Skinny Bastard: A Kick-in-the-Ass for Real Men Who Want to Stop Being Fat and Start Getting Buff

by Rory Freedman, Kim Barnouin

What’s good for the bitch is good for the bastard. Hundreds of thousands of women have been inspired to “use their head” and get real about the food they eat after reading the best-selling manifesto Skinny Bitch. But it turns out some men have been reading over their girlfriends’ shoulders. Professional athletes such as Milwaukee Brewers’ Prince Fielder and the Dallas Mavericks’ Jerry Stackhouse have adopted a whole new eating plan because of the book. Now authors Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin think it’s time for the guys to have a book of their own. In Skinny Bastard, they’ll explain why the macho “meat and potatoes” diet is total crap, why having a gut is un-cool (and a turn-off), and how to get buff on the right foods. Eating well shouldn’t be a “girlie” thing—and the Bitches will whip any man into shape with their straight-talk, sound guidance, and locker room language.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Self Help, Nutrition, Food, Vegan, Diets

288 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Rory Freedman is the co-author of "Skinny Bitch". She attended the University of Maryland, and used to not like writing, but has developed a passion for writing due to her passion for the subjects that she writes about. She wrote "Skinny Bitch" because she is passionate about not being skinny or being a bitch, but to educate everyone about becoming vegetarian and vegan. Rory Freedman was not always a vegan, or vegetarian. Growing up she ate meat every day. Her passion for becoming vegetarian and vegan developed about 15 years ago. Her passion developed due to reading an article about animals being slaughtered for food. She always saw herself as an animal lover and she was disgusted by what she saw in the article. One image was of baby chickens crammed into a garbage bag and thrown into a dumpster. The next picture she sees is a picture of a mother cow and a baby cow. The baby was taken away from the mother, and being upset that she baby was taken away from her, she started to ram the cage and broke her neck. The mother cow was left there to lay and die with a broken neck. The other picture she saw was of a downer cow, an injured cow, on the back of a truck being unloaded by a chain wrapped around the cows legs. She was devastated to know that animals were being treated this way due to her eating meat. After reading this article in the magazine, she made the decision to become vegetarian. She did not want to contribute to the torture and slaughter of animals. The sole reason she became a vegetarian was so that she did not have to be part of the pictures that she saw.

Since she became vegetarian, she was now interested in doing more research on nutrition. People always said that vegetarians lack protein and other things that your body needs, so therefore she conducted research and found that these statements and assumptions are not true. Rory found out that by becoming vegetarian, you do not lack protein, and that most Americans actually have too much protein in their diets. Becoming a vegetarian had a total change on Rory. She felt as though she became nicer, happy, had more energy, and overall a better person. She became an animal rights activist due to her passion for animals. After making these changes, she felt as though she had a purpose in life. Rory encourages people to try a 30 day Veg Pledge. This is trying to be vegetarian for 30 days to just try to and see if you like the changes that your body will go through.

*Rory Freedman, a former agent for Ford Models, is co-author of the #1 New York Times bestselling books.
She resides in Los Angeles.

Reviews

[Scott Dinsmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why I Read this Book: Health is a constant area of study for me. These women have done the research and have a simple lifestyle that works. I’ve experienced it.

Review:

I know what you’re thinking…”What on earth is Reading For Your Success doing posting a review on a book with a title like this?” How could that possibly be related to true health or success? Well, as my mom taught me early on not to judge a book by it’s cover, it took me a couple years but I finally got past this one. And I’m glad I did. The books written by Rory and Kim have turned out to be incredible wealths of information. Useful, empowering tools that can dramatically change the way you feel and look–as they have for me. Not to mention they’re about as entertaining as a nutrition book (or any book) can be.

After some deliberation, I decided to post the review. I wrote this based on having just read Skinny Bastard but it fits just as well for this book’s testy older sister, Skinny Bitch, too. They’re equals, just one for the ladies in your life and one for the guys. The message is the same (which I’ll get to in a minute). After reading them, I believe the Skinny books are one of the most useful and easy to digest books on health that I’ve seen. In Defense of Food takes the cake but these gals are a relatively close second.

