Meat Me In St. Louis

As part of my never-ending quest to pretend that I want to eat healthier, I picked up the book Skinny Bitch from the library last week.

The book aims to be a no-nonsense, kick-in-the-ass guide to teach people just how unhealthy they are eating, and the authors, a former model and a former model agent, are touted on the back of the book as "your new smart-mouthed girlfriends who won't mince words and will finally tell you the truth about what you're feeding yourself."

In my opinion, they often come off not as "smart-mouthed girlfriends" but "snotty head cheerleaders who call you nasty names just because you can't do a pull-up." Note: Despite the fact that this sounds like an autobiographical situation, it's not. Except for the part about my not being able to do a pull-up.

Attitude aside, however, the book definitely was somewhat of a wakeup call. The chapter about sugar (aka "the devil") was especially interesting to me, as sugar is something I love. But cutting out the sugar in my diet has been on my mind ever since I interviewed a cancer survivor last month who told me that sugar pretty much is the devil when it comes to cancer.

There was also some pretty damning information about the meat and dairy industries, some of which I'm positive is true, some of which I can't be sure about without more investigation. The book was basically a persuasive speech about why people should become vegan, both for health reasons and to fight against poor treatment of animals.

I'm not going to run out and become a vegan; it's hard enough just avoiding dairy, and that's even factoring in the tummy trouble it gives me. But the book did make me want to make better food choices. I don't eat horribly, but I could eat a lot better than I do, and this book really made me want to. At the very least, it made me not want to eat as much -- the chapters on meat processing alone were enough to make me lose my appetite for awhile.

So while the chances of my actually becoming vegan are skinny bitch to none, I do plan to try to think like one from now on. I am officially done with dairy (which means a trip to Whole Foods is in order so I can re-investigate the world of soy cheese), and I will henceforth make every effort to cut the white sugar from my diet. As for meat, I vow to at least feel guilty when I eat it.

I've been cruising some vegan Web sites for recipes, and while some of them are full of ingredients I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot pole, there are a few I think I can handle without stepping out of my comfort zone too much.

As a half-assed step in the right direction, I bought some green tea the other day. I hate the taste of green tea on its own, so I bought "jasmine green tea," which smells fantastic and kind of tastes like it smells, but since I sometimes use jasmine scented stuff on my body, it almost tastes like I'm drinking perfume.

Oh well. If my insides aren't healthier, at least they'll smell good.