Erstwhile, my conclusions:

There are six reasons to give coconut flour a crack.

1. It’s sweet tasting, but contains no fructose (as with all coconut products).

2. It’s great for baking – it gives things a dense texture.

3. But it’s grainless, thus containing no sugary starch nor toxins (phytic acid etc). Which is why it’s the paleo’s “flour” of choice.

4. It’s efficient. It’s the natural byproduct from making coconut milk – the dried coconut meat that’s left over. I like this. It’s using up stuff that would otherwise be chucked.

5. It curbs cravings. It’s rich in protein, fiber and good fat. As well as manganese, which is craving-curber.

6. It’s nourishing, especially for autoimmune disease sufferers: containing lauric acid, a saturated fat that supports the immune system and the thyroid as well as manganese, which also supports the thyroid.

But you need to know this:

1. This stuff is DRY, so don’t substitute with other flours one-for-one: 

1 cup normal flour = about 1/3 cup coconut flour.

2. I read somewhere that when baking with coconut flour,

for every one cup you need to use six beaten eggs + one cup of liquid.

I keep some coconut milk and coconut oil nearby and splash it in to get a batter to the right consistency.

3. It can also be used to coat meat (dredging) or fish. But remember, it does have a “sweet” flavour.

4. It seems to work really well with almond meal when baking – the consistencies balance each other.

5. It needs to be sifted.

my pumpkin, coconut flour and walnut muffins

So it was my birthday on Sunday. And I had a breakfast barbeque down at The Pass in Byron (after an early morning surf). Such a good way to do a birthday (low-key, mates with kids can pop in, no booze required).

I made these muffins in the morning as I packed the car. They took less than 30 minutes, beginning to end. Here’s how:

• 1 cup of grated pumpkin
• 1/2 cup of coconut flour
• 1/2 cup of almond meal/flour or LSA
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of vanilla powder or a dash of vanilla essence
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• stevia or rice malt syrup (I put in 2 tbls of the latter)
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 3/4 cup walnuts (roughly chopped)
• 6 organic eggs
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil (melted or just left on the bench if you’re in Australia right now)
• coconut milk or milk to moisten

Preheat oven to 190C. Grease a muffin pan or line with paper liners.

Add the sifted flour, almond meal, baking powder, vanilla and spices to the pumpkin. Then stir in the sweetener, basil and walnuts.

[I grated the pumpkin in a blender, then used the container as the bowl...saving washing up and complications. And PS, apologies for the shocking images...not my forte.]

Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and using a wooden spoon, stir it into the pumpkin mixture with the coconut oil until the lumps are gone. Then gently stir in the walnuts.

[I then used the same blender attachment, which connects to a stabmixer, to do the eggs...thus, two containers, one appliance in total. Am I the ONLY person who finds this kind of efficiency deeply satisfying?].

I added some extra oil and some coconut milk (you could use plain milk) until the batter was moist (the coconut flour absorbs everything). Divide batter between 12-18 muffin cups.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes. They’re not the most attractive little things. But served warm they’re great. I froze the extras for quick breakfast snacks.

Or you might like to try these paleo recipes:

Coconut flour bread

Blueberry coconut muffins

Coconut flour coated calamari

Do you cook with coconut flour? Any favourite recipes? My friend Violet makes a chocolate and beetroot cake using it…am trying to hunt it down!

Of all the self-imposed guinea pig antics I’ve subjected myself to for this column, this week’s might be regarded as my bravest. For it entailed eating, oh-glory-be-yes, fat.

In a fat-fearful world, my no holds barred consumption of chicken skin, the crackling and the 3cm of subcutaneous tissue on my pork belly, several teaspoons of butter on my veggies, whole cups of full cream milk, chunks of ghee and avocado each day has freaked the innards out of most in my culinary orbit. And yet (boldly! fearlessly!) I’ve persevered with this particular experiment for three whole months.

Turn to the person to your left, and the one to your right. I’m betting one of you is making friends with your egg yolks right now, having picked up on what’s been dubbed the “paleo” or “caveman” diet. Images of loin clothes and bone gnawing aside, the diet boils down to something pretty innocuous: not eating anything fiddled with.

So, no grains, no additives, no sugar, no grain-fed meat, no mucked-around-with fat-reduced dairy.

And instead the unadulterated foods of our ice-age forebears. The subsequent claim is that doing so makes us healthier, thinner and live longer, a claim I had to test for myself.

