It’s Friday. It’s summer. Everyone seems to be on some sort of healthy switch-about. So a fitting giveaway! This week I’m giving away…

10 copies of ‘Supercharged Food’

Regular readers will have caught previous posts about Lee Holmes‘ cooking. Lee has an autoimmune disease and has healed herself through diet and her new book – Supercharged Food – includes 90 recipes that don’t contain gluten, wheat, sugar, yeast or dairy. Seriously, this cookbook is the most perfect little package of whole food eating ideas. Honestly, as sound as it comes. Which is why I put my name to a blurb of endorsement on the cover.

Anyway, a lot of you got as frothy over it as I did, so Lee and the good folk at Murdoch Books have generously offered to give away some copies to regular readers here.

To be in the running for a copy of the book, you’ll simply need to do the following:

* Go to my new! I Quit Sugar Facebook page (“like” it) and then share a sugarfree eating tip you’ve been playing with. Or a factoid you’ve come across. No rush: just like ‘n’ post by Friday 13 January.

* We will randomly select ten people, and a copy of Supercharged Food will be on it’s way to you.

* For anyone too impatient to wait: Lee’s book is available from her website. Lee is a regular columnist for Wellbeing magazine, and a writer for Miranda Kerr’s Kora Organics blog. Check out her website and blog.

But to that ice cream recipe…

This video from the Center for the New American Dream paints a picture of how I think we all want to live.

Everyone talks about green economies, decluttering, recycling…which are good. To a point. But they’re still focused on consuming and growth. Right?

The. Only. Way. To. Be. Sustainable. Which at the same time is The. Best. Way. To. Live. Happily and Purely is…

To consume and do less.

The video suggests:

• Reducing work hours – a 4 day work week. The Dutch have done this. It works. My God we need to do the same.
• DIYing our lives a lot more. This makes us happy, I’ve written about this in Sunday Life.
• Building communities. I want to investigate this further myself. Which is why I’m thinking of going to Scandinavia this year – to check out how it’s being done over there.

I truly try to live this way.

• I have a car and it’s not a new “green” one. But I drive it less. I move less. When I do move, I ride. I read a report that says walking to the shops once a week instead of driving reduces one’s footprint more than owning a green car for a year (don’t quote me on the specifics…it was something to this effect…and if anyone knows the study, please share!).

From time to time I come across humans who just astound me with their whimsy. They do something a bit off-beat. A bit you’re-not-meant-to-do-that. I’ve noticed there’s usually One Thing that prompted them, or motivates them, or keeps them happy and therefore whimsical. I’m always busting to tap them on the shoulder and ask, “What’s your One Thing”. Now I do in this occasional series. You can catch up on some previous ‘the one thing’ interviews here and here. Today, I’m talking with psychic Anna Castello.

Anna Castello: my one thing is to have a bath then let the negative energy flush down the drain

By way of introduction, Anna is a psychic. She kind of found me, via a friend of a friend and somehow she felt she needed to connect and tell me stuff. For those of you who read my Sunday Life column where a witch predicted I’d meet a Dutch bloke in London and we’d scuba dive together…well, Anna saw the same thing. But Danish or Dutch. London. Handsome. We’d marry. And he’s a marine environmentalist, ergo the scuba diving, I guess. (I just didn’t have the word length to share that I’d been told the same thing by someone else.)

What I love about Anna’s story is that she changed her high profile corporate career when she got whimsy-with-it and decided to live closer to her true self, her heart and help people. Now she makes a living from helping people and sharing her gift. Which is so goddamn great. I have already had several readings with her which I have found really helpful. Anna does readings via LivePerson. You can chat with her online or speak on the telephone. If you want to make a booking, connect with her here.

Sarah: Tell us how you became a psychic? How did you first know?

Anna: I’ve always been this way, ever since I can remember. When I was very small I would use my psychic abilities to find where my Mum hid away chocolates and other sweets. I would just connect to her energy and visualise. That also helped me find Christmas presents before my parents could wrap them!

Sarah: How do you “see” things in others?

Anna: The best way to describe the psychic experience is that it feels like you are remembering. You see images, hear sounds and feel emotions in the same way as you would when you recall a memory or a dream. In a sense, the person I am seeing for also “remembers” because in a reading I am often reminding people of what they already knew deep down and just needed affirmed. I love helping people see when they can trust their own intuition too.

Welcome! Welcome! And Happy 2012 to you. I reckon it’s going to be a ripper. And a great time to shed the stuff that holds us back. Like sugar. (The astrologists agree, apparently).