They obviously chose these titles to ruffle some feathers–and you know what they say, it takes something out of the ordinary to really break a pattern. This book will likely disturb you, maybe even disgust you, but in an informative good way. It’s a very in your face way of saying something pretty simple–eat your fruits and veggies and stay away from just about everything else. That’s the skinny.

This approach to eating first hopped on my radar at a Tony Robbins Unleash The Power Within event. He spent one full 12-hour day dedicated to energy, health and vitality. After 30 years of research he found that the diet most consistent with high energy, low disease and longevity is one that involves nothing but whole grains, fruits and a lot of veggies, especially the leafy green type. After two more years of self study and a few personal experiments on my body, I must say the data is pretty compelling. And this is coming from a guy who didn’t use to be able to have a meal without some form of meat on my plate. I will spare you all the details for now but there is plenty of science behind this stuff both in the 1,000+ sources these girls cite and the books listed below.

“But what about getting enough protein??”

This is the first thing 99.9% of people ask in response to someone who labels themselves as a vegetarian or a vegan (which I am neither). If I had a nickle for every time I heard that, I’d be laying on a hammok in Tahiti somewhere. This was my major limiting belief before switching to mostly plants and I believe it is the biggest roadblock to sustainable eating for most folks. Guys especially are convinced that they need a ton of protein to get through life and especially if they want to pack on a bunch of muscle.

I couldn’t have agreed more. I was as skeptical as they come. So what did I do? I decided to test it. One of my goals last year was to put on a few pounds of muscle–5 to be exact. So I picked a pretty rigorous program, P90X. I did the full program–13 weeks straight (I highly recommend it by the way–perfect workout for at home too). But I decide that I wouldn’t eat any meat and next to no dairy during the program just to see what was possible.

I set out to gain 5 pounds of muscle, and at the end of week 13 I had put on 9.8! I was sold. Society has brainwashed us on this whole protein myth. Try it for yourself if you don’t believe it. And don’t worry, even if you stop your protein shakes and 20 oz of white chicken breast a day, you will still get your fair share of protein from all the things no one pays attention to–legumes, veggies and fruit. What are you afraid of anyway–suffering from protein deficiency? Have you ever even heard of that problem in our country?

If you’re stuggling with what “your plate after meat” will look like, take advantage of the dozens of delicious recipes in this book. You’ll never know the animal is even missing.

And if my little anecdote wasn’t enough, you would not believe the list of vegan olympians, pro athletes (including NFL players) and body builders that these girls list. There must be a full page. There is comfort in numbers–especially big, fit and strong ones.

Here are the main things to keep in mind:

1. Keep your food sources simple: Think about where most food and meat really comes from. It is scary if you ask yourself too many questions. If you can pull it from the ground, it’s not too hard to figure out where it came from. The graphic descriptions of the sources of some of our foods and meats will make your stomach churn.

2. Trust no one: We spend our lives reliant on others for health advice–doctors, commecials, FDA, food industry. Every one of these either has a huge conflict of interest or has little to no nutritional training. The only one to trust is yourself. Do your own research and know exactly what you’re putting in your body and where it come from. You’ll find whatever program you choose much easier to stick to if you understand what’s behind it.

3. Alkalinity=Health and Energy: The pH level in your body has a great deal to do with your health and energy levels. Your body thrives in an alkaline environment. Most fruits and veggies (especially leafy greens) are incredibly alkaline. Dairy and meats are very acidic. According to the studies, in an acid environment your cells retain fat to protect themselves from the acidity. Diseases and viruses also thrive in acidic environments. Why do you think most cancer patients are told to adopt a vegan diet?

4. Sugar is the devil: This shouldn’t be much of a surprise. The stuff jacks your body up like crazy and leads to a ton of health problems, not the least of which is major weight gain. Avoid added sugar (especially high-fructose corn syrup) whenever possible, and stick to the natural stuff like stevia, molasses, honey or agave nectar when you need a fix.

