A Nutritionist's Review of the Baby Food Diet

Like many diets, the Baby Food Diet has its roots in Hollywood. Celebrity fitness trainer Tracy Anderson came up with it as a way to reduce weight. It replaces your first 2 meals with baby food, and your last meal of the day is a "protein and vegetables" meal. Like most fad diets, it is designed to be followed for a short time to reduce weight quickly.

It sounds super easy, right? That’s probably why it is so popular. And sometimes, you really may be looking for a simple way to reduce your weight and get healthier really soon. But before you dive in and go goo-goo-ga-ga over it, let’s walk through a few nutritional and practical considerations.

Are there any benefits?

Because a lot of baby foods are made from fruits and vegetables, this diet makes it extremely easy to get enough servings of fruits and veggies. That means while losing weight, you can still get an adequate amount of the vitamins and minerals while eating this diet.

Another benefit is that the Baby Food Diet does effectively achieve a lower calorie intake. To lose body fat, eating fewer calories is essential. And this approach ensures that will happen consistently.¹

Baby food is low in protein and calcium

However, one downside is that baby food is not very high in protein. While losing weight, you want to cut calories but not protein. Protein is important to make sure you support your muscle mass while losing weight. Babies do not need as much protein as adults, so this is something you need to pay attention to.¹

The typical meat-containing baby food jar only has 8 to 12 grams of protein, whereas the fruit and vegetable baby food jars only have 1 to 3 grams. You may get 20 to 30 grams of protein from your evening "protein and veggie meal." But that’s not enough.^2,3

There some disagreement among experts about how much protein you should get in a day, but I recommend getting at least 40 to 60 grams of protein from your 14 jars of baby food a day. Check your labels, and add them up.⁴

Another consideration is that jarred baby food tends to be pretty low in calcium and healthy fats. Most babies depend on breast milk or formula for calcium and healthy fats, so most baby foods aren’t made with these nutrients in mind.^2,3

To help with calcium intake, check the label of the baby foods you eat and pick the ones with the most calcium. And for your evening meal, consider adding dark leafy vegetables that are a good source of calcium. To get the healthy fats your body needs, eat fatty fish once or twice a week.

Practical pros and cons

The Baby Food Diet has a few things going for it. There are reasons it has been so popular, other than the fact that it is a bit odd and definitely catches your attention. But there are also significant drawbacks.

Pro: It is simple to follow

Achieving the diet is simple, logistically speaking. Baby food is portable, doesn’t need refrigeration, and is premade.  No cooking is required. No complicated calculations are required. You just need to be able to count to 14 to eat 14 jars of baby food at some point before dinner, which is doable for most people.

The evening meal is also pretty simple. Most places you go will have a "protein and veggie" meal option. Even when at a restaurants or when visiting a friend or family member, that type of meal is pretty easily accomplished.

Con: It can get expensive

I will say, however, that there are definitely some cons as well in execution. It will likely increase your grocery bill. Baby food jars typically sell for about $1.00 to $1.50 each. So depending on which ones you get, you'll be spending $98 to $147 per week on baby food just for your first 2 meals of the day.  You will also have to purchase your groceries for your evening meals on top of that.

Con: It can be boring

Another downside is that, well, you are eating baby food! Most adults do not eat baby food for a reason. It tends to lack seasoning, and the same texture over and over becomes very boring. Many of us crave different flavors, textures, and visuals when we eat. And eating baby food meal after meal, day after day, could get pretty challenging.

Con: It may be socially awkward

It may also be socially awkward at times. When a friend invites you for a lunch date . . . are you going to bring baby food with you to eat? Can you even bring it into a restaurant? If you go to your friend’s house, what will they say about your baby food? How will they feel when you don’t eat the food they made for you? You can turn the invitation down, but your social life may become strained.

The bottom line

I have honestly seen much, much worse fad diets than the Baby Food Diet. But at the end of the day, it is still a fad diet. Can it work? Probably, for as long as you can tolerate it. You can probably lose some weight and possibly reach a healthier weight for a bit.

However, if you are someone who tends to regain weight quickly, the Baby Food Diet may not be a good choice. I would guess that it is only tolerable for long enough to lose about 5 to 10 pounds, and it does not help you make changes that will stay with you.

Once you stop eating baby food most of the time, what will you eat instead? Will you have the skills and strategies to keep the weight off, or will that 5 to 10 pounds be back by next week?

In my experience, diets like the Baby Food Diet have pretty limited applications. It may have its place in some circumstances. But it will never be able to take the place of finding a more sustainable approach.