A few clients recently mentioned the book Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin (1). One of them uses this book as support for her vegan lifestyle. As I often do, I headed to the library and picked-up a copy to see what the authors had to say. Wow! This book is basically a collection of the popular vegan/vegetarian nonsense statements from a number of popular vegan/vegetarian based books with a good dose of in-your-face attitude (this is discussed further below). These ladies (the authors) state that “Skinny Bitch delivers the truth about food, so that you can make intelligent decisions for yourself” (p.10). The truth? The amount of misleading and blatantly false statements in this book is staggering! I will highlight some of the most egregious bullshit they call the truth. As you can probably guess, I would not recommend this book. If you would like more details on why it’s not worth your time or money then keep reading.
Before proceeding I want to give you a WARNING: There will be some strong language, some f-bombs and so forth that will be sprinkled throughout my comments. Much of the profanity will be quotes from the book. I don’t have a problem with the use of such words. But, for those that may be offended by them I wanted to give the warning. Seeing the ladies want to play hard-ball, I thought I would use some similar language to describe their moronic statements. It is a good opportunity to be a bit more edgy than usual.
I will start with some quotes from the book to help give some context.
- “It’s time to prance around in your thong like you rule the world. It’s time to get skinny.”(p.10)
- “Health = skinny. Unhealthy = fat” (p.11)
- “But being a fat pig will hinder you, sober or drunk” (p.12)
- “Hence, bloated fat pig syndrome”
- “They don’t fucking drink it”(p.14)
- “You might be fat because you don’t poop enough” (p.14)
- “Caffeine is for pussies” (p.15)
- “Chemical shit storm” (p.18)
- “You need to exercise you lazy shit” (p.20)
- “We have to fuck up the rest of the world too, for a dime.” (p.29)
- “Don’t shit or piss yourself” (p.31)
- “Because we are having so much fun let’s bash the shit out of Splenda” (p.35)
- “You will be a fat, unhealthy, bloated pig if you live this way” (p.40)
I am only at page 40 of about 200 pages and you can get a sense of how the authors are trying to get their points across. There are many more statements similar to these found throughout the book. Okay, you want to give it to us straight with no bullshit! For some people that works great. But, at least do your homework and get a fucking clue of what you are talking about.
I feel a bit overwhelmed; there is so much bullshit I am not sure where to begin and what to cover. The thing is much of the false or misleading information presented in this book and other vegan and raw-food based books and websites have been well refuted many times before, such as in The Vegetarian Myth by Keith, a lot of good articles at the Weston A Price Foundation website, and at the Primal Wisdom blog, to name a few. Not to mention the basic texts for anatomy and physiology, anthropology, and biochemistry to get a good understanding of how the body works and what foods will allow it to function the best. With that in mind I will start with an overview of what the authors used for support.
As I do with all non-fiction books I look to see what method the author used to support the statements made in the book. I noticed right away that the authors used in-text numerical citations. “Great!” I thought at first. But my excitement quickly abated. Of the 226 citations (sounds impressive), there was only ONE citation to a peer-reviewed article and ONE reference to a nutrition textbook. So what was used for the additional 224 citations? The remainder of citations are to popular vegan/vegetarian books and websites. Here is a brief list of some of the sources that were cited many times;
- The pH Miracle: Balance your Body by Young
- Fit for Life I & II by the Diamonds
- Ecuremelife.com
- Livrite.com
- Eat to Live by Fuhrman
- Conscious Eating by Cousens
- Diet for a New America by Robbins
- PolyMVAsurvivors.com
- PCRM.org
- Milksucks.com
- Peta.org
Having a few citations to these types of materials is not so bad, but having virtually ALL of the citations to this type of evidence is bullshit. These ladies say they are going to “deliver the truth about food” (p.10) and then use these types of references to support their positions. Have these women not heard of the PubMed or Google scholar? If they are going to give it to us hard and straight then they should have some damn good support for their statements. As these ladies would like to say, what a fucking joke! I will start with what I think is the authors’ thesis statement.
