Skinny Bitch - by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin - book review

Reader beware: You may not want to read this. But it is exactly what you should hear.

Skinny Bitch is not a diet book, say authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. 

Skinny Bitch is a way of life. Get your life in balance. Fad diets don't work. Get over it, already!

Rory Freedman (left) and Kim Barnouin (right), authors of Skinny Bitch

Chances are, you're not old enough to remember the champagne diet -  that diet was a good example of bad advice.

In fact, most diets are wrong. I don't care what others say - losing weight only works if you take in fewer calories and burn more than you eat.

Written in an edgy and brutally honest way, Skinny Bitch is for those among us who are no longer size 0 -  10. It is for those among us who moan and kvetch as we carry our sorry little asses around town wondering where is our "get more in life."

Yes, soda is bad for you; yes, you need to quit smoking, yes, regular wine has sulfites that cause cancer.  You need to eat healthily and you need water, water, and more water, and enough sleep.

Skinny Bitch  cover,  published by Running Books Press

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EXCERPT. The following are excerpts from the book, with commentary by me, interspersed.

Skinny Bitch: "Okay. Use your head. You need to get healthy if you want to get skinny. Health =  skinny. Unhealthy = fat.  The first thing you need to do is give up your gross vices. Don't act surprised! You cannot keep eating the same shit and expect to get skinny. Or smoke."

Kathryn:  I agree. More please.

Skinny Bitch: "To make matters worse, some alcohol (and non-organic wines) still contain urethane, a cancer-causing chemical....Trade your booze for organic red wine produced without sulfites. (Sulfites are additives used in food and wine - to extend shelf life and fight bacteria growth. Asthma and allergic reactions can be triggered by sulfites...Read the label - it should say "No Sulfites Added" or "NSA." ...This magical elixir - organic red wine with NSA  - is rich in cancer-righting antioxidants, can reduce risk of stroke, helps thin the blood, and has flavonoids, which lower cholesterol. Yes, organic red wine is good for you...."

Kathryn:  Glad to know the difference between regular and organic wine. That is something the press does NOT tell you.

Skinny Bitch:  "Brace yourselves, girls. Soda is liquid Satan. It is the devil. It is garbage. There is nothing in soda that should be put into your body. For starters, soda's high levels of phosphorous can increase calcium loss from the body, as can its sodium and caffeine....And the last time we checked, sugar, found in soda by the boatload, does not make you skinny! Now don't go patting yourself on the back if you drink diet soda. That stuff is even worse. Aspartame...has been blamed for a slew of scary maladies, like arthritis, birth defects, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's, lupus,  multiple sclerosis and diabetes. When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartame, enters your body, it turns into formaldehyde.  Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic."

Kathryn:   Most periods in my life I have drunk water, not soda. The times in my life I have consumed soda - especially diet soda - I could tell it was altering my ability to process sugar. I stopped. 

I remember formaldehyde from bio class in high school. That was what we kept our dissection projects in - icky, smelly, poisonous stuff. I certainly do not want to drink THAT!

The book does not recommend coffee or caffeine, but I cannot do without my cup of Joe. Skinny Bitch does recommend herbal green tea or a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice as a pick-me up. I drank  fresh squeezed orange juice for years, or started breakfast with a fresh orange. Nothing like a fresh orange to make you feel like Florida sunshine from head to toe.

Skinny Bitch:  "Junk food will never go away. It becomes more alluring by the minute with laboratory-developed aromas, artificial flavors, chemical food colors, toxic preservatives and heart-stopping hydrogenated oils...Candy bars, potato chips, and ice cream taste like heaven, of course. But they will pitch a tent on your hips and camp out all year. "

Kathryn:  Instead of potato chips, I prefer popcorn, with a smidgeon of salt and margarine. For ice cream? Well, I usually have another glass of water and an orange to quell that craving.

Skinny Bitch:  "Give up the notion that you can be sedentary and still lose weight. You need to exercise...Eating properly will dramatically improve your health, body, and all other aspects of your life. But you've still gotta move your ass. Anyone with a brain can do the math. When done in conjunction with a good diet, exercise will make you lose weight faster than healthy eating alone....When we exercise, our elevated heart rates and deep breathing cause our ‘bodyminds' to enter a fat-burning mode that can last throughout the day." Regardless of what time you work out, you'll soon become addicted to exercising...Plus, working out tends to keep our junk food cravings and elephant appetites at bay. It's a win-win. Work out."

