2011 - Page 8 of 27 - Sarah Wilson

27 ideas that make today better

November 6, 2018September 15, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

A while back I asked what technique or course or mantra or philosophy or book or practice or sport or “thing” you’re engaging in that’s making life richer and deeper for you, and facilitating a deeper connection to what matters. You sent through the most mad responses and ideas. Thank you thank you thank you!! Time to share….

Sian: Reading “Born to be Free” by Jackie O’Keefe

Robin: I started a ritual every night, where I light half a stick of incense and honor the day that just passed (whether it was “good” or “bad”), this moment, myself and all life. I felt a little silly doing this at first, but it has really woken me up – forcing me to realize that there are only so many days. Sobering.

Ann: We re-joined the rock climbing gym last week. My husband and I met there 6 years ago, and then when we got married and my kids got busier, we stopped going and let our membership lapse. We are really loving the time together and I am reminded of why I loved rock climbing from the first time – it makes you be in the present moment to solve a problem, focus on technique, push yourself past the limits you think you have. It’s physical and spiritual at the same time for me, a lot like yoga.

Jodi: Writing to my friends, family and loved ones. I write at least five letters a week. It makes me feel close to people and I do it without expecting anything in return. People LOVE letters or any kind of mail that isnt bills or something that makes them feel bad.

breakfast cereal: an anti-masturbation invention!?

November 6, 2018September 14, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

I write about breakfast a lot. My breakfast choices stray left of the cereal box. I eat meat muffins. And pumpkin with sardines. And stirfried sprouts with egg. And so I’m often met with the reaction: but that’s not what breakfast is meant to be, that’s not how breakfast goes?!

Isn’t it?

82472 5 6001 breakfast cereal: an anti-masturbation invention!? — photo by Sarah Illenberger

I personally think that fat and protein are best at breakfast and that sugar should be avoided at all costs because it sets the day up for a rollercoaster ride of cravings. A protein-less breakfast leaves you unsatiated. And yet that’s the kind of start to the day we’ve been sold. Reader Dani alerted me to this article by Anneli Rufus. It’s a good succinct overview of a lot of material I read about how:

breakfast = dry cereal dripping in sugar in LARGE part because big corporations have sold us into believing such an equation.

But know this:

Breakfast foods are dictated by corporate interests + masturbation paranoia.

Breakfast is a much politicised meal. Rufus writes “Cold cereal, donuts and orange juice are now breakfast staples because somebody somewhere wanted money.”

cereal as we know it was born out of a desire to produce something that would stop us masturbating! Not. Kidding. Seeking to provide sanitarium patients with meatless anti-aphrodisiac breakfasts in 1894, surgeon and anti-masturbation activist John Kellogg developed the process of flaking cooked grains. Hence Corn Flakes. And Rice Crispies.
in pre-Corn Flakes time, breakfast wasn’t cold or sweet. It was hot and hearty.
pre-industry, we loaded up on protein-rich eggs, sausages, ham and belly-fat bacon along with ancient carb classics: mush, pancakes, bread.
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“how I healed my thyroid with food”: my fun chat with top chef’s Andrea Beaman

December 28, 2011September 13, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

This excites me no end. The other week week I got to chat to Andrea Beaman. Andrea is a US chef and health coach. She appeared on the first (and fifth) series of Top Chef. She’s the food expert on CBS News and she trained with INN, as did I. Just to put her in context. She knows food, OK.

But this is the thrilling bit: Andrea healed her thyroid disease with… food.

Yesireee. She refused to take medication and, after two years of careful, healthful eating, she was fixed. I remember reading about this a while back and getting so heartened. I’ve always believed this should be possible, despite being told by countless specialists that I’d been on medication for life (they also told me I was infertile, but goddamn if I didn’t turn that around).

I had to chat. So we did. I figured you’d like to hear what we shared…(and let me just say, there’s no need to tell me that I um and ah a lot. I know. It was early and I hadn’t slept.)

[display_podcast]

The concept is friggen fabulous. It fits with everything I believe in. I haven’t got there yet. I’m trying. I lapse. My stress still puts spanners in works for my progress. As do my hormonal fluctuations. But stories like Andrea’s inspire me. As you might know, I believe my thyroid disease is a symptom of the way I lived for a long time. I damaged my body with my previous lifestyle habits. Ergo, I believe, I can fix it with better ones. This is why I do what I do (bang on about sprouts and bone broth and quitting sugar).

The key bits I took from my chat – and that I believe work, too – are flagged below:

* you need to experiment with different eating styles. Andrea played with macrobiotic eating and it worked for her for a while. Me, I’m finding a grains-free approach better.

* cholesterol-rich foods are needed for thyroid health. Eggs! Eggs! Fat! Eggs!

i’m choicely buggered…you decide!

September 11, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

This week I decide less

decision fatigue willpower i'm choicely buggered...you decide! — by John Rensten / Getty Images

I have two seemingly unrelated theories about life.

