A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

A skeptical look at Skinny Bitch

If you already know about the book and just want to know exactly how their advice helped me personally you can skip to the end of the article ^^

This has been out for awhile now, but I enjoyed reading this book and I’d like to take a stab at writing up a review for it. From what I’d heard online, I already expected it to be full of vegan propaganda, which seems to be surprising to some online reviewers. First of all, here’s something that everyone has to understand: Pretty much every vegan ever has, before becoming a vegan, said those words: “I could never get up meat, dairy and eggs!” Same thing with vegetarians and meat. Nobody understands this! If you’re open-minded enough to accept that you might possibly, in the future, change your diet in any significant way (like cutting out many processed foods), then you should get this book. If you don’t want to be vegan at all, DON’T LET THAT STOP YOU FROM LOOKING AT THIS BOOK! However if you are just like hellbent on eating enormous quantities of animal stuff, or if you’re from Texas, then you should just go look at Atkins.

I have eaten animal products my whole life, and I still do. So when I picked this book I expected unwanted vegan propaganda. I got it because I already wanted to cut as many processed foods out of my diet as possible and buy organic, so I thought at most this book would be a fun read with decent information about food additives and how horrible they are, with a little FDA dirt on the side. They kicked my ass and exceeded my expectations at the same time. It is all that and so much more!

Even if you don’t care at all about animal cruelty, you will still think twice about drinking milk and eating meat all the time when you read this. They make several VERY good points. Are you one of those people that only eats lean meat like chicken, as if that’s such a great thing? Well, your chickens are probably pumped full of hormones, stressed out and sick. Would you willingly ingest Bovine Growth Hormone? Then why the hell drink milk? They have arguments against meat/dairy/additives even if you’re an organic meat eater. They talk about protein which, contrary to popular belief, is not that hard to get if you don't eat meat. And they assure you that there’s plenty of tasty vegan “junk food” out there and you can eat all the (unrefined) carbs your fat ass wants!

And don’t worry – like I said before, if you still want to have your steak and eat it too, there are still things you can take away from this book. Eating organic, for starters. There’s also good information on artificial sweeteners. They actually tell you it’s okay to use sweeteners that have calories! Holy shit!!

My least favorite thing about this book is– they cite a bunch of sources which is awesome, but unfortunately some of them are Peta. Reading studies from Peta about dairy is about as useful as reading the dairy industries studies about dairy. I only really believe sources like Harvard that don’t have some kind of agenda. Also, I fucking hate Peta.

They advise against using honey as a sweetener, but don’t give good reasons why. I know vegan means no animal products, but who loses sleep over the exploitation of bees, seriously. They do suggest agave nectar, Stevia and a lot of other great sugar alternatives, along with compelling reasons why you shouldn’t eat Splenda, aspartame or any of that crap.

If your honey isn't top quality, you're not abusing your bees enough

I don't wholeheartedly agree with every thing they say. I think that eggs and meat are probably OK to eat – in small quantities – and if they’re raised organically. I eat pretty much a vegan diet, but I’m really lenient because, I want to be honest with you, I really don’t give a shit about the animals. If I was just walking around out in the jungle it's not like a tiger would think twice about mauling me to death. If my friend makes some chicken dish that she’s really proud of and wants me to try it, I’ll shut up and eat the fucking chicken.

Nevertheless, I can definitely recommend this book to you. Read it with an open mind, and, as they repeat throughout the book (more good advice), trust no one. Take at least some of their advice because it is really good even if you don’t agree with everything they say. You just can’t go wrong eating healthy, organic foods. I haven’t read many diet books, but I suspect it is one of the better ones that’s out there right now; there’s no pseudoscience here. The imagery and smart-mouthed comments are enough to kick anyone’s fat ass into a healthier way of life.

My Personal Testimony

I already had the goal of cutting out processed food and artificial sweeteners and eating mostly organic. After I read this book I definitely felt compelled to do these things. The thing is, you don’t even have to adhere to it strictly! Its not like Atkins or whatever where you’re screwed if you do something wrong. The point is that I don’t even do the whole Skinny Bitch plan and I still lost a bunch of weight pretty much effortlessly. I went from alternating between 130 and 135 all the time to 122 and dropping. To compare – I have never weighed less than 125 at a height above, like, 5’7” (I’m 5’8”) before in my life, even when I’ve restricted heavily. Even when I ate fewer than 1000 calories a day for weeks at a time. I feel great all the time – that’s the thing you should expect from a diet! Weight loss is just a treat. And yeah, I eat tons of yummy food and never feel deprived. Hell I probably eat more then before. I eat all the time. Vegan food is not THAT hard to find. So there’s my story about using the Skinny Bitch rules.