The book "Skinny Bitch"

hi ya'll,

I was just wondering if any of you have read the book "Skinny Bitch".. I finished it today and i find myself so disgusted by the meat/dairy industry. So much so that vegetarian seems to be the way to go. (not only due to animal cruelty but also for overall health). I just want to know if any of you have read it and how it's impacted it you (if it has at all).

thanks,

analise

I finished this book a couple of weeks ago and have been debating posting back here since.

I think there were definitely some valid points.

I also think parts of the book were just silly.  And I can definitely see why someone not part of the 'community', so to speak, could find it irrational and propagandist.

The parts that bothered me the most was the constant insistance that the *only* way to be thin is to be vegan.  That if you ever eat any animal products you are doomed to be fat forever.  I mean, please.  There are vegans who are overweight, and there are meat eaters that are exceedingly thin.  A just does not equal B here.

So, I'm mixed.  While I think there were some valid, good arguments in there, I was negatively swayed from the beginning by their premise that being vegan is the only way to be thin.  If I recall towards the end they promote 3 meals a day, snacking only if absolutely necessary.  That also goes against what the vast majority of experts seem to advise (small frequent meals for metabolism). 

I think they would have done better to leave out some of the 'diet' tips that are unfounded and just stick to the health benefits of the lifestyle.  (I.e., not trying to convince people this is the one and only way to lose weight and stay thin, but rather it is the one and only way to avoid the bad stuff we are all trying to avoid.)

I don't regret reading it, but it is not a book I will be recommending to others.

Ok, I saw post a few days ago and it peaked my interested, so I picked the book up yesterday and didn't put it down until I was done. I was trying the vegan lifestyle for three days before I started reading, and I always assumed I would fall back to vegetarianism after a few weeks, but now I don't think I could go back to dairy. Their writing is definitely one-sided and I'm not taking everything they wrote as fact, but the horror stories from the slaughterhouses and the quotes from the workers was enough to make me outraged.  Those images alone will be enough to make this lifestyle permanent for me. 

THIS BOOK KICKS ASS. it's basically what spurred my conversion to veganism... i was a vegetarian for a while years back but was a meateater until reading this book. what influenced me the most was learning how unhealthy animal products are. everyone should read this book it's so funny and awesome.

I had already become vegetarian before reading this book becaise I learned of the cruelties online, but then I read Fast Food Nation and just recently Skinny B*tch.  If I wasn't already convinced, which I was, these would have done the trick.  The cruelties are horrific and unbelievable.  Poor animals.  I no longer contribute to animal cruelty.  I buy cruelty-free products now as well.  If anyone needs brand advice for products, please let me know!

I have considered becoming vegan for a while, for multiple reasons. The main reason I wanted to try it out was because I heard that allergies and asthma can be induced from having dairy/meat products, due to all the hormones, antibiotics, etc. that make it into these products. I decided to give it a three week try. Prior to this, I also read Skinny Bitch, which I would highly recommend reading, and helped me to stick with it. I felt amazing after 3 weeks, and I can even say my attitude changed. I also wasn't craving any type of junk food, and thoroughly enjoyed eating raw vegetables. I went back to having milk for about a week, and felt like crap, reintroducing it to my body, and have now decided to stick with being vegan. Anyways, if you haven't read the book, read it!

i'm healthier than i have ever been in my life, having cut out animal products. I have more energy, my allergies don't bother me nearly as much, haven't had to use my inhaler since a month after going vegan, skin looks better, sleep better, and am just happier in general

 

OH MY GOD! I have just watched the video on meat.org and it has left me in tears.  TO actually see the abuse is awful.  I've only just done a big shop and filled the freezer with meat but I have a feeling my fiance will have to eat that and I'm gonna try and become vegetarian again (I was in my teens for 4yrs)

I will be sending that video to all on my email contact list!

I just ordered a copy from Amazon...I have read so many mixed reviews but either way I am going to give it a go...

I have been a vegetarian (lacto-ova) for 15 years...looking forward to hearing their take on veganism...although I am going keep in mind that the authors are former models/models managers' writing this...

its definately one sided, but skinny bitch is still a great book. its very easy to read and quite funny in some parts, like i was actually laughing and snorting outloud. its also very graphic in some parts which i think is not nessisarily a a bad thing because its accutate as opposed to appealing. its probably the easiest nutrtion/diet book ive read recently to get into. i read it in one night. i would personally highly reccomend it but also recomend taking the advice with a grain of salt.

