Baby food diet plan for adults is a way to lose weight fast and easy. With baby food diet you will learn how to prepare healthy and nutritious meal replacement meals that you can eat on the go. This diet is super simple and easy to understand. It consists of blending your favorite fruits, vegetables, proteins, and dairy products that provides a proper balance of fats, protein, carbohydrates, and fibers in a single meal.
The reason why a nutritionist created this diet plan was to make sure that people who needed to lose weight had another way to loose some pounds besides liquid diets.
What Is the Baby Food Diet?
At Verywell, we believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to a healthy lifestyle. Successful eating plans need to be individualized and take the whole person into consideration. Prior to starting a new diet plan, consult with your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian, especially if you have an underlying health condition.
The baby food diet is based on the idea that eating small jars of baby food to restrict calorie intake will lead to quick weight loss. The original baby food diet, which was never formally published despite anecdotal reports and weight-loss claims, called for eating baby food all day followed by a regular “adult” meal in the evening.
Some people following the diet may eat a few jars of baby food each day as low-calorie snacks, while others might replace one or two meals a day with baby food and consume up to 14 jars a day. While there’s a good chance of losing weight quickly on this diet, followers will also miss out on important nutrients from other food groups.
The baby food diet is meant to be a quick “cleanse” or reset, not a long-term style of eating. But much like other cleanse or detox diets, it’s not backed by any science, nor is it accepted by health experts.
What Experts Say
“By swapping meals for baby food, people are promised quick weight loss. It’s tough to meet nutrient needs while eating mostly purees, though. Experts agree it’s best to leave those for the babies and focus on smaller portions of normal meals for sustainable weight loss.”
What Can You Eat?
In the context of the baby food fad diets, “baby food” includes jars of pureed fruits, vegetables, grains, and even meats, but not the toddler meals you may also find in the baby aisle at the grocery store. Beyond purees, the diet also allows for plain black coffee, tea, and water.
Essentially, the baby food diet is a low-calorie diet. Because the portions are baby-sized, most jars have no more than 100 calories, and many have much fewer than that. Although baby foods don’t have added salt or much fat, some may contain added sugar. What’s more, you’re unlikely to get sufficient protein from baby food alone.
What You Need to Know
Baby food is generally unseasoned, so adding herbs and spices will make it more palatable. For your single “adult” meal of the day, proponents of the diet advise keeping the calorie count to around 500, which is very low. It’s important that you pack this meal with plenty of protein, fiber, whole grains, and healthy fats to account for the nutrients you’re not getting from pureed baby food.
For those with food allergies or restrictions, the baby food diet is relatively easy to follow. Pre-portioned jars of baby food list all of their ingredients on the package, so you won’t likely have any trouble identifying known triggers that may cause a reaction.
Depending on how strictly you follow the diet, you may start to feel lightheaded throughout the day since you’re not getting enough calories. Transitioning from regular solid meals to pureed foods only is generally not considered safe unless you’re under medical supervision. If you choose to follow the baby food diet, you should only do so for a short period of time to avoid nutrient deficiencies.
As with any low-calorie diet, it’s often a good idea to take a multivitamin to make up for missing out on micronutrients.
What to Eat
- Jars of pureed baby food of all types including fruits, vegetables, and meats
- 1–2 nutrient-dense “adult” meals per day emphasizing protein and complex carbohydrates
- Water, tea, coffee
What Not to Eat
- All other foods
- Limit or avoid alcohol
If you decide to try a baby food diet, consider replacing just one meal per day with pureed baby food instead of two to get more calories and nutrients. Still, this diet is not recommended since it could lead to nutrient deficiencies and create an unhealthy relationship with food.
If you are pregnant or have health conditions, like diabetes, you should not try the baby food diet. Some medications, like insulin, can be dangerous if not taken with the proper amount of food.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy portion control
- Low in fat and calories
- Quick results
- Minimal prep or cooking
Cons
- Unsustainable for long term
- Severely restrictive
- Not enough calories
- Low on protein and other nutrients
- More expensive than real, whole foods
There is some flexibility in the baby food diet. For instance, if you plan to meet up with friends for lunch, you could always switch your regular meal to lunchtime and have baby food as a dinner substitute instead. You could also choose how many meals (or snacks) to replace with baby food. If you’re traveling or on the road, you’ll need to pack baby food ahead of time. Otherwise, the plan is pretty straightforward.
Despite the convenience factor, the baby food diet is not a smart weight loss plan. Its restrictive nature creates a deprivation mindset around food. Additionally, short-term deprivation might promote a little weight loss, but you will likely regain the weight once you resume normal eating habits.