5. Don’t drown yourself in protein: I think this was covered plenty above. Ask yourself why you believe you need so much protein. Who taught you this? Have you ever tested whether or not it’s true?

6. Moderation in moderation: This is my favorite. While these girls are hard asses about what to put into your body, they spend plenty of time letting you know that everything in moderation is crucial. Including moderation. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t follow everything perfectly–no matter what you’re tackling, life’s just not that fun when you totally stick to the rules. When in doubt, just adopt Pareto’s famous 80/20 rule. Do what you know is right for your body 80% of the time and the other 20% just go with the flow. Before you know it you’ll be so accustomed to and enjoying that 80% lifestyle, that it will become the norm and flow of the rest of it.

So what do you say you take the time to explore your body a bit? It’s our most magnificent and powerful tool. When nourished properly it can be unstoppable. Test some things out and let me know what you learn. And of course, moderate your moderation.

What have you learned while exploring a mostly-plant diet? What surprised you? How did you feel? Share a fun story (or recipe) with us.

~Reading for Your Success

Other books and articles you might enjoy:

In Defense of Food
Eating Our Way to Death, Literally
The pH Miracle for Weight Loss
Skinny Bitch
The China Study
Food Rules
Your Bodies Many Cries for Water
The Omnivore’s Dilemma

[Donald · Rating 1 out of 5]

This audiobook comes off as a manifesto from a pair of angry, foul-mouthed, animal-activist, vegans. They are pissed at the whole meat industry for being what they are and try to scare the listener away from anything to do with meat in all its permutations by giving graphic examples of animal treatment.

As if that isn’t enough, when there is a lack of cognitive thought process, they resort to foul-mouthed named calling which is really just a half-step up from knuckle dragging. The only thing clear and concise about this diatribe called skinny bastard is that the authors must be under-educated twig-eaters who will probably die an undernourished early death. They are a good example of why moderation in all things must be key. An extreme, such as theirs, is nothing to emulate.

[Ken Craig-Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars for information, 1 star for turning me completely off of cheese and dairy, think cooked cow puss. 3 stars for writing in an updated liberated naughty sort of way that made me laugh.

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Skinny Bastard", from the authors of "Skinny Bitch" is a weight loss how-to book.

A large part of the book reviews the deleterious effects of eating animal products, reviews the unhealthy conditions in which animal products are produced and reviews how various government regulatory agencies are corrupt in favor of big business to the detriment of consumer safety.

The authors also encourage the reader to quit soda, quit smoking, reduce drinking and minimize the use of sweeteners.

No doubt, cutting animal products ( meat, milk, egss ) and junk food out will help you lose weight as many calories will be lost without being replaced.

To their credit, the authors encourage the reader to wait until feeling physically hungry before eating and to stop eating when no longer feeling physically hungry. Eating when not physically hungry can erase the weight loss effects of any eating plan.

As with their earlier book "Skinny Bitch" the authors write in a tough love/foul language style to get the reader's attention. This will offend some people and will make other people laugh. I found it to be charming and it made the book enjoyable.

What ruined the book for me was that there were a number of statements made that were simply not true, but presented as nutrition facts.

The authors stated a common "nutrition folklore" belief that raw produce contains enzymes which can make people healthier by sparing a body the strain of having to use all of its own enzymes to digest food. This belief is simply not true. Furthermore it contradicts basic biochemistry that has been known for over a century.

The authors stated that celtic sea salt is a good source of minerals. Anybody can read the back of sea salt container to see that there is less than a tenth, sometimes a hundredth of a percent of the US DV for any given mineral in sea salt. If you go to nutritiondata.com you can see that a single cup of shredded lettuce provides more minerals.

People who read the earlier book "Skinny Bitch" will notice that "Skinny Bastard" is mostly the same content. It looks like the authors took "Skinny Bitch", and ran a search-and-replace program over "Skinny Bitch" replacing occurrences of the word "Bitch" with the word "Bastard".

