Happy Friday! To continue our summer Friday giveaways, I have a pretty special offer this week, particularly for everyone quitting sugar at the moment:

60 x 450g bags of The Muesli

This stuff is the best of the no-added sugar muesli on the market that I could find and I mention it in I Quit Sugar. The only sugar in the muesli is from the 5 nuts, 4 seeds, oats & coconut (hoorah! fructose-free!). Fitness nut, mum and TV producer Emma invented the range after chatting with her friend, celeb trainer Donna Aston, about the dire state of breakfast options for people wanting to be fructose-free and get real results from their diet. A very sound philosophy! You can buy direct online or at many health food shops and cafes. And PS, they have a gluten-free version as well and are running a 2-for-1 offer right now.

* To get your hands on one of these bags (worth $16.50, plus postage) subscribe to my I Quit Sugar newsletter here by COB AEST today (Friday). Or, if you prefer, sign up to my weekly newsletter here.

* If you’re already subscribed, subscribe a friend.

* I’ll be sending a little note out over the weekend with details of how to be in the running. Stay tuned!

* Sadly this offer is only available to Australian residents!

things to try with the muesli

I get more questions about breakfast ideas than just about anything else on this blog…so here’s some stuff to do with The Muesli…

Did you catch this NYT article by Dominique Browning on why women like being alone? And men don’t, especially after a break-up? It’s interesting…

image via weheartit.com

Browning describes the time she fell over at home and couldn’t move. She lived alone. She had that thought I’ve had often: I could die here and no one would know. It got her thinking about a whole heap of generalities to do with choosing to live alone (which women love and men don’t, she claims). Here’s a few:

Most men seem unable to live alone for longer than, say, at the outside … three months.

Most single women I know really love their lives.

And this, which I really do agree with:

Sometimes we suffer pangs of loneliness, sometimes we ache for the companionship of that mythic soul mate, but mostly we cherish our independence. We love doing whatever we want to do, when we want to do it.

Women alone eat breakfast at 11 if we feel like it, lunch at 3 and dinner never if that’s the way the day is winding down. Single women do not worry about cooking unless we want to. And we don’t want to unless we like to.

My friend Louise shared this quote with me over Christmas:

what’s for you won’t pass you by

Via FieldCandy

I find it of great comfort. We don’t have to try so hard. Sit back. What is perfect for you will come. Trust life and it’s myriad forces that operate behind the scenes.

I have tended to push way too hard. But I push, I’m often resisting, blocking…why else would it require that I push? I forget that the best things in my life have come when I’ve sat back still and knowing and trusting and magnificent (!) and let things flow in and towards me. So reminders are good.

I also came across this letter from John Steinbeck to his son in 1958, from the book Steinbeck: A Life in Letters. It is another reminder.

The teenager tells Dad he’s in love. Steinbeck’s advice is so sound and caring and helpful (for the full version of the letter, go here).

I’ve mentioned on twitter that I’ve been making bone broth and some of you asked for the details. And so I oblige!  I’ve become a big fan for a bunch of overwhelming reasons I’ll outline below. Sally Fallon introduced me to the stuff in Nourishing Traditions and since then I’ve followed a community of people who can’t stop raving about it. A lot of nutritionists steer their clients to simply drink bone broth. That’s it. The stuff is so full of good stuff…who needs supplements?

Mushrooms in bone broth recipe below, via The Nourished Kitchen

Making it is easy and cheap, albeit not very attractive. See the pics below, or this from Sally Fallon when describing the final stages of cooking: “You will now have a pot of rather repulsive-looking brown liquid containing globs of gelatinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good.”

Nice. But regardless…

I buy the bones from the farmer at the farmer’s market for $2 a bag. But if you’re not near a farmer’s market, your butcher will sell some to you (or give them to you!).

I make a batch and freeze it for soups and stews (in 500ml containers) and also in 200ml serves to drink as a soup, or to use for braising veggies (instead of using oil). You basically use it as you would stock, but it’s richer, more gelatinous and more nutritious.

Here’s a bit of a cheat sheet (if Sally hasn’t scared you off)!

Bone Broth: the deal

Bone broth is like normal stock but made with big, cheap bones which are simmered for a very long time (24 hours-plus).  At the end of cooking, a stack of minerals have leached from the bones and into the broth that the bones crumble when pressed lightly.

Why would you?

Because it is soooo good for you.

