Baby food dieters told to grow up

A fad baby food diet linked to Hollywood star Jennifer Aniston has triggered warnings from a nutritionist.

Stacey Hancock, a personal trainer and nutritionist, said a client appeared at her Hamilton clinic last month and confessed to trying the odd diet. Hancock said she had words of advice for the next person who confessed to using baby food as a weight-loss panacea.

"I'd be sitting them down for a big hour-long session and teaching them how the body works and how weight loss works. They're not going to maintain the weight loss they will get. And they really will make themselves quite sick."

The diet is seen as a way of controlling calorie intake, Hancock said.

"If they're having one jar of baby food, they're constituting that as an entire meal. Because the actual calories are so much lower than a normal meal, it's putting them at a big calorie deficit to help them lose the weight."

Hancock said some people cited convenience as a reason for adopting the fad, while others incorrectly believed the diet could provide them with enough nutrients.

"You're giving your hormones such funny messages that they all of a sudden are not sure how to regulate your weight," Hancock said.

The diet made headlines overseas when a British tabloid linked Aniston's weight loss to a pureed food diet last year. She was reported to have lost about 15kg after trying an early version of the diet, but the Friends star denied those claims. The diet, reportedly invented by a personal trainer called Tracy Anderson, was also linked to Madonna.

Hancock was sceptical. "They all make the rounds. Last time it was lemon detox and now it's this one."