Adults who eat baby food
I Ate Baby Food for An Entire Week
I held the spoon to my mouth, and I grimaced when the contents touched my tongue — warm, mushy carrots.
This was my 7-month-old son's dinner — and mine too. I would spend a week eating baby food, although it was less of a calculated effort and more of a desperate attempt to hang onto my sanity.
As a new mother who worked from home, I was unprepared for how difficult it would be to juggle both a job and an infant, often getting crapped on from everyone, everywhere. The laundry piled up to unbelievable heights. The dishes in the sink smelled like a homeland security threat. For myself, I did the bare minimum to erase the stink lines that followed me around like Pigpen in a Peanuts comic.
Courtesy of Maggie Downs
Something had to give, I realized. And that something was chewing.
I'm kidding. Chewing wasn't so much the issue. The problem was the time it took to make myself a separate meal. When the choice came down to cooking for my son and cooking for myself, it was an easy decision. He who sobs the loudest wins.
This sort of thing wasn't new for me, per se. I've done some crazy diets in the past. In college, I was the originator of the Beef Jerky Diet, which sprained my jaw before I ever lost any weight. (No wonder my diet never caught on.) I've been a raw foodist and I've tried juices. I've scrubbed my guts with gallons of cabbage soup and master cleansed with liters of lemonade. One time I ate nothing but raw macadamia nuts for three days.
When my son began eating solid foods, I decided to make all his meals from scratch. I'm a person who enjoys cooking anyway, and it was important to me to provide him with fresh, healthy produce.
When I thought about it, eating baby food wasn't a bad idea idea. After all, many of the world's most beloved foods are enjoyed in their squished form. Guacamole is perfection.
Applesauce is awesome. Hummus is great. And who doesn't love mashed potatoes?
Plus, I've been enough to fancy restaurants where entrees are served atop puddles of parsnip mash or dollops of spring pea purée. This wasn't mere baby food I was creating — it was cutting-edge cuisine!
Courtesy of Maggie Downs
At first, the purées I ate were terrific, like downing super thick smoothies for every meal. And it really did save a lot of time, which otherwise would have been spent over the stove or cleaning the dishes. The bonus was that it forced me to be more creative with the things I whipped up in the blender, because I wanted to consume delicious things too. Snap peas, pears and a banana? Tasty. Sweet potatoes, cherries and vanilla? Like a party in my mouth. Fava beans and summer squash with leeks? Eh, not the worst.
After a week of baby food; however, eating became something laborious. It was no longer interesting or enjoyable.
I fantasized about crunch. Chewing felt like an old friend I only vaguely remembered. I realized I was on the diet of someone who just had his wisdom teeth pulled, but for no real reason.
That's the day I decided to reverse the process: Instead of eating what my baby eats, I would simply give him what I like to eat.
It's a strategy that has worked well for us ever since, with a food repertoire that has expanded to include soft grilled eggplant, five-bean chili, rice pudding, roasted veggies of all kinds, aloo gobi and pillows of naan.
We didn't want to be those culinary snobs who go to a restaurant and just order the parsnip purée, anyway.
Maggie Downs
Maggie Downs is a journalist and essayist based in Palm Springs, CA. Her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the U.S., including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, and in digital media such as Today.
com, Outside, Smithsonian, and the BBC. She is a traveler, a book nerd, and an accidental adventurist.
Adults, Please Stop Eating Baby Food Out of Squeeze Pouches
I'll admit it: the squeezy pouch of baby food is an amazing feat of technology. You've probably seen these shelf-stable, lightweight packets of puréed nutrients in the grocery store. Maybe you marveled at the product's ingenuity. Maybe you felt resentful that these squeezers weren't around when you were growing up and instead you were fed weird green goo from a plain old jar. Or maybe you decided that you weren't too old to get in on this pouchy action and bought a package of mango-applesauce to give it a try.
If you did, you'd be in good company. According to publications like Extra-Crispy, The Wall Street Journal, and The Kitchn, many grown-ups are buying—and consuming—these little packages of puréed fruits and vegetables. Like, on purpose.
That's right, adults are eating baby food.
And they need to stop.
How to Freeze Baby Food Without Going Crazy
Don't get me wrong, these packaged baby foods are great for, you know, babies. On a family vacation last year when my then 6-month-old brother, Townes, was transitioning to solid food, the squeeze-y pouches played an invaluable role in keeping him happy and fed throughout the trip, whether we were at the hotel breakfast table or a fancy sushi restaurant or on the beach. Convenient, lightweight, readily available, these packets also usually contain some totally virtuous combination of fruits, vegetables, and the occasional whole grain. Every nutritional need you could have, perfectly sealed in a tiny, science-y, pouch. This is the eating of the future, right? I sure hope not.
The thing is, unlike Townes, you've fully learned how to masticate and ingest solid food. (And even Townes is well on his way these days, enjoying scrambled eggs and berries and lots of banana pancakes.) You have teeth and a jaw that unhinges for a reason.
Congrats! Proud of you. Use the incredible set of resources afforded to you by nature. Rejoice in the pleasure of chewing delicious solid food—it's truly, in my opinion, one of the few true joys we're afforded on a daily basis.
Of course, there are plenty of situations and real medical conditions that make eating solid food difficult. But, in that case, there are also plenty of totally delicious foods you can make that are infinitely more delicious than weird tube goo. In fact, there are whole categories of food devoted to this: Soups! Smoothies! Ice cream and milkshakes! Mashed vegetables! All glorious, soft, liquified foods you—an adult—could happily enjoy instead of resorting to sucking room-temperature food out of a tube marketed to babies. In fact, these are actually some of my favorite foods. I used to almost look forward to getting my braces tightened so my mom would make me vichyssoise. Have vichyssoise, not tube goo. You're worth it.
