Hungry Girl

Has anyone read the Hungry Girl recipe book? All of the recipes in there are delicious, very low cal, and lots of fibre! I highly recommend you buy/try it.

I totally agree with you! It's amazing!

Also, they have a website and you can sign up for daily e-mails. They're extremely helpful and contain things that REAL people actually have the patience/time to do. =D.

Woo hoo, I'll have to check that out

i will not and i refuse to read her book. I personally feel her recipes are simply short cuts for calorie reduction and dont solve the real raeason why people are fat. she uses "low fat" and artifical sweeteners in many of them, all these products are dangerous for human consumption.

If we just started eating whole, unprocessed grains, veggies, fruits and prepare them properly. Then we would be much better off. In stead of using "lite" breads which are basically indigestible, why dont we use less of a whole, real thing.

I just bought it recently, and I really like some of the ideas!  But, I do agree with dartrinton a little.  I want to eat healthily--I'm not just looking for a shortcut to be able to eat onion rings again! 

Although, butternut squash fries are absolutley FANTASTIC...and I love having new ways to make starbucks coffees in my home!  (I'm an absolute coffee addict...but, it's not something I'm looking to give up yet ).  It's great to have as a resource, even as a base to start some of your own ideas!

I have the book! And I absolutely love it. Except the some of the ingredients annoy me. The "low-fat" & "light" products, because my family doesn't buy any of those things, we get the regular kind. So it's really hard for me to make the majority of the things in the book. But when I move out, I'm so buying the ingredients.

I still need to buy it. I'm addicted to her newsletter :) There are a ton of great recipes on her website too.

 

Original Post by dartrinton:

i will not and i refuse to read her book. I personally feel her recipes are simply short cuts for calorie reduction and dont solve the real raeason why people are fat. she uses "low fat" and artifical sweeteners in many of them, all these products are dangerous for human consumption.

If we just started eating whole, unprocessed grains, veggies, fruits and prepare them properly. Then we would be much better off. In stead of using "lite" breads which are basically indigestible, why dont we use less of a whole, real thing.

I totally get what you mean, that kind of annoys me too. I try to stay away from some of her recipes including the fake sweeteners, etc.

Ive been long suspicious of her with endorsing brand products and the focus on junk food substitutions.

Ive been on her email mailing for info only and noticed that she is not necessarily brand loyal.  She has praised an item in one flavor while trashing it in another which leads me to believe she's being honest in her reviews.

ALSO I remember an email when someone addressed her on how it seems promotes a lot of processed prepackaged foods and it was her call to include and address the question.  Her response was that she doesnt eat them regularly and most time focuses on basic healthy foods but that she considers it important to provide feedback on the winners and losers for when you do go for them.

of course hungry girl doesnt eat like her recipes, she doesnt eat "fo" onion rings all day. She probably eats whole, healthy foods. But i do feel she is defintely sending the wrong message to women who are trying to shed pounds.

I just got this book from the library. I do not recommend buying it. A lot of the "recipes" aren't really recipes at all. How hard is it to figure out how to make a low fat/ low calorie chili dog? I find that many of the recipes are regular recipes that have replaced the fattening/ high calorie ingredients with less fattening/ low calorie ingredients. I also think that non-fat cheese is disgusting. I would much rather eat a small portion size and have some food with flavor in it. I also do not use artificial sweeteners. I choose to reduce my sugar intake and find different ways to add flavor.

One recipe that I really thought little of was her version of French Onion soup, which does not call for caramelizing the onions. In my opinion, this is a must when making French Onion soup. I use Smart Balance Lite instead of butter when doing so.

I don't like it because I don't like highly processed foods.

Personally, I am afraid that if I ate what she suggests, my body wouldn't rot from all the perservatives.

 

Edit: Wouldn't rot when I die. I'm pretty against it rotting while I'm still alive.

Hungry girl is awesome . . . I love her so much.  Her newsletter motivates me every day.  I absolutely love the "Fight it, bite it" column.  It sends a clear message to me that fast food and other high calorie foods are high calorie, high fat for absolutely NO GOOD REASON - not even taste!  Next time I am tempted to "splurge" on it . . . I remember to fight it, and make it at home.

Also, it's nice to know that someone else feels as shocked as I do when I learn that so-so kindof products pack in a huge calorie punch! 

 

I see recipe books as being for special treats I might not otherwise make, not everyday eating, and I have never owned a recipe book that I used more than a few recipes from anyway...  I  bought the Hungry Girl Recipe Book and enjoyed the humor and have even tried a couple of recipes out of it.  More than even enjoying the fun and the mini survival guides/tips/tricks, I appreciated that HG is presenting lower-calorie options for the way many people live already...  it's not THE solution, just a fun take on eating a little better and learning a little more.  Like she says, she's not a nutritionist.  The way some people (NOT EVERYONE!!!!) eat on a regular basis is much scarier than anything in the HG Recipe Book!  Just my opinion...  

well i've never tried it but recently subscribed to the newsletter.. but the name of the site Hugnry Girl sounds a bit eating disorder-esque?

Original Post by dartrinton:

i will not and i refuse to read her book. I personally feel her recipes are simply short cuts for calorie reduction and dont solve the real raeason why people are fat. she uses "low fat" and artifical sweeteners in many of them, all these products are dangerous for human consumption.

If we just started eating whole, unprocessed grains, veggies, fruits and prepare them properly. Then we would be much better off. In stead of using "lite" breads which are basically indigestible, why dont we use less of a whole, real thing.

I agree. The recipes use a lot of artificial, highly processed ingredients which enable one to have a larger portion size for fewer calories compared with the analog made with "real" ingredients. For instance, using a hungry girl recipe, one could have 2 brownies made with splenda rather than one made with regular sugar (note: this is probably not mathematically accurate, but you get my drift). It seems like this way of eating, taking short cuts with "fake" ingredients to create larger portion sizes with fewer calories is counter-intuitive. Rather than eating a higher quantity of artificially low calorie/low fat food that pales in comparison to the real thing (in terms of flavor, texture, and the like), why not eat less of the "real" thing? Instead of 2 brownies made with splenda, why not eat a single brownie made with sugar, butter and all that other good stuff? Hmmm...now I want a brownie...