I’ve been doing lots of fermenting lately and I’ll be sharing recipes on my site over the coming weeks…But in the meantime, you can read up on why it’s so good for you here. Fermented daikon is one of my favourite ferments. Daikon is a big white radish often found grated raw on Japanese meals; you can find them at Asian grocers, but I’ve also seen them at big supermarkets, too.
Fermented daikon on the left there. On the right, my fermented sauerkraut.
This ferment is an easy one to kick off with if you’re wanting to give fermenting a try. It has a bunch of bonuses: it uses an unsexy (and cheap) vegetable; it’s super simple to make (it doesn’t require too much pounding; other veggies can require a lot!); is pretty foolproof; and is super tangy.
homemade fermented daikon
1.5kg of daikon
2 tablespoons of sea salt
4 tablespoons of whey (here’s my directions for making whey; if you don’t have any, use an extra tablespoon of salt)
Grate the daikon (I use a blender with a grater attachment for speed and ease). Make sure you don’t use any “woody” bits…they make the pickle, well, wooden. Combine with the whey and salt in a bowl and pound gently with a wooden device (a meat hammer or a pestle) to release the juice. Place in a small mason jar and press down with the hammer so the juices rise to the surface. DON’T fill to brim because it will expand. I learned
The effervescent Kate Callaghan – a former I Quit Sugar teamster before decamping to New Zealand – shared this Helen Keller quote on Instagram this week.
It was the caption to my weekend. As I’ve written before, I need a bit of physical risk to be truly happy. I always have. I’d been in a stressed-out, sleep-deprived, flat funk all week. I had to shake things up. So, as the shark helicopters circled, I swam across Bondi – about 1km end-to-end.
I was the only person out there, well past the surfers. About halfway across I was overwhelmed by a sense of my own vulnerability. With none of the distractions – noise, humans, things to see clearly – this became very apparent. It was just me, my bikini, goggles and cap and nothing but the vast ocean supporting me. It was “outright exposure”, and yet with every stroke I felt more and more supported by the vastness.
And this opened up my heart space. Which aided me to swim swift and smooth. Which opened my heart further…and so on.
And this is the thing:
you have to plant yourself in exposed, vulnerable circumstances to experience true joy.
For me, I have to do it physically to remind myself of this fact. I expose myself physically because doing so primes me for the far tougher version:
Last week I gave away tickets to a fermenting workshop with Sandor Katz to the reader who shared the best fermenting trick with us all. Congratulations to our winner Krysten Ioannides! If you missed out, come along anyway. The IQS team is attending one of the Saturday workshops.
On the weekend I got totally fermented and cooked up sauerkraut, sprouted mung beans and kombucha (my first time!).
Andrew: If you live in a chillier climate or it’s the middle of winter a great way to keep your fermented drinks going is to set your jars/bottles on a Brewer’s Heating Pad which can keep a constant gentle temperature perfect for fermenting. It’s been a lifesaver for keeping my kefir going over winter.
Klyne: Mix miso paste, almond butter and a little hot water for the yummiest spread on toast (especially sprouted spelt bread). If you add more hot water and make it a runnier consistency it’s also a super easy and delicious dressing for steamed vegetables!
Macbee: I’ve just started experimenting with kefir grains in the past 3 weeks to alleviate my IBS…I found my grains via eBay! The milk ones I collected here in Melbourne myself, but the water ones came all the way from Perth in a regular mail envelope (in a snap lock bag inside of that of course) and have been doing me proud since they arrived. I’ve been making loads of lemon and ginger fizzy kefir water.
Bec at Growing Home: You can buy kefir grains on eBay or several places online, they are quite transportable as long as they are packed with a food source and arrive quickly! You could try asking on your local Freecycle, maybe relevant Facebook groups, classifieds, or put a wanted ad up
I turned 40 recently. And I had a party. It was a dinner party for 40 of my closest friends and family – 40 for 40 – and it was as sustainable as I could possibly make it. I bought nothing new, used produce that was going to be thrown out and kept as many ingredients as possible within a 100-200km radius of the event.
My brother Pete gave a speech. He told everyone I remind him of a horse.
Why sustainable? Because I couldn’t just “chuck a party” with a whole stack of booze and booze-soaking food and…wastage. I wanted it to matter and, so, as I put the whole crazy gala together (doubting myself the whole way…Will people want to come? Will they turn up? Does anyone love me?), I realized it was an opportunity to showcase some great stuff happening in the food sustainability realm. You know, to pass on the care.
(As an aside, the mere act of working out that this is exactly what matters to me was a boon. So was witnessing how the whole thing kinda flowed into place – a nice reminder that when you do what matters to you, stuff flows.)