The authors feel that eating animal products of any kind, as well as any ingestion of coffee/caffeine, artificial sweeteners or any food additives, any processed foods (i.e., white flour, HFCS, etc) and having an acid pH (caused from the aforementioned items) is what makes people fat and inhibits them from getting skinny. Believe it or not, I actually agree with them on a few points. I agree that processed carbohydrates, full sugar sodas or any sugary beverages play a role in gaining weight and inhibiting weight loss. I also agree with them about how most animals are raised for food is inhumane and it is likely to be directly or indirectly unhealthy for us. I also agree that the FDA and the USDA are not doing a very good job when it comes to regulating how food is manufactured/grown/handled. It does seem, because of the conflicts of interest, it is like the fox guarding the hen house. However, there is way too much emphasis placed on this aspect. Additionally, even though I agree with a couple of things it still does not excuse them from not supporting their statements with quality information. With that being said let’s explore a few of the statements that really made me say “You must be fucking kidding me”!
The bullshit starts quickly, the second sentence of the first chapter the authors state “You need to get healthy if you want to be skinny. Healthy = skinny. Unhealthy = fat.” (p.11). That sounds nice, but is it really true? They give no reference for this assertion, not even to one of their lame sources. Are they saying there are not a bunch of skinny unhealthy people? Or that there are not a bunch of people with 20 or 30 extra pounds that aren’t healthy? Really? I think they are making a ridiculous statement. People can be healthy at a fairly wide range of bodyweights. However, it does seem that being very heavy (BMI greater than 30) or very thin (BMI under 18) is connected to greater morbidity and earlier mortality rates(2). But, the question is; is it the weight itself or certain behaviors that are the true cause of the problems associated with higher or lower bodyweights? There seems to be good evidence that both can be playing a causative role (2). So as nice and simple as their statements sounds, there really is no merit for it. Yes, the ultimate goal should be to be relatively lean and healthy at the same time, but the two are not dependent variables so they can occur separately.
Moving onto the second page of the first chapter, “why do you think when kids go away to college they gain the ‘freshman fifteen’?” (p.12). The “freshman fifteen” is really an urban myth. This topic has actually been studied and the average weight gain is 5lbs (3).
Next the authors go on a rant about Aspartame. Basically they say it can cause “a slew of scary maladies” (p.14). I am not a big fan of this particular artificial sweetener. Matt and I cover this in our book. Basically there is evidence for some potential negative reactions to this chemical but all the scare mongering is way over the top. Of course they do not supply any quality evidence for their statements.
Here is a good one “You might be fat because you don’t poop enough” (p.14). Are they really saying that a person that has 10, 20, 30 or more pounds of extra bodyfat just needs to take a big shit? You must be kidding me. There is absolutely no evidence that constipation leads to bodyfat gain or inhibits fat loss. We are talking about the residues of digestion that are in the colon. This residue can build up but there seems to be a maximum capacity of a few pounds (4). So, yes, a good dump my help you lose a pound or two but that’s it. Now there is some recent evidence connecting the bacteria in the digestive tract and bodyweight, but that is really a different aspect and one that they were not talking about.
They then go on a rant about coffee and caffeine. They state “Coffee is for pussies” (p.15). But some soy chemical concoction or a nice big glass of juice (sugar) is healthy? What a joke. They state “One study even links caffeine to an increase susceptibility to diabetes” (p.15). They did give a citation for this statement. Ya! Do you think it is to the actual study? Of course not, that would be silly. The citation is to an article that was on CBC Health & Science News. That is fucking ridiculous. Why mention the study and not give the citation to the fucking study? My head hurts! Anyway, Matt and I cover coffee and caffeine in some detail in our book and found that the benefits for most people clearly outweighs any negatives if used at reasonable dosages(2).
The discussion of coffee leads to one about acid foods and pH balance. They state “Acid foods cause your body to produce fat cells, in order to keep the acid away from the organs” (p.16). The citation for this stupid statement is to The pH Miracle by Young. The whole acid/alkaline thing is an interesting aspect of food but how it is portrayed here and in similar books is faulty on many aspects. Basically they state that all animal products, coffee (regular or decaf), all artificial sweeteners, and refined sugars are acid forming so they are bad for us. Of course there is not quality evidence for their statements. If you are interested in this topic see the following references (5). Additionally, it is interesting that they do not mention that grains and most legumes are acid forming, including soy and tofu even though they state “Other alkalizing foods are sea vegetables, miso, soybeans, and tofu” (p.38).
