I don't want or need "smart mouthed girlfriends" bossing me around. They seem to forget that most people picking up a "diet" book have picked up hundreds of diet books, read Self, Health, Women's Health, all of it, reading every single diet tip on every single page. Saying the same stuff but tossing in "shit" and "bitch" every other sentence doesn't really make much of a difference to me. Sure there's something to be said for being honest with yourself about what you eat, but they're a little too cliche "L.A." Most women, I hope, aren't looking to sacrifice happiness to be skinny and hot. And I really hope no one takes these sentences seriously : "Healthy = skinny. Unhealthy = fat." I'm at the best weight in my life and the only way I think I could personally get to this point was by being happy, chilling out with the diet stick I had shoved up my ass for so many years and enjoying that beer.

I personally really enjoyed both books. While both women may not have have a degree in front of their name, they do back up everything they say in their books with solid research. What they say isn't bullshit- all you have to do is look into the facts yourself if you don't trust it.
What's so great about the book is that it is not just another diet on the market that isn't going to work. If you don't want to go vegan or vegetarian, don't. Its as simple as that. These women are encouraging an overall healthy lifestyle change. Can you honestly say that artificial sweeteners are good for you for example? Answer is no. But if it floats your boat, go for it. They just don't want to put crap into their bodies and encourage you to do so as well. Make what you want with it.
Also, don't read a book titled "Skinny Bitch" and expect to hear self-esteem boosting comments about embracing your chubby body, lumpy butt and all. Eating a Big Mac with a side of fries is never going to be considered a healthy meal no matter how much you would like to pretend it is. Their attitude is what makes the books so fun and as great of sellers as they have been. The women talk like bitches but it works. We are all bitches. After all, Tina Fey says that bitch is the new black.

I've only read parts of Skinny Bitch. But I've read (and re-read) another book, written by a doctor, that prescribes pretty much the same kind of strict vegan diet that SB does. The heath and nutrition studies the book cited were compelling, and it really did convince me to eat a lot less meat, dairy, and processed food. So I try to eat this way now, and I like it. It's changed my tastes—artificially sweetened things don't taste as good any more—and I feel a lot better doing it than I ever did on Weight Watchers. I've also read The Ominvore's Dilemma and think our food industry is really messed up. I'm all in favor of alternatives, and this way of eating makes me feel like I'm doing something about that. So I'm willing to meet the Skinny Bitches more than halfway.

BUT. I think a lot of people have extremely screwed-up attitudes about this stuff. I found a message board for other people who'd read the doctor's book, and I couldn't believe the evangelism, the one-up-man ship, the sense that the most extreme thing you were doing wasn't enough, that YOU weren't good enough if you weren't doing everything you could to fight the evil of the Standard American Diet.

One of the moderators delighted in telling people that the browning marks on the veggies they'd grilled without oil contained a carcinogenic substance. Oh, and in the book the doctor had mentioned something (which I don't really buy) about how our stomach cravings aren't really hunger and how biological hunger is actually very rare and that it's a sensation that occurs in the throat. And people took that to mean they should TRY to feel "true hunger" as a sign they'd achieved some kind of bodily purity. I mean, WTF?!

So I can definitely see how the authors of Skinny Bitch could appropriate this stuff and use it to validate the same old eating-disordered behaviors, and give it a sheen of moral superiority to boot. That's what really gets me—I know for a fact that a lot of what they say does work, and some of their points are valid. But all that bitchiness is not going to make your butt any less lumpy. That kind of eating doesn't make you any better than anyone else. Feeling good is its own reward, but the idea that the way your body looks is purely a product of some kind of extreme virtuousness is bullshit, and the Skinny Bitches are full of it.

To the last poster--true hunger means you're in touch with your body. When you get to that point, being hungry doesn't make you feel sick or tired, it is just a signal. Dr. Joel Fuhrman talks about this in his book Eat to Live. It's not about purity, it's about being in touch with your body so you can meet its needs, and not freak out because it's been five hours since you last ate. Not feeling hypogylemic or stomach cramps or headaches. But yeah, if you eat junk you won't get in touch with your body. It's a matter of fact, you aren't providing it what it needs.

Case in point!