First, successful people eat boring breakfasts. Crude, but true. Look around the busy exec-y types you know – they eat vegemite on toast, or porridge. Every day. And don’t put any further thought to it. It’s only ratbags like me who deliberate wildly between boiled eggs, quinoa porridge and left-over Indian.

The second, kids – despite their protestations – don’t actually want to be asked what after-school activity they prefer for next semester, or what they’d like on their sandwich today. I don’t have kids, but I was talking about this with friends-who-are-parents last weekend. As one said, “It was better, wasn’t it – for everyone – back when we were told ‘hey, kids it’s devon and tomato sauce today’. We’d move on to wrestling with our sister. What have we done?” We’ve bludgeoned kids with decisions, that’s what.

I’ve touched on this issue before in this column: the chore that is making decisions. But, seriously, it’s the sexiest topic doing the psychology rounds at the moment and so I thought I should re-penetrate with the latest findings. They all say the same thing: we’re a society suffering “decision fatigue”. The New York Times magazine this month ran a long feature on the subject and there’s emerged a spate of books to choose from about the art of choosing. At every turn, we have to make more decisions – whether to reply to an email, to pay for extra legroom, to subscribe to the weekly newsletter. We’re expected to have an opinion on everything and it’s leaving us choicely buggered.

A study earlier this year found, unlike, say, running fatigue – which sees us hit a wall – decision fatigue sees us do dumb things, like reverting to default or safe options, or to making decisions that keep our options open…which just prolongs the fatigue. After a day spent making decisions, judges in the US were found to default to more severe parole sentences in the afternoon. They were decision-spent, so set conservative sentences that kept options open (they could always reduce them later). Another study found when we have to choose the customized extras for our car, we deliberate conscientiously at the start of the form, then eventually “give in” to the default options (nattily, companies put the more expensive decisions at the end of forms). Or, of course, we put off deciding.

But, friends, I’m interested in solutions here. And preferably ones that are dictated to me. Because this is the point: the less pithy decisions we make, the more decisive energy we have for the important ones.

Fix #1: set your life up to make less decisions.

Eat the same breakfast. Wear a suit. Buy the same brand of frozen peas.

so, I’ve written a “I quit sugar” ebook…

September 13, 2011September 8, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

* this post has been updated*

…and I thought I’d tell you about it in advance of it’s release in a few weeks. And to give you the chance to sign up to be alerted when it arrives.

Basically, because so many of you kept asking how I quit sugar eight months ago, I thought it best to put together a bit of a guide.

It’s one of those issues that just grabs at people. I think most of us know we eat too much of the white stuff…and we wish we didn’t…and we wish there was a short-cut, simple way to get on track…that wasn’t too painful. I get stopped at markets, at the bank, on planes, and am asked about how I quit.

It’s an issue that hurts people. I think everyone is very hard on themselves about how much of it they eat. And would like to be freed of the bind, even just for a while.

Anyway, I’ve spent several weeks (months?) writing up answers to everyone’s questions and compiling an 8-week program. I reckon it takes two months to quit, and there are specific steps that I took – after researching all the material – that make it effective and (relatively) smooth.

If you want, enter your email here and I’ll send you a little email alert when it lands.

(I promise your email won’t be used for anything else!)

And so…the I Quit Sugar ebook

It includes:

* an 8-week program with weekly things to do to get sugar out of your system, and that best beat cravings – both emotional and physical – and detox issues

* an overview of why quitting sugar is a good idea (the scientific explainers that you can hold up to your mates when they think your bonkers for even trying the idea out).

“Something’s crossed over in me and I can’t go back”: Thelma & Louise turns 20!

November 6, 2018September 7, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

When things that were a big part of my life have a birthday I’m taken aback. Twenty years!? Thelma and Louise!? I first saw Thelma & Louise smack-bang in the middle of my vocal feminist period. I was women’s officer at my university. I ran a mountain bike group (for men and women…but mostly to get women into it) and set up rape support and eating disorder programs. In 1994 I took a scholarship to study women’s studies in California. Do people do such things anymore?!

I loved this movie. I loved the strong women with their muscle t-shirts and bad-ass jeans. Their friendship, which wasn’t girly or sappy or based around a wedding. It was robust.

I loved the end. When they have to choose between being arrested (and facing the death penalty) and flinging off a cliff. Something about what they did (fling… we’re led to presume) left me feeling, “Yes, that’s what life is about”. Even if it’s the last few minutes of it.

Atlantic ran a great read on how the film was the last great film about women. They make a really compelling argument. Slapped me in the face. Especially the bit about where women are at today. The stats are American but the Australian ones are much the same. That is, they explain why movies about chicks are so rare and only ever involve weddings:

Sally Fallon’s tips for eating breakfast

August 10, 2018September 6, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

I’m a big fan of Sally Fallon and her “bible” Nourishing Traditions (in fact it’s my all-time favourite manual…I VERY much recommend it). She’s an adherent to the Weston A Price way of living, which is similar to Paleo living, which is similar to how I eat (I’ve personally found it the best approach for my auto-immune issues).

