Sarah Wilson, Author at Sarah Wilson

Have an autoimmune disease? This Program will probably help.

November 6, 2018September 22, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

I quit sugar to manage my autoimmune disease. And after almost five years of being off the sweet stuff, I can say this: Quitting sugar had the biggest impact on my disease (Hashimotos) more so than any other medical “fix”.

xxxx — Today I’m able to hike and bike and travel and function normally most days.

I have zero thyroid antibodies now, am on the minimum dosage of thyroxin and my hormone levels have fallen back into the right range. My doctors and endocrinologist confirm that the concerted changes I’ve made to my diet are the most probable cause. Which is high praise indeed (you’d know what I mean if you have an endo in your life!).

So will quitting sugar help you if you have an autoimmune disease? I can confidently say, yes.

Mostly because since doing the experiment for myself, I’ve looked into the science behind it all. It goes a little something like this…

Sugar mucks up your gut

Blood sugar imbalances inflame the digestive tract, causing leaky gut (literally, a perforated gut lining). In turn, leaky gut triggers the development of AI. Toxins are able to pass through the perforations into the bloodstream triggering an autoimmune reaction as our antibodies head out to attack the foreign invaders. These little antibody soldiers can then get confused and head off to attack parts of our bodies, such as the thyroid.

Sugar causes inflammation

The process above obviously creates inflammation, which compromises immune function. In addition, sugar

In defence of bookstores

November 6, 2018September 16, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

Here’s a bourgeois inner-city faux-boh statement for you: The death of bookstores is another win for capitalism.

Via Womenreading.tumblr — Via WomenReading.tumblr

Sounds like something people in fisherman pants said in the uni refectory back in 1993. But actually New York writer Adam Gopnik did. He argues that capitalism grew up with smaller, intimate institutions existing alongside – cafes, bookstores, etc – to keep things in check and keep humans connected to true progress.

“These intermediate institutions were where the real work of eighteenth-century mind-making got done. Enlightenment happened more often in a café than a classroom. It still does.”

“Markets don’t make men free; free men (and women) have to have the confidence to accept the instability that markets make.”

And confidence… where do we get this? I truly believe we get it from quiet moments where we get closer to

This brutal trick for A-types will sift out mediocrity

November 6, 2018September 15, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

I came across a book by writer and business consultant Greg McKeown: Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. I’m rather a fervent fan of the “less is more” approach.

Actually, to be frank, I came across a read that mentions Greg’s book. In said read, one of McKeown’s ideas is fleshed out: that the busyness of the go-getter can lead to mediocrity just as much as the lethargy of the lemming. Go-getters tend to throw themselves at every opportunity. The spray gun approach. Which invariably means they end up doing a lot of unimportant stuff, and often badly.

McKeown’s antidote for the over-zealous, A-type achiever wishing to avoid luke-warmness is the “90% Rule”:

When considering an option, ask, “does it score at least 9/10 on some relevant criterion?” If not, say no.

In essence, it’s a rather extreme boundary aimed at steering types like myself from doing the unimportant stuff.

The criterion might be “Is this fulfilling?” (ideally), “Is this exactly what I want?”, or “Does this align with the company’s values?” And so if a new opportunity comes around don’t consider

I’ve gawn fishin’…

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

I’m off. Not quite fishing, but off to write my next book (yes!) so I figured I’d leave you with a bit of a teaser for Simplicious in my absence…

Done. Out of here. Gawn fishin'... — Done. Out of here. Gawn fishin’…

As you might have picked up from my blog, I’m fired up about waste. Mindless consumption. All of it, but also very specifically food waste.

I’ve always eaten the whole apple, core and all. My tiny apartment kitchen is littered with recycled jars filled with the drippings from last night’s chops (which I use to sweat my veggies, thus adding the right fats for absorbing the essential vitamins), the water from steaming my silverbeet (perfect for padding out soup) and the olive oil from the marinated feta my friend was going to chuck when I was at her place for lunch (ready-made salad dressing, people!).

My fridge is a rainbow of fermented vegetables made from the ‘ugly’ veggies my local markets can’t sell on. My freezer boasts a plastic bucket containing three fish carcasses that I retrieved from guests’ plates at a friend’s dinner party. They’ll be turned into fish stock, a litre of which I’ll send back to said friend as a

The Simplicious book cover my publisher rejected…

July 31, 2018September 8, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

My new book, Simplicious, arrived on my desk this week. It was more than 18 months in the building and hits book stores at the end of this month. Here’s the cover…you can probably get the rough vibe. It’s fat, it’s sustainable, it’s about sticking it up Big Food and Over Consumption, it’s geared at gut health and…it features a recipe for Cheeseburger Dim Sims. Yeah, that.

Sarah Wilson Simplicious Cover — The approved, real cover of Simplicious

But, the original cover concept was to go a little something like this…

I had this idea: I’d take a dress I bought for $3 at the dump when I was 18 and sew food scraps into it. PLUS create a ridiculous bouquet made with bones (which the team on the shoot had to chew to get clean) and veggies sourced, um, from the bin.

