with some fruit
  • Swap half of your pasta/rice for some vegetables
  • Fill a third of your dinner plate with vegetables or salad first, then add the rest of your meal.
  • Slice carrot sticks and place them in the fridge to snack on.
  • Bulk out a bolognese or curry with extra vegetable such as grated carrot and reduce the meat.
  • Make a soup using speedy vegetables.
  • Make yourself some corguette spaghetti




The following foods are examples of  “speed foods” on the Slimming World plan. They can be eaten without weighing or measuring. 

To ensure you have the correct information please join www.slimmingworld.co.uk

Fruit

Fresh and frozen fruit are both classed as Speed Foods. (Tinned are not)

Please remember if you are mashing, pureeing or cooking fruit they must be Synned.

  • Apples
  • Apricots
  • Blackberries
  • Blackcurrants
  • Blueberries
  • Clementines
  • Cranberries
  • Damsons
  • Gooseberries
  • Grapefruit
  • Guava
  • Lemons (juice/zest)
  • Limes (juice/zest)
  • Loganberries
  • Mandarins
  • Melon (All types)
  • Nectarines
  • Oranges
  • Papaya
  • Passion fruit
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Plums
  • Pomelo
  • Raspberries
  • Redcurrants
  • Rhubarb
  • Satsumas
  • Star fruit
  • Strawberries
  • Tangerines
  • Ugli fruit




Vegetables

All vegetables below whether they are fresh, frozen and canned are classed as Speed foods. They can be roasted, pureed, boiled or raw. 

  • Alfalfa sprouts
  • Amaranth leaves
  • Artichokes
  • Asparagus
  • Aubergine
  • Baby sweetcorn
  • Bamboo shoots
  • Bean sprouts
  • Beetroot
  • Broccoli
  • Brussel sprouts
  • Cabbage
  • Capers
  • Carrots
  • Cauliflower
  • Celeriac
  • Celery
  • Chard
  • Chicory
  • Chillies
  • Chinese leaf
  • Courgettes
  • Cucumber
  • Endive
  • Fennel
  • Green beans
  • Garlic
  • Gherkins
  • Herbs
  • Kale
  • Leeks
  • Lettuce
  • Mangetout
  • Marrow
  • Mushrooms
  • Mustard & Cress
  • Okra
  • Onions
  • Pak choi
  • Peppers
  • Pumpkin
  • Purple sprouting broccoli
  • Radicchio
  • Radishes
  • Rocket
  • Runner beans
  • Sauerkraut
  • Samphire
  • Shallots
  • Spinach
  • Spring greens
  • Spring onions
  • Sugar snap peas
  • Swede
  • Tomatoes, Fresh, Tinned or Passata
  • Turnip
  • Vine leaves
  • Watercress
  • Water chestnuts

Related Article: Recipes made using speed foods

81 Responses

  1. Lorraine says:

    Cant See Cherries on this list

  2. Angela Jones says:

    I’m very grateful for this list – I’m surprised that so many foods are speed and not just free – really going to include them as much as possible this time – Thank you xx

  3. Denise greenfield says:

    Do you know why pineapples were dropped?

    • Kirsty says:

      Hiya.. for as long as I have known about speed foods I never knew pineapple ever was? Maybe you could ask your consultant? x

  4. Imi says:

    Hi where do sweet potatoes go?

  5. Kate says:

    Hi, is this list just for fresh fruit and veg or are frozen ok as well?

  6. Michelle says:

    Grapes aren’t on the list, does that mean that they are syns?

  7. Jo Melia says:

    Hi, thank you for your list it’s really helpful for an old school slimming world like me! Could I just ask you if I’m doing green plan are baked beans a speed food? Thanks again for your info ☺ so helpful!

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Hi there I am glad you are enjoying the site. All of the speed foods are listed here.. if it isn’t here it isn’t a speed food 🙂 Thanks x

  8. Claire Anderson says:

    Thank you….my downfall is hidden syns….sauces…flour spices etc…unless it has a high fat content im unsure…example would be maggi cook in bag…thanks in advance…x

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Hi there

      Unless its pasta, rice, fruit, vegetables or lean meat it generally has a Syn value. Maggi cook in bags are high in Syns so I would avoid them. They aren’t needed.. there are so many amazing recipes out there full of flavour and Syn free. Flour is around about 4 syns per 25g. Most herbs and spices are Syn free.

  9. Patricia Fuller says:

    Bananas please? Thankyou.

  10. Jane says:

    Hi there I have just stumbled across your blog. I have been on SW for two weeks on line, so all quite new to me. This is just fabulous, thank you so much for all your hard work in explaining syns etc. I have started following your blog . Thank you again xx

  11. margi kelly says:

    Hi ive just joined yourself and SW thank you for all the help your giving us i will be on here often thanks xx

  12. Sarah Henderson says:

    Hi there can you tell me if Dates are Syn Free please. Thank you ?

  13. Dawn says:

    May I ask about parnips? I tend to make homemade soup, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli and parsnips ??

