The title debuting on the May 3 New York Times best-seller list isn't a work of thought-provoking literature, it's a new cookbook called Hungry Girl 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories ($12). The collection, created by Lisa Lillien of Hungry-Girl.com, creatively combines mostly processed foods that yield low-calorie servings for snacking.
While Hungry Girl is wildly popular, she does have her critics. To those who knock her focus on packaged and boxed items, Lisa says, "People are hypocrites. They say 'shop the perimeter of the store, never eat anything that's not organic,' but it's B.S., because people can't live like that forever."
I'm torn on whether or not the Hungry Girl phenomenon is a good thing. I appreciate that her success suggests people are worried about their waistlines and attempting to take control by preparing food on their own. And while the emphasis on calorie intake is a proven way to control your weight, the heavy inclusion of processed foods isn't exactly a healthy approach to your diet. What do you think about the idea behind this new cookbook — is it cool or not?
CNC Costume National
Charles Anastase
Odille
canNOT stand little ms. processed food queen aka Hungry girl. NOT HEALTHY!
1In her defense, she doesn't try to pass off these things as HEALTHY, just low-cal...
2ugh this girl drive me NUTS. her food sucks, and she ends everything she says with "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!"
3WTF is "Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!"
i could take her or leave her, but i never would have tried soy milk if i hadn't read hungry girl, and now i'm ovo-lacto, so i'm eternally grateful to her for opening up my eyes!
4It's not for everyone, but I don't think it's a horrible idea. It does make me angry that she's knocking the "shop the perimeter" idea.
5i think it's a good concept she is focusing on...if you are craving something like pizza, i think she is harping on the idea that relying on healthy alternatives is better for your waistline which i'm not going to argue w/. hopefully people won't have the misconception that you should focus on her recipes as a basis of one's diet. if you want to indulge and not feel guilty about it i think her book does well in that department.
however i've tried making a few of the recipes though that call for the use of fiber one as "breadcrumbs" and was terribly disappointed. i followed the recipe exactly... oh well... to each his/her own
6I think it should be called a snack book rather than a cookbook. Though it takes time and some effort to reteach yourself and your body new eating habits its not that hard if you have the right tools, I don't think this book is one of them.
7Can't stand hungry girl and her disgusting edible food-like substances. People can't live on healthy, unprocessed food forever? Ha! I beg to differ! She sounds like she has a disordered eating problem: an obsession with eating food that's the lowest possible in calories and fat, even if it's made of crap and devoid of nutrients. After all, who cares? At least we'll be skinny!
8EXACTLY nikolem, that is such a perfect way to describe. my friend showed me a delicious drink recipe from HG, and I subscribed to her email list. every day, I'd get a new recipe and it would sound totally vile.... replace such and such with whipped low fat air, and sprinkle crunched up cardboard on top of this.... but omg only 60 calories!!! I think, if you want a brownie, eat a damn brownie. don't eat eight of them, but have a brownie. have a piece of pizza. have that full-"fat" beer you want with that slice of pizza. everything in moderation, INCLUDING fats, and you won't feel deprived.
9While I think it's definitely not for those that are serious about eating healthy foods, it seems like a good START for those people who are just getting into the whole idea of eating better and becoming conscious of their calorie intake. So it's not a great solution, but I suppose it's a (small) step in the right direction.
10well even though i havent read this it sounds like shes got good ideas and bad food. if you wanna be healthy try reading skinny b*tch and getting skinny b*tch in the kitch. you will bt much more satisfyed really.. expecially if your vegan/ vegitarian and stuff. its a great book and probabbly a million times healthyeir. skinny b*tches bake there cake and eat it too
11I am torn on this too.
One of the things I am trying to work on is eating more whole and less processed foods. I am by no means perfect and am currently working 10-12 hr days at work, and while my coworkers order dinner in every night - I bring breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks with me every day. Because I've been so busy, one meal a day has been a Lean Cuisine or similar type frozen meal.
I hope once things at work die down a bit I can work on making my 3rd meal less processed.
I enjoy getting HG's emails each day - my favorites are the Monday food finds and Wednesday question answers; because I find in general her recipes have too much "fake" stuff in them.