Below is a rundown of how I went about orchestrating the party and all the contacts and tips you might need to do much the same with your next event, wedding, parties, anything. There are two ways to do life: blindly and consciously. And we can choose our way at every turn. At least that’s what I think.
The Sustainable Dinner expert: Alex from Secret Foodies
I met Alex a while back when she invited me to an event she was running that showcased sustainable seafood. I liked her straight up. A country girl with great values who Just Makes Stuff Happen and waves away stress like a farmer swats a fly. She joined me to create the event and make it run far smoother than I ever could.
She can do the same for you – she does a great Farmyard Feast – or can tailor a theme to suit what matters to you. Or you can go along to one of her Secret Foodie dinners, pop-up events that work to different themes and bring together a bunch of fun, like-minded people in both Sydney and Melbourne at a secret event (sometimes it’s in a random alleyway, or on a Bondi rooftop or a cosy restaurant…and sometimes involving dress-ups).
The Cook: Studio Neon.
I met Aaron through Alex (I rather love how this sustainable food network works). Aaron (ex-Harvey Nichols’ 5th Floor Restaurant, Astral, EST and Felix, who’s worked as a private chef cooking for Lady Margaret Thatcher, Kate Moss, Keira Knightly and, wait for it, the Queen), along with his chef Richard Robinson, (ex-Momofuku, French Laundry)runs a rad rent-out-for-your-own-purposes dining space in Waterloo in Sydney, and puts on “Guestaurants” – bespoke dinners that work to many of the principles I espouse.
We put together a menu working back from ingredients we could source (for free, as leftovers, in season) and using herbs foraged from around
If there’s one thing you need to learn to do – for the good of your guts (and broader health) – it’s to ferment.
Making my sauerkraut…a shot for I Quit Sugar For Life (recipe in the book). Photo by Marija Ivkovic
Fermenting is a big focus in my second book, I Quit Sugar For Life (which you can preorder now), and I feature a bunch of cultured recipes – including a beetroot relish which is great on hamburgers(!) and fermented cucumbers. Which are pickles. But better.
If you’re already a fan of fermenting, you may have heard of Sandor Katz, the US-based fermentation guru. The I Quit Sugar team and I are bubbling with excitement to be going to one of Sandor’s fermenting classes in a few weeks. And it gets better for you, my dear readers: Milkwood Permaculture, who are hosting the event are giving away four tickets – for yourself and three mates – to attend Sandor’s evening workshop in Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne. Details below!
This is a topic that’s come up a lot among my mates and I lately – the challenges of navigating tricky friendships. Not between us, but beyond.
Image via jojotastic.com
Over various martinis and meals, I’ve shared my thinking on the subject and thought I might share with you guys, too.
I think many people find navigating friendships as their life stages shift really difficult. Among my friends (most are in their late 30s and early 40s), different and competing commitments (some of us are single, some married with kids; all of us are busy) trigger disappointment and miscommunications. It can be challenging territory to navigate.
I used to cover stories on this topic when I edited Cosmopolitan magazine years back. To be honest, I never quite got the big deal with friend dilemmas. I think it’s because I’ve never had a “crew” of friends. I have a very select number of close one-on-ones and a broad network of acquaintances. Plus, I’m an independent loner. I don’t rely on friends to go about my life – I don’t travel with friends, live with them or date their exes. It’s just not how I do friendship. Of course, I treasure my friends’ counsel and company, but if there’s an issue between us it doesn’t impact me on a practical level, if you get what I mean.
It’s possibly from this perspective I proffer this as a way of dealing with trickiness when it arises: “the friend fade-out”.
I’ve not really had friend fall-outs or massive bust-ups off the back of a misunderstanding or whatever. I’ve done fade-outs.
A fade out is when a bad smell emerges between you and a mate. You might confront them and address the issue in some way. You give it one
I think many of you might have noticed…I don’t really bang on about sugar on this blog these days. I have a new site – IQuitSugar.com – where I do this now. But I interrupt proceedings today to give readers here the opportunity to ask me any niggling questions you might have about quitting sugar ahead of my next online 8-Week Program, which kicks off in a few days.
Fish and Chips, a meal from the 8-Week Program menu plan
You see, you can now quit sugar on your own via my book or as part of a community via this online program. Thousands have now done it this way. They say they like it. You might find it suits you, too.
Some crucials:
* The next program starts January 31.
* Registrations close January 28. Which is on Tuesday!!
Some common questions, answered:
Will I lose weight? Most people do, but check this out if you want to know more.