1. Our immune systems love it.

It’s rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and other trace minerals, which are easily absorbable, thus assisting the immune system.  Mark’s Daily Apple has a great article breaking down all the nutrients found in bone broth.

It’s week three. The time is now. No more run ups…

 we’re going cold turkey…no more sugar!

Image by Takaya Hanayuishi

First up, though, some housekeeping:

* On Friday I invited you all to join FebFast (quit booze for February and raise $ for charity). It’s a good time to drop the booze if you’ve just quit sugar. It will help with the cravings and the detox process.

* A reminder to those of you with blogs. You may want to join the IQS affiliate program, and make $6 for yourself off every ebook you sell through your site. Stupidly simply and I’ve sent out hundreds of dollars to some of you who’ve got on board. You can read more and sign up here.

* Ten great sugar quitters won a copy of Lee Holmes’ Supercharged Food from last Friday’s giveaway: Carlie C,  Emma, Rachel G, Sue S, Mademoselle Slimalicious, Jess J, Tara S, Kathie R, Sarah R, Kris B. Hoorah to you and big thanks for your tips!

But now. In my IQS book I outline what foods to cut out… and why. But today we might do a little reality check session of how much sugar you’ve actually been eating.

Hopefully you’re boldly replacing sugar with fat and protein from today. It takes some getting used to and you might notice different hunger levels. Find them interesting and move with them. For example. I often get a sugar craving after lunch. As many of you know, I eat a tablespoon or two of coconut oil to quash this…which then leaves me STUFFED until dinner. At first I found this disconcerting…now I find it a godsend. No afternoon snacking is freedom.

Something that helped me when I was quitting was to get real about how much sugar I’d really been eating.

EVERYONE I meet tells me they “don’t really eat much sugar”. Which I find kinda FUNNY. Somebody’s got to be eating all that sugar!

When I chat with people about what they mean by not much they describe a breakfast of muesli and low-fat yoghurt, juice, some honey in their tea…”you know, just natural sugar”. And so on.

Yep, by now you know: sugar is sugar, whether it comes in a Coke or an apple; arsenic is “natural”, doesn’t mean we eat it; etc, etc, etc.

But how much sugar – natural or otherwise – have you been eating? Have you been kidding yourself you don’t eat much?

I had. So I sat down with pen and paper and added up the exact number of teaspoons of the stuff I was eating. It was shocking.

This week, try it. It’s a good reminder as to why you’re doing this. Being real helps.

To do this:

* look on the food label at “serving size”. Then divide the number of grams by 4 to get the number of teaspoons.

* remember to subtract the first 4.7g of sugar in dairy products (this is lactose, which contains no fructose)

If you’re currently quitting sugar* – or if you’re not, but would like to do SOMETHING to get your health back on flowing tracks – you’ll like this poke up the bum I’m about to give you:

join me in ditching alcohol in February

Yes, just one month. Actually, 29 days this year. Which is exactly enough time for your liver to regrouprefocus, that bloating to go, your skin to clear and your focus to get sharp.

image via 'break out'

For the past few years I’ve done FebFast. I’m now the patron of the national charity, which challenges people to send their grog on a holiday to raise money to help young Australians overcome alcohol, drug and mental health problems.  Find out more here.

My job as patron is to get you on board to abstain from drinking for the month. For your health. For your esteem. For your wallet. For the good of our community. For making a difference.

If you’re keen to join my team, and quit booze, click the button below.

Type in “sarahw” as the password.

Then you’ll need to contact all your mates to sponsor you. For the past three years Team Sarah Wilson has topped the fundraising ladder (and already we’re perched up there!).

Or you can choose to just sponsor me, here.

Just kick in what you can afford.

If you’re currently on the see-saw of ‘should I/shouldn’t I’, let’s see if this helps:

• Eliminating alcohol from your diet is a quick way to lose weight. One beer is the caloric equivalent of a meat pie. Two glasses of champagne is one fifth of your recommended energy intake for a day. Ouch!

So to kick off this occasional how to heal autoimmune disease series once again, a passionate rundown of the joys of the infra-red sauna.

Image by Tierney Gearon

Nora Gedgaudas first suggested I use one. That’s all she said. Go. Use one. Luckily I found one in nearby Mullumbimby, at Mullum Sari. I’ve been going once a week or so for a few weeks now and it’s made a HUGE difference. I get a lot of lymphatic blockage and it bloats the right side of my body and my face. I also get joint pain from toxin build-up…and it all just… goes…. after a session in one of these. I can go in “thyroidy” and come out calm, enlivened.