It becomes pretty amusing toward the end of the book where the authors originally warned women in "Skinny Bitch" not to become egotistical bitches once they become enviably thin. Somehow that warning didn't convert well to content for "Skinny Bastard". For example "anorexia" becomes "manorexia".

If you read "Skinny Bitch", you've read "Skinny Bastard".

People interested in reading a fact based argument for the health benefits of dropping animal products from a diet would do much better to read a copy of "The China Study"

[Kaleb Phillips · Rating 5 out of 5]

My father actually bought this book after he felt that his weight was getting out of control. After reading it, he passed it on to me, telling me that I wouldn't believe the information given. Taking his advice, I started reading it. It's casually written, which I think allows one to accept the information easier than if it were given in a dark, condescending format.

People often give this ill favored reviews, giving the reason that "they are more concerned about converting you into their diet and lifestyle than with making you healthy and helping you lose weight." So I ask you this, is it so far fetched that the two sides cannot be linked? That all of those issues are tied to the same solution? Everyone makes their own choices, but why not try all avenues before condemning them?

After reading this book, my family became vegan, and have been for a little over two years now. At first it was strange, confusing, and sometimes difficult, especially living where we do (Southwest Missouri), but you get the grip of it eventually. What this book does, is tells you what we all already knew but neglected to actually think or care about, maybe even realize in the first place. It tells you what is IN your food, what your food IS, and what it does to your body. We've all seen the proof, just go out in public and look at the masses, it's evident and makes perfect sense. All this book does is tell you how, why, and what, and how to fix it.

Since we became vegans, my father lost 50 pounds, I lost 25, and my mother lost 20. That was before exercise as well. Our energy levels have increased dramatically, which has let us get back into exercising, and has even given us a new passion in cooking. This is not a diet, or a fad, this is a lifestyle change. People have tried every other "diet" under the sun, and if none of them have worked for you, why not try going vegan? What do you have to lose, except the pounds?

[Oksana Fore · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a great book. I see some dude posted a nasty comment about with a picture of his baby instead of his own. Hey bro, since you eat meat, you must look like Brad Pitt and hiding your sexy looks, duh.... lol!!! Jeez people, it is up to you what you eat, if you have nothing nice to say, keep it to yourselves. This book has a lot of useful info, not all is 100% perfect in it, well you get the idea. There are other vegan books, do some research.

[Jonathan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah we get it, eating meat is bad. Talking about how gross it is makes you realize it is bad. This booked turned me vegan...for a week

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is funny, a fast read, and surprisingly well researched, sourced, and informative. I loved it. Really one of those books that you aren't the same after reading it.

[Jude · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, first of all I’m 15 years old and I live in a foreign country, right off the bat when I saw this book in the library it caught my attention, u spent all my money on this (for some people it might be spare change but I’m an unemployed obese teenager), I was so excited to read this book and maybe find a keg to losing weight, however this book did not meet my expectations at all.

Firstly, the introduction and the first chapters were so helpful and factual, everything I wanted from this book but good things don’t last.

As soon as they started talking about veganism I wanted to tear the book, not that they didn’t make any great points at all, there were some extremely good points, but veganism isn’t for me, I kept on reading hoping this white girl vegan hissy fit would go away after a couple pages, 1..2..3..4..5..6 a whole chapter of the veganism then I ponder to myself “maybe it’s over now” oh how naive I was, it continued for the entire book they made some good points against the usda but then they use the usda to back up they’re claims? You can’t have both I’m sorry dude.

I was so bummed out, I definitely regret purchasing this there were some good points though, but I’m trying to look lean not like a malnourished blonde prostitute. Sorry not for me.

So all in all I have it two stars because it had some good points but the rest of the book was just hot shit, they didn’t even mention calorie deficits once? Like dude I thought there would be advice on cutting calories which is how you lose weight but no? These girls have no idea what they’re talking about and I can tell they just copy pasted skinny bitch into a male format like dude stop milking it leave it to the professionals.

