It's sad that anyone would take their advice.
I have no issue with veganism. Veganism is fine. I was a vegetarian for several years and didn't eat red meat for several more after that. I couldn't do the vegan thing, but I appreciate that some people do want to eat that way, and I think there are some good reasons to limit or eliminate meat and dairy consumption. What I have a problem with is the language that the authors use in the book to try to convince people to eat vegan - and I'm not talking about the profanity. You see, in addition to being an ex-vegetarian, I am also in recovery from an eating disorder. And so much of the language in this book is exactly the kind of thing I would say to myself to convince myself not to eat, when I was at the worst point in my illness and trying to eat less than 600 calories a day, while at the same time exercising 3-4 hours a day.
It's a lot easier not to eat when you convince yourself that what's on your plate is disgusting - that it is rotting, filled with pus, decomposing, etc. Who would want to eat a horrible plate of rotting meat, right? If you can look at your plate and see filth rather than tasty food, it's easy not to eat it. It's easier to not eat when you constantly tell yourself that you're fat, lazy, worthless, stupid, etc. if you eat. Because if you can make the self-criticism stop by not eating - if you can feel virtuous and clean and okay by not eating, and have the relentlessly critical voices stop for a little while, and have some peace from your own anxiety and tension - then not eating becomes an easier and easier thing to do, over time. I didn't hear two angry vegans speaking in this book. I heard two women who have major food and body issues that they've never addressed. A lot of people have objections about the authors calling other people fat, stupid, etc. - you have to understand that is not the authors talking about other people. Those are the voices they hear inside their heads, every single day, telling them that THEY are stupid, THEY are worthless, THEY are bad if they stray from this very strict diet they have devised. That's exactly what happens when people have an eating disorder. Ultimately, it is NOT about food or losing weight, it is about control. By limiting what they eat to this very narrow selection of foods, they can maintain or take back control they don't feel they have normally. As an ex-anorexic friend of mine said, this book is awesome for people in the throes of the disease because it basically gives you permission to food-restrict and negatively self-talk all you want, two of the behaviors that therapists try to eliminate in eating-disorder patients.
I truly believe this book is not about veganism. This book is about how to practice a special brand of anorexia in which you view food as evil and avoid putting it into your body, but you still eat enough of certain things to avoid criticism from friends and family, under the guise of this pro-animal-rights philosophical viewpoint. The language they use is very similar to the language you see on pro-anorexia websites maintained by women whose goal is to trade tips for how not to eat and reinforce each other's philosophy and behavior. Those websites have the same "us against the world" and "other people think we're crazy but we're doing the right thing" tone. If you want to be vegan, that's great, but this is not the book to read. Because this is way more about the psychology of eating disorders than it is about good reasons to be vegan. This book is about how to be a vegan with a very twisted relationship with food. There are other books out there that can help you be a healthy vegan, who has a healthy relationship with food, and with your own body.
There's one other thing I want to say about the book. Vegan diets work great for some people in terms of weight loss. For other people, eating large quantities of fruit (high in sugar) and soy (high in phytoestrogens and endocrine disruptors) can cause big problems and would not result in weight loss. I have PCOS and the diet prescribed in this book is exactly what my nutritionist and physician have told me NOT to eat. If you have PCOS, or an existing thyroid condition, PLEASE talk to an endocrinologist before adopting the eating plan in this book. Did you know that soy ice cream has a higher glycemic index rating than pure glucose? If you have blood-sugar issues or hypothyroidism, soy products are very problematic. There's also evidence (that these authors don't discuss) linking soy to hormonal imbalances and cancer. Women with breast or thyroid cancer, or who are at high risk for those cancers, are usually counseled to avoid soy.
In any case - this is honestly not a diet book, or at least not one that people should be taking advice from. I have struggled with my weight my whole life (due in part to the fact that my PCOS went undiagnosed for years). I would love to lose weight but I also think part of the goal of living is to be a happy person. The kind of negative self-talk the authors encourage under the guise of "straight talk" does not lead to happiness, I can testify from experience. There is a huge problem with obesity in this country, but we aren't going to solve it by having people develop extremely negative relationships with food. This book gave me the chills because it reads so much like stories girls in my therapy group told about how they talked to themselves, to convince themselves to stop eating. It was disturbing to me, and it's even more disturbing to me that thousands of women out there are taking it as the gospel truth.
