Skinny Bitch
by Kim Barnouin, Rory Freedman
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Book Reviews of Skinny Bitch
Book Review: Misleading and Poorly Written
Summary: 1 Stars
Skinny Bitch is a grossly misleading and poorly written book. Do not waste your time on it. Nowhere in the introduction or synopsis do the authors tell you they are vegans. I did not realize their goal was to convert everyone until a few chapters in. They claim the proof that we are not supposed to eat meat is that we don't have teeth like a lion, the speed of a tiger, or the fingernails of an eagle. Every animal that eats meat does not share every characteristic of other meat eaters. Animals are all different, and humans are definitely different than other animals. They also rely heavily on the gross factor, sighting a reason for not eating something is the level of disgust they have for it. They have not done any studies to test their theory: that vegans are healthier and therefore skinnier than non-vegans. And I doubt that this is an absolute truth.
The authors begin the book by making fun of plans that ask you cut a certain food completely from your diet, and then they proceed to do the very same thing. I am not opposed to people choosing to be vegetarians or vegans, but to argue that this is the only way to be healthy or loose weight is close-minded. Much of the book is actually devoted to discussing animal conditions, in gross detail. This is not how the book is advertised.
I feel the authors are on a crusade to end animal cruelty, not actually help people become skinny, or healthy. For instance, this is a quote found on page 76 of the book, "You are what you eat. You cannot be thin and beautiful with a glowing complexion when you eat fear, grief, and rage." The quote is in reference to eating animals that may be afraid, sad, and mad about dying. Another quote, found on page 77, "They don't get to stop for bathroom breaks..." refers to animals being transported. I'm sorry to burst their bubble, but even prized show cattle, horses, sheep, and other animals that are sometimes treated like part of the family end up walking in their own feces on occasion. They are animals after all, not people. They even go so far as to claim a reason to give up meat is that "the burps and farts of 10 billion animals a year is directly responsible for global warming." So it's not really about being healthy or skinny, it's about saving the world!
They also like to "debunk" myths, but show no proof of their argument. They simply state it's not true because we said so. Believe us and our no proof, they say, even when highly educated and well-researched professionals tell you differently. I seriously doubt the intelligence level of either of these women, because every fifth word in the book is an expletive. No truly intellectual or educated person speaks, and definitely does not write, like this.
If you are looking for a book about healthy eating, this is not it. This book could be shortened to three sentences. America is stupid. We are smarter than everyone. Give up all animal products, and that's all you need to know about being skinny. The book never discusses portion control, and no evidence or research is provided that this "plan" works on anyone but the two authors. It is a political book, where too much time is spent going over lawsuits and legislation, instead of nutrition. By far the worst health book I've ever read, if you can even call it that.
Book Review: VegNews Magazine Review
Summary: 5 Stars
This review appeared in the January/February issue of VegNews Magazine
Browsing through a bookstore, you come upon Skinny Bitch: A No-Nonsense, Tough Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous. Thinking it's another diet book, you open it only to discover a chic, well-informed vegan manifesto.
Skinny Bitch isn't just a call to compassion disguised as a hip diet book. It also serves as the first tangible end-product for a duo eight years in the making. Co-authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin met at a small Virginia modeling agency in 1997, and Rory later worked as Kim's agent. They became roommates, and after some time, Rory influenced Kim to give up Vienna sausages and Big Macs to become vegetarian. Ever since they have supported one another throughout their respective battles for the cause.
Rory had been at Ford Models in New York for five years when Tracy and Lauren Silverman took her to an animal rights conference. Straight away she resigned from the company whose models have graced the covers of Vogue, Glamour and Elle to become a full-time activist. Unable to score a job in this less-lucrative field, she taught pre-school and kindergarten and volunteered in her spare time.
Kim became educated about the issues through the help of Rory and exposure to organizations like PETA. She went to work at Massage by Design in 2003, a holistic spa in Miami's South Beach. Holistic health explores the interconnectedness between the different systems of the body and between individual and global health. At the spa, Kim realized she could help people through the potentially healing powers of sound nutrition. She became an avid researcher of diet and health studies.
In 2003, she started bullying Rory about working on a project together. Other than letters to the editor published in People Magazine and LA Times, Rory hadn't penned anything in her life. "Kim," she says, "only knew how to write her name." Combining Kim's researching skills gleaned from her studies and Rory's natural knack for lively, accessible writing, they launched a two-pronged attack against sugar, meat, "the dairy disaster," and other waistline-expanding culprits.