If you want the facts buy a different book or just read the first two and last two chapters, if you want to scare yourself into having a eating disorder by all means read this book about anima torture!!!

2 stars for facts and effort.

[Eric Moote · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall: everything you are eating is killing you. Become vegan! No? Here is why you should be vegan [insert massive amounts of information regarding government corruption to prostate cancer].

"Skinny Bastard" is a straight forward, evidence (seen as scientific journal citations) and opinion based rant on how the American Diet is killing men and/or making them fat. It offers massive amounts of evidence (and opinion) to conclude that your favorite food item (soda, meat or white bread) is killing you while the corporations and governing entities are actively trying to make you more addicted and less healthy.

It's all there in black and white. Whether or not you believe it or choose to integrate it into your life is up to you.

I would recommend this to: any man needing motivation to make a change.

[Serhat Yildirim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Het boek gaat vooral over hoe ‘giftig’ veel van het voedsel in de Verenigde Staten is. De auteur bespreekt uitgebreid het gebruik van antibiotica, pesticiden en allerlei toevoegingen (die in de Europese Unie al verboden zijn). Uiteindelijk komt het erop neer dat we beter vegan kunnen eten en goed moeten letten op wat er in ons voedsel zit.

Het was interessant om te lezen, maar eerlijk gezegd heeft het mij weinig nieuws gebracht. Veel van wat erin stond, wist ik eigenlijk al (over bijvoorbeeld de vleesindustrie), waardoor het voor mij niet echt veel toegevoegde waarde had.

[Synthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The follow up to Skinny Bitch but for men. The books details the many reasons why a whole foods, plant based diet is best. They list athletes and body builders that follow this lifestyle. Sure there are plant based substitutes for meat and dairy, even moreso today than when the book was written, but the less processed food one consumes the better. Not a bad book to recommend to a guy that could use more fruits and vegetables in his life.

[Sergei Masis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Left in the middle, can't trust them. It is a propaganda addressing the emotions dressed in scientific terms and failing logic. "Feeling tired? It is probably your testosterone. Do our diet. Doesn't help? Try acupuncture." They might have accidentally things right, but I will look for a more reliable source

[Claudia Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the last part of this informative and passionate book states clearly the reason why anyone would give this a poor rating:

“You’ll see that some people get very defensive... Even if you’re being nonjudgmental people may feel threatened by your stance...your being vegan shines a spotlight on the cruelty they’re contributing to and it makes them feel uncomfortable”

[Nassif Abou Khalil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skinny Bastard is an interesting book with useful health related tips and insights. It's focused on the benefits of switching to a vegan lifestyle. Simply put, this book is funny, fast-paced and informative.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever want to eat meat again, do not read this book. Otherwise...prepare for a quasi-vegan life after reading this.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life-Restoring

It’s all right there in the book...everything we guys need to know to make a change that will lead to greater health and being, along with every reason to do so.

[Fremo111 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this!

[Matthew Lachkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book and I enjoy the frankness, but it's mostly common knowledge stuff.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good message of health. A little too vegan preachy for my taste.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

picked this up at a book swap at work, and maybe my take on it isn't fair since I'm not actually looking to overhaul my eating habits at this point. Impassioned, sometimes funny, polemic favoring vegan diet with lots of organic fruits/vegetables and no alcohol or caffeine. Side trips to recommend smoking cessation and increased exercise. Long diatribes about how animals are treated in the food production process, failure of FDA etc. to avoid conflict of interest and actually protect the food supply, etc.

As you might guess from the title, there's a lot of coarse language, and I'm feeling more inspired to comment on that than on the nutrition content. When they told me to get over something (I think coffee) even though it's tough by saying "man up, bitch", I realized with some sadness that "man up" has in 7 short years [I first saw/heard this expression in Chris Lear's 2004 book about Alan Webb] gone from fresh/funny most of the way to worn out and slightly irritating. It's not in "pop the question" territory yet, but we're getting there. I feel a little like the African American woman interviewed in the Wx Post a while back who said "if another perky white woman tells me 'you go, girl', I'm going to lose it".