For the bulk of our 2.6 million years on the planet our diet consisted of fat, meat and fibrous vegetables. Put simply, fat determined our survival. Ten thousand short years ago we started eating grains, gradually changing from fat-burning creatures to sugar and starch-burning ones. Which would be fine. Except our bodies have never adjusted – 99.9 per cent of our genes are the same as our caveman ancestors.

Grains by nature contain toxins in their husks (their only defense in the evolutionary chain) that we struggle to digest (ergo, bloating, gluten sensitivity, etc). Further, a grain-based diet signals “famine” to our primitive bodies – why else would we be resorting to the most energy inefficient, toxic food possible? Which is said to set off a domino of “coping mechanisms”, such as insulin, cholesterol and triglyceride spikes, as our bodies try to deal with a substance it has not evolved to ingest. The spiraling consequences of living grain-based lives is extensive, and backed by a fast-growing number of studies that show it’s making us fat and sick.

Now. I know, I know. All this turns the pyramid and the way you eat your cornflakes on its head. And it makes people angry. What do you mean we’ve been eating all wrong? We’re not meant to eat fat! Really? Who says?

On Saturday night I found myself at dinner with a bunch of paleos – two dentists, two farmers, a GP, some academics and the pin-up girl of paleo Nora Gedgaudas (at 50, she’s as toned and glowy as a young bride) whose authoritative and hyper-referenced tome Primal Body Primal Mind was my first introduction to the topic.

[Listen to my earlier podcast with Nora here.]

We ate the fish or the duck, poured oil over our asparagus and said no to the bread. We all drilled Gedgaudus, in Australia to speak at a series of Nourishing Australia conferences, on the guff all paleos tend to get drilled on. But didn’t cavemen only live to 30 – how can their diet be good? That was the average age, skewed by high infant mortality and death-by-charging-rhino, not diet. But don’t we need carbs for energy? No, it’s in fact the only food molecule that’s unnecessary for survival. Geez, all that saturated fat – it causes heart disease and high cholesterol! Again, no. The original study in the 1950s by scientist Ancel Keys that claimed as such was seriously flawed.

[To watch a video that explains this, click here.]

Since then studies have shown in just two weeks a saturated fat/paleo diet reduced cholesterol and triglycerides 30 points (equivalent to taking statins for six months).

My cholesterol dropped and I lost 2 kilos “going paleo”. But the most remarkable benefit has been its stickability. Once I’d escaped my sugar rollercoaster of yore and started eating 2-3 meals a day (fat satiates and so I now eat less) it just didn’t occur to me to “relapse” (carbs are addictive, so without them my cravings disappeared). Indeed, everyone around the table on Saturday had been grain-free for years, effortlessly. Which, to me, makes this whole caper less a diet and simply, innocuously, something that just makes sense.

This is a massive topic to cover in one column. I’ll be writing more about it in weeks to come, so feel free to post any questions or suggestions on the whole paleo thing below. I’ll also post a directory of doctors, dentists, farmers etc who support this way of living.

I know some of you might find it a little contentious…share! It’s a good discussion to have.

Also, stay tuned tomorrow. I’m making a big announcement…

photo via Shannon Martin

Again, not a definitive list. Just some stuff I thought you’d like and that supports supporters of this blog and/or have a snappy, ethical slant. Enjoy!

merfins by Oceanika

For your mer-obsessed daughter, from $115. Kazzie’s a Byron chick who dreamt up this idea – eco mermaid fins for kids – a number of years ago. They’re made from recycled rubber, in a factory that uses environmentally sensitive practises and machines. I’ve seen kids swim in these things – they actually swim like dolphins. Check it out in this YouTube clip

The MerFin Package, which includes MerFins, swim tights and bikini, is priced from $174.00, or the MerFin alone starting from $115.00. Get em here.

clever personalised posters by Stevie and Three

For your inspired best mate: from $24.50. Clare Lancaster is a gem of an operator. She chatted to me ages ago about my blog and generously shared some wonderful tips. Which is pretty much what she does for a living. Now she’s decamped to London and has launched a new blog Stevie and Three, a design site where you can buy these clever posters. Basically, you customise a range of typographic designs to create personal, meaningful prints. Choose the format, colour and the words you’d like and Clare will design a bespoke print. Purchase here.

bicycle wine rack from Cycle Style

For your bike mates, $29. This is the perfect way to carry your Christmas party wine on your bike. It’s handmade from leather and brass, and has featured in DesignSponge and Playboy. You can get hold of one from CycleStyle here.

