The Skinny Bitches Go After Men
Posted by: Amelia McDonell-Parry
Filed in:
style
11:00AM, Thursday April 23rd 2009
About two years ago, I went through a holistic kick in which I got really into yoga (these days I go to yoga, like, once a week), meditation, and eating copious amounts of brown rice and drinking smoothies. I picked up Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin and forced myself to read it in its entirety. Skinny Bitch‘s message confused me. It was hardcore veganism swathed in vain wrapping, a dangerous combination which can give people with body image issues the perfect “morality” excuse for having and hiding an eating disorder. The Skinny Bitch diet doesn’t consist of much—no meat, no dairy, no sugar, no caffeine, no alcohol. It angered me that the message was being targeted at women—and that the authors felt like the only way to get their pro-vegan message across was to tempt them with promises of beautiful skinniness.
Now, the bitches are back, and they’re going after men. Freedman and Barnouin’s latest book is Skinny Bastard, and it repurposes all their Skinny Bitch advice for “real men who want to stop being fat and get buff.” Honestly, if I saw Skinny Bastard sitting on a dude’s bookshelf, I would hightail it out of his apartment before he could even suggest going to a raw food restaurant for dinner and doing wheatgrass shots. [NY Times]
- (Another) Quote Of The Day: Alanis Morisette Discusses Her Eating Disorder Battle
- Kate Moss’s Motto Is A Pro-Anorexia Mantra
- Quickies: Natalie Portman Dishes On Going Vegan & Charlize Theron Offends Nelson Mandela
- Celebrities Who Look Way Older Than They Are (Starpulse)
- Nicole Richie is Hospitalized! (Us Weekly)
TheFrisky.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network
loveitlala
wrote on April 23 2009 @ 11:46 am: [report]
The whole “nutrition” industry is a pile of crap… completely pulled out of the ass. Even books written by doctors and nutritionists are vague and soft science. It drives me crazy.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on April 23 2009 @ 11:51 am: [report]
My mother has spent untold riches on this industry, 2-3 weeks at health clinics (One in bum-#&@$% Canada, the other in geriatric Florida), blenders, books, juicers, time (Most important to me)...I would hazard a guess that it has totaled between 12 and 15 thousand dollars so far, and this time frame is about a year and a half or so.
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on April 23 2009 @ 11:51 am: [report]
And the crazy thing is she didn’t need it, she is a size 0.
fallonthecity
wrote on April 23 2009 @ 12:19 pm: [report]
What scares me about veganism is that it seems like a really delicate balancing act. I’m no nutritionist but it seems like when you totally eliminate animal proteins from your diet, you’d have to work a zillion times harder to make sure you don’t get all malnourished and stuff.
Either way, screw these skinny bitches, I enjoyed the burger I had for lunch :]
Sofjna
wrote on April 23 2009 @ 03:40 pm: [report]
@sprinkibrio- the field of nutrition is not “crap”; my major was nutrition and it is very useful to those willing to make simple changes. What is crap is books like this telling people to cut whole food groups out of their diets, and people that overdose on vitamins because they think vitamins give them energy (which they don’t!, only calories do).
@fallonthecity- you’re right. Vegans do have to take a lot of extra care to avoid malnutrition. Even vegitarians, because a lot of them don’t eat enough variety. Enjoy your burger. The American Dietetic Association stresses that everything is fine in moderation.
Oliveira
wrote on April 24 2009 @ 12:08 am: [report]
The funny thing is that the amazon review of Skinny Bastard mentions that guys will cut the crap like “meat and potatoes” and start eating well. Meat and potatoes isn’t actually a bad choice—sweet potatoes are a source of slow-burning carbohydrates, and a low-fat steak or chicken is a great source of protein, add some veggies and you’re all done. Then again, this is not a comment on the book, but on the review. Cut the crap like Big Mac and sugary drinks instead, lads and ladies, and your life will become lighter without the need for “drill sergeant language”.
BlueVibe
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 09:03 am: [report]
I’m not a vegan (I’m not even a vegetarian), but I don’t doubt that you can have a healthy vegan diet *if you know what you’re doing*. You can’t do it if you just live on rabbit food; you have to eat complex carbohydrates, legumes, etc.
I can’t stand these women because of their attitudes, but from a nutritional standpoint I can’t stand any vegan or vegetarian program that pushes the use of food-substitutes. Just admit that you no longer eat cheese or meat! Those substitutes are very processed and usually have a lot of salt and weird ingredients in them. I’m pretty sure ultra-processing isn’t better for the planet, and I cannot imagine that it’s really healthier than eating food that more closely resembles its original form.
GreenAura
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 09:21 am: [report]
@ BlueVibe: I feel the exact same way! Most of the food substitutes used by vegans and vegetarians are way too overprocessed with astronomical amounts of sodium. The best way to go vegan/veggie is with fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains and beans/legumes/seeds. For calcium, chose rice or almond milk over soy. I am not a vegetarian, but I am very “aware” of my food consumption and I have done tons of research. About 75% of all my meals are vegetarian (many times even vegan) I recently made the decision to only eat meat that I prepare myself (which is a rare occassion).
I had a situation the other day that kinda makes me want to go vegetarian. I was invited over to my moms for some grilled halibut that was caught by their friend off the coast of Alaska. The fish had been frozen for over a year. Well, my husband was on his last bite and found a worm. A dead, pink worm, about 2 inches long. I’m pretty sure that he’ll be fine since the fish was frozen for so long, but I just figure that parasites are really only rampant in meat. The whole thing just disgusted me!!
AlisonNoelle
wrote on August 25 2009 @ 09:25 am: [report]
There’s nutrition and then there is crazy food hating. Me? I LOVE food and will never stop eating it! All of it. The sugar, the meat, the dairy, even the veggies. Personally I just don’t get the whole “I have to be super skinny to be beautiful” thing. I’m 5’4” and weigh in at about 125 - 130 depending on the time of the month and I love the way I look and feel! Especially after eating a yummy rib steak, baked potato with everything and caesar salad with something extremely chocolate afterwards!