Pure organic diets like a vegan diet have certain health benefits yet eating the occasional lean meats can be beneficial. For one thing, it is an easy way to get protein, for another, it makes it easier to order healthy food in restaurants that don’t have good vegetarian selections on their menu. I would lean towards vegetarian food but still allow for occasional meats, eggs, dairy, out of practical convencience if nothing else.

Specialty and novel diets generally don’t work. The best diet is a sensible one that includes a variety of fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains. You need to try and get yourself into a groove of eating as healthy as you can without going over board because you need to be able to do it consistently year after year to reap all of the health benefits. The all or nothing diet experts tell women to lose weight by eliminating sweets, meats, dairy, become vegan, going organic, eat only raw foods, etc, and write diet books on it cannot possibly be living in the same world we are living in.  Sure you can cut back and moderate on unhealthy foods, but if you have a family, children, celebrate the holidays, are a real person in life, you will never be able sustain a totally restrictive diet long term.  Here are my comments about some of the things Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman promote in their vegetarian diet book.

Five reasons this hardcore vegetarian health diet would be really hard to follow

I am very pro vegetarian diet and health food. However, I think that becoming 100% pure organic vegan is rather hard for most people to sustain. I myself prefer vegetarian food but I still enjoy a little bit of meat, dairy and eggs here and there.  I am giving five reasons why the book Skinny Bit–, which is a New York Times best seller, is a trendy diet that I do not recommend.  The book is called actually called Skinny B-tch: A No-Nonsense, Tough-Love Guide for Savvy Girls Who Want to Stop Eating Crap and Start Looking Fabulous.  I think the book is too restrictive.  Authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman may be experts and nutritionists, but I think their diet is unsustainable.  I don’t care if they are the “know it all” and the “expert  nutritionist”, I can still have my lay mans opinion of their book.   

They tell you not to eat meat and turn totally vegan

I like a mostly vegetarian diet. I am not a big fan of red meat.  There is some truth to the fact that meat is not the best thing for you.  I rarely eat red meat, but every once in a while I will have a burger or something.  I rarely eat fish and chicken either, but I do eat it here and there.  I mean, if you refuse to eat chicken it is such a pain to find food.  I lean heavily towards vegetarian but I think it’s ridiculous to cut meat totally and completely out.  Besides, lean meat, poultry and fish have protein which is good for you every once in a while.  If you never ate any kind of meat you would be scrambling to make up for it with soy, tofu, beans, etc which can get to be a real difficult chore after a while.  I say cut way far back on the meat but don’t eliminate it all together.

They tell you not to eat dairy and turn totally vegan

This is absurd.  Again, you don’t want to have too much dairy and yes you want to stick to the low fat stuff.  But eliminate it?  That’s so restrictive.  That means no yogurt even, which actually is pretty healthy.  So if the restaurant doesn’t have soy milk you can’t have milk?  You can’t have some non fat milk with cereal?  No cheese on a Rye Crisp even?  Come on.  Unless you are lactose intolerant or something, you should be entitled on this earth to have some milk, or yogurt and cheese in life.

They tell you not to eat sweets

If you can’t eat sweets at all, you will be eating so much fruit you’ll hate it.  You’ll get gas eating too many dried apricots while trying to get some sugar.  You’ll be mainlining artificial sweetener (or anything smacking of sweetness) just like they tell you not to.  Sugar is bad, and processed fatty junk food is bad. OK.  We know this.  However every once in a while, you might just want some chocolate.  Chocolate is not that bad for you.   Every once in a while you might want to share a hot fudge sundae with your child because it is their birthday.  I say cut way back on sweets and only eat them when you really, really want to.

They tell you to cut out all the white starchy stuff and eat only whole wheat

I agree that cutting back on white rice, white potatoes, white pasta, fries, and white bread is a pretty good idea.  I don’t really like these foods so it is easy for me to do.  But again, I think it is rather restrictive not to eat them at all.  I mean, maybe you’ll get a veggie sandwich on focaccia bread.  What, you can’t eat it because focaccia bread is technically considered white bread?  You get a baked white potato instead of fries, are you going to die from that baked white potato,  no.  You can’t even have a tortilla in the Mexican restaurant? Again, this is way too restrictive.  You should get whole wheat whenever you can but don’t live or die by it.

They are telling you to cut out of your diet things that you should cut back from

Cut out, and cut back are two different things.  Cut out means deny yourself and become some weird diet person who can’t get through real life with food.  Cut back means normal person who leans towards the good stuff but doesn’t get upset if they encounter the bad stuff occasionally. 

I myself eat mainly vegetarian food however I still eat meat and dairy, just less of it

My advice is to lean towards vegan food, but don’t become a hardcore vegan.  Reduce fatty meat intake and fried foods, but don’t freak if you have some chicken, fish or lean meat.  Don’t drink whole milk all day long but a little skim milk can be fine.  Try to avoid the starchy white stuff and go whole wheat whenever you can.  Eat fruits but don’t get discouraged if you have a toll house cookie in life.  Whatever you do, don’t go overboard on gimmick diets with restrictions.  Eat healthy, lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, get your exercise in.  Oh yeah, and just because a diet book is on the New York Times best seller list, does not mean that it you have to abide by it.  I’m a skinny woman too, and I don’t follow an insanely regimented diet like that. 

Best selling diets and quick weight loss plans become a challenge to sustain long term. Get practical long term because this is a world with food. A sensible balanced diet is best.

I can see why they called it the Skinny bi*ch diet because if you follow that diet, trust me, it’s going to make you into a bi*ch for sure.  I’m skinny, but not a bi*ch.  If you take every place where they say eliminate in the Skinny bi*ch diet book, and replace it with cut back, I think it would have been a way far better book! A healthy well balanced diet with fruits, vegetable and whole grains is the way to go.