I thought I would share my breakfast with you all before I go onto sharing my thoughts regarding the very popular Hungry Girl.
I had a delicious bowl of cinnamony-pumpkin pie spiced filled oats!
It was delicious and it was served atop of 1/2 cup liquid eggwhites and some frozen berries.
My secret to the best bowl? Copius amounts of PP spice. I go through this like its no ones buisness
I use the good ole Quaker oats. I find them to be creamy and delicious. I don’t need all the fancy bells and whistles, these are the best in my opinion!
Yes, I am still on a sweet potato kick and I don’t see myself getting out of it anytime soon! I simply poke some holes in a sweet potato and microwave it for about 6 minutes. Tah-Dah!
Fiber, whole grains, sweet and filling!
I had it diced up along side my salad topped with baked tofu.
The HG Debate
I remember when Hungry Girl busted out on the health and nutrition scene. I immediately subscribed to the daily emails, and Hungry Girl became one of those websites that I would visit as soon as I opened my computer.
I was attracted to the marketing, and because of my interest in nutrition, I became an HG fan
For those who aren’t familiar with Hungry Girl, this website was created by Lisa Lillian. From the website “Lisa is a typical woman battling the same food issues most females struggle with every day. Lisa considers herself a foodologist, not because she has some kind of fancy degree, but because she is obsessed with food how wonderful it is, and how much of it she can eat and still fit into her pants.” Lillian’s big claim to fame is “I am not a nutritionist, I am just hungry!”
Now, at first, I was a HUGE fan of Hungry Girl, I loved how she influenced and empowered women to not give up the “junk” food that they loved in order to maintain or lose weight. Instead, she came up with fun and easy recipes for buffalo wings and fettucine alfredo called “fettucine girl-fredo” that were much more ‘diet friendly’ She never boasted the fact that to lose or maintain weight, you should have to drown yourself in bland, ‘health’ foods and that you CAN still eat those foods you crave while losing weight!
Her philosophy at first glance is pretty enticing. It teaches women that they do not have to eat steamed chicken and brown rice to maintain or lose weight. Instead of providing ‘snooty’ recipes for broiled filet of sole and steamed sweet potato, which women may not even read in favor of finding recipes for macaroni & cheese and cheesecake, why not create recipes that show women can still eat macaroni & cheese for dinner and cheesecake for dessert in a ‘healthier’ way?
Lillian is big on her ‘swaps’ Some typical ‘swaps’ that you will often see on her website are egg beaters in place of eggs, almond milk in place of regular milk, fiber one or Capn’ Crunch in place of breadcrumbs, Laughing Cow Cheese in place of real cheese, tofu shirataki noodles in place of real noodles. And Better n’ Peanut butter in place of real peanut butter. She is basically taking real foods and swapping them for their fat-free substitutes. My question is, what about the benefits of the healthy fats from real peanut butter and real eggs, the amazing nutrients found in real whole wheat pasta and how about a baked potato instead of cereal coated onion rings?
I understand why so many women are drawn to the recipes featured on the Hungry Girl site and her books. Heck, I bought two of her cook books about two years ago, but I have yet to make one solitary recipe from either one. The recipes allow you to eat those ‘bad for you foods’ without the guilt, right? But what is missing here is no one is seeing how these other foods are affecting your body. In my opinion, what is happening here is somewhat terrifying. The implications of people consuming loads of chemicals with every meal and snack can potentially be damaging for their health . The idea of swapping out ‘real’ foods for fat free ranch, whipped cream, fake noodles and Capn’ Crunch cereal for every meal is just scary.