 

 

I read it and now I am a vegan.  I honestly have never felt better.  The meat/dairy industry is a cruel one.  Go to PETA.com to see videos of pigs being beated and crying for one another.  I think in the near  future there is going to be an increase in vegan lifestyles.  The dairy cows are also hung upside down and killed once they become too old to produce milk.  Thanks to many celebrities like Posh and Charlise T this disgusting industry is being exposed.  Most people wouldn't drink human breast milk....why would you drink a cow's???   When you start to think about drinking milk intended for a baby cow to gain 2,000 lbs, eating gooy embryos and rotting carcass lodged in your intestinal track it starts makes sense.  I like how the authors point out that we are not naturally equiped to hunt (we have no talons, claws...) and that we would look pretty silly chasing an animal down.  All animals in the wild hunt with their natural weapons.  We are not naturally equiped with any hunting tools and our human intestinal track is not intended to digest meat.  The human race has evolved from carnavourism.  People wonder why they get colon cancer???  I hope that we end factory farming, (like KFC) at the very least.  I also recommend watching Alec Baldwin's "Meet Your Meat" expose - available on PETA for $5/dvd.  If we open our eyes we awaken to intelligence.  Unfortunately most people prefer to stay in the dark.

The one who was a model has a master's degree in holistic nutrician. 

I haven't read the book, but I really hope veganism isn't going to be used as a diet fad- true, it gives you a good excuse not to eat certain things ("oh, sorry no I can't eat that cookie because it has eggs in it"). But it's a huge lifestyle change and if you are really committed to not supporting animal cruelty for the sake of the animals then you will need to do a lot more research than one diet book to learn how to do that.

Most of your household products are tested on animals or include ingredients that are derived from animals. The sugar you eat, if it's white, is bleached with bone char from animals.
Makeup includes animal products such as lanolin(grease emitted by sheep), and many foods that you don't think are animal-based actually are.

There are a variety of great vegan websites out there that can tell you what to look for in your foods to make sure that you are not supporting the industry...

Veganism is a wonderful choice to make for yourself and the planet, but not for a diet fad alone.



*my two cents*

But to those of you that plan to do it for life, cheers!

i am new to this and want to know why eggs and cheese are forbidden.  i am learning to be a better vegetarian and need help from those more knowledgable. thank you...i didnt know those things were cruelty to the animals.

please inform,,,thank you

orlo

I don't think this book will have much impact on anyone who isn't an impressionable young girl, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who was looking for an educational read. It has entertainment value, but only a little.

THe Skinny Bitch Diet is basically a vegan diet....and, hell, it works! But, it takes complete devotion and is not for the light-hearted dieter. If you are ethically inclined to go Vegan or you just really wanna live a super-healhy life, go for it.

ANd, yes, the authors have a humorous approach to making the lifestyle realistic.

 

for the record, i do not subscribe to this diet, but do try to embrace many of it's fundamental theories. 

 

 

orlo - Egg laying hens are stuck in tiny cages and their beaks gets chopped of by hot knives. The animals are treated horribly, and just because an egg package is labeled "free range" does not mean that the hens have lived a good life.

Milkcows are not treated good either and gets separated from their kids after birth. watch the video on meat.org - they have information on milk cows and egglaying hens too. Good luck and thank you for wanting to know more about the industriy, wish everyone took an interest!

"Increasingly, American cattle farmers feed their herds chicken manure, which health officials warn could contain dangerous bacteria that ends up in ground meat eaten by humans

... 

"Millions of euthanized cats and dogs, collected from veterinarians and animal shelters, have long been rendered into livestock feed each year..."

 

Source.

Hybel - I am vegetarian, have been since I was 7. 

I live on a dairy farm.  My dad does not ill-treat any of the cows or other animals that we have.  Yes the calves do get seperated from their mothers, but not for 2 or more weeks, when they are strong enough to survive on their own.

Havent read the book yet but intend to.

i saw at the book store earlier in the summer, wanted it but didnt buy i.

then i was at the store again with my mum, was going to read it, but read bits and pieces while my mum was shopping.

I just picked it up. im on chapter three. haha

I own this book, and I absolutely adore it.  I was vegan prior to reading it, but I passed it along to a friend and she is now an aspiring vegan.  :D  It's a great book, and I have used some of the arguments time and time again against omnis who try to bring me down.