That’s right bitc*es, I am a skinny bitch!

In other (more polite) words, and for those of you who didn’t quite get it very accurately, I am a vegan.

 

I happened to stumble upon a review of the popular diet book, Skinny Bitch, and surprisingly found myself provoked enough to criticize the article’s, and consequently the authoress’, self-manifested ignorance and an almost piteous self-deceit, on cyberspace.

 

According to the authoress, admittedly one of those “junk food-addicted fatties”, even veganism can make us fat (in her case, fatter) if you “really put (your) mind to it”. She concludes saying, “I’d rather be a fat pig”.

 

I normally would not be so rude, but this woman has probably put one too many weight-loss guides back on the shelf, disappointed that the writer didn’t recommend having fried-chicken and asked her to exercise. C’mon, doesn’t weight-loss come in a pill!!! Since the 60’s!!

 

She then, very intelligently, singles out the three most important reasons for obesity……“depression, pregnancy, genetics”. Well, *sigh* no wonder!

 

But this amazing lady is not all that disoriented. She has a philosophical side to herself and has given it all some thought. She condones consuming “booze; sugar; sweeteners; fat; caffeine; dairy” because they are the ones that “make our short, brutish lives that bit more bearable”. How true! Yeah life is tough when you are fat, and who’s ever heard of an alcoholic overweight carnivore feeling suicidal! It’s always us skinny bitches feeling depressed and rushing to rehab.

 

They say you can accomplish anything if you really put your mind to it, but getting fatter on a vegan diet – and believe this because it comes straight from this horse’s mouth – fat chance! And I’ll explain why.

 

When you cut meat and dairy from your diet, you also cut and may be sometimes even eliminate trips to McDonald’s, phone calls to Pizza-Hut and instead park outside a Subway or order a Chinese Take-out. The cookies, cakes and milkshakes go away, and most of the times you end up replacing sucrose with fructose. At least till McDonald’s puts at least 5 vegan items on its dollar menu and soy alternatives for cheese and eggs become readily available.

 

For the sheer reason, that it takes time and effort to find unhealthy and high calorie vegan food, the vegan diet works. I guess all the diets work in similar ways, restricting unhealthy food to cut calories. All of them require effort and commitment. The distinction in the vegan diet is that you not only trying to lose weight, you are helping save lives and the environment.

 

So when the girl with a hat and an apron behind that Subway counter yells “Cheese?” you say “No thanks” and immediately cut a hundred calories and your stomach doesn’t really miss those two 0.01 inch thick white slices. Besides, as a matter of fact waistlines benefit as much from what vegans eat as from what vegans do not eat. You eat rice and beans instead of pizza for dinner and grill vegetables instead of hamburgers on that barbecue grille.

 

Oh yeah, I’ve heard about the Atkins diet. Less carbs, more proteins. Application wise, less pasta more beef. I’ll tell you why it does not work. How many chicken fingers does it take to fill up the stomach of a 180 pound female? Very conservatively, she has to have 6 pieces or 960 calories. Otherwise, she can have Pasta with almost any vegan sauce or 600 calories. Although it’s a debate, but Atkins himself probably didn’t die very healthy. Read http://www.snopes.com/medical/doctor/atkins.asp

 

But may be you don’t want to lose weight. Like me, you want to maintain or may be even put on some. May be you get skeptical, thinking “where am I going to get my calories from??”  I won’t lie to you, it’s not easy. If you have the appetite of my room-mate it might even be a bit too audacious. But it’s possible. It’s funny that the writer of the article in scrutiny mentions soy latte prefixed with “skinny”. 16 oz of Soy Latte has 210 calories, and soy-milk does not come skimmed. At Starbucks, you can get a low fat latte that has no more than 160 Calories. But you really don’t have to guzzle down soy lattes to keep looking your fabulous self. This is how I do it –

 

Food Item	Servings	kCal/serving	Total kCal
Rice/grains	3.5	216	756
Soy Milk Low fat	1	70	70
Vegetables	5	20	100
cereal	1.5	128	192
legumes, protein	2.5	266	665
fruits( Usually Banana)	2	110	210
Other (bread, jelly, peanut butter, chips)	N/A	N/A	~200
Juice	1	120	120

 

So that adds up to about 2300 Calories which is the recommended amount for my weight (122 lbs) and daily activity.

 

* The Article in question can be read at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-457277/Do-I-want-Skinny-B–h-Fat-chance.html

 

Due to the nature of the review I wrote about, the article focuses on weight-loss for girls. But I hope the male readers get an insight into the advantages of veganism too. For more information, please visit the links for Nutrition Facts and Go Vegan located on my homepage.

 

PS – I haven’t read Skinny Bitch. I have been Vegan for 6 months now. And I wasn’t always 122 lbs :)