Skinny Bitch
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| Skinny Bitch | |
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| Author | Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin |
| Illustrator | Margarete Gockel, Maria Taffera Lewis (design) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Diet |
| Publisher | Running Press Book Publishers |
| Publication date | December 30, 2005 |
| Followed by | Skinny Bitch in the Kitch: Kick-Ass Recipes for Hungry Girls Who Want to Stop Cooking Crap (and Start Looking Hot!) |
Skinny Bitch is a sleeper hit diet book written by Rory Freedman, a former modelling agent and Kim Barnouin, a former model.
Known for its irreverent tone, the book gained attention in 2007 when British celebrity Victoria Beckham was photographed holding a copy while shopping in Los Angeles.[1][2] According to a New York Times article, the book's sales have defied "conventional publishing wisdom, which says that a book must break into the best-seller lists in its first weeks on sale or risk sinking into oblivion."[1] Skinny Bitch had become a best-seller in the United Kingdom by May of 2007 and in the United States by July, more than eighteen months after its initial 2005 press run of 10,000 copies.
Contents |
[edit] Content
The book advocates a purely vegan diet and even includes sections on factory farming and animal cruelty. In addition to advocating a vegan diet, the authors also say that one should avoid alcohol, caffeine, chemical additives like aspartame and refined sugar. After finishing the manuscript, the authors had Amy Joy Lanou, senior nutrition scientist for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, vet their work.
[edit] Reaction
Reactions to the book have been mixed. The New York Times[3] called the book "hard-core vegan, with a good helping of animal rights rhetoric that might be more familiar to the Birkenstock brigade than your average diet-seeking book buyer." They reported that "some readers have been put out by what they see as a disconnect between message and medium" and one woman they interviewed "was so fed up that she didn’t even finish the book." In response to this, author Freedman said “They’re mad that they spent $14 on a book that was not what they thought, but they’re not mad that chickens are having beaks chopped off their faces?”
A review by Ursula Hirschkorn in the Daily Mail[4] was decidedly unfavorable. She criticizes the authors' "simplistic theory, that the secret of weight loss is just to eat healthy food. Oh if it were that easy, we'd all be size eight." Like the New York Times piece, she stresses the "extreme" nature of the proposed diet, saying that "The book spouts an extensive list of no-nos that you must avoid… In a nutshell, everything that makes our short, brutish lives that bit more bearable." She complains that the book is marketed as a diet book when that is not its sole focus: "This isn't so much a diet book as a propaganda pamphlet for veganism… it moves effortlessly from being potty-mouthed advice on how to adopt a fat-busting healthy diet, into a diatribe against eating meat." But her chief complaint seems to be what she perceives as the book's accusatory or condescending tone: "These pampered LA princesses work hard to make us feel guilty for trying to make our lives a bit easier... They sanctimoniously lecture us on the cancer-causing chemicals in wine, and the nasties lurking in diet sodas… Skinny Bitch is just the same-old diet rules repackaged in an obnoxious and bullying tone."
The Sun[5] was not quite so dismissive, calling it "a vegan diet with a bit of attitude thrown in." They also said “if you follow it to the letter then you will lose weight but for your average woman it’s not particularly easy to follow."
The book has been accused across multiple mediums of being rife with inaccuracies in both physiological function as well as biochemical processes within the human body. It has also been stated to hold hypocritical advice by lashing out at foods containing preservatives, while the book goes on in later chapters to suggest a variety of preservative laden, vegan meat substitute products.
In February 2008, Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder took up vegetarianism after being given the book by his wife Chanel.[6][7] When his subsequent performance began to disappoint, some critics suggested that his diet may have contributed to his struggles,[8] prompting one webblog writer to comment, "Prince just isn't hitting the ball on the screws right now. It has nothing to do with what he eats or a drop off in power. Atlanta Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez is a vegan, and I doubt any linebackers believe that guy has lost power since adopting the diet."[9] Gonzalez, in fact, quickly gave up his experiment in veganism, although he still avoids red meat.[10]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Rich, Motoko (August 1, 2007). "A Diet Book Serves Up a Side Order of Attitude". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/01/books/01skin.html. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
- ^ Dugan, Emily (May 26, 2007). "Tough-love diet book in the spotlight after plug from Victoria Beckham". The Independent. http://arts.independent.co.uk/books/news/article2584179.ece. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080221&content_id=2383789&vkey=spt2008news&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlbl No more steaks for Fielder]
- ^ Brewers counting on vegetarian Fielder in meat of order - MLB - CBSSports.com
- ^ http://mvn.com/outsider/2009/02/mlb-top-10-first-basemen.html
- ^ Prince's diet criticisms should stop - Brewers Blog
- ^ The 247 lb. Vegan