Now, I do agree with some parts of her philosophy in that there are certainly ways to make a ‘bad for you’ food better for you, like using greek yogurt in place of mayonaisse or baking butternut squash instead of eating french fries, however where I disagree with this philosphy is when she uses a product such as a 60 calorie Jell-o pudding cup and says it can taste, feel and satisfy you just as much as real chocolate mousse!! I don’t know about you but I would rather have a few bites of a dessert whose ingredients are “chocolate, butter, cream, eggs, and sugar” than a 60 calorie, sub-par dessert that not only leaves me unsatisfied but whose ingredients are “Sugar, Modified food startch, Contains less than 2% of natural and artificial flavor, Salt, Disodium phosphate and Tetrasodium pyrophosphate (For thickening), Mono-and Diglycerides (Prevent foaming), Artificial color, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, BHA (Preservative)”
I was in the grocery store the other day in the dairy aisle and I was going to grab my usual plain greek yogurts. I love Greek yogurt because it is high in protein, super rich, all natural and well, just plain delicious. Next to the Greek yogurt, I spotted some Yoplait “Fiber One” yogurt with the Hungry Girl Logo on it. Apparently this food was “Hungry Girl approved” and I could eat it with ZERO GUILT! SCORE!!!!….Wait, what? What does this ‘approval’ even mean?
Now I realize that to me, it means that this product probably has a long ingredient list, will not fill me up, not provide proper fuel I need for my day and be very low in calories. My first issue with this is the idea of Yogurt that is fortified with fiber. Yogurt itself is a natural food that is made by culturing cream or milk with live and active bacterial cultures; this is accomplished by adding bacteria directly to the milk. Is it just me or does it not seem like a natural process for fiber to be added to yogurt?
Now, I am not an RD, and I know the fiber in that yogurt is in the form of inulin, but just being a normal gal myself, I think I would prefer to get my fiber from foods that have it naturally occurring like whole grains and vegetables. The second problem I have with this “Hungry Girl approved” product is the ingredient list. INGREDIENTS: Cultured pasturized Grade A Nonfat Milk, High Fructose Corn syrup, chicipry Root extract(inulin), modified corn startch, whey protein concentrate, kosher gelatin, natuiral and artificial flavos, citric acid, aspartame (phenylketonurics; contains phenylalanine) potassium sorbate added to maintain freshness, colored with carmine, vitamin A, acetate, vitamin D3. Contains active yogurt
High Fructose Corn Syrup is the second ingredient in this yogurt, further down the list there’s also aspartame, an artificial sweetener. How many sweeteners does one cup of yogurt need? Like I mentioned before, the fiber in this yogurt comes from additives like chicory root extract instead of whole grains. BUT with all of this said ITS HUNGRY GIRL APPROVED!!!!! (that was sarcasm, folks) I think I will stick to my all natural Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, thanks anyways Hungry Girl.
An article that was written in the New York Times about the Hungry Girl phenomenon has this quote from Lillian
“Hungry Girl is like the Forever 21 of food,” she said, referring to the discount clothing chain where the stock is inexpensive, constantly changing and produced under conditions that a conscientious consumer might rather not think about.
The issue I have with this quote right here is, lets think about this she is basically saying that she doesn’t care where your clothing (food) comes from or who had to suffer to get it there, but rather she only cares about the cost of the clothing (calories) instead of the quality of the material (food) In my opinion, this could not be a more negative analogy. When I read some of the Hungry Girl recipes these days, I wonder if all of these recipes really do taste good to her or are they just there because they are considered ‘diet’ foods.
Now before I get attacked for sharing my opinion, I just want to say, no I am not perfect in ANY way shape or form. Yes, I eat processed foods. I do like sugar free syrup on my oats and the occasional Splenda packet makes its way into my body. What I am trying to convey is the overarching theme with Hungry Girl is that eating more fake processed foods is better for you than eating real foods. For the majority of the time, Lillian’s focus is on how to make real ‘bad for you’ foods better by using fake ingredients. ‘Diet recipes’ and “diet foods” are the main attention grabber here BUT you can eat SO MUCH FOR HALF THE FAT AND CALORIES!!! What about eating real foods that digests naturally in your body, provides you with proper fuel and energy to go about your day but just maybe eating less of it? There is a concept I wish was projected more often.
Okay…the stage is yours…lets hear it
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