Sarah Wilson

My 7 favourite ways to use turmeric

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Look, I’m aware turmeric is fast becoming the new kale, that is, an over-hyped “superfood”. I guess, though, unlike kale, turmeric has some unique health properties grounded in a long history of healing cooking (nothing against kale, but it doesn’t really stand apart substantially on any front from good old silverbeet).

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I use a fair whack of turmeric because of its great anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. But the one thing that stands out for me is that it’s anti-inflammatory. It inhibits the enzyme responsible for inflammation, puffiness and throbbing. Stacks of recent studies are showing how effective it is in bringing down swelling in the cells.

If you have auto-immune disease of any sort, turmeric is your friend.

In the Ayurvedic tradition it’s also used for digestive issues, inflammation, joint pain and blood purification.

But before getting too sucked in by such claims, I did look into a few studies and found that turmeric always needs to be fermented, and eaten with fats and pepper. And that you shouldn’t have too much.

If you’re wondering how much you can have, in which form, note:

  • maximum 2-3 grams (1 – 1.5 teaspoon) of fresh turmeric per day
  • maximum 1-2 grams (1/2 – 1 teaspoon) of dried, powdered turmeric per day (this includes turmeric powder or spice forms)

If you’re feeling particularly inflamed, up your dosage to 2 teaspoons a day for a few days. But do remember to drop back down.

Because I’ve been asked to share such information a bit lately…here, a rundown of how I (try to) get my teaspoon or two into a day.

1. Sweet coconut and turmeric yoghurt. I mix 1/2 – 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon and turmeric powder into coconut yoghurt for breakfast or dessert. I do the same with normal yoghurt, too. I travel with both (turmeric and

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“All over the place” girls

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Are you an All Over The Place girl? I could be accused of such a thing. I have swings and lows and roundabouts. I demand too much of those around me. I aim too high and crash. I feel bad about this. I often try to take up less room, like a long-limbed dancer at the disco, afraid I’m too much trouble.

So I was sweetly soothed when I came across the words below by artist and poet Cleo Wade.

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I like Cleo’s words because they flip the coin called “complex” and show the other side of being a complicated and demanding and uncertain human. Often, on the other side of these bombastically messy traits, is an equally big and useful ability to give and contribute and love.

Indeed, when big love is misunderstood or badly communicated it becomes complicated and demanding and

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An updated foodie guide to London.

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I’ve written a slow-food and paleo guide to London. But that was a while back. And since London has a constantly changing culinary landscape, I thought my latest trip to town (August 2016) warranted an update.

Drinks at Silo, Brighton. (Details below)
Drinks at Silo, Brighton. Turmeric and lemon, nettle beer, fermented elderflower bubbly tasting…Because I was really rather curious. All of it delicate, effervescent, and alive. (Details below)

I’m keeping it simple. And mostly visual. A post packed with images of my favourite meals and links to the best joints I know.

45 Jermyn Street

Oh My Weird Breakfast Goodness! This was quite a revelation. Homemade crumpets with marmite and fried duck eggs, plus pink grapefruit, kale and chia smoothie with a mountain of tumeric… They let me add my

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My Sarah Wilson Round-Up of Signs The World is Improving

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I’m an optimist. I’m seeing signs that the world is cottoning on to the need to change the way we brazenly consume and consume and consume. 

Image via 1 million women
Image via 1 million women

Almost seven years ago I (outrageously!) suggested we all eat 6-9 teaspoons of sugar. And stop drinking fruit juice. What do you know, the World Health Organisation came out in late last year with the same edict. 

The fringes and I have been banging on about toxins and plastics and waste and stuff that just makes the world a lesser place.

But it seems the Powers That Be are starting to catch up to the fringe. The world is moving faster in general. This makes sense. Information gets out faster and everything is more transparent. This is great stuff, when harnessed.

(PS: A fortnight ago I really went to town on the ecological hypocrisies of the wellness industry if you feel like an extra read. And last week I shared a list of eight bits of plastic you can quit right now.)

What do you think of these shifts?

The US bans toxic hand wash

The USFDA (Food and Drug Administration) recently released its decision on banning 19 active ingredients in antibacterial soaps. The ruling, 40 years in the making, caps a very lengthy debate over whether these chemicals are

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When someone expects you to be enraged, try this…

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Silence.

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This appeared in my Instagram feed at a pertinent time, a time when rage was rightfully mine. You probably caught my post about choosing love over rightness, though. And can see it’s a theme for me right now. My moral and spiritual challenge.

I’ve written before how silence is beautiful and effective when a troll rages. It stops the venom in its tracks.

I ask, however, is silence appropriate for loved ones? Is it not a tactic? A game? And thus contributing to the bad behaviour we’d rather rise above, in love? I discussed this with my meditation teacher. “Love is a game,” he said. “It’s a dance. It can be artful.”

