Elyssa's Reviews > Skinny Bitch: A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous!

I want to give this book 2.5 stars because I had an equal love/hate relationship with it. Let me start by saying that I was VERY resistant to reading this book. For one thing, I found (and still find) the title to be really offensive. Since I am interested in health and wellness and so many people in my family and workplace recommended it, I gave it a try.

I'll start with what I liked about it:

1) It's a really quick read and the info is easy to grasp.

2) The authors explain the evils of the USDA, slaughterhouses, and the typical American diet. I had learned this through other books like Fast Food Nation, What to Eat, The Omnivore's Dilemma, etc. Those books are a thousand times better than this one, but Skinny Bitch will attract many more readers and I am grateful that this info is reaching a wider audience.

3) The book includes a list of recommended healthy foods, many of which I have tried in the past and actually taste good. Therefore, aspects of their eating plan are more viable than I expected.

4) They also provide a glossary of ingredients to avoid and ones that sound scary, but really aren't. This is helpful when reading labels.

Here's what I hated about this book:

1) The title!! The authors admit that they chose the title to market the book, but feeding into sexism by using the word "bitch", emphasizing skinniness over health, and putting women's appearances in the forefront is tiresome. I think if they had worked a little harder, they could have come up with a better marketing plan. Instead, they chose the lazy and non-thinking path which is detrimental for women.

2) The subtitle says that this is a "tough-love" book, but these women are just plain mean. They talk directly to the reader, calling her a "lazy shit" and a "fat pig". I know some people need a major wake-up call about their eating habits, but this went too far to the point of alienating me at times.

3) This book is all about veganism. You would never know this from the title, but after reading it, you would think that PETA gave these writers an advance. I actually don't mind incorporating some vegan meals into my diet, but I don't like the false advertising.

4) I think the vegan eating plan they aggressively mandate would be hard to fully adopt. In addition to eliminating all animal products (this includes dairy), they also discourage drinking coffee and wine, which would be impossible for me to give up. I don't respond well to any dietary recommendations that involve eliminating whole food groups and occasional "vices". I also think it's important to incorporate some joy into eating and that doesn't seem possible if one followed the SB diet to the letter.

5) Like my critique of In Defense of Food, I think everyone would love to eat all organic food and even some of the vegan foods recommended in Skinny Bitch, but this costs a lot of money. The authors in Skinny Bitch tell the reader to get over it and spend the money, but there are a lot of people living in poverty or are part of the working poor who can't afford to follow this diet. At the very least, this should be acknowledged and if the SB authors really believe in promoting this diet, they should walk their talk and start using the profits from this book to help everyone adopt a healthy diet.