Kathryn:    For most of my life, I was a skinny bitch. I was also addicted to exercise. Even after my two kids, I was a skinny bitch. Then came an accident, which took years to resolve. I was fatigued and stopped exercising. I became a chubby bitch. Fortunately, at my job, I spend 40 hours a week walking, going up and down stairs, and a lot of heavy physical activity. When I get home, I ache. So I get paid to exercise!

After losing two dress sizes at my job,  I am now a moderate bitch. Another two sizes and I will be a skinny bitch once again.  Only a few more minutes before I have to leave for a short workout at the health club!

Low down on the carbs: Give up the simple carbs - they are the refined, white sugar breads and pastas and load up on the complex carbohydrates: Whole grain breads, pastas, fruits and vegetables.

Speaking of fruit, Skinny Bitch is not the first nor the last to call fruit the near perfect food. It is low fat, is excellent nutrition, is easy to digest and contains lots of water.

Speaking of water, too many of us do not drink enough water. Nor do we poop enough. There is a correlation, the Skinny Bitch authors remind us. 

Fiber is not the only thing that will get your system going. We need water - and lots of it, for health and elimination. I have always had lots of water to drink: more than the 8, eight-ounce glasses daily - I usually have double that. I am disease free and medicine free.

On the Atkins diet:

Skinny Bitch:  "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, Or, you are a gluttonous pig who wants to believe you can each cheeseburgers all day long and lose weight.  Perhaps you weren't listening the first time:  You need to get healthy if you want to be skinny! Eating carcasses all day while avoiding fruit is a recipe for disaster.  Of course, if you stop eating refined carbohydrates, you will lose weight. That's the part of the Atkins diet that actually works...When you eat large amounts of animal protein and saturated fats and do not eat whole grains, vegetables and fresh fruits, there is no fiber to bind all of the toxins and fat together to be eliminated from your body."

To the Reader:

And if reading the above does not make you want to stop eating meat, then reading below WILL.

Skinny Bitch:  "Of  the ten billion animals slaughtered each year for America's consumption, the vast majority of them come from factory farms. Factory farms that raise cattle, pigs, chickens, egg-laying hens, veal calves, or dairy cows have an enormous amount of animals in a small space... The animals are confined inside buildings, where they are literally packed on top of each other.  Egg-laying hens are crammed into cares so small, they are unable to open their wings, and their mangled feet actually grow around the wire mesh floors. This overcrowded, stressful environment  causes chickens to peck at each other and factory farm workers, so the ends of their beaks are seared off their faces using a hot knife. Pigs and cows are imprisoned in stalls so small, they are unable to turn around or lie down comfortably. Cattle are subject to third-degree branding burns and having their testicles and horns ripped out. Pigs also suffer from branding and castration, in addition to the mutilation of their ears, tails and teeth. They all live in the filth of their own urine, feces and vomit, with infected, festering sores and wounds. To keep animals alive in these unsanitary conditions, farmers must give them regular doses of antibiotics....

"Half of all the antibiotics made in the United States each year are administered to farm animals, causing antibiotic resistance in the humans who eat them..."

Skinny Bitch  also compiled a partial list of the ingredients in meat, poultry, seafood and dairy: benzene hexachloride (BHC), chlordane, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), dieldrin, dioxin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, (HCB), and lindane, all of which have been linked variously to cancer, birth defects, obesity, liver and kidney damage, nervous system disorders. 

Skinny Bitch  does advocate giving up dairy and drinking lots more water. Good advice.

Whew! I feel sick. I was a ‘cheating vegetarian - chicken, fish, dairy, eggs - for years. Now, I really prefer, grains, legumes, vegetables and fruit.

I will drink another few glasses of water and go for a workout! Early to bed and another terrific day tomorrow.

A must read to get your life in balance!

Grab a piece of fruit, a water bottle and go for a power walk.  Even a short power walk.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

To buy Skinny Bitch on Amazon

Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, published by Running Press Book Publishers, 2005, Paperback, 224 pages. $13.95.

ISBN-10: 0762424931
ISBN-13: 978-0762424931

The list price is $13.95, but Amazon lists it as being available for available $.8.97 and used copies from $5.99.