Image by Will Murai

For the next eight weeks I’m going to “hold your hand” through the process of quitting sugar. It is a bit of a process and it took me months of research and guinea pig antics to find the safest, most effective, gentlest, most permanent and enjoyable (yes!!) method.

I overeat. I’m food obsessed. I was a starch addict. I have an auto-immune disease which means I have problems with hypoglycemia.

Ergo, I get your fear and resistance and I know all the little tuggings going on right now in your being.

But know this: this process works. And it’s worth doing. Even if just for eight weeks. To see what happens.

This is our mantra: to see what happens. We’re experimenting.

This is how it’s going to work:

* You read the book. I suggest reading the whole lot. Then refreshing week-to-week as you go through the process. No drama if you’re just getting around to reading it. You can follow the 8-week program in your own way.

* Every Monday I’ll do a post that updates you with some extra tips, provides comfort and answers to a bunch of your questions. Because you will have some!

This post has been updated.

Every year since starting this blog I’ve done a NYE post (give or take a few days) that outlines my resolutions for the coming year. Last year I wrote a bunch of “intentions” for 2011.

My brother Nick and me - 17 years and 7 inches between us

Below I outline which ones I stuck to. And the other events that emerged, with intention, too. And then where I want to head in 2012.

But first I want to discuss “failure”.

My “failures” in 2011 have been observable by many due to the nature of this blog – in real time, with commentary and opinion from virtual strangers (very much literally). Which has been an interesting process to be a part of. But good. Definitely good.

Failure. I’ve had some this year. I observe many of us have. Or rather many of us have had plans that went awry. Complications. False starts. Steps backwards. Recalibrations that involved dismantling a few things in the interim.

But then – and tell me if it was this way for you, too? – the year has somehow ended with some resolution or settling or forgiveness or landing.

This has been the theme this year. It was a massive year. A hard year.

Next week my 8-week I Quit Sugar Program kicks off.  Everyone is welcome to join in – whether you bought the book ages ago, or just now.  Sugar is toxic and it makes us fat. New Year. New Starts. A New Sugar-Free Life. The program is a “let’s do it together effort” with extra info and a webinar where I answer your specific questions.

To get you geared up, over the weekend we’re giving away:

 Natvia pillow packs

Natvia is a natural sweetener derived from the purest and sweetest parts of the stevia plant, a South American plant.

Natvia is one of the ONLY fructose-free sweeteners I endorse in my I Quit Sugar ebook and it’s a RIPPA staple to have stashed in your pantry for when you’re quitting the white poison.

I’ve written about it before here and here. And the I Quit Sugar ebook features several recipes that call for stevia.

Stevia, so you know:

* contains 95% fewer calories than sugar
* is tooth friendly
* contains no aspartame, no saccharin

* is great for baking and cooking (my ebook has a bunch of recipes to try)

What to do next:

* Simply buy a copy of The I Quit Sugar ebook here - for $15 - before 5pm Monday 2nd January, and you’ll receive a Natvia pack (until stock runs out…I’ll advise here and on Twitter if this happens).

PLUS I’m going to give away 10 packs to anyone who’s already bought the book and has asked a great question or shared a great factoid in one of the forums.

* We will email you to get your address and Natvia will send your pack out in the New Year.

Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy these last few days of 2011. 2012 is going to be sweeter…I can just tell.

Since I quit my Sunday Life column I’ve been asked by many of you what tricks and techniques acquired along the way are still part of my life repertoire. As in, the things that actually worked and stuck. Last week I posted some techniques. Here’s some advice that’s stuck really firmly…I do all three techniques below regularly. They work. They’ve made my life better.

photo via Lady Marshmallow

1. I’m thoroughly me.

Sure, but how do you work out what you like doing so you can then go about doing it? The gazillion-dollar question, right? Gretchen advises thinking back to what you liked doing as a kid. Which is very Jungian and fine if you can recall a time when you weren’t trying to fit in to the collective’s idea of fun. Read the full post here.

2. I accept I’m a scanner.

New York-based author Barbara Sher, who coined the term, reckons I’m a classic case. A scanner, she tells me, is genetically wired to be fanatically interested in multiple things at once. “You love everything, right!” Well, yes. “But you get bored and go off on tangents! And you think it’s bad that you keep quitting things and moving on!” Yes, yes, I do! “Don’t! Have some fun with it instead!” Read the full post here.

3. I get deliberate. 

 “You have to get deliberate.” I love this. Deliberate. As in, not flaccidly expecting it to just happen, but, making it happen with focused techniques. Applied with fired-up focus. This means actively letting go of certainty. Do you stall on decisions by asking everyone else around you their opinion? Hey, me too. And, hey, Brown, too. She deliberately notes when this happens. “It’s a red flag.” It means she’s gripping at certainty. When this happens she stops and deliberately sits in the “not knowing” a bit longer. A gut instinct will then always emerge. Read the full post here.

