I thought I’d share this interview with you. As you know, I was sick for quite a while. Getting better now. But it’s been a struggle to do what nourishes me – being creative – during this time. At the same time, it’s what’s kept me going. It’s been the grist to my mill. This … Read more
Today I’m going to answer a question I get asked a lot.
Tanya emailed me this:
“I don’t wanna have to cart my office clothes with me on my bike, nor is my body fit for the great outdoors in tight lycra! Help!”
I hear you Tanya. I ride in what I’m wearing for the day. No need to complicate life with changes of clothes…seriously. Here are some tricks I employ:
1. Embrace dressy shorts. I love these ones below from Sass and Bide. I buy them a size or two too big.
2. Yes, you can wear heels. I do all the time. Just buy ones that support your foot in some way – eg boots or ones with straps over the arch of the foot and around the ankle. The heels below are from All Saints – they’re like a laced-up desert boot. When riding with heels you do need to be careful you don’t slip…but this extra psychological pressure actually makes for some nice hyper-aware and aligned riding. What about wedges? They don’t work, really. I’ll scoot down the road in them, but there’s no grip to be found. Save them for walking.
Here’s Lucy from Love at 1st Sight (Lucy builds single speeds in Bondi, if you’re interested) wearing booties:
3. Short dresses with stockings in winter are great. A scarf you can tie to your bag is good too. I rode to this red carpet event in the city back in winter (much to the shock of publicists), wearing this:
Boots are good. When riding in skirts or dresses, I just tuck the fabric under me and try to keep seated. I think this is quite a clever way to deal with skirts:
It’s a movement that hasn’t really struck here in Australia. I’m seeing signs. In LA and New York it’s huge.
*This blog post has been updated on February 5, 2016 and now reflects my current stance on eating raw foods.
I’m talking raw. And it’s very much a movement. When I was in New York I checked out a few. My favourite whimsical person Gala Darling and I met for raw spanikopita made with almond feta at One Lucky Duck in Gramercy. Beyond good!!
Possibly it’s most colourful proponent is David Wolfe. I’ve heard David Wolfe speak a few times. He quite possibly has too much energy for this lifetime. Turns out I spoke to him this week about going raw.
Here’s the podcast. You’ll have to bear with me…it was my first time using Call Recorder on Skype and it’s full of typically awkward Sarah-ish glitches. It goes for about 15 minutes:
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Now. Not everyone wants to go completely raw. I don’t. But there are a few things to know about eating MORE raw food that might pique your interest. The gist is a little somethin like this:
* There are two main sources of enzymes for digesting food and turning it into energy. They’re found inside the food itself, and in us.
* According to the raw foodies, food enzymes are destroyed when food is heated over about 116 degrees F or 46 degrees C. Which means we have to use our own enzymes to break down cooked food.
* BUT our bodies have a limited supply of enzymes. And when they deplete, we age faster. So the less we use (and get from food instead) the better.
Raw foodies ferment and soak grains and nuts to make them digestible. Or slow cook food at low temperatures. And cure meats with lemon and other acids (as in carpaccio)
Me, I personally like warm mushy foods… An argument can also be made about some vegetables requiring heating in order to make their vitamins and minerals available, such as starchy veg like potato. The valuable nutrients are contained in the starch and in order for out bodies to absorb them we need to cook the vegetable to make it easier for our body to break down.
I suggest having a combo of both raw and cooked veg so you get the best ban for your buck.
If you’re interested in learning more hear him talk during his Australian tour next in February and March. He’s talking on permaculture, doing workshops and sharing his raw chocolate recipes (I’ll share these in a bit).
I’ve just finished this sweet little book, The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. It’s the memoir of a woman who gets sick and waits out her illness watching a little snail that a friend delivered to her in a flowerpot. She learns from the snail about slowness, although the snail moves faster than she does while she’s bedridden. Her understanding of the snail’s stillness over the course of 12 months mirrors her acceptance of her illness “standstillness”.
“The velocity of the ill, however, is like that of the snail,” Emily Dickinson.
If you’ve ever been sick or held back from everything that’s defined you for some reason, I reckon you’ll get this sweet journey. Elisabeth Tova Bailey was struck down with a particularly virulent strain of flu while travelling and it developed into a much more serious illness – something akin to CFS – which left her debilitated for almost twenty years. It was in the worst period that a friend gave her the little woodland snail as a (pretty weird!) gift.
The book opened me up. And it was beautiful to appreciate that some things have an inevitable pace. Meaning can be found in not moving, in being quiet. And that nature can find us and teach us what we need to know.
Happily, I was able to contact Elisabeth, who shared with me some thoughts on her illness.
If you’ve done yoga you might know the frog pose. Ooooh, yes, the frog pose! When people do the frog – on their stomach with their bent legs splayed out at each side, stretching at a right angle to the torso – they cry. I’ve been in classes where the whole room is weeping, all sweaty and snotty, hoping no one’s noticing. Not from pain, but from a deep, sad emotional release as the pelvis slowly opens.
