Book Review

Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven: A Gutsy Guide to Becoming One Hot (and Healthy) Mother!
By Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Review by Tammie Ortlieb

The Skinny Bitches are back. With their same brash and shoot from the hip style they lay the crap on the line for the pregnant among us. Not ones to make nice-nice, they suggest that if you are looking for "candy-coated bullsh@t, pick another book." They're not interested in being your friend, but in making sure both you and your baby stay healthy for the duration of the pregnancy and longer even than that. And they do a fine job of this mission of theirs with the visuals they are so great at crafting ("How'd you like a side of sh@t with those fries?").

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Relying on enough research to fill a university library, Freedman and Barnouin give the facts ma'am, just the facts, concerning prenatal care, infant development, and nutrition for both mom and baby. This bare naked approach may be a bit too much for some ears to take, but rest assured the statistics presented in this book are backed by plenty of scientific evidence and medical studies. The authors promote breastfeeding, sensible exercise, and a healthful vegan diet as the optimal approach to proper development and disease prevention, both in mother and baby.

Bun in the Oven provides loads of sample menus, an extensive organic foods list, and some tips for the transitioning vegan. Anyone considering the switch to a vegetarian diet before will be sold after reading this little gem of a paperback. Those with no previous desire to leave the omnivorous lifestyle may just reconsider after learning of slaughterhouse practices, dairy farming truths, and what eating fish once a week really does for the body. And the vegans among us will be thankful for some nutrition advice that is plant-based diet specific. Skinny Bitch fills a definite void on the vegan pregnancy bookstore shelf. Wait! What vegan pregnancy bookstore shelf!?!

But do you have to be pregnant to read this book? Absolutely not! I found myself adjusting a few personal habits as I read through the chapters (ditch the soda now, b#tches, according to Freedman and Barnouin it's "liquid Lucifer"). My body will thank me later, I'm sure, for uncovering rich sources of iron and B12 and other nutrients, where to get them and what can happen if I don't. And I'm always up for learning alternate wise-mouth comebacks to the proverbial where do you get your protein question.

If you're buying this for a pregnant friend, just be sure to give it a read (without bending the pages, of course) before tying on the ribbon and bows!

buy Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven: A Gutsy Guide to Becoming One Hot (and Healthy) Mother! now!

Tammie Ortlieb is a freelance writer and adjunct instructor with a Master's Degree in Developmental Psychology. She resides in southwest Michigan with her omnivorous husband, four veg kids, and small menagerie of pets. Tammie writes for various vegetarian sources, mostly on being okay with your vegetarian self. She's a book nerd, a research nerd, a health nerd, and a huge glass of soymilk half full kind of creature. Visit her blog at www.middle-agedveganchick.blogspot.com.

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