"True hunger means you're in touch with your body." Really? So if you don't feel this amazing thing, you're still "out of touch?" Are you sure you're not associating some kind of higher emotional value to being "in touch"?

Don't get me wrong, I read Eat To Live too, and I definitely see Fuhrman's point in all this—that we tend to mistake other physical symptoms for hunger. I've even found it helpful. But I'm also not going to be too hard on myself for being "out of touch" if I happen to feel wonky after not eating for five hours.

I think there's a point where telling youself "oh, I feel hungry, but I'm just out of touch, so I won't eat" gets a little counterintuitive and not much different from telling yourself "oh, I feel hungry, but I'm a flawed person, so I won't eat." There IS a definite line, of course, but I think it's very, very easy for people to cross it.

And yes, I still think it's creepy and weird that people want to feel "true hunger." Fuhrman himself says it's extremely rare and when I read his message boards he was always having to tell people who were obsessed with it to stop treating it as SOMETHING TO ASPIRE TO.

I've read most of the book and a lot of it is pretty sound. The place they lost me was when they started out by saying that you shouldn't have to take suppliments, your nutrition should come from food (I agree) but then later on they admitted that there are some vitamins and minerals you only get in high enough amounts by eating meat and dairy so... you'll need to take a suppliment. Yeah, they lost me right there. That coupled witht he automatic assumptions that if you are overweight you must completely lack self control and have no idea how to put down the Ben ad Jerry's, as we all know that kind of talk is naieve and unhelpful to most folks. Also, I really don't see the point of being vegan and hating life just to be skinny. But that is a total personal decision, if it works for you and you're getting the nutrients you need, rock out.

I think the one thing they do talk about that is a good thing and that everyone should remember is that you shouldn't really trust the government agencies in charge of food, nutrition, drugs etc. There job isn't really to make sure what you eat is totally healthy and good for you, it's to make sure the things you eat won't kill you. There is a big grey area in between those two extremes and it's still your responsibility as an individual to make healthy choices for yourself, whether you're vegan, veggie, or omnivore. If I remember correctly, their interpretation of all that sounded more sinister, but the sentiment was the same.

I have seen a lot of negativity about these books, and as a vegan who read both books, here's my take:

First, I viewed Skinny Bitch as an attempt to introduce veganism to the type of people that read Cosmopolitan or People magazine. I thought a lot of the epithets were tongue-in-cheek rather than insulting. I recently read an interview of one of the authors (can't remember which), an ethical vegan, about her doubts as to the language and tone used in the book...she was afraid that she may have hurt the cause more than she helped it. Her main desire, in that article, was to help the animals.

Second, I read the cookbook. Wait, let me rephrase. I *bought* the cookbook, flipped through it, was unbelievably disappointed, and never looked at it again. Anyone looking for great vegan cookbooks would be much better off checking out Veganomicon, Vegan with a Vengeance, or anything by Dreena Burton or Sarah Kramer.

Finally, as a vegan for ethical (not necessarily health or environmental) reasons I appreciate any new or different voice that is trying to reach out to people and help them go vegan. Do I think these books are flawed? Sure. Then again, I didn't buy them because I wanted to learn how to become a "skinny bitch." I bought them because I'd already known that they were books about veganism and I wanted to see how they presented the material.

Reading material can be powerful. I became vegan after popping an enhanced CD into my work computer a few years ago and seeing some absolutely horrific images that are still with me today. I read Eric Marcus's book, Vegan, available for free online. I then read Diet for a New America by John Robins, The China Study, Mad Cowboy, the list goes on and on. I hope Skinny Bitch reaches a new audience I hope the book succeeds in helping others go vegan.

"I really don't see the point of being vegan and hating life just to be skinny."

Uh, I don't get this statement. I'm vegan (10 years +), really fat, and love life. In fact, vegans generally 'go vegan' in the first place because "loving life" includes loving the lives of other beings.

I wouldn't waste my time reading lipophobic nonsense like this book, however. Being vegan is part of a comprehensive, anti-oppressive approach to life, and oppressing fat people to bolster animals' rights just doesn't get you anywhere in the long run. Fat hatred is predicated on the marginalization of all those who don't appear to fit the Enlightenment paradigm of rationality and dis-embodiment, including non-human animals.