How does the online program differ from the book? You get a lot more bang for your bucks with the online program – recipes, menu plans for 8 weeks worth of eating, hand-held advice, leading nutritionists and doctors on hand to answer your questions as you go…and more. More here on this.
What will I eat? Only fun food. Our dietician Marieke says: “Both the meat and vegetarian meal plans are great and very well rounded. They meet the dietary requirements for all nutrients”. The pictures illustrating this post give a bit of a taste.
You know how dogs do that thing where they circle around and around looking for the right place – seemingly the perfect place – to sink to the ground? I watch them do it and wonder, What exactly are they seeking? What is their perfection?
Image via Pinterest
That said, I do the same thing. I circle before sinking to the ground.
Regular readers here know I struggle with both perfectionism and indecision (the two go hand in hand). I circle and circle before making many of my decisions relating to my private life (business decisions I make quite quickly and intuitively). It can take me hours, weeks, years to settle to my spot on the ground. Often I’m not even mulling the decision over. I’m not stalling for more information, nor more time to weigh up pros and cons.
I’m simply circling.
Like most indecisive perfectionists I fret that this stalling/circling is problematic. That I’m defective. A lesser person for not knowing what kind of couch to get, or how I want to spend my day off.
But. What. If. We reposition this whole maneuvere? What if circling serves its own purpose? What if circling is the smart, wise, decisive thing to do? When I watch a dog circle I don’t see a beast suffering angst. I see them going through a process that makes their final sit-down better. Circling builds anticipation, it’s build-up. It’s preparation.
The thing is this: a dog will always land in the same place – circling or no circling.
Ditto with me, I reckon. When I stall on deciding on a couch, it’s because it doesn’t feel right. Yet. I don’t have to think-fret about why. It just doesn’t. I don’t respond to emails for a bit, I wait another few days, I live life without a couch…and then, after one final lap around the traps viewing
You might have heard – I’ve written another book, a follow-up to I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook. It’s taken the better part of a year to put together. It’s a reflection, however, of my life’s work. Here she is…or the cover image, at least. As you can see, the cover is a reflection of my life. And work.
You can read all about it February 27 when it hits bookshops.
Or you can get in early and preorder here and I’ll send you your copy February 26 before everyone else gets theirs PLUS a copy of the I Quit Sugar Chocolate Cookbook (which you can send onto a friend…or keep for yourself).
You’ll receive your Chocolate Cookbook immediately so you can get cooking sugar-free while you wait!
But now I’ll answer some questions I’m reckoning many of you want to ask:
How’s I Quit Sugar For Life different from your first book?
If IQS was about how to quit sugar, along with a bunch of recipes to get you started (targeting “problem areas” like breakfast and snacks), IQSforLife shows you how to use the sugar-fee approach to live well… in every respect of the word.
It’s a 9-part Wellness Code, including fitness, travelling and shopping directions.
It builds in a 4-week Wellness Program, plus menu plans for families, singles and those wanting a quick “green” reboot.
It includes 148 recipes, all designed for families of four and for singles.
This is actually a post I’ve been busting to write for a while. As many of you know, I first quit sugar because of my autoimmune (AI) disease. I have Hashimotos. And a big part of why I’ve stuck to the sugar-free program is that it’s made such a damn big difference.
Image via inspirationlush.com
So the simple answer is this: Quitting sugar has had the biggest impact on my AI, more so than my medication or any other medical fix (and, trust me, I’ve tried everything). In the past three years, I’ve been able to better manage my AI, but also – yes – reverse a lot of the damage.
I have zero thyroid antibodies now.
I’m on the most minimal dosage of thyroxin.
My hormone levels have fallen back into the right range (more on this soon!).
It’s taken years to get to this point. I put it down to the massive change to my diet that quitting sugar precipitated. And to breaking the clusterf*ck cycle that autoimmune disease invariably locks you into.
But why? And how? Let me explain…
Warning: Like most of my AI and thyroid posts this is a long one. And as I always remind people, even if you don’t have an AI, you’ll probably find it helpful because the advice I share relates to all of us. Or you probably have a loved one who has an AI…please share this with them.
Sugar mucks up your gut
Blood sugar imbalances inflame the digestive tract, causing leaky gut (literally, a perforated gut lining).In turn, leaky gut triggers the development of AI. Toxins are able to pass through the perforations into the bloodstream triggering an autoimmune reaction as our antibodies head out to attack the foreign invaders. These little antibody soldiers can then get confused and head off to attack parts of our bodies, such as the thyroid. Gluten, for instance, has a very similar molecular structure to the thyroid gland.
Sugar causes inflammation
The process above obviously creates inflammation, which compromises immune function. In addition, sugar compromises the ability of our white