Joyce has kindly offered free shipping on this item, and you can still use the discount if you purchase other items as well. Just make sure you use the code BIKEWINE and buy your wine rack before the 15th December.

author matchbooks by Readers Niche

For your literary mate, $9.95 (pack of six). The colourful author matchbooks feature 6 of literature’s great authors. Each 10pg matchbook features a brightly outlined author portrait, with one of the author’s quotes in the background. Covers are made from 100% recycled content cardstock. Perfect for a wallet, purse, handbag, coat, or car. Check out Reader’s Niche – a stack of literary gifts on offer - here.

natural face oil by Vanessa Megan

For your favourite workmate  $35. I’ve written about how much I love facial oils before. This one from Sydney chick Vanessa Megan is particularly special. It contains organic rosehip oil, which is high in fatty acids – responsible for its ability to encourage regeneration and repair of skin tissue. Plus rosemary (helps lift saggy skin), lemongrass (minimises pore size), carrot seed (known to diminish/remove age spots and/or blemishes) and vetiver (tones the skin).  Buy it here.

crocheted wrist cuffs by CultureCycle

For your cycling buddies, $29. Angelina from CultureCycle makes these crocheted reflective cuffs (plus a bunch of other cool bike gear) for high visibility and a little style on the road. Buy a pair’o'cuffs here.

iron bark collar from TobyE Jewellery and Blue Caravan

For your best mate, $275. This necklace is one of many ethical gifts available via Australian site Blue Caravan.

Toby E is an Aussie jeweller whose stuff is 100% handmade, 100% recycled, and is made for sensitive skin types. Toby has said she’ll offer a beautiful handmade gift with every purchase. Get hold of one of her creations here.

anti-aging skin care packs by La Mav

Great for your health conscious Mum: $89.95. La Mav is an Australian owned, completely organic skin care range that delivers visible results while being gentle on the skin and environment. The anti-aging pack includes antioxidant rich nightly repair nectar, Bio VA5 daily wrinkle smoothing creme, and Bio A7 firming eye lotion. Get hold of these packs here.

and some nice charity collaborations I’ve come across

• Georg Jensen are donating $50 to the Red Cross for each of their red cross heart bracelets bought. You can get yours here. 
• Leave a gift under the K Mart wishing tree in your local K Mart store. They’re donating to the Salvation Army. Or donate online here.
• Choose gifts for your family and friends that make a world of difference to communities in need. Browse World Vision’s gift options here. 

Cut to today. Supercharged Food – 90 recipes that don’t contain gluten, wheat, sugar, yeast or dairy – is out now. It’s rare that I’d want to cook every recipe in a book (I’ve already played with several, including lavender tea with almond milk!!), so choosing a few to share with you here was an indecisive’s conundrum. But I thought it might be nice to share two that are perfectly geared for toting on the annual schlepp to the stodge-fest that is family Christmas…so you don’t have to be tempted by bloody mince pies.

butternut cookies

• 150g coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons stevia powder, plus extra to dust
• a pinch of sea salt
• 200g cashew butter
• 4 organic eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 1/2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk (try Lee’s homemade version, recipe in her book)

Preheat the oven to 175 C and grease a baking tray.

In a bowl, mix together the coconut flour, baking powder, stevia and salt.

Warm the cashew butter slightly, then mix with the eggs, vanilla, coconut oil and coconut milk until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well to form a dough.

Roll the dough out between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 6 -8 mm. Cut out shapes using your favourite cookie cutter, and place on the greased baking tray. These cookies won’t spread during baking.

Bake for 20 – 25 mins, or until cookies are crisp and golden. Leave them to cool on the tray a little before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with extra stevia if required. Cookies will keep in an airtight container for several days.

Makes 24.

gluten-free nut loaf

• 150g almond meal
• 30g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 95g arrowroot (tapioca) flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 organic eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon stevia powder
• 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• 2 tablespoons coconut milk (try Lee’s homemade recipe, in her book)
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a 20 x 9 cm loaf tin.

Put the almond meal, walnuts, baking powder, cinnamon, arrowroot flour and salt in a large bowl and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 1 1/2 mins. Add the stevia, grape seed oil, coconut milk and vinegar and mix gently. Pour the mixture into the dry ingredients and stir to combine.

