Skinny Bitch (12 page)

Rest in between bites. Do not watch TV, read a magazine, talk on the phone, or do
anything else
while you are eating. The goal is to know when you’re full (without having
stuffed
yourself) and be able to put the fork down. You aren’t six anymore. You won’t get the praise of elders for cleaning your plate. It’s okay to leave food on your plate.

But if you do still get off on scoring brownie points, you can earn extra credit by fasting. Yeah, fasting—willfully abstaining from food. For more than five thousand years, fasting has been used as a healthy method of weight loss. It is also a powerful tool for cleaning, flushing, detoxifying, and maintaining the body, and healing illnesses, both minor and major.210 When we eat, all of our body’s energy goes toward digesting, using, and storing the food, and eliminating the waste. When we don’t eat, all of our body’s energy goes toward cleaning house. And with all the years of abuse, our house could sure use a cleaning. We absorb toxic chemicals from food, drinks, and the environment. Our body eliminates some of these through waste, but the rest remain as chemical by-products and free radicals (highly reactive chemicals that damage cells and contribute to premature aging, heart disease, and cancer). Fasting gets rid of these toxins. It also increases our blood’s white cell count, which boosts immunity and protects us from disease. And because fasting is beneficial for the circulatory system, you can expect better skin, hair, and nails.211

Fasts can last anywhere from twenty-four hours to ten days or more. It’s all up to you and how light, clean, and healthy you want to get. The longer the better, but even just one day one time a month is beneficial. There are too many types of fasts to cover them all, so we’ll explain just a few. But it is imperative to really read up on fasting before diving in.

A particular favorite is a raw or “live” food fast, when, obviously, you eat only raw foods for however many days you choose. This is a great beginner’s fast, because you reap the benefits of fasting, while still being able to actually eat. It’s also a good fast to do if you want to work your way up to a more stringent fast, like a juice fast, where the only thing you put in your body is fresh-pressed or fresh-squeezed juice (not pasteurized or packaged). Whether its fruit juice, veggie juice, or both, the enzymes are wonderful aides in the cleansing process. A liquid fast is similar to the juice fast, but includes soups, too (no beans or rice or chunks—just liquid). The alkalizing properties of the juices and soups help to neutralize the toxins being released from the body.212 For this and other reasons, the hardest fast is a water fast, where you have nothing but water. Don’t be a competitive ass and launch yourself into this fast from the diet you exist on now. You’ve gotta learn to crawl before you can walk.

Most people like to ease into a fast. They might eat smaller portions for a week prior. Or if they usually eat vegan junk food, they might abstain in preparation. We highly recommend eating as pure-ly as possible leading up to a fast. (Meat-eaters should go vegetarian and then vegan before fasting.) It makes the transition more gradual and less jarring. Regardless of which fast you choose, be sure to drink a lot of water throughout. Your body will be detox-ing like crazy, and you don’t want to become dehydrated.

All fasts are challenging, both physically and mentally. Do not expect it to be easy, especially at the beginning when you find yourself salivating over foods you don’t normally even care about. But eventually, you get to a place where you are truly not hungry, and you feel light, clean, pure, and divine. When you do reintroduce food back into your diet, which should be done slowly with great care, you are almost repulsed by things you previously ate. It is quite beautiful to have such a new, fresh perspective. It is a real gift to see truths that weren’t apparent before. Periodic repeated fasts are especially useful for this reason. They help our bodies and minds reestablish a new relationship with food. In fact, because of this, fasting can even be used to overcome addictions. When we eliminate the toxins that cause “cell memory cravings,” we can eradicate the need for the food or drug that provided those toxins.213

Not surprisingly, some people experience headaches, weakness, nausea, cramping, stomach pains, sweating, a swollen tongue, bad breath, general aches and pains, increased temperature, or depression while fasting.214 Abstaining from food does not
cause
these ailments. They are simply normal side effects of fasting. After two to three days of fasting, the body goes into autolysis, and actually starts digesting its own cells. With its wisdom, the body selectively decomposes the tissues and cells that are diseased, damaged, old, dead or in excess (fat).215 The body is literally digesting and expelling poisons, toxins, and bad cells that were already there—and it feels crappy. But this is actually a good thing, because the body is finally able to tackle some problems that were lurking within.

During a fast, digestive enzymes are relieved from their usual role, and instead act to cleanse and rejuvenate the body. This rejuvenation process includes the production of new cells. And when more cells are being produced than are dying, the aging process is actually being reversed. This phenomenon occurs during juice and water fasts.

Eventually, you’ll notice sharper senses of smell, sight, sound, and taste. You’ll feel lighter physically, mentally, and emotionally.216

All magic aside, fasting is
not
for you if you’re pregnant, lactat-ing, underweight, or suffering from severe wasting diseases, such as neurological degenerative diseases and certain cancers. Diabetics and people suffering from hypoglycemia can fast, but only with medical supervision.217 For that matter, anyone with any medical condition should consult her doctor before fasting.

Vitamins

Vitamins are an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. Here are some significant vitamins and minerals, a description of why they’re important, and which foods provide them:

Calcium
strengthens bones, provides for healthy teeth, reduces risk of colon cancer, decreases chances of bone loss, aids the nervous system, and alleviates insomnia. Eat almonds, Brazil nuts, seeds, nuts, soybeans, kale, collard greens, broccoli, kelp, and molasses to get calcium.

Folic acid
promotes healthy skin, protects against parasites and food poisoning, helps ward off anemia, and fights against birth defects. To get folic acid, eat leafy green veggies, carrots, artichokes, fruit, cantaloupe, avocados, apricots, beans, lentils, soybeans, garbanzos, barley, and whole wheat.

