Lisa Lillien, author of Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories has unveiled an exciting new way of losing weight and remaining trim: eat fewer calories even while enjoying your favorite recipes.
This 352 page book is the second one in her series of cookbooks and is really a dieter’s guide to healthy cooking and tasty eating. You can find her other book here: Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World.
As the name implies, these books mainly appeal to women. However, men can also find these books useful and interesting, although the style may not sit well with guys.
Hungry Girl: Overview
For long, diet gurus have been asking us to cut down on calories to lose weight. But they never told us how to do it without it feeling like an interminable punishment, which is the reason why most diets crash after a while.
Hungry Girl is different, in that it gives dieters something solid to go on with. This book is all about HOW you can have your favorite cake and eat it too – without it telling on your hips or stomach!
Lillien gives readers a wide variety of popular recipes, but each one is under 200 calories. Some examples include:
- Chocolate marshmallow cupcake
- Double Chocolate Trifle
- Cheesy Good Muffins
- Hot Boneless Buffalo Wings
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pretzel Bottomed Ice Cream Pie
- Gooey Cinnamon Rolls
- Strawberry Shortcakes
Yummy indeed! And each one has fewer than 200 calories. Takes the sting out of dieting, doesn’t it?
The best thing about this book is the variety. Almost all of your favorite foods and snacks are included. So, you can mix and match and eat what you want without feeling guilty of overshooting your calorie limit. Each recipe gives the exact number of calories, carbs and fat. So, if you are on a calorie counting diet program like the Weight Watcher’s point system, this cookbook will help you grab those points quickly and without pain.
The goodies don’t stop there. Lillien shows her appreciation for good eating principles by including lots of fiber in recipes as varied as parfaits to zucchini.
The book also contains lots of trivia and fun facts.
What’s more, the Hungry Girl website is a big help if you want to use this book in conjunction with Weight Watchers.
Hungry Girl: Review
The recipes in this book are designed for people who do not like to spend too much time in the kitchen. In a few minutes, you can whip up easy treats and snacks using ingredients that you would easily find in any supermarket or store. No wonder the book has been on the New York Times bestsellers.
However, there is a flip side. Measurements are for tiny servings and you are very much in danger of enjoying more than one serving, which would ultimately defeat your purpose if you are following this book for weight loss.
Hungry Girl Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Calorie conscious recipes
- Quick and easy
- Commonly found ingredients
- Innovative cooking methods
- Uses fiber liberally
- Names favorite products which makes it easy to choose
- Great for people who want to watch their calories
- A wonderful change from everyday cooking rigors
Cons
- Small servings
- Uses lots of processed foods like artificial sweeteners
- Very few pictures
- Some of the substitutes may not be universally appealing
- Plenty of additives and sugar
- Not for the health conscious
In Conclusion:
Not your traditional cookbook, but Hungry Girl: 200 Under 200: 200 Recipes Under 200 Calories is a great boon for those who want something light and easy to eat. Serving sizes are small and followers would have to stick to these sizes if they want to stay within their calorie limits. But the alternatives are wonderful and the hard work done by the author is useful for those who sincerely want to adapt to a healthy cooking practice. All in all, a great little book for those days when you just do not feel like doing too much hard work but want something wonderful – and lean – to eat!
