Lately I’ve been reassessing what matters to me. Like really looking at things fully, and prepared to “put a bomb” under things. This happens for me every few years.
Jo sent me this video, randomly. And it arrived with impeccable timing.
Good morning friends. This post serves two purposes.
To announce that, yes, I’ve produced an I Quit Sugar gelatin powder – my Gut Lovin’ Gelatin. And you can buy it now.
To explain why I’ve done so, in the context of my vocal aversion to the practice of contributing to More Stuff on The Planet. (Flick straight to the orange highlighted bits below!)
I Quit Sugar Gut Lovin’ Gelatin
What is Gut Lovin’ Gelatin?
It’s a pure natural collagen powder made from beef bones and connective tissue that is the biggest, most nutritious boon in town for healing the gut. It’s used to make jelly, fruit gummy snacks, pannacotta and a stack of kid-friendly snacks.
Unlike other versions on the market, this one has been painstakingly crafted such that it’s:
100 per cent natural
Produced from pasture-raised cows
Made in Australia
Made with ethically and sustainably raised beef
Lactose free
Housed in responsible packaging
My gelatin gummies, in I Quit Sugar: Simplicious. Photo by Rob Palmer.
What’s the deal with gelatin powder?
About a year ago I stumbled upon gelatin powder in my relentless quest to heal my gut. I tested it, I
Before Cheryl Strayed became That Wild Girl, she was an agony aunt at Rumpus.net. She went by the moniker “Sugar”, it so happens. In light of my recent posts about writing like no one cares, the joy of lowering your expectations and faking it until you make it, I thought today I’d simply run a response Strayed wrote to a reader with creative block some time back. I’ve run the whole lot, question and answer, because it’s a great read. But I’ve ital’d the bits that hit nails for me. Enjoy and discuss below.
Image from meditationtemptation.tumblr.com
Dear Sugar,
I write like a girl. I write about my lady life experiences, and that usually comes out as unfiltered emotion, unrequited love, and eventual discussion of my vagina as metaphor.
And that’s when I can write, which doesn’t happen to be true anymore.
Right now, I am a pathetic and confused young woman of 26, a writer who can’t write. I am up late asking you a question, really questioning myself. I’ve sat here, at my desk, for hours, mentally immobile. I look up people I used to love and wonder why they never loved me. I lie facedown on my bed and feel scared. I get up, go to the computer, feel worse.
David Foster Wallace called himself a failed writer at 28. Several months ago, when depression hooked its teeth into me, I complained to my then-boyfriend about how I’ll never be as good as
You might recall (it was a while ago; I Quit Sugar: Simplicious was a two-year project) I asked you all what you’d like to see featured in the new book I was writing. I took your very long list to heart and tried to incorporate as many of your requests as possible. I shared one of the reader requests a few weeks back, my Simplicious homemade bacon.
Today, three more recipes from your wish list that found their way into the book: Cheeseburger Dim Sims, a take on the Aussie Golden Gaytime, and a Bacon ‘n’ Egg Porridge (yes, savoury porridge!).
Cheeseburger Dim Sims, photo by Rob Palmer
Cheeseburger Dim Sims
So much potential wrongness, right? But, I tell you, this is close to my favourite recipe in the book.
The good news is that we’re opting for individual broccoli heads, rather than bulk packs of brocs (wrapped in plastic etc), and veggies like zucchinis that come as individual items.
“These findings really reflect the fact that some Australians are treating supermarkets like extensions of their own fridges,” said the study spokesperson who also pointed out shoppers are buying for two to three days’ worth of meals at a time. This is a good thing from a wastage POV.
But the report says we’re also buying up veggies pre-packaged in single-meal portions. AUSVEG suggest growers should be encouraged to do more of this kind of thing.
Um, noooooo!!!!!
Yep, making it easier for us all to eat more veggies is a great thing. Yep, shopping practices that see us purchase what we need as we need it,is an
These one-pan, two-minute mélanges are my standard lunch (or breakfast, or dinner) fare and I’ve included a big bunch of great combos in I Quit Sugar: Simplicious. I must admit I felt weird putting them into a recipe format because I mostly make them on a whim, using what I’ve got (and a few too many lax cooking techniques). But I’ve been asked so many times to formalise things. So….a simpliciously simple post on how I build my bowls. I’ve focused on the cooked ones here, but there are raw, summery ones in the book too.
