I sent the following letter to The Food Network today after watching the program Hungry Girl. Lisa Lillien is very popular with the Weight Watcher world and weight loss community. Let me know what you think, was I too harsh or not harsh enough.
I just watched your program Hungry Girl and the first thing that comes to mind after viewing it, no wonder she is hungry, she did not use one real ingredient of food in her dishes. I believe I did see a tablespoon or two of chocolate chips and 12 raspberries. But that was it.
Lisa makes Sandra Lee look like an Iron Chef. The recipes (which term I use loosely) look like they are taken straight from the late 1980's. I half expected her to introduce The Go-go's at the end of the segment. I understand her demographic, she appeals to masses because she wants the "goodies and treats" every day. When the truth is the reason people want this "stuff" everyday is because it's not real food. The subsitutes for sugar and fat are addictive because they do not satisfy, creating a desire for more. When we use real food ingredients and small portions we are satisfied and we may not crave desserts every day, maybe weekly.
She also answered a question about organic foods and if they have less calories. She said no. Which is true when speaking about processed foods, but she could have added that organic produce is better when using the raspberries that she used at the end of the program.
I did like that she addressed what a real portion size looks like.
I am surprised that this program would be on The Food Network. It seems it would be a better fit for one of those shows where 5 women sit around and complain about today's' topics and then end their show with a segment on how women can be thinner.
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I have not seen this show, but I did peek through a hungry girl "cookbook" of sorts that was at the book store. It said that every recipe was under 200 calories, which I couldn't believe until I saw 1. how tiny each thing was, and 2. how unsatisfying it would be to eat (because each recipe was composed of diet processed foods).
ReplyDeleteJust came across your post. I haven't seen this show but I can relate. I think that the core problem with such shows is that it focuses on reducing waist size rather than improving health. When health is not the cornerstone, anything goes... and anything usually ends up being fake food.
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