Their battle plan? "We modeled Skinny Bitch after the chick literature books out at the time. We knew if we wanted to appeal to the mainstream we couldn't write a vegan diet book." Because diet books sell so well, appealing to women's vanity may prove a savvy strategy. In 2003, diet books accounted for roughly nine percent of all books sold. Bestsellers French Women Don't Get Fat and Enter the Zone have over one million copies in print. The South Beach Diet has more than 7.6 million copies in print, and the Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, more than 10 million.
Still, the two could catch heat for exploiting sexuality to fuel the movement. Skinny Bitch does, after all, play into women's manic obsession with losing weight to heighten sex appeal. "What's wrong with that?" spouts Kim. "Anybody who asks that question has never seen footage from a factory farm. Any means would be worthy of ending that."
Book Review: Crass? Duh, look at the title! Informative and smart? Yeah!
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew this book was seriously in favour of being vegan, which is great for me since I've been having the damndest time un-lapsing from vegan-ness, although I'm a huge supporter of PETA and have seen "Meet Your Meat" several times (if you haven't seen it, do a Google search. It will change your way of thinking, and if it doesn't, then you just suck and have the morals of Dubya. Sorry, but true.) All I have to say is "Whoa Nelly!" This book rocked my socks. The visual images of "MYM" are crazy disturbing, but combined with the in-depth reseach the authors of Skinny Bitch provide (these ladies did their homework, for shizz), I am totally rededicated to being vegan! They talk about all sorts of poisons and pesticides found in animal products...but what really did it was the flashback to "The Jungle:" the USDA and FDA are doing jack to regulate our food. I knew this already, but I didn't exactly realize to what extent. If you've read "The Jungle," you know what kind of utter nastiness and cruelty goes on in industrial farming (rotten meat being sold, insect-infected meat ground up and supplied to the military), but reading quotes from actual *present* day workers blew my mind: it STILL goes on! The cruelty, moral decripitude and unsanitary conditions are boggling. Dairy addict that I am..er..WAS, reading about infected teats oozing pus THAT NONETHELESS ARE BEING MILKED kicked Ben and Jerry right out of my mind. Cherry Garcia with Pus Chunks!? No thank you!
Yeah, the book curses. Didn't you figure that out by the title? If you want something academic or polite, look elsewhere. I love all the people who rate it low because of the vulgarity...again, couldn't you tell by the title? Fact of the matter is, these girls aren't just L.A. Airheads: they have done some serious research (10+ pages of sources, if you must know). No, they're not doctors. But how many of you have had doctors give INEFFECTIVE suggestions for weight loss? Oh, you too? My point exactly.
A lot of people get defensive because no one wants to be called a bad guy for eating meat, eggs and dairy. Well, no one used to think there was a problem with fur either. Or cigarettes. Or hitting your kid with a belt. We're not ostriches, so get your head out of the ground and face up to your actions. I'm not perfect...I used to live off of bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. But having maintained a 50lb weight loss over four years by being vegetarian/vegan, I can speak from experience that it's much harder (not impossible, but *harder*) to be severely overweight if you're cutting out (or down) on animal products. And for those of you that claim this book is propaganda: check out the funding of the Meat and Dairy industries to OUR POLITICIANS. Check out the amount of former lobbyists for the Meat, Egg and Dairy industry that are now employed by our government. Check out all the ads like "Beef: it's what's for dinner," or "Got Milk?" funded, at least in part, by the UDSA. THAT's propaganda: uninformed, non-sited messages braodcast regularly.
This book is entertaining, informative and real. Cheers to these ladies for bringing veganism to the mainstream!
Book Review: Want to prevent illnesses and dis-ease? Then read this book.
Summary: 4 Stars
Though I prefer Quantum Wellness and The China Study to Skinny Bitch, nonetheless this book IS VERY IMPORTANT for those who value their health.
If you eat a well balanced vegan diet that is not all carbs ( hey, there are 'junk food' vegans out there who eat nothing but empty carbs), you are FACTUALLY PREVENTING DISEASE AND WILL REGULATE YOUR BODY WEIGHT. Do your homework people, don't just believe doctors who have LITTLE TO NO training in nutrition and preventative medicine.
I am reposting here my response to a so called Doctor and nurse who wrote the book is nonsense.
