Year: 2012

my christmas gift guide

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This year Jo and I ummed and ahhed about how to do our Christmas gift guide. We get a lot of products thrown at us at Christmas time, and sometimes things can get grubby, with folk wanting to pay me to have their product in the list and sending me guff I don’t need to “try”. So, we decided we’d do a guide, but only include products that we know are authentic, and make life better. They’re bits and pieces that interest bike riders, foodies and people wanting a simpler, greener Christmas. Certainly not exhaustive.

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image via All Things Australian

Instead of accepting  ad cash I’m inviting everyone who’s getting a guernsey in this guide to donate $100 to a woman I’ve recently met who could do with some help this Christmas. Belma cleans my friend’s house and I’ve got to know her while staying there the past two months. Belma recently suffered tragedy and is in a really rough position. You can read her story here.  The gist of it is below:

Sydney cleaner, Belma Wilson has lost everything in a fire that destroyed her home and left her husband with burns to 30 per cent of his body. Ms Wilson, 49, told The Australian Women’s Weekly she was distraught but very lucky to be staying in a friend’s tiny studio apartment with her three children. “We don’t have the documents. Our passports and everything … all gone,” Ms Wilson said. “The clothes we wore on that day are all we have. We’re back to zero again.” Attempts by The Weekly to assist the family failed last night as NSW Emergency Housing admitted that without any documentation the department, like Centrelink was unable to assist. Instead The Weekly was referred to Sydney Multicultural Community Services, a non-Government body set up to assist where families who did not speak English as a first language. However, at the time of publication they could not be contacted. The family, which is in shock, is living on the assistance of friends who have donated food but they have no possessions.

Many of the gift guide contributors have promised their support to Belma and her family and I’d like to thank them heartily for their care.

If you’d also like to donate gifts/food to make her family’s Christmas better, her account details are below. If it feels right. And, no, she’s no relation of mine! My friend Helen and I will be organising food for her Christmas day. I’ll be sure to follow up in the New Year with an update on Belma, too.

Account Name: Belma Wilson
Branch: ANZ
BSB: 012 395
Account no: 487605852

And now to the gift guide!

Screen Shot 2012 11 30 at 2.37.55 PM my christmas gift guide

For your mum:  the classic herb trio, by Green Thumb Gifts, for $65. This is one of my favourites. The classic herb trio of fresh rosemary, mint and parsley, in quaint pots. These can sit in the kitchen for everyday use. Green Thumb

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I’d hate to plan your funeral

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How do you make a man drink? As in, how does a woman convince a bloke of something that she cares about? You can lead him to the water, but getting him to imbibe is another matter. Which is a weird way to introduce a new TAC (Transport Accident Commission) campaign geared at getting women to tell the men in their lives to slow down.

The TAC have paid for an advertisement on my site. I said I would be happy to help spread their message in support because I feel it’s a worthy one. For more information on my advertising and sponosored features philosophy click here.

 [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzAHsJYuTNM[/youtube]

It’s a good issue for us to be thinking about at this time of year when we’re all hopping in cars with the blokes in our lives, in a rush to get somewhere. The facts are these:

  • Male drivers aged 21-26 are 50% more likely to be involved in a car crash due to speeding.
  • Women can be a positive influence on male driving behaviour. If they can get through to them.

The TAC campaign is quite clever – it’s about getting women to talk to men about speeding by using social media, specifically Pinterest. The message is this:

“I’d hate to plan your funeral”

Are you on Pinterest? Here’s the link to their Pinterest board. Have a play and if you want to jump in on the conversation on Twitter, use the hashtag “#slowdown”.

But back to leading horses to water. How DO we get blokes on board? How DO we influence male driving? In my days at

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do what you’re not doing

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There’s a long story behind how I came across this poem, written by a second grader*. Social media…it’s a curious thing. The poem, however, is just so perfect and a Thing to Reflect On.

cLvmNKu6 do what you're not doing

So much depends on

busy people in cities

rammin’ on rickety computers

gettin’ really really tired.

I was walking through the city last week, between a few appointments in and around lunch hour, and I felt the weariness of the people upon which life depends. It most certainly is the ricketiness of the computers… and the buzzy hum of the air conditioning and the frenzied anger of the cars that tires us. It grates at us. And, when we tire, we ram even harder. Pushing and pressing. That’s what we do in cities; we falter, we try harder.

