Letters to the Editor
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Vegans who eat meat aren't vegan
my diet for the past decade has pretty much been vegan except for the meat
So... basically an omnivorous diet then, right?
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I lost 30 pounds, lowered my cholesterol and have energy thanks to Skinny Bitch
Clearly the author of this letter is still brain washed by the meat and dairy industry. It is a simple book with a simple message. Eat healthier, killing for food is completely unessisary when we have a million other choices. And get thin doing it. Everyone knows the violence animals suffer when being slaughtered and everyone knows how sick our diets have been yet commercials and meat industry paint a rosy picture and mind fuck you to think that what your doing has no consequences to animals, your health and the enviornment. Wake up people and take a good look at how you lead your lives. The book uses humor to get its message across. I have lost 30lbs following this book, lowered my cholesterol and have energy for once. Whats so wrong with that?
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Skinny Bitch works, but you've got other options
A neighbor of mine read the book, adopted the vegan lifestyle and lost 50 pounds. She says she feels good and only misses cheese (her favorite) from her previous diet. However, she did tell me that in order to stay completely animal-product-free, she has to prepare all her meals at home, which means never eating out, unless you go to restaurants with vegan menu options. That's a big adjustment for most people who live in our drive-thru/on the go world. But anyone who's trying to lose weight should be preparing their own meals anyway, regardless of their dietary lifestyle (meat or no). Making your own food allows you to control the quality of ingredients and the cooking methods (like using healthy oils). Skinny Bitch is a smoke screen - you don't have to be vegan to lose weight if you're making you own food.
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Is this a book review, or an op-ed piece on veganism?
There is so much vile directed not so much at the book or even the authors, but at veganism in general, in this review that it should have given the editors pause. Why and how do articles with such obvious agendas get published here? Is this a book review, or an op-ed piece on veganism?
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Ethics versus religious dogma
I refuse to read a book with a title like Skinny Bitch, even though I know it's meant to be humorous and trendy. As a vegetarian, I understand why Julie Klausner finds vegans sanctimonious. I have met sanctimonious vegans who approach people they do not personally know and start to harass them. I get embarrassed whenever I witness those scenes. Also I worry that they are doing more damage to vegetarianism by portraying it as an emotional, religious dogma when it is a logical, ethical choice made by individuals over the course of their life time. You don't have to be concerned with fashion trends or a hysterical shrill to be either a vegetarian or an ethically-minded omnivore. All you need is the courage to do your own research.
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RE: Ethics versus religious dogma
You're right: religion does not have a monopoly on morality. The animal rights movement is made up mostly of secular progressives, but could use the support of organized religion: not just new and alternative religious movements or Eastern religions, but mainstream churches and synagogues.
The fact that protection of all sentient species may not be a part of the present-day Judeo-Christian ethic does not make it invalid. Human slavery was once considered an acceptable part of the Judeo-Christian ethic. Professor Henry Bigelow observed: "There will come a time when the world will look back to modern vivisection in the name of science as they do now to burning at the stake in the name of religion."
Animal rights, as a secular, moral philosophy, may appear to be at odds with traditional religious thinking (e.g., human ‘dominion’ over other animals), but this is equally true of democracy and representative government in place of the divine right of kings, the separation of church and state, the abolition of human slavery, the emancipation of women, birth control, the sexual revolution, lesbian and gay rights, and perhaps every kind of social progress since the end of the Dark Ages and the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment.
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Why can't we all just get along?
Let's face it...Skinny Bitch was meant to be a provocative book. Everyone knows that provocative sells, and provocative in a diet book sells even more (hello, Atkins).
Currently, I'm a pescetarian (meaning that fish is the only meat I will eat [a few times a month], and yes, fish is meat)...I grew up on my grandparents' dairy farm, and I used to go fishing a lot with my family. Although my diet any given week is 80-90% vegan, I just feel better with a little animal protein in my diet.
There are crackpot arguments in both the ominvore and vegetarian/vegan camps for eating as they do. There are also some very good arguments on both sides. I guess my motto is if you can look at your plate with a clear conscience in all directions (animal, environment, and health-wise), then eat what you enjoy.
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Speaking as a former anorexic...
I tried the 1,000 calorie diet with hours and hours of cardio every day on a vegetarian diet, and now all I have to show for it is a busted thyroid, fatigued adrenals, and an extra 40 pounds. It will take years for my body to heal, and part of it was due to being completely protein deficient.
Since soy in small quantities can provide health benefits, companies started throwing soy into everything and proclaiming its heart-healthiness. A little bit of tofu or tempeh may be be good for you (because it is fermented and not processed), but soy milk, soy cheese, and fake soy meats are full of chemicals and estrogens that can damage a person's thyroid; women are at particular risk.
I don't know why these women think that eating artificial soy is any better for a person than eating lean, antibiotic-free meat, but I would be very interested to see how healthy they are many years from now.
And simply as a logistical matter, humans are already over-populated enough, so if we didn't kill any animals, would there even be enough plants to sustain life on Earth? My family couldn't even keep a garden because there were 50 deer waiting in the woods to eat everything that grew out of it. How exactly would world-wide veganism work?