An open letter to Hungry Girl.

by

Dear HG,

First, I am compelled to say that I adore you. I forward your emails on to everyone (ok both people) I know who isnt already reading your daily words of wisdom.

I was first to buy your book here in the Land of Big Hair & Heat (At my local book store–not the entire state–but still!).

So it’s with hesitation I call you out on this:

Gerber Graduates For Toddlers Yogurt MeltsPER SERVING (1/4 cup): 30 calories, 0g fat, 15mg sodium, 5g carbs, 0g fiber, 4g sugars, 1g protein — POINTS® value 1

Here we go again, eating baby food. We can’t stay away from it. This latest find comes in Peach, Strawberry, and (our fave) Mixed Berries. These things are INSANELY unique and delicious — and like nothing we’ve ever tasted before. Imagine popping an itty bitty meringue in your mouth, only instead of having that hard sugary bite, it instantly turns into a warm puddle of yogurt in an almost magical Willy Wonka kind of way (we know it sounds weird and maybe even a little gross, but trust us, these things are INCREDIBLE). They’re made from freeze-dried whipped yogurt and fruit — cool! And while the back of the bag warns, “This product should only be fed to seated, supervised children who are accustomed to chewing solid foods,” we’re being rebellious yet again and eating it ourselves — and we’re not always seated and/or supervised. Find these in the baby food aisle.

   

Youre not the first to recommend we, grownass women, consume BABY FOOD in the name of dieting (I cant recall where else I read this idiotic notion but their food of choice (can I even call it food?) was the Gerber Puffs/Gerber Wheels for toddlers.).

Me? I find the entire concept mildly depressing.

The imagined scene of millions of women (as I know your readership is ginormo and the masses so often do as you say) trudging to the grocery & snatching up the prepackaged Toddler Snacks with wild abandon.

I even *get* what youre going for with the tip.

The sillysnarky nature of it all.

And yet I cant climb on board with you.

For some reason it rings, in my MizFit mind, a tad not whom I thought Hungry Girl was.

A smidge of preying on our do anything in the name of weight loss insecurities.

I could be alone in this thought as Im fairly certain Im one of the few mamas who actually cringed at giving the Gerber puffs to their intended target: my toddler.

OK, Im off to take on my day. I just wanted to letcha know what’s on my mind.

xo xo,

MizFit

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Comments

  2. Diana I’d love your HG insight.
    Surprised you don’t read her as 99% of her stuff is good/helpful/funny.

    Not ever the healthiest of tips & suggestions but really good stuff for lifeonthego.

    (This one? Too processed and just “really? That’s our option? TODDLER FOOD?!’)

    Happy weekend.

    M.

  3. I must confess, I ate “Gerber Rice” (a rice-based porridge type stuff) all through high school. So did my parents, who I think still do. It had nothing to do with diet – we just thought it tasted good. And you can’t beat that easy-to-pour spout.

    Now I probably wouldn’t tough the stuff, mostly due to the processing and because I’ve discovered steel cut oats. I mean, at least the Gerber Rice sort of (kind of, maybe not really) encourages consumption of whole, real foods. Those yogurt melts sort of do the opposite. Shouldn’t we be training ourselves to eat real food, just less of it, rather than bizarro factory-made candy-like Wonka bars?

    Just because something is low-calorie doesn’t make it right.

  4. Monica, interesting point about about the Gerber.

    I now have a fab picture in my head of your family sitting down to breakfast complete with a box emblazoned w/that old school Gerber Baby 😉

    Your comment helped to clarify what irked me so about the HG email:

    irresponsibility.

    She has a platform which the masses read & it rang ‘REALLY? That’s what you’re using it for?’

    (IMO anyway…)

    I’m snarky that way 😉

    M.

  5. The problem for me is the HUNGRY part. Yah one jar eguals 1 point but I’ll eat 3. The little 100 calories packs just warm me up.

    That said baby food is not my choice either. I can never get the lids off and then it’s like oh eff it where’s the cookies?

  6. I’ve read HG a few times, but never really connected with it. While I understand the concept and its appeal to the masses, for me it was just a platform to educate people of how to eat “healthier” processed foods (ie. low carb donuts?) while fitting it into the WW point system (which I have my own problems with, but wont bore you with now). I know HG encourages a balance of natural & processed foods, which is what most people want, but it still didn’t resonate with me. So i’m not surprised by the baby-food-yogurt-melt-thingys. Not my style.

    Don’t mistunderstand, I’m not a purist (as you know from my Mint choc chip Frappucino), but something about promoting foods based on Low fat or fat free labels makes me sad.

  7. you know i love me some hg…but I just skip over those things like that. It is like the noodles…my mental blocks prevent me from eating things like that. I never even consider what millions of others might do. You definately have a point there.

  8. When my kids were babies, I made most of their baby food. Just cook some peas, pop them in the food processor, and there you have it. Baby food is way to expensive, totally processed, and smells funny.

    Oh, I did buy the Rice cereals mentioned above, but I didn’t eat any. When it comes to cereal, I’m more of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch fan………………….:)

    Actually, when I started feeding my kids, one food I was surprised that they liked was tuna salad. It was a little mashed up, but it was the same recipe I would eat.

    Who knew?

  11. I’ll admit I did the eye roll when I saw the baby food inclusion. Ditto with some of their noodle ideas. 🙂 But I appreciate the intent of HG, so I’ve mostly forgiven her.

  12. I also enjoy HG, and have her book, which I like a lot. But I tend to agree with you here; I don’t even give that stuff to my own toddlers, ’cause there’s too much crap in it. But HG DOES say, and often, that she’s not a nutritionist or a health professional, she’s just hungry.
    Still, maybe we should stick to grown-up food.

  13. We kind of avoid the Gerber thing ourselves. Too much processing. And you know my stance on suggesting that women eat like babies/children. Arrrgh.

  15. I read HG’s site and get the emails but as cute as it is, I’m honestly not a huge huge fan. I guess that would be because virtually EVERYTHING on that site involves either artificial sugars or else processed foods. And I’m totally with you on the baby food.

    Even so, I look forward to the emails and they’ve got a super awesome recipe for butternut squash fries which is one of my staples.

  16. eating toddler food? that definitely takes it a step too far. I am with sagan on this one, it seems like everything she suggests now is processed or has HFCS in it.

  17. I just don’t get how eating something that dissolves or requires no chewing can be at all satisfying to those of us who are allowed to ride in the front seat of the car and possess teeth.

  19. Never heard of HG….

    but I am a purist about my mint mocha frapps… Fitarella, can you confirm or deny if Starbizzles went back to using Creme de Mint syrup or if they are still using the peppermint yucko aftertaste crap? I mean the pictures shouldnt look all green minty when its not. I dont want to get one and be terribly dissapointed. I also dont want to go to starbucks and get in line and have to clarify about the syrup and then have to leave when its the peppermint junk and look like one of those yuppy chicks that cant just order a freaking drink already!

  20. Never heard of HG….

    but I am a purist about my mint mocha frapps… Fitarella, can you confirm or deny if Starbizzles went back to using Creme de Mint syrup or if they are still using the peppermint yucko aftertaste crap? I mean the pictures shouldnt look all green minty when its not. I dont want to get one and be terribly disappointed. I also dont want to go to starbucks and get in line and have to clarify about the syrup and then have to leave when its the peppermint junk and look like one of those yuppy chicks that cant “just order a freaking drink already!”

  21. @Mallory – wow, you ARE a purist! 😉 The answer to your question is I don’t know. A friend bought me one about two weeks ago, so that was my first Mint Mocha frapp experience. I am going to speculate that my drink had the creme de mint because there was no yucko aftertaste…only sweet creamy frozen goodness. However, if you’d like me to further investigate (alla Columbo), I would be happy to do a taste testing this week AND ask for syrup clarification!

  22. Fitarella, you are my Hero! Basically I have stopped ordering anything except “reduced fat turkey bacon sandwiches” @ $2.95 and 350cals its the best on the go breakfast deal around. Anyway, a long time ago, they used to have the syrup but no menu item that used it. I would always order a mocha frapp with a shot of creme de mint, come xmas and peppermint mochas, by by went my creme de mint sryup, here is to hoping they brought it back! Thanks for the effort alla Columbo!

    I will say checking HG web site, her replacement baking tips are useful and some i practice re: replacing oil, eggs, butter with apple sauce and pumkin!

  23. @Mallory – happy to do it and will post results (this should be fun, when I had it 2 weeks ago I turned into speedy gonzalez and then crashed into a sugar induced coma – so worth it though)

    Sorry to hijack your comments section MizFit, but it’s all in the name of Frappuccino science!

  24. Miz – isn’t this exactly what the Bag Lady emailed you about recently!? Hehehehehe
    Gotta love this village.
    Oh, and the Bag Lady won’t eat baby food, no matter what. She figures it’s gonna be “pureed food time” soon enough; like, in a few more years when she’s gone dotty and lost her teeth along with her memory, and all you young’uns will be wheeling her around, using her as an example of “How NOT to live your lives, ’cause you don’t want to end up like THIS!!!”

  25. You
    Guys
    Crack
    Me
    The
    Hell
    UP
    😉

    M., who for some reason isn’t a StarbucksWoman. Too cheap I think.

  27. I need to start getting up earlier…by the time I log in, everyone’s already expressed my reactions!

  28. I once received an email from a friend about the hungry girl site, but never really got into reading it regularly. I agree with you, Mizfit. I’m not going to eat baby food either.

  29. When i first started nutritious junk, i got a lot of flak (mostly because of my name, hungry waif) for trying to copy her and because i’d make snarky comments about her site. I decided to lay off making snarky comments, but i thought my site was completely different and i WAS NOT being paid to write up reviews. she gets a lot of stuff free and i do too, but in the beginning and still now with some exceptions, i buy everything and am very adamant about not being swayed into promotions. I only tout what i and the nutritionist i work with think is good, not who pays me. My big sis JUST (eight days ago!) had a beautiful boy and i will help her make baby food when he’s ready to ween off the breast milk. i’d go with the Michael Pollan rule as far as baby feeding, if your great grannie doesn’t recoginze it, dont feed it. these “meltaways” dont sound to good for babies, let alone adult snacks. I think we look to snacks to hold us over until the next meal, and baby food that HG touts doesn’t do that (although i must say, i use purred banana baby food sometimes in baking, but thats usually the only ingredient in the jar). As a chef, sometimes, hungry girl doesn’t do the correct conversions with some the baked goods and substituting. Ive test trialed a few of hers and some didnt turn out quite right. Going to baking boot camp at culinary school left me really picky about subsitituition, and sometimes, i think she just misses some of the elements. I know this is long but a good baking tip is actually to use almond butter, peanut butter, or avocado in place of real butter when making moist things like brownies or cookies. and egg whites 100% of the time is not great advice, the yolks aren’t all that bad nutritionally and i like using 2 if a recipe calls for 4, for example.

  31. I’m not sure if this is more disturbing or funny, but probably funny… As the masses of women sit with their nonfat extra hot no foam Starbucks lattes, some lettuce and a jar of Gerber’s.

    The HG site is a no go for me as well. She uses too many overprocessed goods.

  32. As always I agree with H.W. and am working to be as clean as she.

    I think *that’s* why I initially liked the HG emails a LOT (and having an atty hubby, HW, who once specialized in copyrights, I’d fo’sho’ say there’s no likelihood of confusion between you two ;)).

    Fast food ideas which were oft too processed but were DEFINITELY the lesser of evils in this hurried woman life.

    And yes.

    It’s a little sad that it took her instructing us to eat baby food for it to be too much for me 😉

    FULL DISCLOSURE (which only occurred to me yesterday after receiving this email from a friend):

    “Remember when I was emailing HG every day to visit MizFit and do a profile of you?? She’s not coming now!”

    I’d entirely forgotten.

    M., who isn’t operating from a place of bitter-a-tude. She *likes* rockin’ the net in a state of semi-anonymity.