Spoon the mixture into the greased tin and bake for about 40 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove the bread from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack and cooling completely.

Enjoy the bread melt-in-the-mouth warm, or at room temperature with your favourite topping.

Keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to six days, or wrap tightly and freeze for up to six weeks.

Makes one loaf.

Recipes and images from Supercharged Food by Lee Holmes, published by Murdoch Books. You can get your copy here.
Lee is a regular columnist for Wellbeing magazine, and a writer for Miranda Kerr’s Kora Organics blog. Check out her website and blog.

Anyone else want to share some treat ideas from their blog? I’ll be doing some reader recipes in the coming weeks! Shoot through your work below.

I’m not a big fan of mass present-buying. Consumerism is something I actively avoid. All that said, gift giving is lovely, especially if it’s mindful. So I’ve decided to share some ideas I’ve accumulated over the year: products that grabbed me, or are mindfully made and have a touch of quirky expression to them, or are made by friends of this blog. I’ve even secured a few special offers for readers on this blog. Happy Crazy Season!

1. exfoliating cleansing bar by Miessence

Something for your brother: $9.95. I love this exfoliating Cleansing Bar ( in both geranium + tea tree). Soap-on-a-rope that’s good enough to eat, making a simple, all-round gift. Miessence products are possibly the most legitimately toxin-free products on the planet. EWG’s cosmetic database rates it in their top 5 brands and it’s a local (Queensland) company run by one very passionate Narelle.

As a lovely Noel gesture, Narelle is offering readers here 30% off any Miessence purchase over $100 (buy a few soaps for friends and family!). Details here, and make sure you use the code SWB, from December 01 – 25.

2. handwoven mexican throws by Table Tonic

For your partner: from $449. Lou, the very talented designer behind Table Tonic, has been a big supporter of this blog over the year and I’m a massive fan of what she does on her site. When I was editor of Cosmpolitan, she was creative director and designed my covers. So I’m indebted to her for enduring my Capricornian pedantism. These Suzani throws are very pretty. Lou describes them thus:

“The Mexican Suzani throws/bedspreads are made by a native Mexican ethnic group, known as “Otomi”, in the state of Puepla. The yarn is bought by the native people at their local stores in Puebla and the base cloth (or ’manta’) is hand made, according to ancient traditions, from natural, eco-friendly materials. By purchasing this Mexican folk art, you are supporting a native group and their traditions.”

She’s giving 15% off everything on her site to readers – just use the coupon code ‘SARAHTONIC ‘ at checkout.

3. linen beach towels by Boatshed

For your mum or best mate: $70. My friend Amber and her best mate set up this little towel business. The concept is this: a towel you can carry as a wrap or sarong or scarf when you flip-flop down to the beach, that doubles as a towel. Lovely and lightweight, I use mine every day. You can buy them here.

4. natural almond oil mascara and natural tinted rice powders by Ere Perez

For your Mum: natural almond oil mascara $28.95 and natural tinted rice powder $37.95. This mascara and powder are the only beauty products I now use. Toxin-free. Clean. Simple. Effective.

Ere has also offered a Free Natural Powder Brush worth $33.95 to readers when you buy an Almond Oil Mascara and a powder here. Click here.

5. Bonita crocheted shorts from Spell Designs

For your sister: $49. Spell is a gorgeous Byron-based company with a gypsy girl aesthetic,  Lizzie who runs the label with her sister has become one of my favourite locals, and these crocheted shorts are crying out for a pretty bikini and a big shirt thrown over the top. Buy the shorts here.

6. healing stones by Shashen Jewels

For the special person who helped you out this year: $160 – $280 This is a lovely idea…Eilish contacted me a while back and sent me one of her stones as she felt I needed some special healing. I was really very touched. And it got me thinking what a nice gesture it is to give a stone to someone who you want to reach out to and just say, “thank you” or “I see you” or “I care”. Eilish recommends “rose quartz which is all about love – giving it and receiving it”, “chalcedony which is an auric balancer and about bringing harmony to groups – many families need this at Christmas time” or “citrine, which carries the energy of the sun. It is the stone associated with success and abundance. Balances the yin-yang energy to manifest and align your energies with your higher self. Abundance and success can be love, luck, wealth, happiness.”

 All pieces come in a lovely box tied with a ribbon and includes a card telling you about the stone’s emotional, spiritual and physical qualities with instructions on how to cleanse and activate the stone so you can work with its energies.

