Sarah Wilson, Author at Sarah Wilson

What fry pans should we be using?

July 31, 2018August 3, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

* This post has been updated. See below.

Following the toxic audit on my apartment that I wrote about on Sunday, two rather big things. I have to move out of my apartment. And I’ve tossed my frying pans.

I’m moving because my bedroom is on top of the fuse room for the entire block. I’ve always thought this was a bonus – my room is nice and warm in winter. Nicole the building biologist asked if I have immune problems because the crazy, magnetic field action in my room would be wreaking havoc, she’d imagine. Boy do I ever – I have auto-immune disease, and it’s taking an eternity to heal. “How long have you been living here?” A little over three years… “How long you had auto-immune disease?” Three years. Ahhhh….

I’m not a dramatic over-reactor. But I can’t ignore this.

But to the pans. Non-stick pans are coated in Teflon, which is what makes them slippery. Oh, how I’ve loved Teflon in the past! The way it cooks eggs. And nuts. No mess. No oil. Problem is that a chemical that’s released when you heat up Teflon is leaching into everyone’s blood stream and is making us sick – cancer, birth defects, HORMONE DISRUPTION and high cholesterol (ironically, given non-stick saves on cooking oils) are the oft-cited effects.

Studies are going back and forth. For a full discussion, read Slow Death by Rubber Duck. They go through the arguments and come out categorically telling everyone to get rid of non-stick pans.

my brand of sad…what’s yours?

August 2, 2010August 2, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

I get sad often. Have done since I was a kid. It can just creep up and over me, take me by the throat and dangle there. Then, once embedded, it will drag up big, raw feeling from deep within. In gushes. I’m powerless once it’s upon me. I cry. A McDonald’s commercial can see me cry for an hour.

My Mum said I was born with over-active tear ducts. My ex used to call me (fondly), a “sad sack of shit”. He’d watch the cloak of sadness inch up and shake his head. Here we go.

I got sad this weekend, which is why I’m writing this today. Sad for the lonely people. Sad for the pain the human experience can endure. I was watching the news and my sadness had me 100% attuned to people’s faces. The loneliness was palpable.

Sad is different to depressed. Depression is an old woolly cardigan I wear, too. But sad, unlike the fug of depression,

Sunday life: how to detox your house (and trust me, you need to)

March 26, 2015August 1, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

This week I detox my apartment

It may not be evident from where you sit, but I’m currently experiencing slow death by tinned lima beans. I’ve been eating a stack lately, in seemingly benign ways – tossed through stews, in soups. It was always bound to catch up with me. And if it doesn’t, my Capricornian habit of efficiently freezing said meals in plastic containers ready for convenient reheating on busy weeknights most certainly will.

On Friday I invited “building biologist” Nicole Bijlsma into my apartment to do a toxic report on my two-bedder flat. She took a three-hour look at the way I live using a bunch of beeping devices. The report card came back: veritable marinade of toxins. Everything from the pot plant in my bedroom (a fungal breeding ground) to my lip balm habit is overloading my system. Our bodies are great detoxers, says Nicole, but the sheer quantity of pollutants we collide with today has pushed us to our limits. When we tip, an increasingly familiar host of “unexplainable” disorders – cancer, ADHD, fertility issues, auto-immune disease – kick in.

Oh. Dear.

But tell me, what’s more oh-deary for you: the feeling that, once again, you can’t do anything right these days (I mean, tinned lima beans…?!). Or the fact your gut has kind of known things aren’t right for a while? And you’ve erroneously ignored it?

This week I trawled through the conflicting, highly charged debates as to whether “science can prove” pollutants kill folk.

stuff I’m not paid to endorse: 7 nice peeps you should know about

December 28, 2011July 29, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

Really, this week it’s just a plug for bits and pieces of goodness I’ve come across in the past week. You know, little inventions and consumerables that make a difference, people sharing good stuff. That kind of thing. I’m in Canberra at Mum and Dad’s place, being treated to an open fire, daphne posies in my bedroom and runs with Dad (we’re training for City2Surf)…while I write my book. So, I’m off to focus. Over and out! x

1. TOM tampons.

I love the story behind these little wads of indispensability. Aimee Marks is 23. She’d had jack of tampons being ethically, environmentally and healthily low-grade. Tampons on the market today are either synthetic or cotton (cotton is one of the most heavily pesticide-sprayed crops on the planet). So she created her range of organic TOM tampons (Time of Month) . The pack is also smart…designed so that the little white pluggers don’t fall out in your bag. Did I mention she’s 23??? You can buy them at Pulse Pharmacies.

How to detox your beauty cupboard

July 31, 2018July 28, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

I predict that in the next year or so the big issue we’ll be getting outraged about it is the amount of toxicity we ingest. On Sunday I’ll be posting my Sunday Life column about how I got building biologist Nicole Bijlsma to do a toxicity reading on my apartment. But the crap we ingest via cosmetics and beauty products is deserving of a separate mention.

