I was borderline excited for classes to start again, but now that they actually have, I've realized I forgot about one minor detail in anticipation to stepping foot on campus for one fricking final year - homework. And not only that, the homework of an English major, which I am convinced has to be the most excruciating of all the degrees. It took three paragraphs into the Marco Polo prologue for me to look up the book on Sparknotes, but I was left bitterly disappointed. 'Tis going to be a long semester.
Now that my agenda requires the works of Polo, Bede, Mandeville, and various other snooze fests, the self-help books and trashy novels are going to have to come to an end - probably for the better, before I became completely uneducated. I was able to squeeze in one final mindless read before the classics consumed me, and though I have my issues with it, this book is the one summer read that I've actually taken seriously ("Why Mr. Right Can't Find You" had some good points as well; I just can't claim it's helped me become any more successful in that department). The book "Skinny Bitch", by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, is self-described as "A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!". The cheesy promotion wasn't enough to rope me in, but the fact that this book is responsible for countless meat-eaters turned vegetarian/vegan was.
I've always had an obnoxious bone-phobia that left a classmate cutting my steak on a Senior class choir trip, and I've cut meat out of my diet for month long periods of time before, but I've never fully committed myself to become a vegetarian. It always seemed to be inconvenient for my hectic lifestyle that requires meals on the go, and I never put in the time to fully educate myself on the matter. After reading this book, consider me committed. I don't agree with animal cruelty, and I'm aware that livestock production turns our environment to shit, but my strongest reason for giving up meat is the reality of where it comes from. And oh my god, you don't even want to know. I've mentioned I'm from Iowa, where there are probably more cows than people, and considering the cattle industry is one of the biggest money makers there, they're all going to think I'm crazy after reading this. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that their healthy, well fed, fairly treated, fresh piece of beef is going to end up being my hamburger in New York. I'm not going to give details, because I want you to enjoy your bacon in the morning, but if you have any interest in a vegetarian or vegan diet, this book will definitely help educate you on the matter.
Aside from the fact that it was the final factor in convincing me to give up meat, this book did not receive its' New York Times Bestseller award based on the talent of the authors. Freedman and Barnouin may be funny and crude, I think we'd get along famously in person, but their writing ability is far from that of what a published, bestselling author's should be. It may be my nerdy, English-major self coming out, but I wanted to rip my hair out at the structure and flow of the book. Not only that, these girls are supposedly involved in modeling, explaining the fact that they encourage fasting, eating only a piece of organic fruit for breakfast, and ignoring your body's hunger cues of stomach grumbling, headache, and fatigue when you need to eat. Uh...no wonder all the skinnies are so bitchy. They're starving, dumb ass. As any self-help book, take it with a grain of salt. Girlfriends may be entertaining, but all of their fasting has obviously left them short of a few brain cells.
So now that my final Grecian gyros have been consumed and my mama's Stromboli is in a kitchen over 1,000 miles away, there will be no beef, pork, chicken, or fish in the near future for me. A vegetarian diet feels right for now, and with the facts from the book haunting me at every meal, my appetite is in full agreement.
Now that my agenda requires the works of Polo, Bede, Mandeville, and various other snooze fests, the self-help books and trashy novels are going to have to come to an end - probably for the better, before I became completely uneducated. I was able to squeeze in one final mindless read before the classics consumed me, and though I have my issues with it, this book is the one summer read that I've actually taken seriously ("Why Mr. Right Can't Find You" had some good points as well; I just can't claim it's helped me become any more successful in that department). The book "Skinny Bitch", by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin, is self-described as "A no-nonsense, tough-love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous!". The cheesy promotion wasn't enough to rope me in, but the fact that this book is responsible for countless meat-eaters turned vegetarian/vegan was.
I've always had an obnoxious bone-phobia that left a classmate cutting my steak on a Senior class choir trip, and I've cut meat out of my diet for month long periods of time before, but I've never fully committed myself to become a vegetarian. It always seemed to be inconvenient for my hectic lifestyle that requires meals on the go, and I never put in the time to fully educate myself on the matter. After reading this book, consider me committed. I don't agree with animal cruelty, and I'm aware that livestock production turns our environment to shit, but my strongest reason for giving up meat is the reality of where it comes from. And oh my god, you don't even want to know. I've mentioned I'm from Iowa, where there are probably more cows than people, and considering the cattle industry is one of the biggest money makers there, they're all going to think I'm crazy after reading this. Nonetheless, there is no guarantee that their healthy, well fed, fairly treated, fresh piece of beef is going to end up being my hamburger in New York. I'm not going to give details, because I want you to enjoy your bacon in the morning, but if you have any interest in a vegetarian or vegan diet, this book will definitely help educate you on the matter.
Aside from the fact that it was the final factor in convincing me to give up meat, this book did not receive its' New York Times Bestseller award based on the talent of the authors. Freedman and Barnouin may be funny and crude, I think we'd get along famously in person, but their writing ability is far from that of what a published, bestselling author's should be. It may be my nerdy, English-major self coming out, but I wanted to rip my hair out at the structure and flow of the book. Not only that, these girls are supposedly involved in modeling, explaining the fact that they encourage fasting, eating only a piece of organic fruit for breakfast, and ignoring your body's hunger cues of stomach grumbling, headache, and fatigue when you need to eat. Uh...no wonder all the skinnies are so bitchy. They're starving, dumb ass. As any self-help book, take it with a grain of salt. Girlfriends may be entertaining, but all of their fasting has obviously left them short of a few brain cells.
So now that my final Grecian gyros have been consumed and my mama's Stromboli is in a kitchen over 1,000 miles away, there will be no beef, pork, chicken, or fish in the near future for me. A vegetarian diet feels right for now, and with the facts from the book haunting me at every meal, my appetite is in full agreement.