  33. I hadn’t heard about Hungry Girl until now, but cannot believe that people are advocating Baby Food. I know we want to eat less and smaller portions, but that does seem ridiculous. Also, baby food is all mashed up, therefore fibre that is present in proper fruit and vegetables is no longer so fibrous once pureed. Very health (ha ha).

    Sorry big fat lard arse trying to feel superior here !!!

  35. NOOOO Dr.J!

    You caint add a link when the MizFit is riding the Sidekick pony and can’t access (in a timely fashion anyhoo).

    Looking forward (& to my shoutout from the food network. Already planning my arseoncouch&baskinginglow attire!)

  37. I don’t think I could bring myself to eat baby food. I am also a fan of Hungry Girl and her cookbook (although a few of the recipes haven’t turned out the way I’d hoped!)

    But baby food? I don’t think so.

  38. Mizfit, i totally agree she needs to retire some of lingo like “rockin” and “weeee”, its like she’s speaking to babies (hmm, maybe thats why she’s into baby food?). She used to work for nikelodeon (i did my investigative research) so that also might be why she write as if shes speaking to five year olds (needless to say, since i am a struggling actress as well as an aspiring chef that looks like shes 12, nikelodeon hired me countless times for background work on their stupid shows cause i was over eighteen and looked like pre-teenster, cringe…they pay horribly!).

  40. nothing, its just that it cen get a little old when its used in every email. i mean, i respect her completely, dont get me wrong, and i am not one to have pulitzer-worthy reviews either, i mean, in my conversational english, i go through phases where i over-use cuss words which i suppose is worse.

  43. Baby food is tasteless. When I was a kid I would sneak a spoonful while feeding my sister’s baby. But now I couldn’t imagine eating any of it. The best thing to do is get vegetables and fruits from an organic market and cook them yourself. They taste better and are much better for you.

    Here’s a recipe for fresh spinach: Get fresh spinach from the market (preferably an organic market). wash it to get the grit off and soak it in a veggie wash for a few minutes to get any traces of insecticide off. Rinse it well and put it directly into your waterless cookware in olive oil. Slice or chop onions on top of it and cook over very low heat until it’s somewhat done (don’t over cook). This is not only good to you, it’s good for you.

    If anyone tries this recipe… I would like to know how you liked it. you can drop me a note at info@magnumshops.org

  44. Does anyone really know what’s in those “veggie washes”? I tried it once and found it made the veggies taste funny…or maybe they tasted funny anyway…

  45. Bag Lady?
    Once upon a time MizFit resided in Central America where many of her American friends used the FIT veggie wash. She used lemon juice, vinegar and water to do the same thing!

    (I’m thumbtyping on my handheld or I’d gooogle FIT and see what’s in it as now *I’m* curious as well)

    M.

  46. according to their website:
    “You can feel safe feeding your family produce that has been washed in Fit. Fit is 100% Natural and comes from sources found in everyday foods, and it rinses away completely leaving no aftertaste or smell”

    -purified water
    Oleic acid & Gylcerol (from vegetable sources)
    -Ethyl alcohol (from corn)
    -Potassium Hydrate (from basic minerals)
    -Baking soda (from basic minerals)
    -Citric acid (from corn starch & molasses)
    -Distilled grapefruit oil

  47. Duly noted.

    I’m gonna pretend I just *wanted* to make my own and wasn’t simultaneously skeptical about what was in there yet too lazy to google.

    M.

  48. Waif, I work for Nickelodeon and they do not pay poorly. I am sure they paid you poorly because you were an extra on a tv show. No extras make a lot of money. As an executive for Nickelodeon you easily make six figures (typically more) and as a television producer the number is way higher than that. As for the baby food, those yogurt melts are actually good. I didn’t hear about them from hungrygirl though. I eat them because I buy them for my three year old and they are seriously great.

