Skinny Bitch (Paperback)

by Rory Freedman (Author), Kim Barnouin (Author) "Are you sick and tired of being fat?..." (more)
Key Phrases: vice item, skinny bitch, veggie chili, Let's Eat, Have No Faith, Arrowhead Mills (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"...have achieved the seemingly impossible by writing a diet book ... as sassy and entertaining as ... packed with reliable information." -- Energy Times

"...many priceless-yet-unprintable dictums certainly make you laugh in a way few diet books can." -- iVillage

"...there's more solid information about health and nutrition in Skinny Bitch than in most diet and health books..." -- bitch

"Don't hate them--be them. The authors of 'Skinny Bitch' offer women a no-holds-barred approach to being thin and fabulous." -- Metro

"Ready to jump-start 2006 with an electric prod to the system? ...They tell it like it is, and without delicacy." -- Chicago Sun Times

"The authors are brazen...They're not trying to win popularity contests...they just want healthy people." -- Associated Press

"This 224-page gem...tells it like it is." -- Austin American Statesman

"What are you waiting for, you moron? Go buy this book!" -- Florida Today

"A funny foul-mouthed ode to adopting a vegan diet." -- Dwight Garner, The New York Times Book Review

Product Description
Not your typical boring diet book, this is a tart-tongued, no-holds-barred wakeup call to all women who want to be thin. With such blunt advice as, "Soda is liquid Satan" and "You are a total moron if you think the Atkins Diet will make you thin," it's a rallying cry for all savvy women to start eating healthy and looking radiant. Unlike standard diet books, it actually makes the reader laugh out loud with its truthful, smart-mouthed revelations. Behind all the attitude, however, there's solid guidance. Skinny Bitch espouses a healthful lifestyle that promotes whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and encourages women to get excited about feeling "clean and pure and energized."

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (December 26, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762424931
• ISBN-13: 978-0762424931
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (960 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #13 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Diets & Weight Loss > Diets > Weight Loss
  #15 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Nutrition
  #23 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Self-Help

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

320 of 350 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The title and the content don't agree, February 13, 2008

By	Kelly A. Mchale (Schenectady, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a person who has a biology degree with a focus on nutrition, an advanced biology teacher, vegetarian, and a marathoner/triathlete, I was interested to read a book that may give me strategies to use myself and to interest my students in eating better. This book started well and then changed courses quickly. The scientific evidence in this book is just WRONG. It is riddled with inconsistencies and hypocrisies including that you shouldn't eat meat because it is rotting flesh and vegetables are living when you eat them. Unless you are eating them off of the plant, vegetables are also dead and decaying (look what happens to fruits and vegetables when they are not eaten in a timely fashion). They also say that you shouldn't eat processed foods, which I totally agree with, but then go on to advocate for veggie/vegan products that taste like meat which are incredibly processed but according to them are still good because they are vegan. With a statement of " A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!" you would have thought it would be all about good things to eat and how to exercise to lose weight. Not so, this is just a manifesto on how bad the meat industry is and how bad the government is. This book actually made me angry because I didn't buy this book to be inundated with these two women's opinions about the government and their dislike of all meat products. This book is not worth the money or time unless you want to read two women's rants about how everyone should be vegan.

228 of 257 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Scientifically unfounded, June 30, 2008

By	V. Murray - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have never been so angered by a book. First and foremost, I have nothing against the vegan lifestyle, if that is how someone chooses to live. What I have a problem with is the authors' "scientific proof" that a vegan diet is far superior to a non-vegan diet. Every time they make some scientific claim in their book, I checked their sources and I never found a credible scientific journal. They even mention in their book how average women do not peruse medical/scientific journals to learn all the ins and outs of all the foods and chemicals they are ingesting... well, neither do they.

Here is an example of their inexcusable ignorance: As a biochemist with a strong background in physiology, I happen to know what enzymes are and what they do... these women DO NOT. They have this gross misconception that enzymes that function in plants continue to function in our digestive tracts and miraculously make it into our blood stream somehow and again, continue to function. Anyone with basic biomedical training can tell you their claims could not be farther from the truth. Enzymes are created to function in very specific environments, are dependent on many factors (temperature, pH, etc) and are tightly regulated. Can they honestly believe that an enzyme created in a plant, to perform PLANT processes, would actually continue to function in an extremely different environment? Not to mention the full on attack by our digestive enzymes would render them useless.

And their "knowledge" of enzymes is just the tip of the ice berg. I could go and on about all their scientific inaccuracies, but I'm trying to make this readable.

I guess my next big concern is if they were allowed to publish all these scientific inaccuracies, how can I trust the rest of their information? It's scary that these two women are allowed to sell their version of human digestive physiology and readers will believe it without questioning its validity.

If this review stops even one person from reading this trash, I feel I have done a little good in this world :)

150 of 174 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars You are what you eat, February 10, 2008

By	Melissa Niksic (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

"Skinny Bitch" has been making the rounds in my book club, so I had to see for myself what all the fuss was about. I actually enjoyed the book and found it more valuable than I thought I would.

The first thing you need to know about this book is that it is laced with profanity. Personally, I find the language hilarious, but some people don't like that sort of thing and should be forewarned. (But seriously, what else do you expect from a book with the word "bitch" in the title?") The book gives readers a tough-love guide on how to become healthier and skinnier. Yes, a lot of the advice is very basic: stop shoving sweets into your mouth every 30 seconds, get up off your rump and exercise, etc. However, I did learn a lot about chemical additives from this book, and I'm being a lot more careful about the foods I choose to put into my mouth. I was also blown away by the graphic depictions of slaughterhouses in this country, and although I don't think I'll ever be able to give up meat completely, I haven't eaten any meat or animal products in almost a week, which is huge for me.

There are certain things about this book that I think the authors take a little too far. They're all about the vegan lifestyle and insist that it's the only way to be healthy and fit, which I don't think is true. In the slaughterhouse chapters, the authors make reference to all the anger and adrenaline that passes through animals before they are killed, and then they claim that meat-eaters digest all that rage and negative energy, which I think is B.S. Also, fasts are strongly advocated in this book, which I don't think are necessary or very healthy.

In spite of several flaws, "Skinny Bitch" is not without merit. Reading this book will force you to finally stop and think about what you are eating, which is a good thing.