By Janie Frank
News Editor
theaspnews@gmail.com
There’s a reason the ‘Freshman 15’ is such a popular idea. For many college students, eating healthy is difficult and time consuming. However, University at Albany Alum Lisa Lillien has created what she hopes to be a solution to this problem.
In 2004, Lillien created Hungry Girl, an email filled with tips. The project has since grown into multiple books, a website, a Facebok page, and other resources for other so-called Hungry Girls. Now, ten years after Hungry Girl’s inception, Lillien has designed Hungry Girl U, a similar program made specifically for college students.
“College students are super busy and don’t always have time to prepare food, or even locate foods that are smart, affordable choices for them,” Lillien said. “Hungry Girl U does all the hard work.”
Hungry Girl U is entirely online, making it accessible for students.
“Hungry Girl U is a multimedia resource for college students that can help them navigate food when they’re busy,” Lillien said. “We offer up snack finds, easy recipes, study snacks, etc. that are all simple, accessible and appropriate for them.”
This digital guide is currently available on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. All three are free to use and require no subscription charge. The various interfaces offer recipes for foods such as Buffalo wing dip, shrimp cocktail tacos, and even brownies. Lillien says she hopes users see it as a convenient system for advice and information.
“We want college students to think of HGU as a resource for them,” she said. “A place they can turn to for great ideas, survival strategies and more when it comes to food.”
The newest resource was created to be very similar to the original Hungry Girl except that it was designed to be more relatable for college students.
“Hungry Girl U is essentially the slice of HG that is specifically appropriate for the college audience, without the advice and ideas that aren’t appropriate for them, like things that are better suited for moms, families and women in the working world,” Lillien said.
Although Hungry Girl has been around for awhile, Hungry Girl U is new. In fact, it’s Facebook page was only created in February of this year.
“We are still in the beta test phase, though we are super excited about what it will eventually become,” Lillien said.
Hungry Girl U’s Facebook page can be found at facebook.com/hungrygirlu. The Twitter page is twitter.com/hungrygirlu, and the Instagram can be found @hungrygirlu.