1 serve = 1 cup leafy greens or ½ cup all other veg.
Sauté in oil or sweat in 2 frozen stock cubes or ferment in brine. At the office we all do this and share the one pan around, multi-using each others’ juices. At home I’ll work from the one pan all day, making best use of leftover flavours and fats in the pan.
Step 2: Add 1 serve of protein
It could be 2 eggs, a palm-sized portion of meat (mostly leftover or bulk-cooked, stored in freezer in 1/2 cup portions ready to tote to the office), or 1 cup properly-prepared legumes (I explain the best ways in the book and again I keep ziplock bags of the things in my freezer).
Decisions are hard. I struggle with them. So these words from writer and feminist Rita Mae Brown are sweet salve…
Image via gildedcoast.tumblr.com
“A peacefulness follows any decision, even the wrong one.”
God. What a relief just to hear that.
I think the peacefulness that comes from JUST MAKING THE DAMN DECISION says to the world that you’re open to surrender. You care a little less. You trust everything will work out and, perhaps, that there is no “right” decision. Ever. Which then invites the world to move with us in this flow-y, loose, open, spacious, receptive way. Like attracts like. And all that jazz.
This brings peace, don’t you reckon? Just knowing you’re working with the flow of life is pacifying.
(And, besides, if you don’t quite believe that wrong decisions as such bring peace, perhaps focus on how
Some seriously inspiring Simplicious flow for a Tuesday! Elise at Healthy Family 5 is one of the ambassadors over at the I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program. As you might have guessed, there’s five in her family, which is why her latest feat is so inspiring. Check this shit out!
Elise posted this on Instagram.
She cooked 10 meals for five people from a $3 supermarket haul.
Elise says:
My local supermarket occasionally sell their “ugly” fruit and veggies for $3 a bag and I just happened to be there when this happened recently. So I challenged myself to make as many meals as I could based on that $3 bag.
So here’s the wrap up, 10 meals and vegetable stock from my $3 supermarket haul. Except for the purchase of chickpea flour for the socca, all meals were made modifying recipes to use items from my pantry and the $3 bag.
I take comfort in this from Friedrich Nietzsche: “Haste is universal because everyone is in flight from himself.”
Image via indulgy.com
But, following the “I’m no Robinson Crusoe” relief that comes from absorbing Fred’s words, I immediately want to rise beyond it. I aspire beyond the suffering we’ve been delivered by virtue of merely being alive. Which, to my mind, is the point of suffering – to work beyond it.
The antidote to haste, I’ve come to learn, is coming home to yourself, sitting with yourself, making friends with the true self within. Still and gentle. It’s the only trick in the book to expose the
Last night’s dinner with an egg stuck in the middle
But it’s necessary. And non negotiable. Food waste is the biggest pollution issue on the planet, surpassing industry and car emissions. And the biggest contributors to that wastage are consumers.
Anyone gagging to make a difference to where our planet is at can start by not wasting food. It really is that simple.
These are some of the things I do. Feel free to add to the list in the comments below and I’ll run a follow up post.
1. I don’t buy more until I’ve finished what I already have. I completely run out of yoghurt before I set out to buy another, that way I find myself using up the last of the sour cream or cheese in the interim.
2. I eat the WHOLE food. This means the apple with the core, and even the leaves from beetroot bunches (with oil, pepper and salt). Ditto the leaves from cauliflower and broccoli and daggy vegetables like swede, choko, and celeriac.
3. I don’t peel anything. When my veggies look lackluster, I make a big soup with lentils and bacon thrown in for flavour and protein.
4. I ignore “best before” labels.The use-by date tells you when a food must be eaten for health and safety reasons, whereas the best-before date gives a rough indication of when it’s best to eat. Many countries have actually removed the “best before” date because they cause totally unnecessary food tossing. I ignore them. You should, too.