Shashen Jewel’s is offering readers a special selection service – simply email eilishbouchier@gmail.com with the gesture you want to share and Eilish will help select the perfect stone and will share a special intention you can pass on to your special person. She’s also offering 20% off and free shipping when you use the code SWX11 (valid until Jan 01/2012)

In addition, Eilish donates 20% of all sales to a charity in India called Nanhi Kali that educates girls. Which is just lovely.

photo via trendsters

Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions

Sally is the co-founder and president of the Weston A Price Foundation, and this cookbook is a comfy, organic bible for anyone wanting to live a truly nourished, mostly paleo, sugar-free life. It’s the real deal. The lovely Jo Foster got me my copy and I pore over it regularly.

I love the sub title (“The Cookbook that Challenges Politcally Correct Nutrition and The Diet Dictocrats”. Right on, Sally!), the detailed nutrition tips all the way through and the fermented vegetables, sprouting and “how to make your own yoghurt, whey and kefir” sections. You can buy the book here.

Deepak Chopra’s Perfect Health

The best introduction to Ayervedic healing, hand’s down. I mostly live by the Ayervedic approach – which is to say I eat according to my dosha. This style of living is about healing through food. I’ve written on this here. Chopra weaves the Indian traditions with our western thinking, showing what types need to eat more root vegetables, more oil, less salad, more bitter foods etc. You can buy the book here.

Stephanie Alexander’s Cook’s Companion

This is the cookbook I keep going back to. Why? It orders recipes by the ingredient. Which is the logical way of going about things when you eat according to what’s in season. I buy fennel when I see it in season at the markets. Then I consult this tome to see what I’ll do with it. I believe that’s how we should cook, for ethical, environmental, economical and taste reasons. You can buy the book here.

Nora Gedgaudas’ Primal Body Primal Mind

The nerdy side of me loves this book. It answers all the questions I’ve had re the grain-free, sugar-free way of eating. It’s not draconian, it’s not fad-ish. It’s just the science and a really sensible path through the middle of it all. Be warned, though. It’s dense reading. Go to it with a highlighter and a pad and paper. You can buy the book here.

Nina Planck’s ‘Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods

Andrea Beaman recommended this one to me. I read it in one sitting. Anyone wanting to get pregnant will very much benefit from this read. It makes sense. You can buy the book here.

What about you? What do you swear by for healthful eating?

photo by Johnny Abegg

Now, once again, our measurements are VERY imprecise. Claire and I literally “added a bit of this, added a bit of that”. And it simply worked. So have faith! Feel it with your fingers!

Sarah + Claire’s sugar-free nut cheesecake

First make the base (meals and nuts can be substituted for any others you have lurking in the cupboard):

• 100g of dessicated coconut
• 110g of shelled pistachios
• 150g of almond meal
• 4 “generous” tbls of butter…which is to say, keep adding more butter till you get a nice gooby consistency

Preheat the oven to about 160 C. Stab-mix or blend pistachios until they are semi-fine chunks, add to a mixing bowl with the coconut, almond meal, and room temperature butter and rub until the mixture is an even, thick consistency. Then press into a baking paper lined spring form pan. cover the base and sides with your mixture to an even thickness  - you may need more or less of the mixture depending on the size of your pan. Try to keep it an even thickness – about 1/2-1cm.

Place in oven for 8 minutes or until slightly firm. Don’t wait for the base to brown as it will continue to cook once the filling is in. We made this mistake…but not before dropping the whole tin on the floor and repressing it back into place. This recipe is bombproof, I tell you!

Then the filling:

• 2-3 boxes (250g each) of Philadelphia cream cheese
• one egg
• a dash of natural vanilla essence or vanilla powder
• 2 tbls of natural yogurt
• 1/4 cup coconut cream
• 1/2 cup-ish of rice syrup (or add more/less to your individual taste). And, yes, rice syrup is fructose-free.

In a large bowl add the cream cheese (room temp), egg, vanilla, coconut cream and rice syrup and yogurt. Mix until it’s an even, thick consistency. Don’t over mix and try and keep aeration to a minimum while stirring – it will make the thing puff up, then collapse. Add your mixture to the base and return to the slow oven for 20-30 mins or until the mixture is puffy on the edges and the centre slightly soft and custard-like – (don’t overcook). Put in the fridge until it’s firm, otherwise it’s way tooooooo egg-y. We made this mistake in our impatience.

