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Talking with the Hungry Girl Lisa Lillien,
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Lisa Lillien is the creator hungry-girl.com , the hugely popular e-mail list and Hungry Girl, the smash-hit cookbook phenomenon that spent 23 weeks on the NY Times Best Sellers List and has made millions of people hungry -- for more!
Now, providing recipes, survival strategies, and food finds you'll love, Lisa is back with " Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 ", featuring 200 rockin guilt-free recipes to satisfy everyone's cravings for their favorite foods, all with less than 200 calories.
Q:Tell me briefly about the evolution of Hungry Girl.
A: I have always been kind of food-obsessed and struggled with losing the same 10 or 15 pounds over and over, like many people do. And then back in 2002 I kind of changed my lifestyle. I decided I didn't want to go on another fad diet, because I had tried them all, and I lost a lot of weight by cutting out what I know are my trigger foods. For me it was starches. . . .
When I lost that weight I knew a couple of things. One, I knew I couldn't live like that forever, so I started to incorporate those foods back into my life. So I started counting points and following the Weight Watchers plan. And along the way I became a go-to guru, if you will, about guilt-free eating and guilt-free foods. Because my goal was always to find foods that tasted like the foods I loved that had fewer fat grams and calories.
So whether it involved concocting things myself or finding foods on the shelves, I became that person and thought, ``Wouldn't it be great to share that information with a lot of people?''
Q: How do you decide what products to feature on the website or accept advertising from?
A: The criteria for any product that I'd be interested in -- whether it's to put the [Hungry Girl] seal on the package, or to write about it, or to accept an ad -- I have to think it tastes good, first and foremost. . . . I look for fat and calories and some nutritional value.
People can say all day long that 100-calorie packs of this or that are not great because they contain ingredients that some think are questionable, but my answer to that is, 'It's better than eating 900 calories' worth of Oreos.''
If it's a tortilla, I'll look for one that has a lot of fiber and is low in calories and fat. If it's a brownie, I may be a little bit less strict about what I'm looking for.
Q: What about somebody who would say, ``Why do I need a book of 200 recipes under 200 calories? Why can't I just eat an apple or a carrot?''
A: Honestly, because it's not realistic. I think the reason Hungry Girl is so successful is because it's about real-world eating, about navigating the supermarket aisles. There are a lot of people who will tell you to shop the perimeter of the store, that you should only eat whole foods and natural foods, but the reality is, most people can't live like that all the time.
I eat a lot of natural foods . . . but, at the same time, there's a time and place for other things. I have cravings. I want to eat a cookie every now and then, and I want to eat ice cream. I want to eat fettuccine alfredo, and Hungry Girl helps you find alternatives that are not high in calories.
Q. I was interested to see how many of your recipes involved real foods instead of processed foods.
A. Some people will say, ''You seem to use a lot of processed foods.'' But everyone knows that turkey and lettuce are fine choices. They need help with the other stuff. I like to give ideas, be creative and clever, about how to use some of those packaged ingredients and packaged foods, but at the same time be clever and creative with real ingredients.
Q. How were the recipes developed?
They're all developed internally. There's a staff of 10 people now, and about half of them are involved in recipe development. I had a hand in developing all 200 of those recipes. . . . I have the most strict taste buds of anyone I know.
Q. What are your three favorite Hungry Girl recipes?
Probably the Fettuccine Hungry Girl Fredo and variations of that, because those noodles allow me to have pasta. . . . The Lord of the Onion Rings, because using the Fiber One bread crumbs as coating to make anything taste fried is brilliant. And then, I do love the red velvet cupcakes from the new book. They're phenomenal.
Now, providing recipes, survival strategies, and food finds you'll love, Lisa is back with " Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 ", featuring 200 rockin guilt-free recipes to satisfy everyone's cravings for their favorite foods, all with less than 200 calories.
Q:Tell me briefly about the evolution of Hungry Girl.
A: I have always been kind of food-obsessed and struggled with losing the same 10 or 15 pounds over and over, like many people do. And then back in 2002 I kind of changed my lifestyle. I decided I didn't want to go on another fad diet, because I had tried them all, and I lost a lot of weight by cutting out what I know are my trigger foods. For me it was starches. . . .
When I lost that weight I knew a couple of things. One, I knew I couldn't live like that forever, so I started to incorporate those foods back into my life. So I started counting points and following the Weight Watchers plan. And along the way I became a go-to guru, if you will, about guilt-free eating and guilt-free foods. Because my goal was always to find foods that tasted like the foods I loved that had fewer fat grams and calories.
So whether it involved concocting things myself or finding foods on the shelves, I became that person and thought, ``Wouldn't it be great to share that information with a lot of people?''
Q: How do you decide what products to feature on the website or accept advertising from?
A: The criteria for any product that I'd be interested in -- whether it's to put the [Hungry Girl] seal on the package, or to write about it, or to accept an ad -- I have to think it tastes good, first and foremost. . . . I look for fat and calories and some nutritional value.
People can say all day long that 100-calorie packs of this or that are not great because they contain ingredients that some think are questionable, but my answer to that is, 'It's better than eating 900 calories' worth of Oreos.''
If it's a tortilla, I'll look for one that has a lot of fiber and is low in calories and fat. If it's a brownie, I may be a little bit less strict about what I'm looking for.
Q: What about somebody who would say, ``Why do I need a book of 200 recipes under 200 calories? Why can't I just eat an apple or a carrot?''
A: Honestly, because it's not realistic. I think the reason Hungry Girl is so successful is because it's about real-world eating, about navigating the supermarket aisles. There are a lot of people who will tell you to shop the perimeter of the store, that you should only eat whole foods and natural foods, but the reality is, most people can't live like that all the time.
I eat a lot of natural foods . . . but, at the same time, there's a time and place for other things. I have cravings. I want to eat a cookie every now and then, and I want to eat ice cream. I want to eat fettuccine alfredo, and Hungry Girl helps you find alternatives that are not high in calories.
Q. I was interested to see how many of your recipes involved real foods instead of processed foods.
A. Some people will say, ''You seem to use a lot of processed foods.'' But everyone knows that turkey and lettuce are fine choices. They need help with the other stuff. I like to give ideas, be creative and clever, about how to use some of those packaged ingredients and packaged foods, but at the same time be clever and creative with real ingredients.
Q. How were the recipes developed?
They're all developed internally. There's a staff of 10 people now, and about half of them are involved in recipe development. I had a hand in developing all 200 of those recipes. . . . I have the most strict taste buds of anyone I know.
Q. What are your three favorite Hungry Girl recipes?
Probably the Fettuccine Hungry Girl Fredo and variations of that, because those noodles allow me to have pasta. . . . The Lord of the Onion Rings, because using the Fiber One bread crumbs as coating to make anything taste fried is brilliant. And then, I do love the red velvet cupcakes from the new book. They're phenomenal.
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