  49. Mizfit – glad you are an HG supporter. No matter what she is doing tons to help tackle the obesity problem and that girl works her butt off! she was in People magazine a few weeks ago (great article) and her book is #2 on the NY Times bestseller list and I read somewhere that the book has sold over 150,000 copies in less than a month! I have been reading her site since 2004 and she has helped me lose over 65 lbs and maintain that weight loss by giving me fresh ideas and keeping me laughing. i guess when things and people become really popular people like to tear them down (look at Rachel Ray for goodness sakes) i haven’t tried baby food yet but I like freeze dried fruit alot. Happy Memorial Day to you, lady!

  50. I’m going to just say no to the baby food, but I’ve added a few Hungry Girl recipes (especially baked onion rings) to my stable.

    It’s also her fault that my kids now eat veggie chicken nuggets and don’t know it. One of her recipes recommended them, so I tried them and the kids never realized what they were eating. I’ve been buying them ever since!

  51. Mizfit — Lisa from Hungry Girl here! I got a link to this post in a google alert and I have to say I like your blog– VERY COOL! Just wanted to reply to your open letter. I didn’t write about those Gerber Yogurt Melts because I feel women need to resort to desperate measures to lose weight. They were featured in one of our reviews because they are UNIQUE and they taste great! I’m not all that complicated and I don’t really have any hidden motives. They’re like no other product I’ve ever seen they taste REALLY good, and they’ve got great nutritionals as well. Please don’t read into it…

    And it seems like there might be confusion about how or why products are featured on Hungry Girl. We do NOT accept money to feature foods in editorial content. We do have advertisers, but the ads are clearly marked as such, and ONLY for foods and products we would write about anyway…

    Keep up the GREAT work!

    Lisa 🙂

  52. Ok I’ve never heard of her… never read her site.. BUT ERRR baby food? I never fed my kids that crap so why would I eat it?

    🙁 how about I just continue eating what I’ve been eating..yeah that makes me feel better!

  53. Oh man because of hungry girl I tried some baby food cracker type things, and they were gross. Super mushy, felt stale. No thank you to baby food again.

  54. Thank you thank you thank you. I read HG everyday but all too often I feel her advice is a little out there. I feel she advocates way too much over processed foods with artificial sugars and what not in the name of low calorie, it drives me nuts!!

  57. Wow…. I have been a subscriber of HG’s since like 2004 or 2005 and I think I’ve seen baby food mentioned like 2 or 3 times. And one of the times was because it was freeze dried fruit (the healthier alternative to regular dried fruit). And it was mentioned among a few brands that make it.

    And Hungry Waif- COME ON! I lived in LA at one time (was an actress myself) and I did some extra work for kids shows (Disney) and major motion pictures and I was NEVER paid well. If you are not SAG then you get paid minimum wage for 8 hours and then the rate goes up slightly from there. Lets not start reaching…. HG’s Lisa and her former connection to Nickelodeon has zero to do with you getting paid little as an extra!

    All of that being said… 98% of the items that HG has recommended over the years that I went out and purchased have been hits for me! And the book is OUTSTANDING! I’m so excited about those recipes!

  58. HG fan here and I did try the yogurt snacks — WICKED TASTY. Like meringue kisses or like how I imagine the freeze-dried space-food ice cream to taste, only with a tart little spark to it. I don’t care that they’re marketed as a baby food. They could have just as easily been marketed as astronaut/space food (I bet they’d make a convenient snack for space) and I bet then every Tom, Dick, and Francisco would think they were cool. To me, they’re just a crunchy, creamy, nutritional “candy” or “fruit snack” that tastes great (and is 4 weight watchers points for the bag). And they do not contain anything artificial. Just yogurt and fruit, freeze-dried. I don’t call it toddler food. I call it “space yogurt.”
    Also, I love HGs site and I love her use of colorful colloqualisms.
    Just my opinion

  59. Oh, my mistake. I did the math wrong. The yogurt snacks are TWO WW points a pack. Even better!

  61. VERY good advice, but about not eating enough wont make u lose weight, its very bad for u to do this but thats a load of crap, i know a? girl who went on a no carb diet for 3 months, she dropped 3 stone! :0 but yeah she became anorexic after that but not gonna go in that, x

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