Then eat.

While I’m at it, some of you wanted to know how to make kale chips. Here goes:

kale chips

• 1 bunch of kale (cavalo nero)
• 1 tbls of olive oil
• sea salt

De-stalk the kale (never eat the stalk of the kale – it’s too hard to digest. The easiest way to do this is to grab the end of the stalk and then literally run your fingers down it, shearing the leaf off), then tear into 4cm x 4cm bits. Toss in the oil and salt, lay out on a baking tray and cook in a 200 C oven for 5-10 mins, until crisp. An easy pre-dinner hit!

Please do share any of your sugar-free bloggings/recipes…I’ll be only too happy to share it with the readers here! And remember, for more recipes (chocolate mousse, shortbread and more) you can download my I Quit Sugar ebook for $15 here.

photo via pinterest

For those of you who haven’t read it yet, the main thrust of my 8-week program is replacing sugar with fat. It’s an approach I really find worked for me, and for many others. But I keep getting asked:

“is it really ok to eat fat?”

“how can you say saturated fat is OK?”

“how much fat do YOU eat?”

Alright. Let’s clear a few things up, then…

1. This short video sums up a fair bit of the misconception around saturated fat:

The gist is this: in the 1950s, a random scientist called Ancel Keys published a dodgy study that told us saturated fats were bad. The study was a total furphy. But we latched on to it. It’s important to realise that at that time the edible oil industry in the US seized the opportunity to promote its polyunsaturates. The industry did this by developing a health issue focusing on Key’s anti-saturated fat bias. With the help of the edible oil industry lobbying in the United States, federal government dietary goals and guidelines were adopted incorporating this mistaken idea that consumption of saturated fat was causing heart disease. This anti-saturated fat issue became the agenda of government and food industry groups around the world.

Me. I’m cool with saturated fat. I eat chicken skin. And butter. And coconut oil. All saturated. All good.

Now, a few thoughts that dictate my attitude to fat:

2. We aren’t what we eat, we are how we metabolise what we eat. The mantra we’ve been fed, though, is that fat must make us fat. Which is just not true. We are designed to metabolise fat efficiently. It’s sugars and starches we struggle with. Surely we can all accept our bodies are a little more sophisticated than this simple fat = fat equation??

3. Not all fats are equal. I outline the differences in my ebook. This much you need to know: trans fats are bad, so are most poly-unsaturated vegetable oils. Saturated fat is good! Seriously.

4. You can eat all the veggies in the world. But if you don’t eat them with fat, you’re not getting the full nutritional benefits. Many vitamins and minerals are fat soluble and need a knob of butter or drizzle of oil to be properly metabolised.

5. What about cholesterol? I’ll put it simply. Cholesterol (bad, good, HDL, LDL, whatever) is simply a bandaid (as well as being a critical molecule for hormone health and more). It circulates in our arteries patching up damage caused by the damage that sugar does. Yes sugar. So when we talk high cholesterol etc…cholesterol ain’t the problem. It’s the fix. Sugar and hypertension and toxins are the problem.

4. How much fat do I eat? I go through about 3 tbls of coconut oil a day (for cooking and also eating raw as a snack – I eat a tbl or two after lunch to satiate myself), a tbls of organic butter (on my vegetables), the fat and skin on all meat (and as a result I eat less meat overall…fat is what fills me up most efficiently) plus a good chunk of cheese, 1-2 eggs, 1/2 an avocado and a good drizzle of olive oil or macadamia oil most days.

My overall advice is to try eating more fat…and see what it does to cravings and appetite. For me, it’s totally curbed it. I think in part because when you let go of guilt and complicated rules, you can eat what you FEEL like. What do you think? Do you eat much fat? Have you got any ‘did you knows’ about fats?

photo via scandi foodie

sugar free coconut granola

For my original recipe, go here.

grain free, sugar free breakfast muffins

For my original recipe, go here.

For Maria’s adaptation, go here.

activated spiced nuts

For my original recipe, go here.

sweet potato spelt muffins

Thanks again Maria for your gorgeous interpretations. Go have a play on her blog…real food, made pretty.

And if you want to do the sugar free thing, too, my I Quit Sugar ebook is still the very do-able, just-a-few-lattes $15. An 8-week program. With detox tips, recipes, shopping list and tricks for making the transition actually better than chocolate.

