Skinny Bitch
by Kim Barnouin, Rory Freedman
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Book Reviews of Skinny Bitch
Book Review: Yikes!
Summary: 2 Stars
The first couple few chapters were great. Warnings of the dangers of artificial sweeteners, refined sugar, hydrogenated oils, etc. I was even with them on the ridiculousness of Atkins. Then the book suddenly turned into a rabid vegan manifesto.
Later, the authors go on to tout the fabulousness of water fasts and give faulty "scientific" reasoning for not eating breakfast.
Oh, and processed food is bad... *unless* it's the processed fake-meat/cheese/junkfood substitutes they like. Basically they give the idea that if it's 'vegan', it's all good, no matter what. This is misleading and dangerous.
The basis of their dieting approach seems to be to gross you out and guilt you out of eating pretty much anything.
I do have to agree with a previous reviewer that it does come across as a guidebook for "acceptable" anorexia.
At the least, it's not about actual nutrition. And there is no middle ground. You're either with them (strictly vegan) or evil and filled with rotting-flesh and the rage/fear/tears of animals (I kid you not... this is literally what they say).
One thing I found particularly bothersome was the idea that buying organic is more important than being able to pay your rent. Once again, this is an actual statement from the book.
The idea seems to be that if you can't afford to buy everything organic, just starve until you can or else you'll be a terrible, miserable, disgusting, fat slob for ever.
I'm not sure how I would feel about the book if I'd had any idea it was a vegan diatribe before I picked it up. I just happened across the audiobook at my library and the description gives no hint of what lies within. I was expecting a slightly foul-mouthed and humorous book about health and nutrition. I got an angry (and sometimes very far fetched) rant about the authors' political views and the evils of eating meat, eggs, and dairy. I listened to the entire thing, hoping that eventually it would get past the militant PETA stuff and get into some actual nutritional/diet information. Unfortunately, that never happened. As close as it got was lists of their favorite processed vegan foods. It was more like an advertisement for their favorite foods rather than a guide to eating well.
I have nothing against veganism in general, but I'm not interested in going vegan myself and would not have wasted my time with this book if I'd had any idea that was what it was about.
And I do have a problem with being insulted for not being 100% organic vegan.
Yes, I am very interested in eating more veggies and whole grains. Yes, I agree that artificial sweeteners, hydrogenated oils, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, etc are terrible and I don't want them in my food. I certainly try to buy organic when I can.
But for the authors, there is no middle ground. No easing into these drastic lifestyle changes. No leeway, guidelines, or plan of any sort. Just all or nothing. And insults for anyone who doesn't go balls-to-the-wall 100%. This is a recipe for failure and discouragement.
If you're interested in tips on upping the veggie & grain content of your diet in a practical and healthy way, without being put down for choosing to keep meat, eggs, and dairy in the rotation, try The Flexitarian Diet by Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, LDN. I actually picked this book up on the same trip to the library. It's a much more sensible and practical approach and includes useful information and suggestions instead of employing scare/gross-out tactics and insults.
Skinny Bitch definitely left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I felt tricked into an angry vegan diatribe sneak-attack. If I'd actually spent money on it, I would be really mad.
And if I was vegan, I'd be enraged and embarrassed to be represented in this manner. Veganism is a legitimate and potentially rewarding lifestyle choice. But this book does not represent it well and is totally counterproductive. And readers shouldn't have to be misled into reading your book. That's just pathetic.
Book Review: dont disregard it because of it's name.
Summary: 5 Stars
I read this book on the third week of a six week challenge i was doing, called "daniel's challenge". the challenge basically involved eating no sugar (besides healthy natural ones) and eating no meat (or meat products) or dairy. The basic gist of the diet is that you eat as many fruits and vegetables and beans/legumes and you want and if your still needing nourishment you eat nuts (sparingly) and grains. Because that is what we are meant to eat.
