Year: 2016

what struggle do you want in your life?

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I have a friend. Let’s call him Dick. He’s a challenge. But then so am I. But the thing is, the more he’s a challenge, the more I love him. I have to struggle at times to hold his energy, to ride his emotions, to apologise to the waiters that he’s rude to. But the fact that I struggle happily for him firms my love for him.

Image via Thought Catalogue
Image via Thought Catalogue

I read this rant on how we often ask the wrong question of ourselves in our pursuit of fulfilment. We ask “what makes me happy?”, rather than “what pain do I want in my life?”. The former rarely brings us closer to what we truly want. The latter gets us far realer. It gets us aware of what we’re willing to put up with to get what we really want. Because we’ll always have to put up with something. In fact, as the author writes, happiness requires struggle.

I have a loved one. Let’s call him FB. We struggle. But I know that we are both struggling to get to a better place, to understand each other better, and this makes me love him more. Every time we recover from a wobbly moment, I’m happy. Because we both put in the good fight. We know we’re growing and we know it hurts and we know we have to express all

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Bung thyroid? Here’s what Louise Hay said it’s about…

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Some time back I met with Louise Hay and she shared a whole heap of advice on various life issues. At the end of the interview she noted I had a thyroid issue. I’m not sure if she guessed it or I’d mentioned it. I shared what she had to say about it at the time, but it kind of got buried among the rest of her pearls. So I’ve dragged it out again, to give it a good airing.

Thyroid issues Sarah Wilson
Image by Beata Wilczek via Flickr

Here’s what she said:

Thyroid problems are all about creativity being blocked. 

She then explained that many women feel torn by the pressure to be all things. And their creative self gets blocked. They stop expressing themselves.

I’m not wholly sure how I feel about such insta-diagnosing. That said, Louise’s linking of disease to emotional issues spawned the movement and her work is respected around the world, albeit in select communities. But my personal observation of both myself and those I meet with thyroid disease is that we are particularly earnest. I always ask at my public talks, Who has Hashimoto’s, raise your hands? Invariably it’s about one-quarter of the room (I attract Hashi types) and they’re all sitting at the

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Are you a thru-hiker?

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Mega-author Bill Bryson got into hiking for a bit, wrote a book about it which then became a movie.

I’ve followed a bit of discourse on his hiking thoughts. I came across this critique that picks up on the fact that on his big hike along the Appalachian Trail he failed to thru-hike. That is, he did bits of the hike, getting lifts in the tough bits. But didn’t go the full hog.

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Koko Head Stairs of Doom, Hawaii

In doing so, Bryson misses the critical, soulful, true and gritty point of hiking: the passing through-ness.

When you hike, you pass “through mountains and valleys, through farms and small towns, through pain, through hunger, through nagging doubt”.

I get what the writer of this particular article is saying. Totally. I personally can’t bring myself to skip bits, shorten things or avoid difficult parts. It’s heart-sinky. And “cheats” things beyond mere short-cutting.

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My top 5 (mostly free) health and beauty habits (I’m told all of them are well weird)

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When you reach my age, you develop some weird little ingrained lifestyle habits that you don’t realise are odd-ball until, well, you write a blog post about them. Health advice, IMO, can be a bit too polished and holier-than-thou. And a bit dreary. Rarely do folk share the gritty, daggy stuff. Today, I figured I might.

Health Habits Sarah Wilson
Image via Pinterest

Please don’t leave me out on a limb in my gritty, dagginess. Share yours below, yeah?

1. I tape my lips at night with surgical tape. I’m a teeth grinder. I could use an expensive mouth guard. But my dentist sensibly suggested I try this technique. I take a 10cm strip of that white surgical tape that’s a few bucks at the pharmacy (the 1.5cm wide one) and gently place it across my lips, sealing them together. I ensure I fold over each end so I have a “tab” for pulling it off in the morning.

Yes, oddly, this technique keeps my jaw relaxed all night. It works. And it’s almost free.

2. I scrape my tongue with a tablespoon. Tongue scraping is great. I used to have a fancy tongue scraper. I lost it. Now I just use a stainless steel dessert spoon.

3. I scrub my face with sand. I don’t think anyone needs a fancy face scrub. After a surf or swim I rub

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so you think your takeaway coffee cup is recyclable. It ain’t.

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I’ve banged on before about why you should give up your takeaway coffee cup habit highlighting the fact the BPA in the lids is poisoning you. Of course, there is also the environmental aspect, which has bothered me for years. But I didn’t have the data on it all. Now I do. Perfect timing. I’ve recently been going a bit spare that loved ones around me (and most of the world) just don’t get the Take Your Own Cup message. 

coffee snow

Image via: theberry.com

It turns out, disposable takeaway coffee cups are not recyclable.

ABC’s 7:30 Report on Wednesday night exposed a bunch of factoids that provide me with some extra ammo. Click on the link to catch up on it.