' I am deeply disturbed by your lack of knowledge pertaining to the physiological ramifications of living a meat free, dairy free life. I too am in the health industry but consume a vegan diet, which has no saturated or trans fats, and is high in omega 3 6 and 9 acids ( derived from flax, borage, and other plant oils). I get large amounts of protein and iron from a plants and it is more readily absorbed that of fat and chemical laden meat.
Are you simply unaware of The China Study and Dr. Max Gerson's research on the effects of a meat/dairy free diet on cancer patients, or do you just have another agenda, such as to push the populace's consumption of meat?
And Jayne, just as S. Mehl asked, how many hours of study did you get as a nurse? Are you aware of the longest study of diet ever concocted in history, known as the China Study? How man of your ex-patients were obese or overweight and how many of them were carnivores? Do both of you know that cancer is on the rise and obesity is an epidemic in this country, which consumes more meat/dairy ( and from sick, hormone-laden sources) than most other countries?
It is sad that people like you two ( who are absolutely ignorant on nutrition and preventative medicine) are on amazon spreading lies about a vegan diet.
My husband is an asthmatic who was told that he would have to use an anti-inflammatory inhaler every 12 hours of his life. He adopted a vegan, gluten free diet when he noticed that his attacks would happen when he consumed gluten and dairy ( which contains lactose and the horrible protein casein, which is used IN GLUE). He now uses his inhaler maybe one to two times a month.
I am working with a girl who lost her baby due to having to deliver her daughter at 21 weeks, as she had kidney failure and the placenta was putting too much pressure on her kidneys. She was destroyed by her daughter's death, and now is facing her own since she is in stage four. After having her simply cut back on meat ( and thus taking pressure off of her kidneys, which like other organs work overtime when meat is consumed) and start to drink Dr. Schulzes Kidney tea ( which assists the kidneys in functioning and cleans them) she feels much better and less tired. I hope she is able to continue eating less meat and hopefully none at all.
PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE = NUTRITION Don't you remember Hippocrates? Didn't you take his Oath?
Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. ~Albert Einstein
Book Review: Love it, but take it with a grain of salt
Summary: 5 Stars
I really loved this book when I first read it in 2006. Now I realize a lot of readers get all upset over the profanity, the fact that it's basically a vegan manifesto, and the in-your-face no-bs talk about foods that make us fat. I don't have any insight into the eating disorder world, so I'll leave that one alone, but I've read several reviews that mention eating disorders.
Anyhow, you can't take this book too seriously. It's really meant to be a tongue-in-cheek way for women who eat junk food and processed crap to look at what they're eating (the ingredients) and say "jeez, there's gotta be a healthier alternative."
I grew up in Texas and used to love meat and dairy, although I've been lactose intolerant pretty much my entire adult life. But, as most of us do, I ignored it because I loved cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. Even though it made me violently sick, I still ate dairy (with Lactaid pills). Go figure that I should have just cut it out a long time ago... it's been 4 years since I've started avoiding dairy (I do my best) and I feel better than ever. No more tummy problems. And honestly it took this book telling me how much crap was in our dairy supply before I finally realized it just wasn't worth it.
I think more so than the vegan than (I've been vegan since the book and I find it incredibly easy to do since I live in Northern California), my favorite part about this book was teaching me what "natural" ingredients were. I used to shop at Safeway and buy the cheap processed version of everything. Cheetos, candy bars, diet soda, frozen dinners - no problem. Since I learned about ingredients you can't pronounce, I now only shop at natural foods stores like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market (for special occasions - I'm not a millionaire) and I READ THE INGREDIENTS. Omg it has made such a difference in my life. Being able to differentiate real from fake food has made me healthier than ever.
I think if you read this book, that's what you have to take away from it. That a plant-based diet is better for you than eating ham and grilled cheese sandwiches, and that you shouldn't eat food that is full of artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners, and preservatives. I was never a smoker or big drinker, so that part didn't affect me either, but I've definitely cut out a lot of unnecessary calories from sugar and enriched, processed carbs like pasta and "white" bread. Did you know there's sprout bread made from vegetables that tastes amazing?
The only area I've disagreed with is the stuff about medicines, pain killers, and caffeine. I wish I had a lifestyle where I could go without caffeine or ibuprofen but I don't. Oh well.
So, I would definitely recommend this book to someone who has tried a bunch of diets and is willing to make sacrifices to have a healthier lifestyle. It's not a step-by-step plan or a list of foods you're allowed to eat. It's a set of guidelines to help you look at food in a different way - stop eating processed, non-nutritional crap and learn how to shop at the grocery store. But take it with a grain of salt.