Iron
aids growth, promotes resistance to disease, prevents fatigue and anemia, and enhances good skin tone. It can be found in nuts, pumpkin seeds, beans, lentils, whole grains, oatmeal, asparagus, molasses, broccoli, spinach, bok choy, peas, swiss chard, green beans and sea veggies.

Magnesium
(known as the anti-stress mineral) fights depression, boosts energy, helps burn fat, prevents heart attacks, maintains good cholesterol levels, aids indigestion, combats PMS

symptoms, helps prevent premature labor, and keeps teeth strong and healthy. When combined with calcium, it works as a natural tranquilizer. Eat nuts, seeds, sunflower seeds, green vegetables, soybeans, kelp (seaweed), and molasses to get a good dose, especially if you’re on The Pill.

Omega-3 fatty acids
fight heart disease, lower bad cholesterol levels, lessen the likelihood of blood clots, reduce the risk of breast cancer, help with rheumatoid arthritis, and keep skin, hair, and nails healthy. Sources for these fatty acids are flaxseeds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, hempseed oil, and other seeds and their unrefined oils.

Omega-6 fatty acids
combat PMS, ward off acne, eczema, and pso-riasis, and help with endometriosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil, borage oil, and black cur-rant seed oil are all good sources.

Potassium
aids in reducing blood pressure, increases clear thinking by helping send oxygen to the brain, and helps the body dispose of waste. It’s found in bananas, citrus fruits, cantaloupe, tomatoes, watercress, green leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds, avocados, lentils, potatoes, and whole grains.

The
B Vitamins
improve mental attitude, aid in digestion, help migraine headaches, contribute to healthy skin, act as natural diuretics, strengthen immunity, increase energy, improve concentration and memory, and are good for the nervous system.

Eat whole wheat, wheat germ, bran, oatmeal, whole grains, brown rice, beans, nuts, seeds, soybeans, lentils, dates, figs, bananas, and vegetables.

Vitamin C
accelerates healing, lowers blood pressure, prevents colds, protects against cancer, and helps decrease blood cholesterol. It also forms collagen, which is important for growth, repair, tissue cells, blood vessels, gums, bones, and teeth.

Vitamin C is especially important for women who smoke or take birth control pills. It’s easy to get vitamin C by eating broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, collard greens, green peppers, spinach, watercress, potatoes, grapefruits, oranges, and papayas.

Vitamin D,
in conjunction with calcium and phosphorous, helps build strong bones and teeth. Not only does vitamin D help our bodies assimilate vitamin A, but it also prevents colds when teamed up with vitamins A and C. All you need to do to obtain vitamin D is get direct sun exposure on your skin.

Vitamin E
keeps you looking younger, inhibits cancer cell growth, fights fatigue, prevents blood clots, lowers blood pressure, decreases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and accelerates the healing of burns. It’s found in wheat germ, whole grain cereals, whole wheat, nuts, sunflower seeds, leafy greens, and vegetable oils.

Zinc
helps with infertility issues, is important for brain function, maintains the body’s acid/alkaline balance, aids in collagen formation, and helps form insulin (needed for many vital enzymes). Foods with high concentrations of zinc are wheat germ, whole grains, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and soybeans.218

When we eat properly, we can get almost all of the nutrients we need from food sources. However, Vitamin B-12 is only found in animal products, so most vegans and vegetarians take B-12 supplements. Sublingual liquid B vitamins with folic acid are more easily and quickly absorbed than pills. If you are concerned that you aren’t getting sufficient vitamins in your diet and wish to take supplements, consult a holistic physician.

Chapter 11

Let’s Eat

We set out to write this book for a few reasons:

• We could not tolerate the cruelty associated with a meat-eating diet and we wanted to

help end animal suffering.

• We couldn’t bear to have “real” jobs.

• We wanted to change peoples’ lives.

We
truly
want to help you succeed and make this all as easy as possible.

In this chapter, we’ve compiled a few lists so that there will be no confusion as to what you should or shouldn’t eat. After reading the whole book, if you’re feeling uncertain about what to buy or order, just whip out your little
Skinny Bitch
and come right to this chapter.

There will be no doubt that you’re making the right food choices.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But not why you think. The cereal and dairy industries lead us to believe that without a big, “healthy” breakfast, we won’t have enough energy to get us through the day. But Sugar Smacks with cow’s milk hardly constitutes a healthy, viable energy source. The
real
reason breakfast is so important is that it sets the tone for your entire day of eating. If you eat a shitty breakfast, you will likely crave (and eat) crap all day. And, if you eat too early in the morning, you’ll be interrupting your body’s cleaning session. Remember, when your body isn’t working on food, it’s working on you! When your “cleaning crew” is in the middle of cleanup, and you start cramming food in, “they” get overwhelmed. They stop what they’re doing, throw their hands up, scratch their heads, and finally, decide that they just can’t deal with this mess you’re making. So they opt to store it away as fat and pretend they’ll get to it later.219 So when you wake up, you should wait to eat breakfast until you’re truly hungry. Don’t just eat right away because that’s what you’re used to. After a few days, you’ll grow to love that empty feeling in your stomach and know that the initial headaches, nausea, and hunger were just your body’s cleaning crew. Feel free to enjoy a cup of caffeine-free, organic, herbal tea upon waking. But other than that, the best thing to do is wait until you’re really hungry.

When you do eat, the breakfast of skinny bitches is organic fruit.

This may seem light in comparison to your previous bagel or eggs or cereal. But again, once you adapt, you will be totally fulfilled by fruit. Eat one piece (or serving) slowly. After a period of time—per-haps ten minutes or so—when you feel hungry, eat another piece, slowly. When you feel hungry again, eat one more. Breakfast is over.