12I'm pretty sure that Hungry Girl isn't selling this book as a life style, as a diet program, etc. I receive her emails daily, and while I don't care for many of them, and don't crave most of the junk she's offering swaps for, I have found some gems. She turned me on to Fiber One, Almond Breeze and VitaMuffins, and her recipes are a great compromise so I can still eat healthily with my junk-loving family.
13Never heard of her before, so I just went to check out her site.
I agree with bethinabox though. This may not be a great long term solution, but it's a good jumping point. No one is perfect and there isn't one type of diet that works for everyone, so I think that its good to have some pre-packaged suggestions for those people who really just don't have the time to make fresh meals every day or have no idea where to begin.
After years of trying every diet under the sun, I lost my weight (55+ lbs) by guesstimating how many calories I was eating and watching my portion size. I never rigorously counted calories or kept a food journal and for me, portion control is what I feel was the key. I never deprived myself of anything, just cut back on how much of it I was eating.
Is this cookbook perfect? No, but at least it may help to open people's eyes a bit and give them something to work with.
14I don't like her ideas because its always full of processed junk (frakenfoods artificial sweetners are huge with her, and those gross GROSS sharitaki noodles!). What scares me is people onyl start thinking in terms of calories and not in terms of nutrition. Yes, Splenda is calorie free, but it was also turned down by the FDA about 8 times because it was so unsafe and they had to throw more money at it so it would pass. I don't trust someone that doesn't look at the whole picture ever.
15I tried to like Hungry Girl, but I realized I can't stand her. This is a person that tells you never, ever, under any circumstances, drink a margarita or chew on a couple of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups because they have way too many calories and fat. No freedom to have what you like on occasion? No thanks Hungry Girl.
16I've never heard of hungry girl and from what I'm reading here and based on this cookbook, I'm glad I'm not familiar with her and don't plan on becoming so. I agree with others and also with Smack about it should be about nutritional value, not just the number of calories a meal or snack has. So what if a snack or meal has under 200 calories, if all you're eating is empty, processed crap that has no nutritional value at all what's the point? Eating isn't about a number it's about giving your body the nutrients it needs.
17The only "diet" book I've ever believed in is French Women Don't Get Fat. It's all about enjoying real, beautifully prepared food in smaller portions. I think the key is to eat chocolate, drink wine, and enjoy life. Don't get hung up on the calories. Just watch the portions.
18I'd never heard of her before a few months ago, and checked out her site. No thank you!
19Not a fan of Hungry Girl. Tried her recipes which don't taste good in general. Didn't read this new book but don't like title and concept. I work with girls with eating disorders and this reinforces restrictive behavior. Sorry but I think all the recipes do is just leave you hungry and unsatisfied.
20Want to know of foods that are only 200 cals or less? Go to the veggie aisle in the superarket.
21in theory it's nice... I remember when I was looking to drop some weight I looked up a few of her recipes but after seeing how much processed food was in them I stopped dead in my tracks. I can't stand the idea of eating pure chemicals--sure they're lower calorie but what about the other health problems that might arise due to the consumption of these unnatural foods?
22Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL
23regardless of whether You like it or not, it's helped a lot of people. Getting calories and portion control under control is the first step that a lot of people can't get a handle on. Good for her for making it easier for lots of people. I mean really, with america being so fat, anything to jump start people into taking a look at their weight/food lifestyle is ok in my book
24Im definetly not crazy about a lot of the recipes- some look flat out gross- I saw one for 'chicken parm' where she rolled the chicken in crushed fiber one cereal- I might vomit
25but once in a while she gives a great alternative to junk food that lets you enjoy eating it without feeling guilty. I think she has some good low calorie alcoholic drinks like margaritas and other typically high calorie drinks...
fleurfairy - I totally agree.
I'm not a fan of her, but hey, if she gets the processed-food indulging crowd to starting cutting back, I'm all for it if they want to buy it.
26I don't think it sends out the right message that calories are the only thing that matters in terms of your diet. If most of your calories come from less than nutritional sources you're not doing your body any favors. I'm not saying HG is entirely bad, but most of the recipes aren't exactly nutritional powerhouses either.
