Growing up in the 1970s on a desolate hill where ABC was the only TV station available, I was exposed to a lot of quaint British programming. The Good Life, Worzel Gummage, The Famous Five, To The Manor Born, All Creatures Great and Small…you get the drift. All of which were evoked in full rolling-hills-and-howling-hounds effect during my most recent adventure.
Love the Brits observation #464468: they’re perfectly happy to have a public bush hike route pass through their front yard
You might be aware: two of my biggest passions are hiking and eating and I try to combine the two whenever I get a moment’s leave. I always try to orchestrate it so that I hike a good 5-6 hours, from one foodie village to another foodie village (you can catch up on previous efforts here and here). It creates a destination to aim for, a sense of adventure, a “point”.
During my most recent trip (you can catch up on it here and here) I took four days off in a mad-busy schedule to do a walk in the Southwest of England. Some careful planning – totally aided by the team at Foot Trails – saw me hike and eat my way along the most perfect little route, foodie village to foodie village around the Dorset-Somerset-Wilshire borders. Added bonus: quaint hills, hounds, brambles, bleating lambs, brooks, eccentric folk in tweed ensembles, pints and soup in cosy inns and the whole clichéd shebang!
I’m not sure if you know – I Quit Sugar has gawn global. As in, my book is now on sale around the world and the online 8-Week Program can be done wherever you are on the planet. The impact of this, for me, has been huge. I now get feedback from people from cities I have to look up on Google who share their experiences with the Program. I meet people in the street in countries on the other side of the world who approach me to tell me how going sugar-free has affected them and their families. I am always touched and awed by the way messages can cross borders. Mightily humbled!
Anyway, as a sort of celebration of all this international-ness…I have a treat for you, wherever in the world you come from…
I’m giving away an international Mr & Mrs Smith Hotel voucher valued at $AU600
($US600/£400GBP). Details below.
The I Quit Sugar 8-Week Program now has participants from as far afield as Dubai, Kuwait, South Africa, Panama, Switzerland, Indonesia and Sweden. The impact of sugar on humanity’s health is crossing all kinds of cultures and borders and demographics – a massive concern in health circles right now is the rise of sugar-related diabetes and obesity in second world countries such as India and Indonesia.
You can read here about how Laura from the UK quit sugar after seeing an extract of I Quit Sugar in The Mail.
Read here about how Anita the pastry chef from Spain has changed her eating (and cooking!) through the Program.
Or here about how Lucy from New York has completely changed her tastebuds after quitting sugar.
Or here about how Daniela from Germany has healed her depression.
I’ve done a few trips to London in the past few years and have witnessed the slow/mindful/locavore/sugar-free/whole/Paleo food scene really shift. It was interesting to arrive this time from the US (I was in both New York and London doing publicity for my books) and compare the difference in food tone. The UK is super receptive to shifting its eating. The government is onto it and the opposition looks set to implement massive bans on sugary food. Plus Action on Sugar is speeding things up, too. The shift, quite literally, has happened since about January this year (or perhaps I’m flattering myself as this is when I Quit Sugar was released there).
Image via flickr.com
Today, London is offering some of the most exciting sustainable eating I’ve seen anywhere in the world. I reckon this is in part due to the fact Brits are simply returning to their cooking roots. Traditional British food is inherently sound. Sunday roasts, offal, English breakfasts…it’s all very much in line with the way of eating I advocate.
All great news for anyone visiting there soon. So, too, the fact I’ve put together this little guide. It’s mostly centred around the Soho/Marylebone area, as this is where I tend to stay when in town (see below for more).
Around Soho and Marlyebone
Dorset Square Hotel. I stayed at this Firmdale hotel (they also own The Charlotte Street – below – and Crosby St hotel in New York) last visit. I love the location – right on Dorset Square, super quiet, a few blocks from Regent Park (and Primrose Hill just beyond) and a 5-10 minute walk to the Marylebone eateries. If you’re a cricket fan, you’d be interested to know it’s on the site of the old Lords grounds and is dripping in cricket paraphernalia. If you’d like to visit this hotel, check it
My post last week touched on being an introvert. It brought a lot of my introverted friends out from their inner reverie to share a few thoughts they’d developed on their internal brainstorming-for-one white board.
Image via Going Home To Roost
The common thread of our chats: the challenges we face dealing with (read: living with) extroverted friends and loved ones. In these extrovert-happy times where group exercises and brainstorms and Fun! Parties! Are What We Do, introverts can feel deficient. Thus, as Susan Cain explains in her TED talk, introverts wind up apologising for themselves a lot.
For this is the thing: introverts constantly feel like they’re letting people down.
This pains me. And confounds me. But I have a few thoughts on the matter that have helped me find a little peace.