Here is another gem, “…working out tends to keep our junk food cravings and elephant appetites at bay” (p.21). Is there a citation for this statement? Nope. I think they pulled this one out of their skinny asses. There is an extensive amount of research on the topic of exercise and appetite and it is clear they have not read it. I have yet to see that exercising controls junk food cravings and whether it increases or decreases appetite depends on a number of variables (6).
We are now entering Chapter 2- Carbs: The Truth. What great insights can we get from this chapter? How about “[carbs] are vital for providing energy for our bodies and brains. Without them we would be comatose zombies” (p.23). Obviously the authors are not aware of the fact that we humans do not need to ingest carbohydrates to be able to function. Not that it is bad to eat carbs, but the fact is we can function very well on fats and ketones (2). In fact, athletes can still perform at a high level on a very low carb, high fat diet (7). As usual these authors are perpetuating the “we have to have carbs” myth. This one must have slipped past their Tofu Truth Detector.
The authors then state “simple carbohydrates suck and are as nutritionally beneficial as toilet paper” (p.23) and go on to say “complex carbohydrates are comprised of starch and fiber and release gradually, providing a steady source of energy…Shitty simple carbohydrates include white flour, white pasta (duram semolina), white rice, and white sugar” (p.23). Then a couple of pages later they state “Fruit is, quite possibly, the most perfect food in existence”(p.25). As usual they are saying a bunch of nonsense and making a very obvious non-sequitor argument. When it comes to the speed of carbohydrate digestion, using the complex vs. simple aspects is antiquated. We have known since the 1980’s that the speed at which a carbohydrate-based food will be digested and affect blood sugar is determined by a number of factors. Have these women not heard of the Glycemic Index (GI)? For example a white potato, which is composed of complex carbohydrates, gets digested very quickly, having a Glycemic Index of 95. Opposingly, the simple sugar fructose has a GI of 20. Based on their statement “Shitty simple carbohydrates…” we could conclude that they are clueless as to what simple carbohydrates are. White flour, white pasta, and white rice are NOT simple carbohydrates. These items are made up of COMPLEX carbohydrates. These items are processed carbohydrates. Finally, their statement about fruit is just silly. How can they say on the one hand “simple carbohydrates suck” and then say “ Fruit is, quite possibly, the most perfect food in existence”? Fruits are made up of simple carbohydrates. Therefore, based on their statement, fruits suck. That’s funny. I don’t really think fruits suck, but they certainly are not even close to the most perfect food in existence. Related to this is their information pertaining to the sweetener agave syrup (see additional post about sweeteners). They state, “At the top of our list [for healthy sweetener options] is agave nectar or syrup” (p.30). At the top of their list? Why? They say it is good because it is “natural” and it digests slowly. Do they know why it digests slowly? It does because it is almost pure fructose. There is plenty of evidence that fructose, natural or not, has the potential to cause numerous health problems and can be a hindrance to fat loss (2).
We now get to the chapter on why animal products are the reasons for our weight problems and really all of our illnesses. The title of the chapter “The Dead, Rotting, Decomposing Flesh Diet” (p.39). Sounds very scary. Here is how they start the chapter, “The Atkins diet. Hmm. Eat the flesh of dead cows, dead pigs, and dead chickens. Avoid fresh fruit. You are a total moron if you think the Atkins diet will make you thin” (p.39). These ladies are certainly giving it to us straight; straight bullshit. that is! The level of ignorance or maybe stupidity in these couple of sentences is staggering. Would they prefer we eat LIVE cows, pigs, or chickens? Kidding. There are dozens of studies that show that lower carbohydrate or ketogenic diets can elicit fairly rapid fat loss as well as lead to significant improvements in numerous health markers (2). Not to mention the work of Dr. Price, Dr. Lindeberg and others that have clearly shown that a number of groups following an omnivorous diet (one that includes dead animals or the milk of live ones) have a high level of health (8). Humans are clearly omnivorous animals. Our anatomy and physiology dictates that we should be consuming both plant and animal foods (9).
I have barely scratched the surface, I am only on page 39, and have not highlighted all of the asinine statements made by the authors, and my head hurts. The post is already fairly long and those of you reading it probably get the gist of the problem. Because I don’t want to waste too much time on this one post I won’t continue explaining all of the glaring fuck-ups that are found throughout the book and will try to wrap it up in a few more paragraphs.