For this post I’ve handed reins over to Jo… to choose some favourites from the year that was. Jo, go for your life!

It’s not an easy gig, picking (only) three of my favourite posts/thoughts/memories to share on the blog. I’m usually attached to each post, for all sorts of reasons on any given day. So I decided to go with posts I had been a little more intimately involved in the behind-the-scenes “The Making Of” earlier this year…
Here’s my (current!) favourite three.

1. Breakfast sausages with Louise Hay.

Sarah was invited to interview Louise Hay earlier this year, and I was lucky enough to have been there on the day – enjoying cups of peppermint tea and breakfast sausages, listening to Louise, amazed by her vitality (at age 85!) and her wisdom. She was wonderfully generous to both Sarah and I, and meeting her was a highlight for me. This is one of my favourite ‘Louise tips’, from Sarah’s interview with Louise:

“Answer the phone and open the mail. She says this a bit. And what she means is, don’t look for outcomes or success. Simply go about your day, doing your job and watch what happens next. Don’t fret. She also says the right things come slowly. Indeed!”

Read the full article here.

2.Getting real, with Brene Brown.

Sarah interviewed Brene after a lecture she gave in North Sydney earlier this year. Again, I was lucky enough to have been invited to the lecture (Brene made us all dance!) and I got to sit in on the interview as well. The three of us sat in a little semi circle, and talked about the nitty gritty of getting real and authentic with LIFE. I adore Brene, and what she stands for, and what she tries to share with the world, and I loved this post.

We’re all soooooooo full. And our livers are ANGRY. And they’re wanting to be cooled down and cleaned out. Yeah? Get into the kitchen and try these recipes. They’re my favourites this time of year – they’ll calm down your internals and help reboot your liver.

rawvocado soup

This is a great time to up the raw food content. I’m a big fan of Ayurvedic medicine and the discipline advises eating cooling foods in summer – cucumber, avocado, green salads. This recipe is an all-time favourite of mine…it heals and soothes and cleans. Full recipe here.

rhubarb and sweet potato stew with coriander oil

All that raw, cool talk aside, its good to complement things with something grounding. Silly Season can blow out our vata. This one’s a great grounding recipe, after all the over-stimulation. Calm your system down with this densely nutritious meal. Find the full recipe here.

kale pesto

Make a batch of this and spread it around. Kale is so cleansing and clean and green.
Get the full recipe here.

 Any green recipes you’re reaching for right now? PS How was your Christmas? Mine was actually really alot of fun. All 6 siblings in town. Every Christmas we do a Boxing Day bush walk…this year it was a complete day of silliness and fence climbing and dumb dares and food competing and river swimming up in the Braidwood area.

Note: This post has been updated! The offer closes Tuesday 27 December 5pm AEST

In January I’m launching an 8-week I Quit Sugar Program – everyone is welcome to join in. What a stupendous time to get off the white poison, no? And just for added incentive we’re giving away:

200 x packs of Riolife organic acai powder, worth $20 each.

This stuff is seriously great (and, so you know, it’s pronounced ah-sigh-ee). The bonus: RioLife’s pure Organic Acai Berry Powder is sustainably sourced and wild harvested from the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, it’s rich in antioxidants, good essential fatty acids omega 3, 6 and 9 and plenty of fibre.

And three more things of note for sugar detoxers:

1. Acai berries contain pretty much no sugar.

2. They’re one of the most anti-oxidising things going around….great for dealing with the toxins as they release over the next few weeks.

3. sprinkled on a range of different “treats” they make for a great dessert (see below) and are a KEY ingredient in my sugar-free pantry.

RioLife add absolutely nothing to their powder, they’re certified organic and the Australian boys behind the brand donate part of the sales to ACAIMU, a project of the Amazon Friendly Program to help build and fund schools in the areas where their Acai berries are sourced.

To try out the berries:

* Simply buy a copy of The I Quit Sugar ebook, $15, here. The first 200 buyers will receive a 50g pack of RioLife’s pure Organic Acai Berry Powder (although, sadly, this giveaway is only available to Australian buyers).

*  Since a few of you have inquired: we will email all giveaway winners and get postal addresses. Look out for Andrew’s note soon.

* Riolife founder Andrew will send your pack out in the New Year, in time for your reboot!

To gear you up, I’ve written before on some ways to use the acai powder here and here. I’m also loving this recipe: