2012 - Page 3 of 22 - Sarah Wilson

why coconut oil makes you lose weight

August 10, 2018November 20, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Someone has asked me how coconut oil helps you lose weight. Good question. I had to think about it for a bit. In the meantime, I ate some more of the stuff in dishes like my raspberry ripple recipe.

photo1 why coconut oil makes you lose weight — My raspberry ripple, which Veronika M has turned into raspberry ripe crackles! Instructions below…

Anecdotally, according to a survey of one, I know it works. I eat about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil – straight from the jar, or in a sugar-free chocolaty dish like the one above – most days after lunch. And I’ve lost weight from doing so.

If you want to read more anecdotes about weight loss from eating coconut check out these forums.

How does it work? Again, anecdotally, I believe it’s because coconut oil:

a) kills sugar cravings, immediately (I don’t go reaching for more food, especially sweet food, after lunch).

b) fills you up, immediately. After 2 tablespoons I’m not hungry for about four hours. A rare state of being for me.

c) does something else…I’m not sure what…but it certainly seems to speed up metabolism.

I wanted to learn more myself about why this is so, and, so, did some research. I like dot-points, so allow me to present my findings as a series of bulletted factoids and findings:

For more coconut oil recipes like the one above, you might like to download my I Quit Sugar Cookbook.

The saturated fat deal

* Know this: saturated fats, overall, help you lose weight. Coconut oil is a saturated fat. To fatten a pig, farmers feed them polyunsaturated fats (primarily soybean and corn oil). To produce a leaner pork? The Department of Animal Science of North Carolina State University advises you stop feeding them polyunsaturated oils and start feeding them saturated fats. Can you see the picture forming?

* Consider this: we eat less saturated fat then ever before, but we’re the fattest we’ve ever been. Perhaps there’s a connection here?

* Saturated fats are required to absorb nutrients. Four vitamins—A, D, E, and K—are soluble in fat only. We need

low carb down under

November 19, 2012November 19, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Just a quick note to let you know I’m sharing my I Quit Sugar message at the Low Carb Down Under Sydney event this Saturday, if you’re keen to hear me harp on a little more about it all! Other speakers include David Gillespie, wholistic dentist Dr Ron Ehrlich, and Aaron MacKenzie from Origin Of Energy, who has worked … Read more

an early bird offer: Pre-order the I Quit Sugar Christmas Meal Plan now!

November 14, 2012November 14, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Because so many of you have been asking, I’ve put together a Christmas Meal Plan to help you through the Silly Season! The Christmas Meal Plan includes three meal plans. You can choose one plan and follow it strictly. Or mix and match recipes: Let’s Do Brunch: a fresh morning buffet menu The Summer Barbeque: a … Read more

I Quit Sugar is on A Current Affair tonight

November 13, 2012November 13, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Just a little note to share that A Current Affair recently interviewed a few women who lost weight from doing my I Quit Sugar 8-week Program. It screens tonight (Channel 9. 6.30pm) and features me rabbiting on about cave men genes and mince pies and…the rest. I’m a bit nervous as to just how much I rabbit on… But what’s done is done.

Anyway, I thought I’d share some of the testimonies from the women I contacted to take part in the segment who had lost weight from my program (although I should stress that weight loss ain’t the main aim of quitting sugar…it’s to get well).

Rebecca contacted me to say, “I quit sugar in October 2011 and have lost 48kg, dropping from a size 24 to a size 14.”

Maria also shared her story: “In April of this year I weighed a staggering 120kgs, and to date have lost half my body weight. I gave up sugar and all processed foods.”

Vanessa said, “I’m 32 years old. I quit sugar in May this year and so far have lost 29kg and counting! I feel like a different person. These are the health issues that have improved: depression, hypothyroidism, severe gut and bowel issues, muscle and bone pains….the list goes on….”

If you want try the program, just click below!

And you might like to get in on my early bird discount for the I Quit Sugar Christmas Meal Plan. Simply click here for more details.

Heidi says, “Both my parents (over 60+) both quit sugar and have never felt better. They work a very manual intense company and I reckon most young people would struggle keeping up. Dad was even able to go from pre-diabetes to nothing and all he does is eat fat, protein and no sugar.”

Read more

make your own ginger-ade soda

April 22, 2018November 13, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Do you fit one or several of these scenarios? Gone sugar free, but crave a “sweet” soft drink/soda, especially on hot days? Want a healthy drink to give the kids? Got gut issues and need to up the probiotics in your diet? Need more electrolytes? I think I have the answer: homemade ginger-ade.

photo copy 31 make your own ginger-ade soda — Ginger-ade experiments: I used mason jars to do the first fermentation, then did the rest in bottles

I kind of got obsessed about this stuff, researching the different ways to make it, and, over the course of a week, I tried out four variations, and made two starter cultures. And did a lot of obsessed checking and shaking and fiddling in the kitchen (you’ll have to scroll to the end of the post to see my verdict – which was the best combo).

To back peddle: ginger-ade is a fermented food. I’ve written about the benefits of fermenting, and shared recipes, here and here. Fermentation – in the case of sodas – is a process that sees sugar broken down, via bacteria, to create lactic acid and carbonation. Lactic acid is a probiotic which helps digestion, supports the immune system and hydrates.