I guess it can be. Silence can provide a surprising vacuum into which the other can choose to expand beyond the

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8 bits of plastic you can quit right now

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The Earth can’t digest plastic. Plastic things are bought and used and that’s it – the Earth is burdened further. This issue has reached critical point. And we have to act. All of us. Because we are the issue. I know some of us get flummoxed by the data. Which is why I thought I’d share this rant from Jeff Bridges – who I’d watch reading the Yellow Pages – by the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

Can’t watch now? Here’s The Bits To Know:

  • Earth can’t digest plastic. Once it exists, it’s never going to be gone. Every bit of plastic that’s ever been made still exists on the planet. As time goes by plastic will separate into smaller and smaller pieces, but never completely biodegrades. And so….
  • Plastic in the ocean now outnumbers sea life six to one.
  • All (yes, all) sea turtle species have been documented with plastic in or around their bodies.
  • One million sea birds are killed annually from plastic in our oceans.
  • Plastic chemicals, like BPA, are absorbed by the body. They disrupt hormones and your endocrine system. I’ve written on this before. It’s a big issue. Especially if you have autoimmune disease.
  • Aside from the BPA issue, which most people are aware of, plastic also contains DDT and PCB — two extremely toxic chemicals. The health effects of DDT include cancer, male infertility, miscarriages and low birth weight, developmental delay, nervous system and liver damage. PCBs also contribute to cancer and cause disorders of the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems.

So. Eight plastic habits to Change. Now.

1. Plastic cutlery. Totally wrong. It kills me that often health food shops with eco ethos’ are the worst for not supplying reusable stuff. This ain’t fringe thinking any more. France has just banned plastic cutlery, cups and plates. (So you know, 150 single-use cups are thrown away every second in France.) They’re aiming to cut landfill waste in half by 2025 and reduce greenhouse emissions 40 per cent by 2030.

Do this: Carry a splade in your purse/bag* (a spoon, fork and blade in one). Or a “spork” – spoon and fork combo – one at each end – available from reChusable.com.

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An apology

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Hello Readers, This is an apology for the ghastly ads on my site the past week or so. I have a unique policy on ads.  The short version? I do very little advertising here on this site and only endorse or promote something if I personally use the product/service, and only if the product/service helps … Read more

Do you want to be right or to love?

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I’ve had reason recently to visit this idea again. A most powerful idea, beautifully brought to us by Rumi.

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,

there is a field. I will meet you there.

Image via meggielynne.tumblr.com
Image via meggielynne.tumblr.com

More than six years ago I wrote about the idea in detail. I’d read a New York Times Modern Love column which was later turned into a book. Both saw the author Laura Munson go through hell with her husband, where she fought the urge to be right and he to be wrong (if played to this dichotomy he was so very in the wrong) and instead went out to the field. And sat. And waited. 

He came.

She describes the process like this:

“Here’s a visual: Child throws a temper tantrum. Tries to hit his mother. But the mother doesn’t hit back, lecture or punish. Instead, she ducks. Then she tries to go about her business as if the tantrum isn’t happening. She doesn’t “reward” the tantrum. She simply doesn’t take the tantrum personally because, after all, it’s not about her.”

So tough.

My meditation teacher Tim recently shared similar advice. “Do you want to be right or to love?”

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19 ways to have a waste-free wedding

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When I turned forty, I wanted to celebrate with my nearest and dearest. But I didn’t want to just “chuck a party” with a whole stack of booze and booze-soaking food and…wastage. I wanted it to matter and, so I put it together as sustainably 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.

Recently I read about three couples who did similar, for their weddings. Waste free! This stuff gets me excited.

Kat and Michael's homemade Tasmanian wedding - see below.
Kat and Michael’s homemade Tasmanian wedding – see below.

And so below, a list of ways to have a waste-free wedding. If you have a wedding on your radar, that is.

1. For the wedding meal, team up with an organisation that creates meals from food past its “sell by” date that grocery stores and bakeries would have otherwise thrown away.

2. At the end of the event, encourage guests to take home any leftovers.

3. Find your wedding dress on online classifieds website (like Gumtree) for $105. You might have to get a few alterations made, but the previous owner will be glad the dress is going to be used again.

4. Get your wedding rings made from reused metals.

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I’m tough because I give a shit

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What makes someone tough? Strong in the face of adversity? Emotionally sturdy?

Image via Pinterest
Image via Pinterest

My literary crush David Brooks (catch up on my previous posts on him here and here) touches on this topic quite a bit. Recently in the New York Times he flagged the idea that emotional sturdiness “happens”. That is, we’re not born with it. Importantly, it builds over time from applying ourselves to a greater cause – a child, a cause, a need beyond ourselves.

We get tough when we fire the f*ck up. We get tough when we give a sh*t.

About something, someone, all of it.

What matters is caring, says Brooks, and this is what is missing when someone presents as emotionally fragile:

“Emotional fragility seems like a psychological problem, but it has only a philosophical answer. People are really tough only after they have taken a leap of faith for some truth or mission or love. Once they’ve done that they can withstand a lot.”

I’m told I’m tough. “Tenacious”, says my Dad. Resilient, several doctors have said. 

And yet I collapse in an emotionally-charged heap more often than I’d like. I’ve berated myself for dark, deep philosophical ponderings. I’ve tried to train my brain to care less, to be less passionate. But as I’ve aged, I’ve realised this vulnerability to the life-charged depths of existence is the grist to my mill. 

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