While I'm on the subject of language (and now off the topic of the book entirely), I would like to begin disseminating more widely my campaign to ban the recent pandemic of "quick question"s [prototypical usage = subject line of an email from a student, first text line being often "I have a quick question for you"]. Let's break down what this might mean.....

1. This question will not take me long to ask. ANALYSIS: Few of them do. I don't care (apparently you judged the effort/time to be worthwhile, and who am I to disagree?). It only takes more time to foreshadow the question with your time estimate. CONCLUSION: This is not what "quick question" spewers mean.

2. This question will not take you long to answer. ANALYSIS: Unless you're asking me my middle name or the like [which they never are], you have no way of knowing that. Also, unless you're asking for an appointment to discuss it, why do you perceive a need to estimate how long it will take me to answer? It seems suspicious that nobody ever communicates an estimate that it will take me a medium or large amount of time to answer. CONCLUSION: This is not precisely what people mean when QQing me.

3. This question will not take you long to answer, so please do so right away. ANALYSIS: This is rude on your part. Are you suggesting that unless so prompted I tend to take too long to respond to things? Do you have any way to know what else I'm supposed to do now that should according to you be put aside so that I can focus on your issue? Also, bear in mind (as in #2) that you don't even know if you're right in believing that it will not take me long to answer. CONCLUSION: This is what people mean, and it's (I'm sure inadvertently in some cases, as people mindlessly use constructions they have become accustomed to hearing) extremely annoying.

There, i feel better. I'm not normally an Edwin Newman type who gets bent out of shape over "then"/"than" confusion or pretends not to understand people who say "If I was" when "If I were...." would be more apt, but the quick question has been weighing on me for about two years now.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

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[Chris Frost · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is simply a poorly thought out, hypocritical, self-contradictory vegan manifesto. The locker-room language was cute for the first couple of chapters, but quickly became over-used. The girls cite many references to bolster their argument for a vegan diet, while poo-pooing the ones that don't back them up. Example.....they reference a small study (17 subjects) done in Japan to determine what, if any, negative effects soy has on thyroid function. It found that half of the subjects experienced deleterious effects, and the girls simply reply that 8 or 9 people shouldn't stop you from eating soy. That's 50% folks. That's a higher correlation than most other things that are generally considering bad for you. They also spend a considerable amount of space bashing the USDA, and explaining why the USDA or any other governmental agency simply cannot be trusted (and with good reason). But then they turn around and cite USDA studies that happen to support their own beliefs. Sorry ladies, you can't have it both ways. Do you trust the USDA or not? They even cite some certifiable nut jobs, the most notable being "Dr." Andrew Weil, good friends with Timothy Leary. Would you like some LSD with that? Perhaps a little mescaline? Weil has gone so far as to state that if it were legal, X would make a fine prescription drug. Yeah, I'm going to take health advice from THAT guy.......

In summation, there are a few good things that can be taken from this book, though nothing new or groundbreaking. We all know how we are supposed to eat, we just typically don't do it. If scary statistics will get you to eat better, then by all means read this book, and don't question the sources. Just don't buy the book. Get it from your local library.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

I rated this book two stars, but it's probably more like two "meh's." Actually, it should be one star, but I can't bring myself to rate it lower because I knew exactly what I was getting into and have a hard time docking something for delivering pretty much what I expected.

What I expected was vegan propaganda, delivered in a raunchy, no frills style. And that's what I got. I give this book a few stars because there is some decent information throughout, and because it did cause me to think about a few things differently (which is, after all, what any decent book should do).

It also had its share of pitfalls. The "talk like one of the guys" humor came across a bit forced, and while I mentioned that there was some good information, there was also a fair share of "facts" that were clearly pushing the boundaries of accuracy. My biggest complaint was the thing I should have expected most: the totally biased and lopsided framing of the discussion, and dismissiveness of alternative viewpoints. For instance, meat was constantly referred to as "rotting, dying flesh," while vegetables were referred to as crisp, vibrant, etc. Every time this discussion happened, I couldn't help but think that vegetables are also dying and rotting the second you pick them, and a head of lettuce that has gone bad is no less smelly or revolting than meat that has done the same.

