Sunday, August 30, 2009

Just when you think you've seen it all . . .


comes this appalling cookbook, Hungry Girl, which touts itself as offering 200 recipes under 200 calories each.

The title says it all, to my mind: Hungry girl. Is that what we're aiming for here? To make sure girls stay hungry? Not to mention malnourished, obsessed, and generally distracted from more important matters?

Just think of all that women could achieve--women, not girls--if they weren't hungry all the time, or thinking about food, or worrying about what they're eating or not eating.

Imagine.




**Thanks to Katie Dummond.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Harriet, thank you for sharing this with your readers, too! When I stumbled on the book, I was literally brought to tears. And then to the kitchen, where I baked up some *real* muffins for my husband and myself.

jm said...

This is definitely creepy. You'd probably burn over 200 calories just making this stuff. When I cook, I like a nice caloric return on my invested energy. :)

Anonymous said...

Hungry girl indeed!

Melissa said...

Long time ago I joined their site, like when I had messed up issues with my body.
It's really messed up site so I wouldn't even bother reading the book.
Hungry girl if you're hungry just eat some food, don't buy this ridiculous book (or venture to the site)!

Sharon said...

Supposedly these recipes are healthy and crap because they are low calorie.
But the vast majority rely on artificial sweetners, which is not healthy in my book.

jaed said...

Gah. There's a whole series of "Hungry Girl" books on Amazon.

Anonymous said...

I think the author's tag line is something like, "Hungry Girl is always hungry". And that just about says it all.

I looked inside once. It's supposed to be low calorie versions of yummy things, but just reading the recipes made me gag a little. There's a recipe for "guacamole" that's mostly made up of mashed peas. Now, I guess mashed peas could be okay, but you can't say they're the same thing as delicious, full of the good for you fats, mashed avacado.

Eating With Others said...

I'm glad you posted this! I hated this! I started seeing "Hungry Girl Approved" on food items, Fiber One Yogurt. I thought what a crock this it. I was really upset. Thanks for the post.

Stephanie said...

OMG need I say more?

Ember said...

Like Melissa, I too discovered the "Hungry Girl" site when lost in the absolute deepest depths on an eating disorder. It's Trigger City, yet even when that ill, I realized that there was something exceptionally f___ed up about the site! The site's creator speaks to her battle with weight and body image in her "About Me" section, but I wish she had allowed herself to become truly healthy before she created a site that would keep her and other ED sufferers locked in that same hell.

Harriet said...

Well put, Ember. Well put.

Cammy said...

I'll chime in as another person who frequented HG when doing poorly with ED, and yes, I am ashamed to admit I own both cookbooks. They're mostly worthless, either full of artificial substitutes or brain-numbingly simple (really, who needs a recipe to make a turkey sandwich with nothing but meat and lettuce?).

Anonymous said...

Even I, an intentional weight loser, find this stuff offensive. Not sure if I've been to the site, but 200 calories for a MEAL? I would be hungry indeed, and headed right for a binge.

Laurel said...

This is an eye opener... I never looked at "this" side of it. I too own both books and subscribe to the site, but I am also in the middle of recovery. I will say that I have yet (two years now) to really make any (or few)of the recipes... they are just not very appealing to me... the "noodles" they promote are just disgusting. Thanks for letting me see another view of what I have myself in the middle of.

Jessica Thayer said...

my mother bought this book for me, and i bit my tongue so hard it practically bled.

but after perusing it and finding most of it fluffy and pretty useless as cooking goes- one thing i will say is that while most of the recipes are pretty gross and weirdly full of fiber one cereal (fine on its own...but pretty out of place in muffins and such) I don't think she ever claims to support eating one 200 cal. item as a meal...

and the onion rings recipe is genuinely awesome. Like, legitimate gold. So good.