Skinny Bitch

I was a bit hesitant as I opened this book by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, two former models who turned into self-taught nutrition experts. I didn’t expect to learn much from it. “I’ll read it for fun since Kathy recommended it.” I thought. And then I was amazed by its clarity and convincing arguments.
What interested me is the authors’ study of others’ research on the way we consume food today. Never before have human beings been exposed to so many food choices. We can buy large chunks of meat or fish from the supermarket at a considerably low price. However, a few thousand years ago in the ancient world, people regarded meat eating as an extravagant experience in life. We eat more and move less. The excess energy just accumulates and causes obesity all around the world. However, this is not the end of the story.
The media and all sorts of experts make it sound as if we need to have a “balanced” diet that includes meat, vegetables, dairy, grain, etc. The book reveals another side of the story: half of all antibiotics made in the US are administered to farm animals. Therefore while you eat a piece of chicken, you also take in “benzene hexachloride (BHC), chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxin, heptachlor, HCB, and lindane”. It’s the same case for pesticides, steroids, and hormones. And a piece of fish also contains high levels of mercury and other pollutants accumulated through the food chain that can be well absorbed by human body. Moreover, as most of the meat we purchase is frozen, we never get to know if the animal were sick or if the meat is fresh or not. There are some unbelievable data in the book that might make you draw a parallel between eating meat and committing suicide.
The book is engrossing in the way that it analyzes each kind of food (including dairy and egg) that we think is indispensable in our life, and proves how it actually harms our body based on solid data. After reading the book I found it convinces people to be vegan instead of teaching them tactics on losing weight. Beware! If you are tempted to read it, think carefully because you might be convinced so much that you decide to become a vegan. At least I tried that for a month after reading, but soon I went back to being omnivorous because I can’t resist the temptation of homemade authentic Chinese food.

Thanks to:
Freedman, Rory and Barnouin, Kim. Skinny Bitch. Running Press. 2005.