For an alien, or a kid, it must look like insanity. Who was it that said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Einstein? Yes, I think so.

When we get tired, we have to pull back and ask if we’re rammin’. If we’re being insane. I have to do it all the time. I ram so much that my whole body crunches forward and I do my neck in so that I can ram no more…then I’m forced to rest up a bit.

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5 ways to use whey

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OK. I need to share my new “whey” of making lunch. It’s the simplest and healthiest trick doing the laps.

Screen Shot 2012 12 03 at 2.57.03 PM 5 ways to use whey
Yesterday’s lunch…topped with fermented cabbage, carrot and beetroot

I steam or fry (in coconut oil) some chopped vegetables and throw in a combination of the following:  tinned tuna (remember to buy the most sustainable, safest tuna in the supermarket), feta cheese, avocado, an egg, Parmesan cheese, leftover chicken, chopped anchovy fillets, capers, olives, dulce flakes, and mix to heat through, then pour in a bowl.

Then – and this is the bit that counts – I top with some fermented vegetables, which are made by sitting a bunch of veggies in whey to activate the lacto-fermentation process. Why?

  • It is the best thing you can do ON THE PLANET for restoring and maintaining the health of your gut. Forget probiotics. Fermented vegetables are the bomb.
  • It’s great for your metabolism. Fermented vegetables are full of enzymes that will help break down your lunch, so you don’t get lunch hangover and absorb every bit of goodness in your bowl.
  • The sharp taste takes the place of dressing or extra flavouring.

It’s super easy to make your own fermented vegetables. It starts with making your own whey  a process that requires straining one litre of yoghurt to produce about 1/3 cup of whey. The whey can then be kept in a jar in the fridge for up to six months.

Or you can buy some pre-made sauerkraut (just make sure you don’t buy the ones with vinegar!).

What to do with the leftover whey? Why, I’m glad you asked. Here’s a few things I’ve been trying:

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A Christmas gift idea! The I Quit Sugar Gift Coupon!

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Looking for a nifty Christmas gift for your friend/boss/colleague/Dad/grandmother/goldfish? Refuse to traipse around a mall? Scared you’ll wind up resorting to a novelty tie and a 2013 horse calendar after the effort? Why not give the gift of an I Quit Sugar Gift Coupon – the I Quit Sugar 8-week Program, and the I Quit … Read more

My Titanic theory on changing direction

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Wanting to create change in your life just now? You might like today’s musing. I’d like to say the theory is mine. But I picked it up from the 92-year-old Russian Chinese man who taught me to hypnotise myself when I was 21.

Marcel Dzama Untitled 2003 317 42 My Titanic theory on changing direction
Image by Marcel Dzama

Eugene Veshner was a former civil engineer who was told at age 40 he had only a year or two to live. He had diabetes. So had his mother and sister who both died at 40. He’d already lost part of his eyesight. To deal with the pain of such news he used his scientific brain to develop his own method of self-hypnosis to shift his outlook, which then, to everyone’s surprise, transformed his health.

The guy kept on living… another 50-plus years. And he got back most of his eyesight. And his carefully developed theory became the basis of the Nursing Mother’s Association huff ‘n’ puff classes.

I was Eugene’s last patient. He’d retired the year before, but he took me on because, he said, “You’re messy”.  I’d been working in a womb-ish, burgundy-curtained feminist café (it was the ’90s in Canberra and such things did in fact exist)

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Soul-selling: my position on sponsored posts + advertising

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It’s important I explain clearly my blog monetising position. I’ve been operating with a policy of “as much transparency as possible” and have trusted that only authentic opportunities and partnerships would come my way, and that readers would know my position just from joining me on my journey.

Please note: This post was updated a little February 14, 2018

tumblr m7s8jxUfcN1rcqg5zo1 1280 1 Soul-selling: my position on sponsored posts + advertising
Image by jacksondickie

That’s the thing about operating online: like attracts like. Authenticity attracts authenticity. And if you start to get sneaky and greedy and grimy, everyone will smell it immediately.