Craving some food but too tired to chew? Try soup!
Hirsheimer & Hamilton
Is it possible for adults to eat baby food: benefits and harms
- Photo
- Natalia Kurzova / Adobe Stock
Now we will talk about the benefits and harms of products made specifically for children.
These include fruit and vegetable purees, juices and nectars, yoghurts and curds, cereals and various snacks for the little ones.
Pluses of baby food
No harmful ingredients
It is clear that baby food is made specifically for babies. Therefore, they do not add harmful additives, dyes, flavors, a lot of sugar and salt. Not a single ingredient in the composition should cause an allergy or any disorder in a baby - which means that such food is safe for an adult. Moreover, manufacturers are strictly looked after - all children's products undergo a thorough check, and only then they get on the shelves in stores.
Tasty and convenient
Children's curds, cereals and purees with a sweet fruity taste can easily replace high-calorie cakes and other "adult" desserts. Some may also like cookies in cute little packages.
Speaking of packaging. Kids are not physically able to eat a lot, so for them everything is laid out in small portions.
And these jars and packaging are very convenient to take with you for a walk, to school or university.
Low Calorie
Children's fruit and vegetable purees, and in such tiny portions, are very, very few calories! Some stars even specifically switch to only baby food in order to lose weight. So, for example, did Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon.
Ready to follow suit? Well, slow down. Now let's talk about why you shouldn't do this.
Disadvantages of baby food
Few essential nutrients
Yes, these tasty purees contain only useful things and nothing harmful. But do not forget that this is still baby food. That is, it is made specifically for babies - taking into account the peculiarities of digestion of young children. And the body of an adult, you know, is very different. An adult needs a lot more fiber and dietary fiber - otherwise problems with the intestines will begin.
Sometimes it's not so tasty
Taste is both a plus and a minus of baby food.
Sweet foods really look like a delicious dessert, but mashed vegetables and meat? We are used to cooking with all sorts of spices, which will definitely not be in the composition of dishes from a jar. In general, "adult" and "children's" food is very different in taste. You can, of course, get used to eating baby food all the time ... But why?
Is it useful or not?
There is nothing wrong with snacking on baby food occasionally. It can be quite healthy, tasty and without extra calories. But you definitely can’t replace all breakfasts, lunches and dinners with them - in this way you will deprive yourself of important components and harm your health.
Ekaterina Migacheva, Elena Bugay
Tags
- Food
- Healthy diet
https:20200815/1575813258.HTML 9,000 nutrition recognized as dangerous for adults
Sugar in baby food was recognized as dangerous for adults Why a diet of products for babies is not suitable for a healthy lifestyle, radio Sputnik explained .
.. RIA Novosti, 08/15/2020
2020-08-15T02: 05
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Society
DIETS
Health-Society
Sugar
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MOSCOW, August 15 - RIA Novosti. Switching to baby food in the hope that it will help you lose weight is not worth it. Why a diet of products for babies is not suitable for a healthy lifestyle, Arina Skoromnaya, the leading fitness column on the Friday TV channel, explained to radio Sputnik. Of course, baby food is safer than "adult" food in the sense that it does not contain GMOs, flavorings , preservatives and dyes. But it does have sugar. And this is one of the reasons why nutritionists do not advise adults to switch to food for babies, says Arina Skoromnaya.
The second obstacle is the volume of servings and the content of useful elements. Yes, there are many useful substances in baby food, but there are not those that are vital for the normal functioning of the adult human body. For example, it does not contain coarse fiber, without which digestive problems and constipation are guaranteed. There are very few proteins and fats in such a diet. "An adult does not really eat up baby food and then quickly wants to eat again. This is not a product for an adult. I would not recommend using baby food as a diet. As a diet, it is a crime to sit on such products. This is not an option, "says Arina Skoromnaya. But from time to time, baby food can be consumed. This is a good alternative to unhealthy snacks, the nutritionist noted. , — the nutritionist concluded in an interview with Sputnik radio.
https://ria.ru/20200207/15644406263.html
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society, diet, health - society, sugar
Society, Diet, Health - Society, Sugar
MOSCOW, August 15 - RIA Novosti. Switching to baby food in the hope that it will help you lose weight is not worth it. Why a diet of foods for babies is not suitable for a healthy lifestyle, Arina Skoromnaya, the leading fitness column on the Friday TV channel, explained to Radio Sputnik.
Of course, baby food is safer than "adult" food in the sense that it does not contain GMOs, flavors, preservatives and colors. But it does have sugar. And this is one of the reasons why nutritionists do not advise adults to switch to food for babies, says Arina Skoromnaya.
«
"If we talk about the figure, about losing weight and about healthy lifestyle, then baby food is not quite suitable.
Despite the fact that sugar is not added there, it is already there because of the ingredients. After processing, you get a puree of fast carbohydrates. It is quickly absorbed by the human body and can increase insulin. This is especially true for applesauce. Fruit purees are not suitable for weight loss, "the nutritionist told Sputnik radio.
The second hurdle is portion size and nutrient content. Yes, there are many useful substances in baby food, but there are not those that are vital for the normal functioning of the adult human body. For example, it does not contain coarse fiber, without which digestive problems and constipation are guaranteed. There is very little protein and fat in this diet.
"Adults don't get enough of baby food and then quickly want to eat again. This is not a product for an adult. As a diet, I would not recommend using baby food. As a diet, it is a crime to sit on such products. This is not an option", - says Arina Skoromnaya.
But from time to time, baby food is quite possible to use.