I decided to do this "diet" because I was sick of feeling gross about my body (i was NOT overweight at all), but i've always felt that I didn't look/feel the best i could about myself. after only days of this diet i felt OUTSTANDING. My runs in the morning were easier, I was losing extra weight that I didn't even know I had. I felt alive and invigorated. That's how I knew that this was a good thing. I've never been a big meat eater, and i would have considered myself to be a better eater than most. But this was a new level of feeling completely happy and in control of who I am and what I put in my body. The average american takes NO NOTICE as to waht they are putting in their bodies. These are our temples nd we only get one. However we load them with chemicals we don't know the affect they have on our bodies, and junk our machines don't need to run smoothly. This stuff inhibits our physical and spiritual health.
anyway...that's when I picked up this book. totally turned off by the title and what those words insinuate, i didn't want to read it. Then I heard a good friend I trust speak good things of it, so I gave it a try.
This book although it swears (uncalled for) and they have a dumb attitude at the beginning. Towards the middle you realize that they used this title as a marketing ploy. What they really wanted to do was spread their message of truth. For some reason the American public eats a certain way and is very closed minded about healthy change. The authors are right on the mark with the eating parts of the book. I am vegan because it is the healthiest way to eat for our machines. Fruits and vegies have almost everything we need. We can eat as much as we want and not get fat, because they are made for our bodies. Fat vegans eat fattening food. Such as some kinds of vegan cookies, that have 160 calories for two of them, just like oreo's. They may be healthier but the have the same amount of calories. Thats how they get fat. I am a vegan eater because I KNOW that it's the best thing for my body (lots of fruits and vegies). End of story. I love animals, and I wouldn't eat them (a very recent thing), mostly because of the insanely inhuman things that are done to them. But that is not why I am a vegan. as a side note I believe that animals are on this earth for us to eat sparingy...such as when we don't have enough to eat. But not on a daily basis. or any sort of regular basis. only for emergency times when we don't have fruits and veggies.
I used to be like those people who would think these girls are crazy and "everybody is different", blah blah blah. All those reviews are written by people who are afraid to say that this is the way to the best you possible (it is), becuause they son't want to believe it. The book speaks truth. If you haven't tried it, then you can't possibly know. I don't eat most of the things they recommend. I don't use this as my bible, however they have good points, the main points that they are saying are true. Try it first. and don't blindly believe anyone. Find out for yourself through research on what truly is the best for our bodies and spirits.
by the way one of the author's has a master's in holistic nutrition. There is a lot of opinion in this book, but I should hope that we are all smart enough to realize that almost everything ever written is opinion. science is based on some facts and mostl opinion it is constantly changing, and they are constantly contradicting themselves (scientist). You have to find the basic truths (principles) and live our lives by them. this book is based on a basic truth.
Book Review: From a public health worker/data geek
Summary: 5 Stars
Seeing as I just spent the past 10 minutes very enthusiastically recommending this book to a friend, I figured I might as well post a review...
I decided to read this book because I was basically sick of feeling like crap all the time and needed a serious life re-boot. I read an article by one of the authors and really liked it, and it made me think Skinny Bitch might just be what I needed. I am SO GLAD that I did. While I can COMPLETELY see how the general tone would put off a lot of people, it was definitely what I needed. I was sick of crappy quasi-advice and wishy-washy guidelines - I found it maddening. So somebody saying, "What are you stupid? That makes no sense at all!" was actually much appreciated. But once again - I can definitely see how the abrasiveness would not be appreciated by all. (That being said, the book IS called "Skinny Bitch" not "Skinny Warm and Fuzzy Friend to Hold Your Hand and Tell You You're Perfect Just the Way You Are")
I'm not sure what else my post can add to the 900+ other reviews, but let me just give you some background on who I am so you can see where I'm coming from. I'm a public health worker and researcher/data geek. Once I started working in this field I became absolutely horrified with not only the travesty that is the American food supply regulatory system, but also with the use and reporting of health data. There's a great book out there that I highly recommend called "How to Lie With Statistics" - once you really get an understanding of how data "works", you start seeing misrepresentation and misinterpretation all over the place. And it's scary! (maybe I should write a review over there too...) I have access to a lot of hard data that other people do not, and I also know where to find reliable sources and interpret them myself, but I'm in the minority - and it really upsets me when I see the public getting info I KNOW is bad.