Play dirty and your stink wafts.

But I feel it’s a good time to spell things out as media – both old and new – are going through lots of changes and folk are getting caught out (note the Kangaroo Island social media brouhaha). I come from an old media newspaper background where the divide between “church and state” is instilled during our cadetship training. At newspapers, you develop a visceral fear of being found out on ABC’s Media Watch. Newspapers tend to have policies in place dictating that journos can’t accept “gifts” over a certain amount and must disclose where, say, a travel trip is paid for by a third party.

I then moved into the world of magazines, as editor of Cosmopolitan, where such boundaries are flouted in truly horrific ways. Radio is much the same (observe various cash-for-comment scandals over the years).

I’ve seen both sides of the old media equation and know which side I prefer to stand on. Now, firmly ensconced in new media, I’m seeing the importance of taking a stance on all this and owning the situation in a fitting way.

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Make my Christmas pumpkin spice granola! And win an “About Life” Christmas hamper!

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As you may have noticed, I’ve launched my new ebook…the I Quit Sugar Christmas Meal Plan.  One of the gift recipe ideas in the ebook is a festive take on my classic granola.  I’m sharing the recipe with you today, but I’ve also got some extra good news. The wonderfully well folk at About Life in Sydney are giving away:

3 x I Quit Sugar Christmas hampers worth $170 each

 

Each hamper is filled with all the ingredients to make this Christmas granola, plus a whole bunch of Christmassy sugar-free treats!

Screen Shot 2012 11 20 at 12.07.34 PM Make my Christmas pumpkin spice granola! And win an "About Life" Christmas hamper!
Pumpkin ginger spice granola, photography by Marija Ivkovic

For those who haven’t bought the ebook yet, the easy-to-download ebook includes three meal plans that use nutritious sugar-free ingredients.

Plus you receive more than 50 recipes to get you through Christmas sans sucre. You can download it here.

If you’ve bought the book and want to get stocked up, About Life is a fabulous one-stop for buying all of your ingredients, from organic meats and veggies, to coconut oil, activated nuts, raw cacao, stevia and rice malt syrup. They also have naturopaths on site, as well as cafes and cooking schools. They’ve got stores in Balmain, Bondi Junction, and now Cammeray. (I had a super superfood omelette breakfast there a couple of days after the opening just a few weeks ago.)

To win the About Life hamper:

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I’d like to tell you about my yearning

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I have a yearning. Let me explain.

93637 3 468 I'd like to tell you about my yearning

Sometimes I like to sit and think about the first courageous amoeba who ventured from the dank primordial soup of early life onto land. What a brave little fellow he must have been all those eons ago to have left the comfort and warmth of the soup and to venture into the open air. An uncomplex soul, he then, of course, progressed up the evolutionary tree, growing a spine, standing upright so he could reach the bananas, shedding some hair before finally becoming…us.

What went through his simple-celled mind ? What drew him from his comfortable existence flopping about in the fetid detritus towards an undoubtedly more complicated and painful life on solid ground?

I’ll tell you what it was. It was a yearning!

This yearning is a visceral need to go further, in spite of compelling evidence to suggest it would be so much nicer to stay put.

It was inexplicably at the little amoeba’s minute core.

We all yearn. We do, don’t we?

It’s always there. It’s the background soundtrack to our lives as we go through the motions of doing our tax and rushing to meet up with friends.

We yearn our way out of our mum’s womb to oxygenated life. We exist because we yearn. And our existence is characterized by our yearning. (Although granted some of are able to put on a better make of sound-blocking earphones, happy to ignore the incessant buzzing. And about three times in any given week I envy such people this most sweet aptitude.)

When I was two, I’m sure it was my yearning that saw me strop out of my room at night to stand in front of Dad and yell my first word: Nooooooo!

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Are you ready for the simplest and healthiest sugar-free Christmas ever?!

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Many of you have been asking How Will I Ever Get Through Christmas Without Sugar?? So! With the festive season just around the corner, I’m exited to share with you my I Quit Sugar Christmas Meal Plan, designed specifically to help you enjoy a simple, joyful, and healthy, sugar-free Christmas. Here’s a taste of what’s included: three unique meal plan styles (to … Read more