Sugar?? Did I just say sugar??!! Yes.

Sugar is almost always used for making fermented sodas, but the fructose is “eaten” up in the process.

friday offer: $50 naked wines voucher (and a clever wine investment opportunity!)

July 31, 2018November 9, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Ah, look. I love wine. I started out my career in journalism off wine. My boyfriend and I won a six-week wine trip around the world with some of the top wine tasters in Australia. I was 21. I did vertical Rjoca tastings in Spain at 1o in the morning. We went to Champagne, Cognac, South Africa…. I started going to wine tasting dinners back in Australia and getting to know wine makers and the stories behind smaller, bespoke producers. It’s a love of mine. It grew my love of wine. Wine is an art, a community. It enriches. Eventually my love of wine (and food) saw me take over the food and wine pages at Sunday Magazine at News Ltd when I was 24.

IMG 1175 friday offer: $50 naked wines voucher (and a clever wine investment opportunity!) — A Rjoca in Rhonda a few months back

When I quit sugar two years ago, knowing that wine was fructose-free certainly aided my progression. Yours too? (Remember it’s the fructose in the grapes that becomes alcohol, leaving wine fructose-free.)

Recently I came across Naked Wines a set-up that invests in independent wine makers then sells their boutique products online. But it’s kind of better than that. Naked Wines also have an Angel System where customers become a direct investor in the wines they’re drinking. You become part of the art, the community. I’ll explain more in a moment…but to get to the offer:

For the next few weeks, Naked Wines are offering $50 off orders of over $99

Simply click this button:

sit on a small wooden bench with yourself

November 6, 2018November 7, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

This is a meditation trick I learned years ago. It’s simple and sweet. And I revert to it often. You might like it in these noisy, frenetic times we’re having just now.

109540 10 600 sit on a small wooden bench with yourself — Photo by Anne He

I’ve mentioned before how much I struggle with meditation. But every day I sit down and do it. Twice a day. For three years now. I don’t descend or transcend. It’s a war for me. Over time I’ve been able to – briefly, tentatively – touch that still, mind-less, space. Even just for a few seconds. Before I recoil again, back to my cascading thoughts.

Once you’ve gingerly reached out and touched that space, even if only for a few delicate moments, there’s no going back. You need to know it better, you need to go there again. Like tasting salty chocolate. And, really, there’s no choice. The lid’s been lifted, the scab’s been removed.

At a yoga retreat a few years back – before I learned to meditate in the vedic style – I found a way to hold it a little longer. I arrived at the collection of rambling wooden huts tucked into dense bushland late for a three-day intensive. It’s cold on this side of the mountain and the currawongs are doing that sad, lonely aw-awww. I do these retreats, but I tell you, I arrive kicking and screaming , fidgety and cynical and worried about sharing bunk beds with strangers and doing sing-alongs after dinner.

And constipated. I always, always get constipated. I pass through the gates of the retreat centre and it’s like everything just jams right up, like the kid that’s told to share his bag of lollies and reluctantly holds out his stach, but gripping it from below so only one or two can be picked out.

5 clever sugar-quitting recipes on a Tuesday

January 27, 2013November 6, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

Since more than 3000 of you are currently doing the I Quit Sugar Pre-Christmas Program (and tens of thousands of you have already quit sugar), how about I share a few really clever frucken fructose-free recipes that I’ve spotted on Instagram lately. These are recipes by folk who’ve already done the program and have invented clever things to eat that help with cravings and snack times. They then “tag” their image with the I Quit Sugar hashtag (#IQS) so that other IQS kids can find them.

If you’re on instagram, follow me here.

If you’re not on instagram you can follow things on Twitter or the I Quit Sugar Facebook page (I post my instagram links there).

And if you’d like to don’t forget to hashtag #IQS in your post, so that everyone can find your shares… and include @_sarahwilson_ so that I can see too! Over the next two months I’ll be sharing – shoutouts! – your great creations about the place!

But to the recipes:

It’s better to fall in love later

July 31, 2018November 1, 2012 by Sarah Wilson

I keep coming up with theories on love. It’s a theme in my life. I’m of that age where it strikes everyone around me as odd that I should be single. A real estate agent on Saturday proclaimed he thought it was profoundly weird I wasn’t married. “I mean, you keep yourself fit, so why don’t you have a husband.” It was a logic I refused to try and follow.

I’m also of that age – approaching 40 – where everyone around is in relationships, relationships that strike me as, well, more than odd (toxic, perhaps? highly compromising?). And so I come up with, and collect, theories.

zuckermancreature giraffe It's better to fall in love later — Photo by Andrew Zuckerman. PS This giraffe has nothing to do with this post. But it’s the third giraffe to pop up in my orbit in 12 hours.

I was thinking about this theory this morning. I met a woman in Provence called Francine who made me lemon balm tea late one night and in her soft voice told me she thought it was better to fall in love later in life. She is 50 or so and single and still believes it isn’t her time yet.

Her theory has a wonderful French fatalism about it. With a dose of “eat your cabbage first and leave your succulent pork chop till last” thinking.

“When you fall in love and find your match when you’re young, ” she said, ” you haven’t been around enough to handle the hurt. So when it ends, the pain is so bad,” she said. (French fatalism dictates that love will, of course, end.)