Most of the planet thinks the cups are recyclable. They’re not…

…because the cups are lined with plastic which is not biodegradable. This plastic sticks around long enough to out-live us. Disposable DOES NOT mean recyclable.

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Don’t despair if your daily habits are drabbing you out

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I know a lot of people can feel trapped in their daily routine. And then get sad that they’re missing out and that their life has become ho-hum. I know many parents feel this way – everything has to be slotted into a schedule that repeats each day, each week. And office workers who have to clock in and clock out, and each day passes into the next.

habits Sarah WIlson
Picture via Etsy

I share this thought for those of you feeling this way. I read recently that poet Mary Oliver is a fan of habits. (I also wrote about her take on diving into love, yesterday.) Most writers and creatives attest to the value of having a morning routine in particular. But Oliver goes a step further.

She says routine can provide a sort of “stand-in” flow to our life. We need flow to thrive. Thus, routine “liberates our vitality”:

“What some might call the restrictions of the daily office they find to be an opportunity to foster the inner life. The hours are appointed and named… Life’s fretfulness is transcended. The different and the novel

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Let’s go about this slowly (I’ll tell you why)

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Poet Mary Oliver does it for me. Have you read any of her work? She places her observations of the heart so delicately that the words disappear and a wistful truth remains.

Take it slowly Sarah Wilson
Image via blog.uncommongoods.com

Here’s something from her recent compilation Felicity: Poems that makes me glad:

I did think, let’s go about this slowly.

This is important. This should take

some really deep thought. We should take

small thoughtful steps.

But, bless us, we didn’t.

I take it to be about relationships. But it could be about work decisions, or anything that elicits spark in the

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Each ordinary day, are you doing what satisfies you. Or….?

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We are odd creatures. We often engage in what torments us. Witness the hours we spend toggling on social media. And we chase the future (fretting, planning) and pause in the past (lamenting and being angry), when we know that being present is what brings us joy. And, then, to get even further away from what brings us joy, we distract ourselves even more. Yep, odd.

Image via Buzzfeed
Image via Buzzfeed

I read about an article in a science journal recently co-written by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman. The scientists surveyed a bunch of women to look at how many of their daily activities brought them satisfaction. Oddly, the stuff they chose to do for hours at a time every, single day, as leisure – namely, watching TV – didn’t bring them satisfaction. Instead, connecting with the present did – via prayer and meditation.

This is madness. What stops us doing what we know brings us satiation and peace? Especially when it doesn’t involve large wads of cash or adjustments to our lives? Why do we toggle and distract ourselves away from it? Worth asking, right?

The antidote, of course, is to consciously commit to prioritising the stuff that does satisfy. If it’s merely

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My supercharged coconut cream

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Love my Whipped Coconut Frosting from Simplicious? Wait til you try this trick. Today’s bonus recipe takes whipped cream to another level.

41d28d3711b8cae0b2730f7e8d1f1c36 e1453171886168 My supercharged coconut cream
Image via The Foodie Dietitian

Adding gelatin to your coconut cream gives it a super smooth texture perfectly mimicking whipped cream. Plus it gives you all the great health effect of the stuff.

Supercharged Coconut Cream

  • One 400ml can of full fat coconut milk, chilled
  • 2 tablespoons grass-fed gelatin

Using a stab mixer, blend coconut milk and add the gelatin in a slow and steady stream.

Continue mixing until soft supercharged peak form.

Use immediately (for example alongside your sugar-free dessert or on top of your smoothie) or store in the fridge and use within 4-5 days.

Bonus tip: add it to your coffee

Bloom a tablespoon of the mixture in your cup with some milk. Smoosh with a fork then add black coffee

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Want to become part of my IQS 8-Week Program partner network?

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Dear Friends – Personal Trainers, Health coaches, Nutritionists, Bloggers and Dietitians With Clients Who Want to Quit Sugar,

I hope this finds you well. Given you’re on the same page and given so many of you have asked for me to do this, the I Quit Sugar Team and I have put together a partner network program that helps you to refer people in your orbit to the I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program.

By joining this partner network you can make a bit of coin for every client who signs up to the 8-Week Program via your exclusive partner link.

IQS Partner Network

What?! Tell me what that could look like!

* Run a gym? Bootcamp? Yoga classes? Tell your group about the 8-Week Program (and get them to do the February round together, en masse), and if they sign up via your link, you’ll receive AU$20 (£10) for each class member who joins.

* You’re a dietitian or nutritionist or health coach who recommends your clients cut back on the white stuff? Direct them to break their sugar addiction with our 8-Week Program and earn AU$20 (£10) for each Program membership you drive.

*You’re a personal trainer who also gives dietary advice? Well, you get the gist…

How does it work?

You sign up to my partner network, your client/friend/cousin joins the 8-Week Program through the link we provide you with, and you get AU$20 (£10).

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