Weight Loss

Skinny Bitch is an aggressive book described by the authors as "A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous". Written by Kim Barnouin, a former model, and Rory Freedman, a former agent for Ford models, it promotes a "skinny" vegan diet for women who want to look pencil-thin and are willing to ditch non-vegetarian food. It is brazen in approach and not for those who are easily offended by words.

The authors describe meat as "dead, rotting, decomposing flesh". Dairy products and honey are banned too, as they are "toxic". Sugar, artificial sweeteners, additives, pesticides and preservatives are all to be strictly avoided as they are the prime cause of unhealthiness. Alcohol, beer, caffeine, soda, eggs and poultry are up on the list of forbidden foods. Foods that are hard to digest are unhealthy, unclean and toxic.

What then are you supposed to eat? You can have all that you want of organic fruits, veggies, whole grains, and natural food. Foods you can eat:

* Fruits and vegetables
* Soy products, beans and nuts
* Whole grain cereals and bread, whole wheat pasta, vegetable pasta, tortilla, brown rice, barley, quinoa, potatoes and sweet potatoes
* Organic canola, olive oil,  sesame oil, coconut oil
* Organic corn chips, tofu ice cream, desserts with natural sweeteners like cane juice, maple syrup
* Water, decaf green tea, organic red wine occasionally

A typical diet plan would be:

Breakfast
Fruit salad including mango and banana, with soy yogurt

Lunch
Vegan Caesar salad, raw vegetables

Snack
Guacamole and organic corn chips

Dinner
Vegetarian Pad Thai

You are advised to wait until you are almost famished. This will help you get used to the feeling of hunger. And if you experience headache or nausea, it is most likely a good sign of detoxification. Occasional cleansing diets and fasts are recommended too, although some wouldn't agree that they are safe.

The basis of Skinny Vegan diet is that if you give up non-vegetarian food and processed food and eat natural vegan food, you shall be happier, healthier, more energized, … and skinny.

Positives:

* No calorie counting. Eat the right food, and eat well.
* High intake of fiber
* Extremely low in fats and calories
* High in low glycemic index carbohydrates
* Total ban on intake of unhealthy food
* Easy to digest
* Detoxifies the entire body

Negatives:

Not everyone can take this diet - it is strict. If you are completely famished, you could end up binging on your favorite food. There are also risks of nutrition deficiencies. The vegan fare may deprive you of calcium, iron, zinc and vitamin B12. It is also not known how vegan diet affects us in the long term. Fasting and cleansing diets are not recommended by some experts who believe there are other methods to detoxify the body.