Anyway, the point is that I know some people think the data in this book is way off base and/or biased, but for the most part it is on point. Sure the whole thing about veggies being "alive" when you eat them compared to "dead" meat, etc. - that's a semantics issue I think. The *point* is that eating tons of meat is bad for you and eating tons of veggies is good for you. Period. And anyone who would tell you otherwise is either an idiot or pushing an agenda. I have no vested interest in whether or not you eat meat or dairy or processed sugar or whatever. (Although I might argue that I'm not thrilled about having to pay for the medical bills of people who are trashing their own bodies). But I'm just saying that because it's a fact. If you want to eat McDs every day or smoke crack or, I don't know, jump off a cliff - I could care less.
Also, what I think a lot of people don't understand is that the meat most Americans are eating is not the "ideal" kind of meat they are picturing when they eat it. And the agencies that they think are protecting them AREN'T. That is not a vegan/vegetarian/omnivore issue - that is a quality control issue. And I'm not basing that on this book; I'm basing that on first-hand knowledge. I'm just glad that someone is finally telling the American people about it! (And if it's in a diet book, I guess that's as good a route as any to get to the American people...)
This has already been the longest book review I've ever written, but one more thing: I gave up dairy for good because of this book. I had known it wasn't good for me, and this book finally made me realize that I needed to stop being dumb and just do it. And I lost 25 pounds and feel great. That being said, I'm not perfect - I still drink a coke every once in a while, I occasionally eat (non-farmed) fish, I drink coffee, etc. But this book really helped me start making positive changes and start doing things based on what made sense and made me feel good instead of what everyone else was doing or saying - in all aspects of my life. And for that I am very thankful.
Book Review: Halfway through the first chapter, and this is already a one-star.
Summary: 1 Stars
While I am happy to read a book with a no-nonsense voice that slaps readers around a bit about nutrition and weight loss, I am simultaneously rolling my eyes and laughing over the grossly uneducated, hypocritical hysteria just in the first handful of paragraphs.
I find it lol-inducing that the authors have advocated "using your brain" so much, yet trumpet organic-only food as if that's going to save mankind from itself. Really? Perhaps the authors should use their own effing brains and actually LEARN about what organic farming is and is not. I won't go into it -- the curious review-reader can do their own Googling about the pros and cons of organic crop farming. But it should be readily obvious to any person with a brain that the issue of organics is not black and white. Organic farming DOES use pesticides and fertilizers. They just use pesticides and fertilizers that are "approved" by their governing association's board of controllers. Organic farming is a BUSINESS that is profiting off of idiots like Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin by just telling them that organic is healthier without producing the evidence to back it up, and they believe it, because, in a supreme, towering spectacle of irony, THEY ARE NOT USING THEIR GODDAMN BRAINS AND THINKING FOR THEMSELVES.
More lack of brain-use from the authors in the first half of the first chapter: On page 14 and 15 the authors quite rightly advise readers to drink lots of water. Fine. Water is a good thing. I can get behind that. Then on pate 19, in a bizarre and senseless screed against using over-the-counter painkillers as needed, the authors say, "Medicine is made of chemicals. Never mind that the Food and Drug Administration gives their stamp of approval. ... Use your own damn brain. Do you think putting CHEMICALS in your body is good for you?" Reality check to Kim and Rory: The following are also made of chemicals: Pristine apples growing on beautiful, pesticide-free trees never touched by the hand of man; carrots pulled directly from the bosom of nurturing Mother Earth; the pesticides and fertilizers used in organic farming; the makeup you bitches put on your smug, misinformed faces; and WATER. The human body is made of chemicals, FFS. Anti-chemical hysteria and automatic mistrust of the FDA just because they're a government administration are hallmarks of loons and/or idiots.