Additionally, if you’re consuming 14 servings of baby food per day, you will have a lot of little glass jars or plastic containers to throw away or recycle. Preparing your own baby food would reduce the waste associated with this diet, but it’s probably not realistic if you’re short on time. Eating 14 jars of pre-portioned baby food every day can also add up in terms of cost.
Is the Baby Food Diet a Healthy Choice for You?
The U.S. Department of Agriculture 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming a variety of nutrient-dense foods including all types of vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, dairy products or lactose-free substitutes, fortified soy products, lean protein, eggs, seafood, nuts, and other healthy fats like oils.
The baby food diet doesn’t measure up to expert guidelines on healthy eating for weight loss. The USDA suggests eating plenty of different foods in order to get all the nutrients your body needs. While you can find baby foods made from different food groups, the portions are too small for an adult.
In terms of calories, 2.5 ounces of baby food (a typical serving) contains anywhere from 20 to 100 calories. Having baby food twice per day, plus one 500-calorie meal falls short of the USDA’s recommended intake of about 1,500 calories a day for weight loss. Use this calculator to determine the right amount of calories to meet your goals.
The Amazing Upsides of Eating Baby Food in Your Diet
The good part about eating baby food is that is requires less time to prepare than other meals. You can by crates and bottles of baby food at just about any grocery store you go to turning baby food into a great timesaver, a life-hack that is perfect for people on the go.
Unmistakably the best thing about baby food is that it is safe to eat, after all it is made for babies. If you happen to be a nursing mother please share and enjoy a jar of baby food with your precious little baby.
Easy On the Stomach Good When On the Go
Baby food is meant to be eaten without chewing. That’s good for you and your baby if you have one and are looking for ways to get your body back to the way it was before you became a mom or even if you are looking for a way to get rid of uneaten baby food. Simply put baby food is easy to digest which means less worrying about being weighed down after a meal.
Balanced Nutrition That Helps You Stay Active
Baby food contains complete nutrition while holding back on salt content and fat, a perfect food for inspiring dieters that just want to lose weight.
Example of baby food nutrition
One 100 gram jar of baby food has 62 calories while only containing 0.2g of fat. This might change depending on what flavor of baby food you are looking at; but what remains the is the fact that 1 jar of baby food is roughly 60 calories making counting calories an easier chore than ever. You never know you may be counting baby food instead.
| Calories | Protein | Fat | Carbohydrates | Sodium |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62kcal | 2.4g | 0.2g | 12.7g | 165mg |
The Need to Know Downsides of Eating Like a Baby worth Considering Before Trying
Okay, it’s low in calories and fat, and is safe for you and your baby; but does that mean there is nothing wrong about the baby food diet? Here are a few to point out that might help you make up your mind whether eating like a baby is necessary for you to lose weight.
Lack of Taste Adults Love
Baby food may not be the most delicious thing you’ll ever eat, but it is made with love that infants with sensitive tongues are able to eat without spitting out. The taste may be bland at first, but if you give it a chance it will grow on you.
There are so many different flavors to choose from when deciding what baby food feed your child a treat or yourself with. If you are worried they don’t have your flavor, you are wrong. There are flavors for everyone despite your personal taste.
Fail To Satisfy Your Appetite
It’s Going To Cost Money
A jar of baby food is not cheap. Depending on how exotic you want to get with your baby food diet, a jar of baby food is going to run around 1 dollar on average. This taken into consideration of the amount you are going to have to eat adds up. So don’t think going on the baby food diet is going to save you money allowing you to eat out more.
Can Lead To Malnutrition
Although baby food does the body good, it lacks in dietary fiber and fat you are going to need to make your diet work. That’s why it is increasingly important that you make up for this in your evening meal eating dinner.
Baby food lacks the amount of fat you need in your diet. That’s good, right? In fact, not getting enough fat in your diet is not as promising as it sounds. It’s important to note that you shouldn’t rely solely on baby food to get your daily nutrition that is yet again another reason to eat hearting in the evening to make up in areas where eating like a baby lacks in nutrition.
The Baby Food Diet Review
The Promise
If you’ve been to enough baby showers, you may have played the baby food guessing game, in which you sample various baby foods (labels obscured) and try to identify what’s in them – peas? pears? spinach? But some people are purposely eating entire jarfuls, not to win a shower prize but to get a Hollywood figure.
The Baby Food Diet, originally an Internet phenomenon rumored to have been started by celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson, is a gimmick for cutting calories and controlling portions. It involves replacing one or two meals or snacks a day with baby food — jars of which range in calories from about 20 to 100.