I dug around a bit to see what’s been said about them and from a range of literature, this is what I found:

Is it just like a normal sauna?

Not so much. It heats objects rather than the surrounding air. Normal saunas get you sweating by sheer force of heat; infra-red saunas heat the deepest organs and tissues of the body by penetrating the infra-red band of light about 3-4cm below the skin surface. This causes the body to sweat at a temperature of only 35-45C, heating the internal tissues without overheating the skin and respiratory system as ordinary saunas do.

What will they fix and how so?

It assists with a whole bunch of auto-immuny symptoms and issues.

Detoxing

Infra red waves matches the frequency of the water in our cells, causing toxins to be released into the blood stream and excreted through sweat. Increased blood circulation caused by sweating stimulates the sweat glands, releasing built up toxins and waste. As the heat penetrates the deeper, denser tissues, the infra-red heat softens deposits of crystallized toxins and acid wastes in the joints, nerves, and connective tissues allowing them to be dissolved and excreted via the bloodstream, lymphatic system, and through the skin as sweat.

A lot of AI issues stem from heavy metal toxicity. This kind of heat is particularly effective for eliminating heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, zinc and nickel from the tissues as well as toxins like nicotine, alcohol and chemicals.

OK, it’s been a while since I’ve done an auto-immune post (for those new here, you can find the backlog of AI posts here). But I’m going to start up a bit of a series again. For reasons I feel it’s worth explaining.

photo via Colin Hill flickr

NOTE: For anyone who DOESN’T have an AI…

1. be damn glad

2. you’ll still very much find these posts helpful.

Any tips that help an AI disease are tips that go to the absolute heart of good health and top living.

What I share is only good, fundamental, well, ways to live the good, good life.

3. feel free to forward this link to a friend who does have an AI. I think they’ll like you more for it.

So, my update. My hashimotos has gone a little haywire over the past few months. As a result I’ve had to pull back on a few commitments (you might have noticed…my book, my column) and I’ve been digging deeper into some of the craziness going on, trying out some new techniques, like going paleo and talking to folk like Chris Kresser and Nora Gedgaudas. I’m starting to get some traction in my understanding if not my health.

I know some of you have asked: how BAD do you actually get. You’re not being rude. My friends and family have to ask the same because when I’m BAD, I go M.I.A. So they don’t really see thyroidy me. It’s hard for them to get it. I kind of exit stage left when I’m BAD, not so much due to shame (tho’ that does have a bit to do with it), but because when I’m “thyroidy” I simply can’t face the world. Dark, cool rooms. Not moving. That’s pretty much the spectrum.

On days like this I revert to this intentional resting technique.

When I made the decision to pull back and recalibrate a few months ago I was unable to function 4-5 days a week. It had been about one day a fortnight previously – which I could deal with. But the uggggh days crept up on me. I almost didn’t notice. Until I did.

I’ve been asked a few times about coconut flour. Is it a grain? Is it starchy? Good for kids quitting sugar? I could’ve mouthed off based on a vague knowledge. But I dug around a bit…

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.

All things cruising well, most of you are probably a good few days, if not a little longer, into this sugar quitting caper. I’ve loved following how you’re all going.

First up, some little house keeping:

* I have a new Facebook I Quit Sugar page: I’ll be updating it mostly daily with new helpful information and tips and offers… feel free to wade into the community and hang out there.

* If you’re on twitter, use the #IQS hashtag. See what everyone else is saying, support each other, post photos of the food you’re making. It’s a growing thang!

* And I invite you to join the IQS mailing list here. To be really honest, I haven’t thought of how I’ll be using it yet, but I PROMISE it will be only for special offers and information. NEVER spam.

So, how’ve you been going?

I think the general vibe is that most of you have skipped the easing off process and gone straight to NO SUGAR. All good.

But equally, no stress if you’re taking a slowly, slowly approach. I did and I found it was the best attack.

This week we’re introducing some more fat and still cutting back on the sugar, gearing our bodies up to the change.

Also no stress if you’ve QUIT. Then lapsed already. Seriously. No stress. This might happen from time to time.

And no stress if you’re just getting on board now.

Let me share three things:

1. We’re doing this gently. When we’re gentle, things feel good. When things feel good, we continue. Studies show we’re more likely to stick to a resolution if we’re compassionate with ourselves as we go.