  14. Yasmin Dasoo says:

    Hi there I’m from Canada and new to slimming world need help in shopping for low syn foods and snacks

  15. Jackie R says:

    Can see there are Clementines and Tangerines on your list. I know you have said if it is not on there then it is not a speed food but my group leader says Satsumas are speed food. Can you clarify – Satsumas have a slightly lower sugar content than tangerines. Cheers

  16. Jackie R says:

    Sorry – Satsumas are on the list. My bad! Sorry again xxx

  17. A says:

    Hi on my app it says most frozen veg is ‘free’ not speed when the fresh alternative is speed. Does frozen veg not count as speed?

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Hi Abi
      If a fruit or a vegetable is a speed food it doesn’t matter if it is fresh, frozen or tinned 🙂

      I hope that helps

  18. Jan says:

    What is the difference between speed and free foods?

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Speed foods are fruit and vegetables that are super low in calories but will keep you full. Try to fill half of your plate with them first before adding free or syn food.

  19. Jan says:

    Thanks for that. So I could have a steak (free) with lots of veg & salad (speed food). I guess salad and veg are also considered free.

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      You can have steak with all visible fat removed cooked in frylight (free)
      Served with Syn free slimming world chips and lots of vegetables and salad 🙂

  20. Jan says:

    Thanks so much for your reply. It’s making sense now. I’ll keep going with the diet xo

  21. eimeareveard says:

    hi are avocados free?

  22. Helen Megahy says:

    This is very good information. I stopped going to the club and put my weight on and more. But this is my 2nd week.
    Thank you for the information.

  23. Lisa says:

    Hi,
    Are speed foods still free food and syn free?
    Thank you.

  24. Emily says:

    is dried fruit syned? i’ve just bought some thinking they’d be okay but not i’m not sure.

    thanks in advance xx

  25. Tumpshy says:

    Hi what about pomegranates?
    Thank you

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Sorry no this is not a speed food. Only the fruits/veg listed are speed. Pomegranate is free but not speed.

  26. Jody Deacon says:

    Hello, sorry to ask, I can’t quite see the difference betwenb veg and fruits clearly . Going through the list in alphabetical order I can’t see melon? I thought this was a speed food?
    Jody.

  27. Angela Pye says:

    Should you reduce the portion size of free protein and carbs you would normally have with speed foods or can you just add the speed to your usual portion size?

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      A third of your plate should be speed foods…

      But yes when i make a chilli now i use half the mince i used i used to and have replaced with more speed foods like pepper, onion, mushroom 🙂

  28. ilona says:

    Hi thank you for your help in the speed foods I’m not sure on fruit
    Please could you tell me if fruit in tins in there own juices are speed or free many thanks

  29. ilona says:

    Thank you so much for your reply

  30. Brenda says:

    I love your blog, I’m thinking about trying SW and will probably just do the on-line. You have helped me decide what I want to try, so … thank you very much for having a desire to help the rest of us!

  31. Karina says:

    Oh I’m confused now have baked beans been removed from speed foods, just to clarify

  32. Karinac says:

    Thanks for getting back to me, I must have read it wrong before, thanku ill be more careful with them xx

  33. Rachel says:

    Hi. Are they free? I’ve been putting them in my yogurt the past few weeks thinking they’re speed?. Strangely I’ve gained a couple of pounds since Christmas

  34. Fatgirlskinny says:

    Sorry im not sure what you are referring to?

  35. Gina Cooper says:

    When I was in slimming world few years ago beans were speed. What has changed that there not speed now

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Baked beans are high in sugar content, they were removed as a speed food (superfree) a long time ago.

  36. Brenda says:

    You’re AWESOME … thank you so muich!

  37. T says:

    Hello ,

    Please are you able to to tell me if all fresh speed fruits and veg are also counted as speed if they are frozen?

    Or does it all have to be fresh to count as speed ?

    Thank you

  38. Ray Howard says:

    Hi do I have to syn speed foods if I blend them for juice

  39. obert Murphy says:

    Hi, is Watermelon excluded from the plan?

  40. Robert Murphy says:

    Thanks for the reply. I am thinking of joining ( Again!) lol

  41. Gemma B says:

    Love this website! Thank you!

  42. Allison Clements says:

    Hi, where does sauerkraut come in ? Tia

  43. Allison says:

    Thank you x

  44. Anna says:

    Thank you so much for your wonderful posts and sw lists ??

  45. anne shelley says:

    hi just new to slimming world , what is the difference basically between speed foods and free foods , many thanks

    • Fatgirlskinny says:

      Speed foods are not only classed as a free food, but almost all fruits and vegetables will be Super Free Foods too. These will help to boost your weight loss and keep you feeling fill for longer. 

  46. Trecle says:

    Your knowledge has helped me so much, I would like to say thank you, I’ve just started doing this on my own and you have really helped me prepare for it

  47. Julie Brunskill says:

    Your blog is helping me so much. Thank you.

  48. Fiona O’ Leary says:

    Hi is any corn at all a speed food? Thank you

  49. Fiona says:

    Thank you

  50. Joanna says:

    Is Sauerkraut speed food

  51. Louise says:

    Are sprouts a speed food? Thanks

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