This is not a weight loss diet, but a maintenance plan to help you keep off pounds you’ve already shed.
The rules, which aren’t published anywhere official, vary. One version calls for eating 14 jars of baby food during the day and a real dinner in the evening.
It’s not hard to see why a person might lose weight by replacing adult-size meals with a few small jars of bananas or peas. And because many people find it difficult to eat more than a few spoonfuls, portion control is probably not a major issue.
What You Can Eat and What You Can’t
All flavors of baby food seem to be fair game, which means your meals can consist of pureed fruits, vegetables, and a few meats, such as turkey, chicken, and beef, with “gravy.”
People who’ve tried it say many of the flavors take getting used to as an adult, and you may need to do some expensive, and possibly unpleasant, trial and error to figure out which ones you can stomach, figuratively and literally. Some say the readily digested fare speeds through their system.
Level of Effort: High
Giving up regular food and chewing takes commitment.
Limitations: You’re limited by what baby foods are available. If you’re looking for baby food pizza or hamburgers, they don’t exist.
Cooking and shopping: You’ll be stocking up on a lot of baby food, and doing less cooking, if you follow this diet.
In-person meetings: No.
Exercise: Not required.
Does It Allow for Restrictions or Preferences?
Vegetarians and vegans: Since most baby food is made from fruits or vegetables, it’s not difficult to eat vegetarian or vegan on this diet. But plant sources of protein, like beans and soy products, aren’t typically found in baby food products.
Gluten-free: Most fruit and vegetable baby food products should be free of gluten, but check labels. Some other baby food products, including cereals and meat-based “dinners,” contain wheat.
What Else You Should Know
Replacing meals with baby food could result in nutritional imbalances and getting very few calories. And because protein, fiber, and the act of chewing food help you feel full, you may find your stomach grumbling after a “meal” on this diet, depending which foods you choose and how much you eat.
Keep in mind that the right way to lose weight and keep it off is to find a healthy eating plan you can live with for life, and get some regular exercise.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, when trying any new diet, you should ask yourself, “Can I picture myself eating this way forever?” If the answer is “no,” you’re looking at a short-term fix at best, not a long-term solution.
Cost: Calorie for calorie, baby food is not especially cheap. A jar will cost you in the neighborhood of a dollar or more, and if you’re eating 16 jars a day, the cost will add up fast.
Support: This is a diet you do on your own.
What Dr. Melinda Ratini Says:
Does It Work?
The Baby Food Diet is a fad diet that may help you lose weight for the short term. Substituting several jars of baby food for standard meals will likely lower the amount of calories you eat by sheer portion control and tastebud boredom. But just like a baby, it won’t be long before you outgrow this diet and start to gain weight.
Is It Good for Certain Conditions?
Gerber, a leader in prepared baby foods, states on its web site that its baby foods meet the American Heart Association’s (AHA) sodium recommendations for a 1- to 3-year-old child: less than 800 milligrams of sodium a day. This is the same amount that the AHA recommends for adults, as well. But that assumes you are only going to be eating the amount of baby food that a baby would eat in a day. If you are going to be eating more than that and adding an adult meal or two a day, you will need to be reading labels closely to make sure you do not go over your limit of salt, especially if you have high blood pressure or heart disease.
If you have heart disease or high cholesterol, the baby food diet may help decrease the fat in your diet. This is because you are bound to fill up on the pureed fruits and vegetables rather than on the less tasty meats. You will have to make sure that you are getting enough protein and other nutrients in your “adult” meal each day.
The nutrition guidelines of the American Diabetes Association state that all diets should be pleasurable and practical. An eating plan should help you make healthy food choices. The Baby Food Diet falls short in both of these respects.
Any weight loss will help decrease your chances of getting diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. But there are healthier and tastier ways to shed the pounds. And exercise should be part of the plan, as well.
The Final Word
The Baby Food Diet may be an option if you are just trying to kick-start some weight loss. Your actual food prep is minimal unless you choose to puree your own baby food. All you need to do is pick out jars of baby food at the store. They are easy to pack for lunches. And many versions of the diet allow you total freedom for a daily “adult” meal.
But unless you do make some of your own baby food, your choices will be pretty slim. You are also likely to find out that a lot of the enjoyment of eating involves not only taste but texture. Your stomach is liable to feel pretty empty, making it tough to resist temptation. Costs may add up quickly, too, depending on how many jars a day you will be eating. And all that individual packaging doesn’t do much good for the environment, either.
It would be far better to look into another eating plan that you can stick with and not quickly grow out of. And while you are at it, look for one that involves some age-appropriate exercise, as well.