Name: Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl
Birthday: 12/31
Location: Los Angeles
Web site:
www.hungry-girl.com
Résumé (brief work history): Teen mag editor, TV and online producer turned executive, HUNGRY GIRL!!!!
Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Education: Graduated SUNY Albany
Marital status: Married
Favorite TV show: iCarly [her husband's fabulous show — he's the producer]
Favorite movie: The Breakfast Club
Diet Detective: Hey, Lisa, thanks again for the interview. I just love your newsletter (and the name Hungry Girl); it's packed with wonderful, fun and truly useful information. I guess the biggest question is, "How did you get into this?"
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Thanks so much!!!! You know, I have always been obsessed with food — and I have a knack for finding products that taste great but are low in calories and fat — and also ways to make food at home that tastes super-fattening but isn't. And I love to share my findings and ideas with people. One day the idea for Hungry Girl popped into my brain — to create sort of an umbrella diet brand for women that was from a regular person (like me) as opposed to a doctor or a dietitian. And the brand needed to be FUN and a little sassy — not boring. So Hungry Girl was born.... I decided to make it a free daily e-mail service because I wanted the content to be delivered directly in a very personal way.
Diet Detective: You used to be overweight yourself, so what was it that triggered you to lose the weight? And how did you keep it off?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: I spent the first part of my life yo-yo dieting — and I would lose and gain the same 10 to 15 pounds. I was never extremely overweight but always struggled with about 20 to 25 pounds. Well, one day I was working with a fitness expert at work — we were producing an exercise video with him when I was working at Warner Bros. — and he was going on and on about not eating carbs after 4 p.m., so I decided the next day that I was going to give up bread, flour, pasta, rice, potatoes — not just after 4 p.m. but for 30 days. Well, 30 days turned into a YEAR. I dropped about 25 to 30 pounds in three months. It was AMAZING. Once I had the weight off, I turned to Weight Watchers to help me maintain it. Their plan helped me re-incorporate all the foods I had been avoiding in a reasonable way. To this day I count points in my brain when I eat. I don't follow the plan strictly, but it's always on my mind and helps keep my eating under control.
Diet Detective: If you were to invent your own diet/health food what would it look like?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: It would be a lot of food for a reasonable amount of calories. And it would come in a VERY cute package!
Diet Detective: What are you least impressed with when it comes to the food offered in supermarkets and restaurants?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: In supermarkets there are too many fatty, over-calorie foods targeted at kids — that bugs me. At restaurants — WAY TOO MUCH SAUCE and unidentifiable goo. And the portions are typically too large.
Diet Detective: What are you most impressed with when it comes to the food offered in supermarkets and restaurants?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Supermarkets have a wide variety of products. I love the fact that portion-controlled snacks are all the rage right now, because there are SO many options. In restaurants, most of the time they are very accommodating. I'm the QUEEN of special ordering, and if you ask nicely they'll be happy to prepare your food the way you like it.
Diet Detective: What is your all-time favorite healthy snack?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Hmmmmm ..."healthy" — if we're talking HEALTH — I'd have to say an apple — or definitely any chocolate-flavored Vitalicious VitaTop. Yum!
Diet Detective: What do you typically eat for breakfast?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: I typically eat egg whites with low-fat cheese — and fruit.
Diet Detective: What's your favorite healthy ingredient? What's the one thing you'd suggest people keep in their kitchen if they want to cook healthy meals?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: It's hard to say — again — Hungry Girl isn't strictly about health, so I don't want to offer any advice about specific packaged foods here because those aren't necessarily "healthy" — but if we're talking straight-up health BROCCOLI gets my vote. I put it in everything — soups, stir-fries, salads — and I eat it as a snack. I love broccoli! If we're straying a bit from health, I'd say everyone should keep Laughing Cow Light cheese wedges in their fridge at all times. They're the BEST!
Diet Detective: What activities if any do you do regularly to stay in shape?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: I do weight training twice a week, and I walk on the treadmill about four to six times a week.
Diet Detective: If you had to choose a specific song or band to get you excited for your workout, what would it be? And what other songs are on your iPod?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Typically, I watch TV while I work out. I have a TiVo in my workout room, and I watch The Food Network during my workouts. But I do have an iPod filled with workout songs. I like working out to '80s music. Some of my favorite old songs to work out to are Good Vibrations (Marky Mark's version), Baby Got Back (by Sir Mix-A-Lot) and Control by Janet Jackson. ... I also love a peppy song called Happy Hour by a band called The Housemartins (FYI, no one knows this song).
Diet Detective: What person do you respect most, or who motivates you?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: My husband. He's the smartest person I know and also the hardest-working human on the planet.
Diet Detective: What do you do to reduce stress/relax/center your mind? Do you participate in an organized relaxation activity such as yoga, meditation or tai chi?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: I don't do any of those things. Working out is a huge stress-reliever for me. As is shopping!!!
Diet Detective: What do you consider the world's most perfect food?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: I'd have to say House Foods Tofu Shirataki noodles. Because they are all-natural, super-low in calories and they taste (to me) exactly like pasta. So I think they're MAGICAL!!! Because of them I can make a huge bowl of Fettuccini Alfredo that has about 80 calories. That's insane! (Insane in a good way!)
Diet Detective: What's always in your fridge?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Laughing Cow Light cheese wedges, Egg Beaters, VitaTops (freezer!), Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla (I drink it instead of milk), fruit salad, turkey breast, Fuji apples.
Diet Detective: What food would we never find in your fridge?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Half & half, regular milk, full-fat salad dressing.
Diet Detective: Would you mind sharing one of your tasty, favorite healthy recipes?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Not at all...
Cup o' Chocolate-Coconut Bread Pudding
PER SERVING (entire recipe): 215 calories; 2 g fat; 755 mg sodium; 33.5 g carbs; 6 g fiber; 11.5 g sugars; 19 g protein — Weight Watchers POINTS® value 4
Straight from our chapter of microwaveable recipes, this sweet treat is as speedy as it is delicious.
Ingredients:
One 25-calorie packet diet hot cocoa mix (like Swiss Miss Diet)
Dash salt
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/4 teaspoons coconut extract
2 slices light white bread
1 teaspoon mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 mini marshmallows
Directions:
Combine cocoa mix and salt in a glass. Add 1/4 cup very hot water and stir until ingredients have dissolved. Add egg substitute and coconut extract and stir. Set aside.
Toast bread and tear into cubes. Spray a large microwave-safe mug lightly with nonstick spray. Add bread cubes and top with cocoa-egg mixture. If needed, stir gently to ensure bread is thoroughly soaked. Top evenly with chocolate chips and marshmallows.
Microwave for about 2 minutes and 15 seconds, until bread pudding is set. (It will puff up once set.) Enjoy!
MAKES 1 SERVING
Diet Detective: If you could eat one unhealthy food whenever you wanted without gaining weight, what would it be?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: FRENCH FRIES!!! No question. But pizza isn't too far behind.
Diet Detective: What was your worst summer job?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: Hmmmmmm. ... I never had a bad summer job. One time I got a job at a promotions company. I showed up, and they asked me to put on a tight little shirt and hand out samples of cigarettes. I refused to do it. I didn't even last an hour at that job, so does that even count? Other than that, I've always liked my jobs.
Diet Detective: What was your dream job / life when you were a little girl?
Lisa Lillien / Hungry Girl: For a while, I wanted to be a cartoonist. Then a lawyer. Then I wanted to host The Muppet Show. None of those things happened.