To be clear an introvert isn’t someone who’s shy and plays Dungeons and Dragons in a dark room. The official definition of an introvert is someone who turns inward. An introvert can stand on stage and be as erudite and bold and entertaining as an extrovert. It’s just that they’ll go back to their hotel room straight after, skipping the post-event drinks.
This is the other thing, which often doesn’t come up in a world where extraverts design the party, send out the invite and keep the drinks flowing: introverts can find extroverts hard work.
I’d go as far as saying that I can sometimes find extroverts – not show-offs and bombastic arm-wavers necessarily, but those who draw their energy from other humans – to be energy vampires. These people are positive, kind,
No really. Do you? Look after yourself? I often don’t. I learned the other night that it’s a Capricorn thing (being a bad self looker-afterer).
Image via imgur.com
The same night, the same person – one lovely Lou Androlia – shared that while she suffers from Hashimotos (and previously fibromyalgia, another autoimmune disease), she doesn’t get too many flares these days because she doesn’t get anxious too often. Anxiety and lack of sleep cause the biggest flares, we both agreed.
How come, I asked?
“Because I’m really good at looking after myself,” she said. Not smugly, just matter-of-factly (probably because she’s a Scorpio with Taurus in her sign…?!) This part of the conversation struck me and I went home elevated by it. Yes, looking after myself!
Before I go on, some context. I hooked up with Lou in Primrose Hill after she commented on Instagram under my shot taken just outside her house as I rode home from a yoga class at Fierce Grace yoga school (yes, more on this later). I recognized her handle. I knew she’d followed me for a long time and so I replied to her, on a whim, on my last night in London, asking if she’d like to meet up for a drink. She did (want to). So we did (meet up) an hour later. She was unmissable. She has flaming orange hair that just works a treat.
So it turns out Lou knows Gabby Bernstein. In fact, the last time they met up for an impromptu drink (after meeting online, too), Lou shared with Gabby that she might like to try my IQS 8 Week Program, which Gabby did.
So it was you who got Gabby onto it!?
The loops tightened. And tightened further. Turns out, too, she’s friends with Gala Darling. Who’s also friends with
For three years now I’ve been running this occasional series of posts geared at making anyone with autoimmune disease feel less like a freak. It’s been extraordinary… I’d say more than half of all readers here came to this blog for the AI information. Even more extraordinarily, a huge chunk of the rest of you have later developed an AI or found out a loved one had. Add to this, so many of the like-minded bloggers who I’ve got to know around the world have AI’s. I’m talking Cannelle Vanille, Glutenfreegirl, Gabby Bernstein, Clare Bowditch, DeliciouslyElla, Louniverse and many more.
As I say often, we’re a “type”. We’re earnest, ambitious, solo operators and with a drive to communicate and help. It should come as no surprise to us that our thyroids, the site of communication, presents us with challenges!
A hike and hashi chat with Mickey in Seattle
Recently, Mickey Trescott came into my orbit and we hooked up for a Paleo breakfast – and an impromptu hike! – in Seattle. She began following my blog a few years back… and now has her own site where she shares incredible, dedicated information about how to heal AI. She’s also just self-published her own cookbook, The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook.
I figure you all might find her personal story and her tricks for dealing with thyroid crappiness helpful. She knows her stuff. Over to you Mickey…
I’m Mickey Trescott and I write about nutrition and autoimmune disease. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and Celiac disease when I turned 26 and have spent the last three years digging myself out of the deep, dark hole that was my epic autoimmune crash. I started my journey having been vegan for a decade, and ended up on the Paleo end of the spectrum after I figured out that grains, sugar, and a lot of other elements of my diet were doing me no good. I like to take a multifaceted approach to managing autoimmunity—one that takes into account not just diet, but stress management, movement, and living a more balanced life. Here are a few of my tricks to staying healthy and happy, despite autoimmunity!
Six ways I keep my autoimmunity at bay:
1. Mini rebounding trampoline.
Those of us with Hashimoto’s know how awful it feels to have lymphatic congestion—I get it mostly in my face and neck (which is quite unattractive!). Since the lymphatic system does not have a pump, it is dependent on the movement of our bodies for circulation. Mini rebounding trampolines are great because they vigorously circulate lymph with just tenminutes of gentle bouncing. I bought one from Rebound Air and keep it in my office for “bounce breaks”. Even on days where I am not feeling up to exercising, I can manage a little bounce to get everything moving, reducing puffiness and congestion.
2. Soil-based probiotics.
Since we now know that gut issues are at the root of autoimmune disease, I do everything I can to keep my flora balanced and happy. Our digestive tracts are home to thousands of different species of bacteria, not just the few strains found in regular probiotics these days (like lactobacillus). While I eat fermented foods and have taken traditional probiotics in
Traveling heightens conflation and coincidences and special moments.
