Weight Loss & Diet Plans

‘Skinny’ Vegan Diet

If you've always dreamed of having a model-thin body and are willing to adhere to a hard-core, low-calorie vegan diet, you may want to join the legions of women following the sassy, smart-mouth advice doled out in the book with the unprintable name: Skinny B****.

A drawing of a pencil-thin model type in a skintight dress graces the cover of "Skinny," which -- with a tone that's part girlfriend and part foul-mouthed truck driver -- is not for the faint of heart.

The premise of the book, written by former model Kim Barnouin and former model agent Rory Freedman, is that if you give up animal products, fast food, and processed food and eat a whole, natural vegan diet, you'll be happier, healthier, more energized -- and skinny.

Although "Skinny" is marketed as a diet book, the advice focuses heavily on the authors' mutual passion for animal rights. The bookwas a way to draw attention to the vegan lifestyle because "most women are more interested in being thin than fighting off chronic diseases," Barnouin says.

"We want people to get back to the basics of a healthy diet and start thinking about what they put into their mouths," says Barnouin, who holds a correspondence degree in holistic nutrition from a non-accredited natural health school.

That includes questioning the conventional wisdom about diet, the authors say. Don't just accept recommendations from health authorities, the food industry, or the government, they advise.

There's no calorie counting to worry about with this vegan diet regimen. You can eat all the organic fruits, veggies, whole grains, and natural food you want -- but forget about meat, fish, dairy, eggs, sugar, artificial sweeteners, refined flour, caffeine, diet sodas, and anything that contains chemicals that you can't pronounce.

The book also encourages regular exercise, and recommends yoga in particular.

What You Can Eat

Plenty of high-fiber, natural fruits, soy products, and vegetables, along with certain processed foods from health food stores, are the foundation of the "Skinny" vegan diet plan. Dieters are encouraged to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and to have a snack only if needed.

Foods that are allowed include:

• Organic fruits and veggies
• Soy products, beans, and nuts
• Organic canola, olive and sesame oils, and coconut oil
• Whole-grain cereals and bread, whole-wheat pasta, vegetable pasta, tortillas, brown rice, barley, quinoa, potatoes, and sweet potatoes
• Organic corn chips; tofu ice cream; and desserts sweetened with cane juice, maple syrup, raw sugar, or other natural, unrefined products
• Water, decaf green tea, and organic red wine on occasion.

A typical meal plan might look like this:

• Breakfast: mango, banana, kiwi, and soy yogurt
• Lunch: organic salad with lots of raw vegetables
• Snack (a small serving from the approved list and only if necessary): exotic vegetable chips
• Dinner: vegetarian Pad Thai