This is because, as I learnt during this week’s journey to stand up straight, the pelvis is the body’s brain, and like our brain it stores a stack of emotion in its dark recesses. The frog, then, is The Notebook for the groin, the “Hallelujah” (Jeff Buckley’s moving version) for the hip-flexer. And the pelvis, my friends, is a joint in serious need of a good hug.
I don’t know about you, but everyone around me these days is in hip/back/neck pain, sees their osteo/physio/chiro more often than their own mother and is constantly “getting back into” pilates/yoga/Core Attack classes. Surely this isn’t right. Surely there’s a better way. As they say in the NatGeo docos, I decided to find out.
Me, I come from a long line of women with dowager’s humps and men with tilted gaits. Add to this a career behind a computer and a very fat brother (well, he was fat as a baby; I was eight when he was born – at a hefty 12 pounds – and I’d carry him on my hip; it’s thrown my spine out to the right) and I now resemble a Twistie. A stale, soggy one.
This week, the contorted pain of being a Twistie finally had me see Anna-Louise Bouvier author of The Feel Good Body (who developed the Physiocise technique for posture) and the bubbly mood expert on ABC’s recent Making Australia Happy series. She calls me a “floppy”. I have super flexible joints that I struggle to keep vertically aligned, which is affecting my energy levels.
But she also says the way I slouch is making me sad, it’s dragging me down.
OK. So this is where it gets interesting and a little bit tricky. As in, good tricky.
Today I’m going to cover off two key issues. Yesterday I said I’m eating more (good) fat and protein as a way of getting me through this quit sugar business. This is in part cos fat and protein satiate. They fill me up. So I don’t crave sugar. Or anything else for that matter. Oooh, but they’re fattening, you say!? Actually, no. Sugar is. Let me explain.
But first, know two things to kick off with:
sugar doesn’t fill you up. it makes you want to eat more and more (thus making you put on weight)
and
the real issue here is FRUCTOSE…
not sugar per se. Sugar is half fructose and half glucose. But it’s fructose that causes the issues.
fat doesn’t make us fat, sugar does
I’m going to dot-point this part because it is tough to follow. I’m going to leave out most of the fancy scientific language. If you want to know more (and it’s really worth learning more) can I highly recommend David Gillespie’s Sweet Poison?. It’s the full, glorified biological breakdown of the deal. But for now:
* every substance we ingest has a corresponding appetite hormone that tells our brain (the hypothalamus) that we’re full. It’s like a little detector/messengar. It finds the protein or the fat or the carb and goes, “Hello! Better tell the brain we have a visitor”. It is also able to tell the brain when we’ve had enough. The brain then issues the edict: “Time to shut down appetite”. You’ve probably noticed when you eat cheese or nuts it gets rid of hunger straight away. Yeah?
* every substance, that is, except for fructose. Fructose is a sugar found in fruit and honey and in table sugar (sugar contains 50% fructose, 50% glucose). When we eat fructose, it’s like our body doesn’t notice it. It goes undetected. And so we can eat and eat and eat it, but our bodies don’t feel full.
* people often say fructose is good because it doesn’t cause insulin spikes (as glucose does). This is actually a bad thing…for a host of reasons…but in part because insulin is an appetite control hormone.
I posted on Monday to say I’m quitting sugar. Well, it’s been three days. And I’m going great. Although you have to be so careful…I ordered a chai tea at a shoot on Tuesday and it came with honey already in it. So far, no withdrawals… because I’ve been upping my fat intake. I shall … Read more
I’ve introduced you to Joyce from online store CycleStyle before. She is kooky as all get-up and is one of my favourite bike kids. AND, her baby is due this week! Blessings to her. I’ve asked her to share a few of her favourite bike accessories with you…
Go for it Joyce:
My bike is my primary mode of transport – I go to work on it, to the markets, to meet friends, to the movies and to restaurants. I love riding my bike every day because it’s the quickest and most convenient way for me to get from A to B – and it makes me feel happy and healthy.
In the course of doing research for CycleStyle’s range, I’ve come across a myriad of pretty bike accessories. These items are for the kind of cyclist like me – people who want to look stylish riding their bikes.
1. The Basil Beauty Shopper
Every cute bike deserves a wicker basket. I like the gentle pot-bellied shape of Basil’s Beauty Shopper and the lid is handy for keeping your shopping in check. When you’re off your bike you can remove the shopper and take it straight into the farmers’ market with you.
I’m shifting my eating a little at the moment. I’ll post more on this shortly. But in a nutshell: I’m on a protein mission. When I eat a solid portion of protein at lunch, I’m not hungry until dinner. Again, I’ll explain soon.
In the meantime. I just ate this for lunch, prepared in my office kitchen (a microwave…which isn’t ideal…but…): two eggs and some Parmesan cheese shavings whisked with a fork in a bowl with a nob of butter, microwaved for a minute or so. I sprinkled basil leaves (chopped), cherry tomatoes, witlof leaves (chopped) and olives on top and stirred through the “omelette”. Then poured anchovy oil (I keep the jar of oil after I’ve eaten the fish) over the top. Holy yum!