One final thing before concluding; throughout the book the authors make it very clear that being “skinny” (whatever that means because they never define it) is the Golden Ticket to health. Remember this statement,
“Health = skinny. Unhealthy = fat” (p.11)
It seems clear to me that the authors’ main goal is to help us all get skinny by eating a vegan diet. However, on the LAST page of the book they had this to say;
“P.S. Wait! We have a confession to make. We really couldn’t care less about being skinny. Don’t get scared or upset; you will definitely lose weight if you adopt the Skinny Bitch lifestyle. However, our real hope is for you to become healthy…” (p.224)
Did I really just read that? Statement after statement throughout the book was referring to being fat as bad/unhealthy and getting skinny as being healthy. Yes, they mentioned many times that their recommendations for eating would also (not) get you healthy. But, again, the gist was to stop fucking around and kidding yourself, eat how we tell you and you will lose weight and be skinny. Remember this statement “It’s time to prance around in your thong like you rule the world. It’s time to get skinny.”(p.10) Talk about doublespeak. I think they are trying to have their Tofutti and eat it to (probably a bad joke). Also, why put this at the end? Wouldn’t it be more honest to put this disclaimer at the beginning of their nonsense?
So The Skinny Bitch is a #1 New York Times bestseller. How can that be? Regrettably, like many other books, it’s more about marketing and not about the quality of information. In this situation you have two attractive women with attitude. It makes sense that many people wanting to lose weight would find these attributes to be alluring. Is that really what it takes? Can people not look a bit deeper and be a bit more critical/skeptical when choosing whom to believe? There is no doubt I am a bit jaded because I think Matt and I have written a very good book, but it has not gotten close, yet, to reaching such a large number of people. I think this is a likely trend as some other authors that have put together some great information, such as Anthony Colpo, Alan Aragon, Uffe Ravnskov, to name a few, do not reach the top of the New York Times bestseller list even though their books deserve to be there.
At this point it is no secret that I think this book is a big pile of dung. This does not mean that they didn’t say anything useful or factual. But, as a whole, this book is not worth your money or time (even getting it free at the library). Your money and time could be used on much better material.
References;
I referenced SPEED a number of times instead of given all of the citations about a specific aspect. I did this because Matt and I already did all referencing in the book. So, if you want to know what we say specifically about a certain topic and get the references that we use to support our views then read the book. Also, if just want the references you can e-mail me at jeff@speedweightlossbook.com. Let me know what topic you are refering to and I will send you the list of references.
1 – Freedman, R. & Barnouin, K. (2005). Skinny Bitch: A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous.
2 – Thiboutot, J. & Schoeneberger, M (2009). SPEED: A complete how-to manual for quickly and permanent fat loss
3 – Levitsky, DA et al (2004). The freshman weight gain: a model for the study of the epidemic of obesity. Inter J Obesity; 28: 1435-1442.
4 – http://www.snopes.com/horrors/gruesome/fecalcolon.asp, There really is no quality references for the proposition that we build-up many pounds of fecal matter and that this contributes to any significant weight gain
5 – There have been two large conferences on the subject, one in 2000 and the most recent one in 2008. See the European J Nutrition, Volume 40, #5 and The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 138, supplement, respectively for a large number of papers on the subject.
6 – King, NA. (1998). The relationship between physical activity an food intake. Pro Nutr ociety; 57: 77-84. Blundell, JE et al (2003). Cross talk between physical activity and appetite control: does physical appetite stimulate appetite? Pro Nutr Society; 62: 651-661. Elder, S. et al (2007). the effects of exercise on food intake and body fatness: A summary of published studies. Nutrition Reviews; 65(1): 1-19.
7 – Kaqvouras, SA et al (2004). The influence of low verses high cabohydrate diet on a 45 minute strenous cycling exercise. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab; 14(1): 62-72
8 – Lindeberg, S. (2010). Food & Western Diseases: Health & nutrition from an evolutionary perspective. Price, W. (1990). Nutrition & Physical Degeneration. Gurven, M. & Kaplan, H. (2007). Longevity among hunter-gatherers: A cross-cultural examination. Population Development Rev; 33(2): 321-365.
9 – Don, Primal Wisdom. More raw truth abouot raw vegan diets, http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-raw-truth-about-raw-vegan-diets.html