We first wrote about Sara Rue all the way back in aught six, when she lost a bunch of weight and it was speculated (by gossipy people) that she’d had weight loss surgery and had to have it reversed. Here’s what I said at the time:

[I]f she wants to go all Reese Witherspoon for the sake of her career, I guess more power to her. I can’t imagine that looking like yet another generic Hollywood blonde would be helpful, but let’s face it, I’m probably wrong. Thirdly, I am depressed to have lost one of our hot, young, sexy, curvy-chick role models. And finally, I think she was way cuter before. But then again, we all know that girls-who-look-like-me are totally my type.

Well, I guess losing a lot of weight didn’t magically kickstart her career; but she gained some of the weight back and is now working for Jenny Craig.

“My weight has fluctuated my whole life, and because I’ve been on television since I was 11 years old, everyone has seen it,” she explains. “I think like so many women in this country I have a problem controlling what I eat sometimes based on my emotional health”… Rue’s initial weight loss goal is 30 pounds. Then, she says, “we’ll see how my body looks, how I feel, and go from there.” Her first post-weight loss goal? “Rock climbing or wind surfing!” Rue says. “The things that I’m just too intimidated the size I am now to do.” But the big question remains: Does she want to follow in Bertinelli’s footsteps and sport a bikini? “If I look half as good as Valerie does at the end of this, maybe, possibly,” Rue says, smiling. “I don’t know if I’m more scared of sharks or being in a bathing suit. Maybe sharks, depending on the day.”

Someone out there tell me you’re a fat rock climber or wind surfer! This makes me want to go wind surfing right now, when I’m way bigger than Sara Rue. Sigh. I know it’s none of my business, but she’s so cute again! I’m on the Sara Rue weight emotional roller coaster. Why does this always happen to me when some celebrity signs up to sell a diet?

I looked into this a little further and found the text of an article in Marie Claire about this “phenomenon.”

Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Marcia Cross are among the celebrities who are spoon-feeding themselves with toddler tucker. The idea of substituting one, and sometimes two, regular meals a day for the tiny fruit and vegetable meals originated from New York fashion guru Hedi Slimane… [he] is said to have first coined the phrase ‘baby eating’ by sticking to baby food for days on end to maintain his slimline figure.

A-listers are snapping up the vitamin and mineral-rich snacks from organic ‘designer’ labels such as Earth’s Best, which are now being sold in the healthfood sections of high-brow supermarkets. Jennifer Aniston believes the ‘purer, nutrient-packed, gluten-free’ pots help to maintain her trim figure; Reese Witherspoon told a US TV show she’s careful not to crash diet on infant food and makes sure to have one adult meal a day; while Marcia Cross ditched junk food snacks for baby food to keep hunger pangs at bay.

According to one nutritionist (from, where else, L.A.), it’s perfectly okay:

There’s nothing wrong with anyone eating baby food,’ LA-based nutritionist Dr Marty Edwards tells the newspaper. ‘It’s nutritious and delicious as a snack. But adults require a minimum daily calorific intake, so it would be absolute folly to dine only on these little jars. Substituting them for chips, crisps or burgers as a healthy snack alternative does, however, make a lot of sense.’

Here is a page of baby food nutrition information, if you are curious. The peaches have 51 calories. The macaroni and cheese has 83. The prunes have 15.

Is anyone else tempted to go to the Gelson’s in Hollywood and check out the organic baby food line? Maybe run into Jen Aniston while you’re there? I should totally do a taste test. Maybe baby food is not actually as disgusting as I remember.