Another trick I’m into: taking in ziplock bags of frozen par-cooked broccoli (I do in bulk when it’s cheap at my organic veggie shop) and leaving in the office fridge. Then I bring in a quarter of a roast chook (from dinner the night before). I heat a little. With salt and pepper. Plus quarter of an avocado. Happy.
I asked a few of my nutritionist mates for their favourite lunches. My gorgeous e-pal Aran at cannelle et vanille provided this one:
Mushroom, Walnut Quinoa with Fried Egg and Watercress Salad
2 Tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup mushrooms (shiitake, oyster and baby bella)
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs mascarpone
1 Tbs walnuts, chopped
1 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tbs chives, chopped
Eggs, to fry
Watercress to garnish
Salt and pepper to taste
In a medium pot, heat the olive oil and saute the garlic and mushrooms on medium heat for about 2-3 minutes. Add the quinoa and stir for about a minute. Add the chicken stock and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for about 15 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and add the mascarpone, walnuts, parsley and chives. Adjust seasoning.
Gently cook the eggs in a little bit of olive oil and serve on top of the quinoa. Dress the watercress with olive oil and place on top of the egg.
I’m a sugar addict. Not merely partial to the sweet stuff. I’m adddddddicted. No bones about it.
It started when, as a teenager, I moved into town from the country (where we ate subsistently and very naturally). A cocktail of girl hormones, new-found access to malls and corner shops, as well as a kid-in-candy-store delight with foods I’d been previously denied, brought it on. I went sugar crazy. And was soon riding the rollercoaster of highs and lows and battling the desperate, distracted, overwhelming urges to down a cinnamon scroll or some apricot delights or a bakery-issue apple pie. Later, as in nowadays, it’s dark chocolate. And honey.
But I’m quitting sugar. Yes, yes I am. All of it.
I’m going to write a five-part series on it here, outlining what I’ve learned, the best techniques and how I’m tackling it. I really, really care about this issue – and my studies as a health coach have heightened my awareness of the fact that:
sugar is poison
we were not designed to eat sugar
fat doesn’t make us fat – sugar does
You might like to join me. I’m starting today. The last day of January is a good day, I think!
First up, I’ll tell you why I’m doing it and share some factoids to get you interested.
1. I’m tired of being addicted
It’s really got boring being fixated and controlled by my sugar cravings and my energy highs and lows. I’m a particularly sensitive type, which is why I think sugar affects me so strongly. More so than most. As does caffeine and pharmaceuticals. Some people can eat sugar in moderation. I don’t seem to be able to. I get a taste of it and my body, sensitive as it is to biological cues, says “quick, store energy fast”. Because it’s such an unstable form of energy release I crash and burn abruptly, needing another energy hit…fast! I’ll explain this all better shortly. One 2007 French study shows sugar addiction is more gripping than cocaine addiction. The effect on our dopamine levels is insane. It grips, it keeps us bound.
I should say: I don’t eat massive amounts at all. I don’t eat gluten – so that cuts out biscuits and cakes and muffins. I’ve never liked soft drink or lollies. But when I have it in front of me, something primitive takes over and I can’t stop at one row of chocolate or a small serve of orange almond cake. I gorge. And I’m forced to do as Miranda did on Sex and The City (when she poured water on the cake she’d put in the bin but was still eating).
I’m bored of living like this. It ain’t cool or dignified. I’m ready for a new energetic way.
2. Autoimmune disease + adrenal issues + an excitable personality + sugar = bad story
AI types like me cannot afford to have our stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), nor our neurotransmitter levels (dopamine), nor our insulin levels mucked around with. When they are, they flare up our conditions. So does the whack of acid that sugar injects into our system. We need to keep our bodies alkalized as much as possible to combat the inflammation at the heart of AI.
Finally, sugar totally disrupts the bacteria count in the gut – massively so. It leads to leaky gut syndrome, which then causes undigested amino acids to pass through the gut wall, which causes antibodies to come out on the attack…which, of course, leads to AI. Sugar has to go if I’m to ever fully heal my thyroid disease. If you’ve got AI you know how it is – you think you’re on the mend, then – bang – you crash again. It’s up and down constantly, with layers of interchanging symptoms. I have a sneaking suspicions it’s sugar that’s a big part of this.
3. I want to live true.
Fact is we’re not meant to be eating sugar. Again, I’ll detail this further, but for now – our bodies are NOT designed to eat sugar. Until recently (about 200 years ago) sugar was such a rarity in nature (only found in fruit or honey…which were both hard to access) that our bodies were designed without an “I’m full” switch for it so that when we did stumble upon it we could gorge on the stuff and store the energy fast.
Our genetic makeup has not changed in 130,000 years; we are still not designed to eat much sugar. And so when we do we go against our nature, our natural balance, the way we’re meant to be.
I know this viscerally. Sugar doesn’t feel right. I don’t want to live against the grain any longer.
4. And finally, truth be known, I want to lose weight.
I put on weight (12kg) from thyroid disease a few years back and haven’t been able to shift it all since, despite getting my TSH levels under control. It’s not a core issue for me (although it did take a lot of centering to come to terms with!).