I would probably not recommend this book, but if you do decide to read it, know that you're getting exactly what you'd expect (apologies for the circular caveat).

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of Hard Hitting Advice

These bitches cut right to the chase. It's a great book for men who want to take care of themselves and loose weight and become more healthy. Great book!

[Jeffrey Spitz Cohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The vegan advocacy movement needs a variety of voices. One thing you can safely say about Rory Freedman, Kim Barnouin and their Skinny Bastard/Skinny Bitch books is they add some variety.

How many authors, vegan or otherwise, describe themselves in their bio as having "an epic ass," as Freedman does?

And how many book covers promise you that you'll "find out which foods can affect your ding-dong," as Skinny Bastard's back cover does.

The conversational, straight-talking, and occasionally crude tone of the books won't appeal to everyone. It's designed to strike a chord with readers from 15 to 45 years of age, give or take.

I'm not sure the tone is totally an affectation. I also sense in their writing some of the frustration vegans feel from their daily encounter with the insane eating habits of the average American.

At any rate, if you're trying to lose weight and get healthier, Skinny Bastard and Skinny Bitch might give you the information and motivation you need to make changes.

[James Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a few misconceptions going into this book. The first was that this book would be able to layout a guideline of exercise and diet. The second was I didn't realize it was going to be a huge push (shove) to be a vegan.

That being say, it did have a loose guideline of diet and exercise (basically tell you to do it) and at the end of the book, while I can not say I'm going to be a vegan, I can say that I've became a vegetarian now. Through all the talk of what the animals go through and how the FDA sits on their hands and collects money, it was an eye opener.

I didn't mind the language as some have came out and chastised, but some things could have did without being said, but probably ended up helping the reader that the indeed were said. Overall I enjoyed the book, it was a fun read and didn't take long at all, I would recommend this to men who are figuring out that they do indeed need to lose weight.

[Lannie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a cash-grab copy-paste of Skinny Bitch, but for dudes. (In the 2000s, dudes definitely wanted to look like thin, anorexic vegan women, right...?)

Honestly, I couldn't tell you if there was a real demographic aim for this book other than "women who read Skinny Bitch want their guy pals to read it but know men will not read a book called Skinny Bitch."

I had already read Skinny Bitch before reading this, and knew what to expect, and yet read it anyway. Why am I a weird little freak like that? I dunno. I was curious, I guess. Had to give the benefit of the doubt. My hot take is that if you want to read a book with sassy updates on how the food industry is doing bad things, just read almost any other highly acclaimed book about health, corporate food practices, or industrialization, but read everything out loud in a 2000s valley girl accent.

[Edgar Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe it’s the excessive use of foul language, or maybe it’s the pseudo hip/cool way that the authors attempt to write and illustrate their “push to the vegan lifestyle” but I must admit that the “Skinny Bastard” is a swift kick in the cojones for all the self-styled meat lovers/Paleo dieters. Much of it originates from the China Study and it is very similar in substance to other books, documentaries and workshops that I have either listen, watched or attended. But the value for me is in the very shallow, simplistic and much, much less comprehensive and complex way it goes on to explain its message.
For the past 4-5 years I have ridden the Crossfit/Paleo lifestyle propaganda bandwagon. I once again shift to the sensible middle and look at food from a different lens.

[Nicole McCann · Rating 5 out of 5]

i've read "skinny bitch" a couple of years ago, so when my male co-worker started asking me more and more questions about veganism i recommended this book. it's the dude version. i read it when he was done for a couple of reasons. first, i wanted a refresher. these books have an unbelievable amount of useful nutrition information in a quick easy reader. also, i wanted to see how they differed. freedman and barnouin wrote this book in the same in your face, humorous way as the other. i loved it. i know many people that weren't stoked on the books' titles, but the content cannot be denied, they're fantastic.