27I'm ambivalent. I hope that these snacks are not used as real meals and only used sparingly. Maybe an unprocessed version will come out later.
28LOVE her. Here's why: Sometimes I crave something bad (mostly something cheesy and greasy- I don't so much have a sweet tooth...). While I stick to fresh and healthy non-processed foods for the vast majority of my diet, if I want something to splurge on, I reach for her book. While I would never eat her recipes three times a day- every once in a while her recipes are a good alternative.
Actually the other week I made my boyfriend her version of quesadillas- he loved them and had no idea they were under 200 cal.
29I never heard of her before but I can see why this book is popular. Sometimes you just need a snack and 200 cals is great. This is not a diet; so I don't see anything wrong with it.
Honestly 4 piece Chicken nuggets once in a while wont kill you!
30Most of HG's recipes are less than 200 cal, meaning that they aren't the biggest part of one's diet-- usually just one dish that you would serve at a meal that was supplemented by veggies and whole grains and all that good stuff. And for the most part, even thought she relies on pre-packaged ingredients, she selects the most healthy of them (with perhaps the exception of cool whip, which i assumed was pretty much verboten in all food/health realms, even though I haven't heard anything bad about it except "it's icky," which does not convince me). Frankly I am skeptical at everyone's distaste for so-called frankenfoods: I haven't heard much that convinces me that they are bad for me, as long as I eat them in moderation. (and in the case of HG, 200 cals worth of food, with only about 50% being prepackaged, is only 100 calories, so certainly in moderation). For example, HFCS is supposed to be bad for us...because it doesn't suppress our appetites as well as sugar. But shouldn't an adult know when they've eaten enough sweets for the day? I mean, where is the emphasis on personal responsibility? If you're worried that things like HG will encourage uneducated or unmotivated people to stay fat and sick, then I say: it is those people's responsibiilty to keep their diet in check. HG just offers them options. It is just as easy to get diabetes from real sugar, fat from real butter, and heart problems from real salt. And if people are unmotivated enough not to avoid so-called "frankenfoods," they are probably not motivated enough to avoid "natural" fattening foods either. That being said, the anti-"frankenfoods" attitude in this community is beyond annoying. Not one person commenting on this has made an objective claim as to why these supposed "frankenfoods" are terrible for you...you all sound like the piper's kids, following Michael Pollan and his ilk around like fanatical lemmings. Almost all the food posts on fitsugar come with a barrage of "natural food" martyr posts, but nearly none of them are substantiated at all. It would be better to dialogue about the healthfulness of the prepackaged foods than to read 25 posts of people patting themselves on the back for eating a cucumber. I suggest reading Slate's article (new today), about the absurdity of anti-HFCS as a start.
31I flipped through this book at Barnes & Noble and put it right back when she started hailing Splenda as a wonder food! So dangerous, she should do her homework!
32My roommate loves the Hungry Girl cookbook. I usually don't have a problem with books like her's, but I do have a problem with low-fat cheese, which Hungry Girl often includes in her recipes. There is no reason to eat low-fat cheese. Just eat a smaller piece of regular cheese and learn to enjoy the quality, over the quantity.
33i have made some of her recipes, and i generally think they taste bad. for instance, her "fried" chicken tenders that you use fiber-one to coat instead of frying taste SO BAD!
34my problem with HG is her portions in her recipes I would go insane if i my kitchen was filled with half-empty pudding cups and things like that. I like to buy something and use it in a normal way, not these itty bitty portions that make no sense and will probably go bad sooner rather than later.
And I agree with Anonymous. Fat free dairy is worse than not eating at all.
35I used to get HG emails but they became WAY too marketing-driven for my tastes and started grating on my nerves. She became annoying and big-headed way too fast. I'm all about healthy, natural eating (not necessarily all organic, btw) and her concoctions are not just unhealthy (mostly) but disgusting. I unsubscribed a while ago when I just couldn't take it anymore!!!! She actually expects us to think that the products she touts are not paid for by the advertisers? Please!