Picture 3 Sally Fallon's tips for eating breakfast — photo via The Alkaline Sisters

Anyway, in a recent edition of WAP’s Wise Traditions Magazine (by Jen Allbritton), they ran a rundown on the best tricks for eating breakfast based on Sally’s principles. So I’ve shared a few below. I recently shared a post on how to eat breakfast without sugar and grains…this kinda builds on it. I know a stack of you were interested in reading more. Yeah?

5 Weston A Price breakfast tricks:

fats and protein should be the featured nutrients, as they are critical for brain chemistry balance (these include egg, meat, fish, full fat dairy including yoghurt, kefir, nuts and seeds, coconut oil, butter, avocados).
fruit, veggies, tubers and whole grains make a wonderful side note.
make at least a portion of breakfast food easily digestible through soaking grains, or sour leavening, culturing dairy, fermenting fruits and vegetables.
don’t rush. Relax through your morning meal.
plan ahead.

Some breakfast favourites from fellow WAP foodies:

Sally Fallon: bake no-nitrate bacon in a pan with fruit (such as apple slices, apricot, peaches or nectarines, or with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms). Serve with eggs of any style – scrambled, fried. Enjoyed with a glass of raw milk. Breakfast tonic favourites include swedish bitters, beet kvass, cod liver oil, high vitamin butter oil mixed with warm water.

the peculiar beauty of being forced to splat!

September 4, 2011September 4, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

This week in Sunday Life I simply get stopped

anna zakusylo by jamie nelson the peculiar beauty of being forced to *splat*! — by jamie nelson

During the week there was a moment – a very brief one – in which I was flying through the air, superman-style, and cruising towards a pile of rocks, when it occurred to me, “this is going to be majorly inconvenient”.

I landed on all fours, putting out my neck, and gouging a neat, golf ball-sized chunk of me-ness from my knee. But, in that brief moment, all I could think was, “Goddamn, this is totally putting a stop to my plans – three months in the making – to go surfing for four days with my best mate who’s just flown in and has three kids and so never, ever gets four days to surf with a friend”.

Then, splat.

Indeed, I spent the next four days, after a stint in emergency, shuffling about like Gumby. (Have you ever tried going to the toilet without bending your knees? Definitely funny, in a Gumby kinda way).

Quite obviously I was stopped. In my tracks, unable to do any activity as every limb was accounted for with stitches or gashes. (And it was definitely funny that it was specifically every corporeal surface required for surfing – feet, palms and knees.) This is my idea of purgatory and it’s happened many times over, and always just prior to Big Plans for Something Important. Yeah, you too?

Is your lifestyle “terminally jangled”? here! some Hunter S Thompson advice…

November 6, 2018September 1, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

I could stare at that photo below for an inappropriately long time. It’s evocative and in-someone-else’s-moment-ish and makes me want to meet a man in trunks.

Mornings. Spent writing. Calmly. Alone. In sun. Yep.

I came across this rundown by Hunter S Thompson of his morning routine. Morning routine’s are key to life, I’ve come to learn. I’ve shared mine and others before. But this ode lifts my spirit:

“I like to eat breakfast alone, and almost never before noon;

anybody with a terminally jangled lifestyle needs at least one psychic anchor every twenty-four hours, and mine is breakfast.

In Hong Kong, Dallas, or at home—and regardless of whether or not I have been to bed—breakfast is a personal ritual that can only be properly observed alone, and in a spirit of genuine excess. The food factor should always be massive:

Read more

the most heart-full interview I’ve ever given…

November 6, 2018August 31, 2011 by Sarah Wilson

I recently did an interview with Joi Murugavell who does “oodlies”. Oodlies are cartoon-y embellishments that tell the intimate back stories of people Joi meets online. She cyber stalks people that grab her interest, learning about their quirks from Twitter, FB, blogs and so on and forms an intuitive picture of them. She then sends the quirkiest interview request in Christendom and from the answers she gets back, she “oodlies”.

I was her latest victim. The experience was expansive, real, raw, risky, exhilarating, kind, true. I got super teary typing out my responses because I was so grateful for the depths she’d gone to to ask questions that dug deep.

Oh, how I’d love all journalists to dig like this, to reach for the humanity in a person and share something true and gutsy about the people they meet.

For the full interview go here. She’s also ‘oodlied’ a children’s book which is just gorgeous and has lovely adult lessons for us all throughout.

But I’ve pulled out some of the bits I enjoyed answering the most….

Joi: What do you often think about before the cameras start rolling?

Sarah: I have a phrase that goes around in my head when I’m about to do something big and a bit scary and a bit lonely, “This is serious Mum”. It started when I was a kid and I think I started saying it before TISM. Somehow it reminds me of all the times life has been vast and boundary-less and confronting and I’ve been alone… and all the times I’ve managed to get through it, regardless. It calms me down.

Then I don’t think anything at all and I concentrate on connecting with the person I’m meant to be talking to