Then I’d pose like Beyonce in the whole silly get-up in a way that delivers a certain nod to my past as editor of

Louis C.K. on the pain of always being “the one who copes”

November 6, 2018September 3, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

Love Louis? I’d be surprised if you didn’t. He’s humanely and humanly funny. By which I mean, he plants the basics of life in front of us and does little more than tickle us with our own absurdity. And pain. And reality.

Here's how I cope... I head bush. — Here’s how I cope… I head bush.

I trawled through some interviews with him recently, to learn more about The Guy Himself. I discovered he was as raw and ugly and normal as I wanted him to be.

He shared his experience of a rough patch and his struggles with life in general (PS, make sure you consider the below quote in the context in which I flesh it out here):

“It never stopped getting worse. I remember thinking, This is too much for me to handle. I wanted to give up. I knew it was my right to. But then a few minutes would go by and I’d realize, I’m still here…

“There was no escape from it. And I’d be a little disappointed at not being truly suicidal. I hated being ‘all right.'”

I have to be careful here. I’m not wanting to gloss over his – or anyone’s – experience with suicide.
I’d like to, if I can, focus on that last bit – that being “all right” was a hard experience in itself.

When I was in my twenties, I felt the same. I was struggling terribly with life and, yet, I kept on coping.

The only (Ayurvedic) sleep advice you need to follow

November 6, 2018September 1, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

I’ve contemplated and researched every insomniac’s trick out there. (You can catch up on my personal experience with insomnia and my 14 insomnia solutions if you find yourself with an hour to kill at 3am sometime soon.)

The only (Ayurvedic) sleep advice you need to read - sarahwilson.com — Image via The Ivy House

Eventually you have to drill things down to The Thing That Works. Of course, there are always several factors. But mostly there’s a core one that feeds the rest, or takes care of the rest when you kick into Solution Finding Mode.

I mostly find Ayurveda is all about this: drilling down, going to the root. Wonderfully, during my stay at an Ayurvedic clinic in India last month, the doctors looking after me pretty much drilled down to this root trick:

Go to bed by 10pm.

Their Ayurvedic explanation goes like this…

Different times of day have different energetic forces aligned with the doshas. (I explain the dosha deal here.)

An open letter to my friends: Your perfume is killing me!

April 22, 2018August 27, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

Dearest Loved Ones,

Your perfume is killing me. I mean it almost literally.

bfca460c69266d14078fb23482aaa149 e1440980156295 An open letter to my friends: Your perfume is killing me! — Image via Four Tears

It’s also affecting our friendship. I can’t hug you, and so you might have noticed my stepping back when we meet up.

I can’t risk dining with you in a confined space and so you might have noticed I’ve been suggesting we meet for a walk instead.

Actually, I probably haven’t always been so subtle. I’ve probably hurt your feelings a bit. This is because perfume, for me, is like a whack in the noggin; I strike out to protect myself.

I’m so, so, so sorry.

I’ve toyed with this a while: how to let you know that I just can’t cope when you wear fragrance (perfume,

My number one wellness secret (not what you expect!)

August 26, 2015August 26, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

I won’t keep you in suspense. I’m not a clickbait-y type. The answer I always give when asked for the most effective trick for being well is… to learn to cook.

I Quit Sugar - One-Pan Sesame Chicken — Participants on the most recent round of the 8WP learnt to make this One-Pan Sesame Chicken dish

When you cook you get empowered and mindful. By necessity, you cut out processed food and all the guff Big Food foists upon us. And, of course, you cut out the majority of the added sugar in your diet.

The best way to learn to cook? Here, I’ll get sales-y. It’s to do the I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program.

“I was inspired by the recipes and enjoyed cooking new things and learning new recipes and techniques. I didn’t feel like I had time to cook everything on the plan.” – participant from the current round of the 8-Week Program.

“It is so much more than just a “diet” it sets you up with the tools to succeed without having to worry about weighing/measuring/ counting points or calories which just isn’t sustainable in the long term. As an accountant I have geekily also been watching the weekly grocery bill and believe that by switching to meal planning and shopping only according to the list I have been saving £20-30 a week! We have cut right down on food waste and the fridge is packed with healthy ingredients.” – Angela, participant from the current round of the 8-Week Program.

Excitedly seeking web designer!

August 26, 2015August 25, 2015 by Sarah Wilson

Hello. The look of this site is, well, tired. And I’m doing a call out to you all to see if you have ideas for a design overhaul.

Are you a clever web designer with ideas who’d like to come into the office and work with me on this project?

I always like to put these offers out to people in my community first (if you’re a regular reader of my blog you may have noticed this on various projects over the past five years).

This is the deal:

You’d be free to work 2-3 weeks some time in September.
You’d be paid.
You’d be working on site at my office in Surry Hills, Sydney.
You’d be customising a WordPress template, bringing in additional sprinkles of pizazz.
The redesign gist is to reflect the following vibe of my new direction: minimalist and pared back but still warm, elegant but not cold, simple but still fun, fresh and innovative but totally user-friendly.

The more formal requirements:

Strong graphic design skills and demonstrated experience designing for websites and web builds.