Skinny Bitch Ultimate Everyday Cookbook: 304 [Hardcover]

Having found the "Skinny Bitch" approach to promoting healthy eating, I was really looking forward to getting this cookbook to raise my moral and determination to follow an ultimately healthy, non animal, low fat, vegan, wholefood diet - the diet recommended worldwide for a healthy slim bod - if you take away all the consumerism and scewed marketing.

When the book arrived I am disappointed in the extreme, the recipes use refined ingredients, for example - unbleached flour, confectioners sugar, vegetable shortening etc.

It seems like the authors have taken a look at maybe "The China Study" and then put a commercial spin on this using the "Skinny Bitch" attention catching headline, whilst reverting to a westernised adulteration of what "The China Study" really tells us. Read "Food Politics" and you'll see exactly how this has been done when you apply what you've learned to this skinny bitch cookbook.

The recipes are not low fat and worse encourage fat laden ingredients to be used (vegetable shortening, almond milk). There is no attempt to use other methods of fat replacement - for example using apple puree or banana. Furthermore the book shows glossy pictures of light and crispy pie crusts [Page 266] (where a truly healthful approach would be wholewheat, low fat, pie crusts) - and fluffy cupcakes with piles of white, high fat icing loaded on top [Page 252]- where a truly healthful approach would be fat-free muffins with an applesauce or banana base incorporating fruit with a date and fresh orange topping (no added sugar, no added fat).

Let's look at an analysis of 4 random recipes taken from the book from a healthful - fat to calorie ratio - perspective?

Page 77: Banana and Cinnamon Muffins. For 1 muffin/1 serving. Total Calories 300. Fat - 14g. Because there are 9 calories per gram of fat (4 calories per gram in protein/sugar ...) this equates to 14g x 9 calories per gram = 126 of the total calories are derived from fat. 146 calories from fat as a ratio to 300 total calories means that 48% of the total calories of this recipe come from fat.

Page 133: Miso Crunch Salad. For 1 x 288g serving. Total Calories 200. Fat - 10g. 10g x 9 calories per gram from fat = 90 calories from fat. 90 calories as a percentage of the 200 total calories (90/200) = 45% of the total calories of this recipe come from fat.

Page 199: Match Vegan Ginger Chicken Stuffed with Dried Cherries and Fennel. For 1 x 193g serving. Total calories 350. Fat - 17.5g. Therefore Calories from fat = 17.5 x 9 = 157.5. 157.5 calories from fat as a percentage of the total calories = 45% calories from fat.

Page 265: Lavender Shortbread Cookies. For 1 cookie/1 serving. Total Calories 110. Fat - 7g. Do the maths? This equals 63% of calories from fat.

For those of you who will say that fat is needed in the diet, I don't disagree, however many natural foods contain an element of fat - wholewheat flour for example (check the label next time you're shopping and do the fat:calories ratio!) Then there are avacado's nuts and seeds which can be included in moderation. Overall, for an ultimately healthy diet and to achieve the "skinny bitch" results the ideal would be around 20% of calories from fat. A more manageable target is between 20% and 30% of calories from fat. Not over a week or a month, but over every day - so don't eat densly fat populated foods one day and fat free the next! Try to make everything you eat no more than 30% calories:fat in ratio. This is what the research, The China Diet, the worldwide repeated clinical studies tell us - but the message does not seem to being translated into plain english so as individuals we can understand this.

I feel, this book, has seen an opportunity in the market to take advantage of the general population's misinformed approach to healthy diet and has served up yet another cookbook with little value in a healthy diet. I think the quote on the back from "Elle UK" magazine is subjective rather than factual - "Useful information on healthy eating and veganism" - this statement is uninformed and misleading - this is not a cookbook that demonstrates "healthy eating" in the true sense of the word, and I suspect that the Elle reviewer has not been educated to understand what "healthy eating" truly is.

I will be returning this book as I believe the book is misrepresented. On the front it says "... Great for your Bod" I believe this is not true and anyone eating this style of "everyday" food will fail to gain the "fresh, awake, alive and energy abundant" diet a truly healthy eating plan brings.

I will not be making any of the recipes and I would like a refund.

I hope you find this helpful.

This book is worth a read of though really only if you are quite an accomplished cook already. Some of the ingredients are quite unusual and not things you would be able to buy from your regular supermarket (for instance silken tofu and brown rice syrup) but a quick trip to the local health food store sorted me out for most of the items. I found the recipes quite expensive as most health food stores are on the more expensive side so it not really for everyday cooking (despite the title). However I can't pick too many holes as if you fancy getting in to vegan cooking then its a really good buy and it helped me eat healthily. Keep an eye on some of the quantities as I found I did have to double up some of the measurements quantities.

I bought this book for a gift. My sister is very pleased to have interesting, good for you food ideas. A good break from the norm!