36love her and the recipes. they are not something you eat all day long every day people! She's right, you can't live without processed foods for the rest of your life.
37Glitterbug, you said it! Her head blew up overnight it seems. and the emails were wayyyyyyyyyy too much
38Everything in moderation -- so if that means having a hotdog, which is processed, once in a while...why not? For the rest of your life it is hard to say you will never have another processed food ever. Some people don't even realize some of their breads are highly processed. It happens, you move on. Is it a detriment to weight loss? Absolutely not. Is it a detriment to your health if you eat something processed a couple times a month? Absolutely not. I don't like people who are strictly non-processed vs. processed -- while they are very real points, a balance between the two works for me. And guess what? I am not dying tomorrow because I ate a processed food today.Nor am I being pretentious by eating relatively clean food.
39Everything in her email is prepackaged and processed. My vote: not cool.
40Ugh, I can't stand her or her nasty processed recipes. I shop the perimiter and natural foods section of stores, and will do it forever.
41I haven't really heard too much about her, but she sounds a lot like the Weight Watchers group leader that my parents went to...she was always trying to make people's favorite foods "healthier". Well, um, OK, if you consider fat-free Cool Whip, sugar-free pudding, and a crust made from fat free graham crackers and margarine a HEALTHY pie, then whatever. I would rather just eat a dish of fruit with yogurt instead and eat a piece of REAL pie on occasion.
Also, I think her attitude about shopping the perimeter of the grocery store sucks. Probably 90% of my cart is from the perimeter of the store, so I guess I'm one of those people that CAN live like that. Seriously, you do not NEED to eat 90% of the crap that's kept in the aisles in the store...chips, cookies, breakfast cereal, soda, etc.
42I personally eat a mostly raw diet (which includes wine and dark chocolate!) so I can't really imagine eating a ton of processed foods. But think of how many Americans only eat processed foods. Perhaps learning healthier/alternative choices, with more realistic calorie intakes, is a great first step for those who aren't living a healthy lifestyle to begin with. Maybe her versions of snacks are better than what some people are eating to start. She's not claiming to be a super healthy girl just a hungry one. Hopefully people will use her ideas to supplement for some of the foods they are eating now as opposed to adopting it as a lifestyle.
43Books like this represent everything that is wrong with the American Food culture.
Overweight? Starve yourself by eating 200 calorie meals made from processed foods!
I love how she says that you can't live forever eating healthy organic foods. That has to be one of the more idiotic things I've heard recently.
44Low in calories does not equal good for you! Duh.
45Boo for processed food and anything/one who advocates them. I've eaten natural foods since the 70s. There's always someone out there with a gimmick. Hope people educate themselves.
46I just visited her website...holy FAKE stuff! She has a recipe on there for some sort of fake Danish that was made with fat free whipped cream, marshmallow creme, canned croissant dough and a bunch of Splenda. I think the only remotely healthy thing in it was frozen cherries. Gross!
47Smacks83 - I was TOTALLY thinking of those nasty noodles.. I tried them once, because I was all like "Ooh, HungryGirl recommended them, HungryGirl says they're low-cal," blah blah blah, and I couldn't even stand the SMELL let alone the taste! Even tons of sauce didn't help -- they just slid down like a fork full of worms. Nasty!
48I do agree her penchant for processed foods is a little fifties. I always sub in fresh fruit for canned in her recipes. But overall I love Hungry Girl. She's like Jennifer Weiner for dieting-funny, honest, and comforting to women who can't eat a carrot stick and call it a day. I just bought the cookbook and I like it. If nothing else, I think HungryGirl offers great PMS recipes for when you're hungry, lazy, and don't want to totally blow your diet.
49I like the concept of low-cal alternatives to dishes that would otherwise be overindulgent, but I have to admit her recipes are terrible. I have tried a few and they are truly grotesque. One of them called for these tofu noodles which smelled like fish, plus sour cream, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese to make an alfredo sauce. It was truly one of the most disgusting things I have ever eaten. Just have whole wheat pasta instead... it is so much easier. Also- her e-mail newsletters sound like a 7th grader wrote them. Just putting that out there.
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