The "Skinny" On Being SKinny

I’ve been enlightened. A friend of mine gave me a book to read that changed her life, and it changed mine too. Skinny Bitch, written by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, is the most influential book that I think I have ever read in my life. While you may think it’s about vanity and good looks, it’s not, not entirely. Sure, it has witty banter about being fabulous and fitting into your “skinny” jeans, but it’s not a materialistic read at all. In fact, it’s full of useful, intelligent, well-rounded information regarding the food industries and what we are eating. Skinny Bitch unveils the horrors of inhumane slaughterhouses, unravels a web of lies that governmental information agencies are telling us and gives readers the “skinny” on being healthy. Be prepared because what you thought you knew, quite frankly, is bullshit.
I’ve always been a big meat eater. Ham, pork, steak, chicken-I love it all. After reading this book, though, I don’t think I’ll ever eat meat again, seriously. I guess I always kind of knew in the back of my mind that animals aren’t necessarily slaughtered in a “nice” way, if there is such a thing, but I think that I somewhat ignored the idea or just chomped on a burger in blissful denial. Well, that’s all changed now. After reading Skinny Bitch, the realization of what actually goes on behind closed doors at slaughterhouses was brought to my attention and if for no other reason than the fact that these poor animals are brutally murdered in cold blood, I’ll do my best to steer clear of eating their flesh for the rest of my life. Did you know that by not eating meat, you alone can save about 90 animals a year?
There are other reasons, though, that I’ll no longer indulge in eating meat. There are guidelines that are meant to be followed in order to lessen the brutality of the killing process, many of which are ignored. For instance, animals are supposed to be stunned with a long metal rod that renders them unconscious before they’re slaughtered, however, when trying to catch hundreds of frightened pigs or cows at a time to stun them so that they don’t feel the pain of being skinned alive, it becomes much easier to “accidentally” miss and send them in to face their fate fully awake and aware of what’s happening to them. Try to imagine that the next time you order a juicy burger or a nice steak; kind of makes you lose your appetite, huh?
Well, there’s much more to tell, but I’ll leave it up to the experts. Read the book. Besides just telling us what not to eat, Rory and Kim give readers a guide of what kind of food we should be eating, as well as many other helpful tips on how to stay healthy and what kinds of things to look for in the food we’re eating. For example, the foundation that we build our diet upon should be mainly plant-based. Our entire intake should consist of all natural, organic, and unprocessed foods. It’s a tough life to live, but forget the cookies, forget the brownies and don’t even think about junk food. It’s pretty scary when you realize that many of the ingredients in the food we’re eating are actually carcinogenic. That alone keeps me up at night and would be enough to make me change the way I eat. Of course, I’m not perfect, I still crave cookies and sweets, and thankfully Skinny Bitch maps out an entire world of authors Rory and Kim call “acceptable junk food.” First of all, you may not think of this as junk food, but how about instead of going for that cookie you grab a piece of fruit instead? Think about it. Fruit contains sugar (the good kind) and its pretty sweet to taste, so why not? If that doesn’t do it for you though, there’s plenty of manufacturers of natural, soy-based, organic “junk food” to satisfy your cravings. It takes a little getting used to, but it’s worth it in the end.
One of the main reason I think this book made such a huge impact on me is because it really focuses on just feeling better and creating a whole new lifestyle. I’m pretty big on exercise and leading a healthy life, and I think that too many people aren’t active enough. Trust me, if you’re feeling that its time for a change, read this book. You’ll be a different person afterwards.