I took this picture of the woman on the weekend. I had a day off and committed only to wandering and looking.
This post has been edited.
This is mostly how it works: new experiences, the unfamiliar, fresh eyes and movement (ie non-stagnancy) mean that we’re in the best position to notice the conflations and coincidences. Although, as I have written before, there is no such thing as coincidence. Or, rather, everything is a coincidence. It’s just that sometimes we notice them more.
When I travel the number 108 comes up incessantly – my hotel room number, my flight time, the cost of a train ticket across the border. It freaks out anyone who travels with me. And Jo – I often send the screen grab of the instance to her. (As an aside, the number is highly auspicious in many religions and in mathematics circles. I’ve asked a few people about its significance for me and they’ve simply said to pause and notice my intention when it pops up…).
So where does shopping fit in? In general, shopping takes us into a mindset of “lack”. We go into a mode of “needing” something, of fear that we’re missing out on something (that feeling that a trip to New York or London is “wasted” if you don’t buy a handbag at Barneys or a dress at Topshop). We go into malls. Our focus narrows down to cuts and styles and bargains and bags and things. We can spend an entire day in changerooms and High Streets that could be anywhere, frantically on a mission.
When we shop when we travel we don’t experience the fresh eyes that travel can afford and can miss out on the special moments.
Last night I was walking home from having dinner with my UK publisher at Nopi in Soho. It was a relatively warm night in London and the streets had a vibrant feel. Everyone was bolting into the shops before they closed, bustling out with
Recently I experienced one of the best adventures of my life. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you might have noticed me in a silly looking beanie with a grin on my face set against a background of feathery whiteness.
Me with my mate Kersti, outside Skoki Lodge
I’d flown to Calgary (you can read my post on this here) to do a cross-country ski trip to Skoki Lodge, a rustic hut in the middle of Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.
I promised many times over to share the details in a bit of a post explaining why it was such a bucket list filler. Let’s break it down.
And just so you know, half of my stay was hosted by Tourism Alberta, but as always views are all my own and I communicate this clearly to anyone wishing to host me. You’ll find my position on sponsored posts and advertising here.
1. It’s a trip with a hard-to-reach, on-foot destination.
This is my favourite kind of trip and I spend a lot of time scouring the interwebs for hiking and biking (and skiing) routes that take you village-to-village. Skoki can only be reached by foot (unless you’re Prince William and Princess Kate who famously were flown in by helicopter). In winter you ski (carrying your gear) in summer you can hike or ride a horse.
At the same time, it starts and/or ends with a bit of luxury. We (my mate Kersti joined me) stayed at The Post Hotel in
The next round of my I Quit Sugar online 8-Week Program starts June 5 and you can sign up now and join the 300,000 other peeps around the world who’ve done it, either via my books or online.
The I Quit Sugar Tandoori Chicken with Indian Rice Salad
In this next round you’ll still have the option to choose from two Meal Plans: the standard (meat inclusive) 8-Week Program Meal Plan and the Vegetarian Meal Plan.
If you’re wanting to check it out and ask any questions, or sign up, click here.
One of the questions I get asked constantly, however, is whether the Plans fit with current dietary guidelines. The short answer is: abso-bloody-lutely. The longer one requires that I share how I actually devise my recipes, meals and plans…
1. I prioritise dense nutrition. At every opportunity. I find ways to supply foods with the densest nutrition in every meal. This means:
Prioritising (and adding extra) leafy greens and high-quality fat and protein at every meal.
Preparing food to preserve (and maximise) enzymes and bacteria for digestion.
Minimising toxins (from harmful grains and legumes) and empty calories (from, um, sugar and processed carbs).
I love how the interwebs work! As time passes a growing number of the Good Eggs who I’ve met online have been finding a way to interconnect and circle back and form a lovely, supportive e-Tribe. I e-met bloggers Gala Darling, Gabby Bernstein, Tara Stiles, Danielle LaPorte and Clare Bowditch all through independent e-avenues. And whattaya know, in the past month all of them have collided and intersected, and somehow I’ve been included in the ride. It’s almost become funny how often it has been happening.
Image via Pinterest
Anyway. Let’s chat Danielle and Clare. Clare and I connected a few years ago over Twitter, and then over a cup of tea in Melbourne, and discovered we have much in common. Clare has since shared on my site about her autoimmune issues and earlier this year she interviewed me for her site. Huge heart. Hearty contributor to life.
Danielle – I’ve been mesmerised by her writing and lifestyle for yonks and used to follow her site White Hot Truth regularly. She tells it straight. I once wrote about giving yourself permission to quit “low rent” experiences, pivoting off a list Danielle put together, which included:
check your email whenever the hell you want.
return crappy products to their crappy manufacturers (because you can vote with your dollars).
not finish reading books that you’re not really enjoying. Don’t force it, close it.