If you’ve cooked up any of my recipes and want to share the pics, or if you’ve developed your own, please attach your links below. We’d love to share the sugar-free love…

I’ve tried just about every therapy in Christendom. It’s an occupational hazard. From the noise of it all I’ve distilled things down to a bunch of smooth routines and approaches.

Photo by Steven Klein

As a general approach, I keep to a morning routines. Routines are good.  They create a firm launch pad and determine the tone of the day.

I also do some regular maintenance stuff. Sometimes I think to myself, “my parents would never do this kind of thing…they’d just get on with it”. Also, it can get expensive, all this “maintenance”.

But I justify it thus:

I do a lot, am engaged in a lot, and I need help to ensure I can keep doing what I love to do.

An athlete gets regular physio. TV stars get blowdries. A rally car driver gets their car serviced. I get regular treatments to keep me well and open and energised.

I rotate the various therapies, according to what continues to keep me open and intimate with life. I’m also a little challenged by the idea of taking good care of myself (I forget and burn out very easily) and so some of these healings are about getting into that space. Being intimate. This is important. I don’t buy nail polish or magazines or shoes or throw cushions. I prefer to do this kind of thing.

My daily practice:

Meditation. I practice the vedic style (with a mantra, 20 minutes  twice a day). I’ve blogged about it here. My teacher Tim can be found here.

Exercise. I move every morning – a mixture of walking, jogging (I’ve taken to barefoot running), yoga, ocean swimming and home weights. I also ride a singlespeed bike. My thing is this: I set out to move every day for 20 minutes minimum. It’s the “every day” bit that matters to me, and my aim is to simply get blood flowing and to feel fresh and to get into the outdoors. I don’t focus on “getting fit” or losing weight. It’s also about flow and agility and feeling vibrant.

Here’s a ‘why and how’ rundown of the “caveman-ish” style of weights that I do and here’s how to exercise at home, with a video! When I’m in Sydney, I go to Origin of Energy in Bondi.

I do the vinyasa style of yoga. When in Byron, I got to Ananta yoga.

Regularly:

Chinese Medicine. I swear by Traditional Chinese Medicine, especially for anything to do with fertility and periods. It works miracles. I go to Lily Lui in Surry Hills. She also has hashimotos and gets the whole AI caper. I’ve also consulted Nat Kringoudis at The Pagoda Tree in Melbourne. She KNOWS her stuff and draws in naturopathic thinking, too.

Naturopathy. Find a naturopath who’s had the same issues as you. I see Angela at Tonic.

Acupuncture. It works. For most things. I’ve been going to Daniel at the Pain Relief Clinic for years. It cured my Grave’s disease in my eye. It can fix constipation in one session and recalibrate my energy when I’m having a bad thyroid time of it. It’s probably my favourite treatment for keeping me on track.

In times of need:

Massage. Sometimes I just need to be touched, especially on thyroidy days. I need blood to move. I’ll go to one of those cheap Chinese or Thai places – I like the lack of elegance, the lack of expectation. In Byron I go to a great local woman who works from home: Rachel: 02 6685 4466.

On thyroidy/crappy days, I have a swag of tips/tricks I haul out. At the moment what’s really working is finding a sauna to sit in. For some reason it completely recalibrates things – the heavy, still silence and the sweating of toxins seems to be what it’s about. When I’m travelling I make sure I set aside time to use the hotel’s sauna (late at night is good…no one around). When in Sydney, I go to the one at Icebergs.

Osteopathy/chiropratic. I write all day and it stuffs my posture. My neck gets thrown and so I have to go and get cracked back into place. Not ideal. But you do what you have to do. In Byron I go to Peter. He’s a super passionate surfer who knows a lot!

When I travel, I’ve had to learn ways to make it work for me. I’ve written about that here.

I also consult a psychic. Sounds far more woo-woo than it actually is. I speak with the very sharp Kristine Fry a few times a year when I need help with clarifying my thoughts. She does readings over Skype. She’s astounding for life direction stuff and serves as life coach with DEEP intuition. A great deal of my smart, business-minded friends also see her for this kind of life coaching stuff.

I’ve also recently chatted to a chick called Anna Castello who I would very much speak to again. She does skype readings from the UK.

Hope that answers some of your questions… and, out of interest, what do you think about this idea of forking out cash to keep yourself open? I still worry it’s indulgent…