What Is the Baby Food Diet?
The baby food diet replaces every adult meal with small jars of pureed baby food — up to 14 jars.
It may sound ridiculous to some, but celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson are rumored to be fans of the fad diet. Whether this is true remains debatable, and there is not much evidence to support these claims.
Additionally, scientific research on baby food is based on infants, not adults. So, there’s very little evidence to suggest whether baby food is suitable for the adult body in terms of nutritional value.
How the Baby Food Diet Works
Baby food consists of pureed fruit, vegetables, or meat. There are recipes for making baby food, or you can buy some from the supermarket in little jars or pouches.
Baby food is pureed to prevent infants from choking when they start eating for the first time. The puree is also more straightforward for babies to digest since their digestive tracts are still developing and cannot handle solid foods. Because of this, babies must have soft food with a smooth consistency.
Guidelines
There are no specific guidelines for the baby food diet, and much of the information is based on rumors or anecdotal evidence. Some people who have tried this diet said they replaced all of their meals with 14 jars of baby food.
The goal of this fad diet is to lose weight by controlling portions. But, again, there are no guidelines for how many calories you should consume.
If there were some guidelines, this would be helpful because different types of baby food vary significantly in the number of calories they contain. However, the guidelines for this diet seem rather vague, which may be another reason why the diet is considered a fad.
The Diet Plan
As mentioned previously, the diet consists of 14 jars of baby, and that’s all there is to it. However, there are no exact guidelines for how many you should eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Some people ditch the concept of meals and space out the jars of baby food throughout their day. While others might have more jars around the time of day, they feel the most hungry such as dinner or lunchtime.
There are no specifications as to which pureed foods you can eat, and there appears to be no limit on calories.
Additionally, there is no specification as to how long this diet lasts. Some say the diet should last three days, which is considerably shorter than other diets.
Cost
Other than the cost of the pureed food, this diet has no additional expenses. However, it will soon add up if you are going through 14 jars of baby food a day.
Dos and Don’ts
Do:
- Be aware that this diet is likely to be a fad.
- Talk to a medical professional before attempting this diet.
Don’t:
- Start this diet if you have a severe health condition.
- Have high expectations for this diet
Sample Diet Plan
Breakfast:
Four jars of baby food containing fruit purees.
Lunch:
Four jars of baby food containing meat or vegetable purees.
Dinner:
Six jars of baby food containing meat or vegetable purees.
Health Benefits and Drawbacks
Benefits
This diet has no proven benefits, and weight loss is not guaranteed since this diet would be difficult to maintain.
Some claim that this diet is beneficial because it helps them restrict calories. But again, extremely low-calorie diets are hard to maintain.
Drawbacks
A significant drawback of this diet is that it’s challenging to maintain. Baby food is a puree, and this is not filling. As a result, you will always feel hungry, making it challenging to stick to this diet.
Another point to consider is that the nutritional value of the food is suited for infants and not adults. For example, infants require 9.1 grams of protein daily, and baby food reflects this — whereas adults need much more. Females require 46 grams of protein per day, and males require 56 grams.
Baby food is also low in fiber; other studies have shown that foods high in soluble fiber can help maintain weight loss. Therefore, baby food does very little to promote weight loss.
The Bottom Line: Is the Baby Food Diet a Healthy Way to Lose Weight?
There is no reason why adults should eat baby food. After all, this food is formulated for infants and is not intended for anyone older.
If an adult did need to eat something other than solid foods, then soups or smoothies would be a good alternative. Some diets offer smoothies or soups for meal replacements, which would be more nutritional for adults.
Overall, there does not appear to be any reason why pureed baby food might help someone lose weight. Some might say it works due to the smaller portions and restricted calories. But it’s been proven that diets with severe calorie restrictions are difficult to maintain, and people often put weight back on afterward.