So in just nineteen pages, the hypocrisy is flying like vast flocks of evil winged monkeys.
I'm not sure I want to see where the rest of this book goes. I was willing to sigh and roll my eyes and filter out the pro-organic hoobeehoo if there was actually some good advice buried in here, but fear of medicine is just insane. I don't even need to lose weight -- I'm healthy and look great and feel excellent; I was just curious about this book, having seen it on book store shelves for so long. I kind of feel sorry for these two women, that they've allowed themselves to live in fear of the world around them and to live as such raging hypocrites by the simple act of not following their own very easy advice: USE YOUR BRAIN. THINK FOR YOURSELF.
Alas for Kim and Rory, thinking for one's self means procuring for one's self a comprehensive and open-minded education. Not in a school -- that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about examining claims made by those around you, such as, for example, the mega-billions-generating organic foods industry, and using a functional and rational brain, deciding whether those claims are true or untrue.
I'd like to write my own book called SKINNY BITCH WITH A BRAIN that refutes all the embarrassingly hypocritical and illogical claims made by the authors of this book.
Book Review: Not what you may think, but well worth the read...
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is not about a special "diet" that will help you quickly and easily lose weight. This book is about changing your entire lifestyle! The title and language the authors use will offend some people, but really, this was just their way to grab readers' attention. Read "The Food Revolution" by John Robbins if you're easily offended by foul language. I read this book before "Skinny Bitch", and it changed my life forever.
In my opinion, those who attack this book are those who are choosing to ignore the truth about what they continue putting in their mouths. I got my sister to read the book, but she refused to read the entire chapter about slaughterhouses and animal abuse. Granted, it is not for the faint of heart. But, that being said, just because you ignore something doesn't mean it isn't happening every single day. "Closing your eyes to the problem will not make it go away. You don't want to see it, but you'll eat it?" (p. 52)
It's not just the inhumane treatment of these animals that prevents me from eating them, it's the conflict of interest in our regulatory agencies and government that continues to cover up lies and protect the meat and dairy industries that are making us unhealthy by promoting "products" that people should not be eating.
I'm not saying the vegan lifestyle will work for everyone (although I wish it would). There are people that will refute every truth in this book. There are people who don't care. There are people that were raised to think no other way. There are people who will find the vegan lifestyle too inconvenient. Still, I read this book (and others), and I CHOOSE not to consume animals. You are entitled to CHOOSE what you put in your mouth - I just think it helps to first be informed. People who viciously attack this book, the authors and other people's beliefs will get nowhere and add absolutely nothing to this discussion. This is information. You can CHOOSE to believe it, you can CHOOSE to ignore it or you can CHOOSE to ask more questions. I never questioned what I put in my mouth for 27 years, and now, I kick myself every day for not asking questions and for ignoring the truth.
Regardless of your position on this issue, the authors discuss other food, drink and lifestyle choices that are making people fat and unhealthy - alcohol, smoking, lack of exercise, sugar, coffee, artificial sweeteners, refined/simple carbs and fad diets. Well, duh! But I still think they make some excellent points and provide a great foundation to jumpstart your lifestyle change.
The book ends with daily menus, products they love, their sources of information and additional resources for reading. But, my favorite part of the entire book is the afterword (something they didn't even write), and it's definitely worth repeating:
"Isn't man an amazing animal? He kills wildlife by the millions in order to protect his domestic animals and their feed. Then he kills domestic animals by the billions and eats them. This in turn kills man by the millions, because eating all those animals leads to degenerative - and fatal - health conditions like heart disease, kidney disease and cancer. So then man tortures and kills millions more animals to look for cures for these diseases. Elsewhere, millions of other human beings are being killed by hunger and malnutrition because food they could eat is being used to fatten domestic animals. Meanwhile, some people are dying of sad laughter at the absurdity of man, who kills so easily and so violently, and once a year sends out cards praying for 'Peace on Earth.'"
- Preface from Old MacDonald's Factory Farm, by C. David Coats
I guess I have another book to read...