I’ve posted work by The Story of Stuff chick Annie Leonard before. This week she released The Story of Cosmetics, an 8-minute expose of what we’re doing to ourselves when we apply mascara, shampoo, etc. You REALLY need to watch it (below). It coincides with the introduction this week of the US federal Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 — the first attempt in more than 70 years to overhaul cosmetics regulations to eliminate the use of cancer-causing chemicals and other harmful ingredients.

A few things to chew on:

* Those “pink-ribbon” brands? Dozens of them rank an 8 or higher on the Skin Deep database’s toxicity scale (10 is the worst)—including products that contain carcinogens and hormone-disrupting chemicals linked to increased cancer risk.

tuesday eats: how to freeze things

October 18, 2010July 27, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

I know this seems like a really daggy post. But stick with me, at least until the jump. It gets really interesting. See this quinoa recipe below, from 101 Cookbooks, an amazing resource for super healthy food ideas…I challenged myself to make it entirely from stuff pulled from my freezer. There are tricks and things to know…read on…

A full freezer is a green freezer

New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman is a mad freezer nut. He wrote recently in Oprah magazine that storing food in the freezer is actually economical because freezers work more efficiently when they’re full…something to do with solids stay cold longer than gases, so keep the whole lot at a more consistent temperature. Rad. Mark pretty much stores everything in his – flour, lemons, fruit, bacon. I’m not far off.

Some stuff is better frozen

Frozen tofu, for instance, stirfries better.

pink worms…and can the positive vibe go too far?

July 26, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

We all saw the gendered election worm last night…what was interesting was that, compared with previous election debates the worm tracked far more positively than normal. Plus, the pink worm (women) was, overall, more positive than the blue (men).

When Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott started sledging the other, both worms took a dive into the dirt. Ditto when they spoke negatively about…anything.

Which begs: do we really believe a positive approach wins, or are we simply seeking happy-happy-joy-joy-ness, at the expense of balanced critical thought? You’ve probably noticed the whole positive psychology spiel that dominates so much discourse these days. You attract what you put out there, and all that jazz. It would appear we’re all seeking a sunnier approach against a backdrop of a confusing, cluttered life.

sunday life: the fun of analysing dreams!

July 25, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

This week I get some dream coaching

Is there anything more spleen-twistingly, incisor-grindingly tedious than listening to other people recounting their dreams? I don’t think so. Which is why I won’t share how two nights ago I dreamt I was flying, but not really flying, more falling and desperately breaststroking though the air trying to gain traction, while being chased by a faceless swamp-thing. And wearing no underpants.

But this week I did share the dark side of my id with Australia’s leading dream coach Leon Nacson, who also runs Hayhouse Books. To see if pausing to understand the symbols and meanings in one’s dreams has any worth.

Back when we were all suppressing twisted oedipal urges, dreams were interpreted as a revelation of our subconscious (and often sexual) desires. A Jungian lens saw other people (and objects) as representing aspects of ourselves. So that swamp-thing? He’s some dank part of myself that’s holding me back from flying freely. Which makes surprising sense, actually. As does the fact he’s a masculine presence.

MasterChef and a fraction too much life friction

July 23, 2010 by Sarah Wilson

A thought or two on MasterChef Finale. And life friction.

Today I’m off to Hamilton Island to MC the Great Barrier Feast at Qualia, featuring Justin North from Becasse (we first met on MasterChef) and food writer Simon Thompsen (also done a cameo on MasterChef). I’ll try to post some tweets about the best flavour combinations. Follow me here. I keep getting asked if I’m watching the finale of MC. Well, rather fittingly I’ll be away for the finale of series two. Eating.

A year ago I was sitting in a pub with friends watching the finale, with me up there on the screen with the boys…and Justin North! Can I say this now? It’s been a year. I didn’t so much enjoy the experience. The whole “hosting” gig. It felt like I was a square peg shoved in a round hole, being pushed against the grain of my being.

When this happens in life – as it does from time to time, to test me – it leaves me in quite the state of friction. Being rubbed the wrong way is not good. I get irritated. Eventually I surge forward into action and find a path with a smoother surface.

Dumb Little Man posted a list of the 7 Reasons Why You’re Time Poor this week. I don’t always read these kind of things – I’m too time poor – but this jumped out as one of the reasons:

#3 You Have Too Much Life Friction

Life friction. Not good. It literally holds you back like Velcro.

Other life friction is catching a bus that goes a route to work that makes no sense. Find another route. Continuing to work with a client who does your head in and really doesn’t pay the bills big time. Drop them. Going to a gym which is on the other side of town because you haven’t got around to cancelling your membership. Switch. Wearing shoes that hurt your feet. Donate them.