Contemporary Authors

• First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety - 2018 Dey Street Books, New York, NY
• The I Quit Sugar Cookbook: 306 Recipes for a Clean, Healthy Life - 2016 Clarkson Potter, New York, NY
• I Quit Sugar for Life: Your Fad-Free Wholefood Wellness Code and Cookbook - 2014 Macmillan, New York, NY
• I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook - 2014 Clarkson Potter , New York, NY

• Amazon -

  Sarah Wilson is a journalist, entrepreneur, and the New York Times bestselling author of First, We Make the Beast Beautiful and I Quit Sugar. She is the former editor of Australian Cosmopolitan, and she blogs on philosophy, anxiety, minimalism, toxin-free living, and anti-consumerism at sarahwilson.com. She lives in Sydney, rides a bike everywhere, is a compulsive hiker, and is eternally curious.

  Sarah Wilson is a New York Times bestselling author, journalist and founder of IQuitSugar.com. She has published 15 I Quit Sugar books in 46 countries and most recently she published First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, A New Story of Anxiety. She was ranked as one of the top 200 most influential authors in the world in 2017 and 2018, based on web and international book scan algorithms and in Greatist.com’s 100 most influential health experts in 2015.
  Mark Manson has described "The Beast" as “the best book about anxiety” he’s ever read. NBC's Carson Daly cited it as has "favorite book". Former Australian of the Year Prof Patrick McGorry described it as, “indeed quite extraordinary, illuminating what is at once a nomadic journey, a cri de coeur and a compendium of hard-won wisdom flowing from a uniquely talented individual… a tour de force.”
  Other facts that might interest: Sarah was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan Magazine Australia at 29, the host of MasterChef Australia, holds a record in the Guinness Book (you can Google that further if you like), is a mad hiker, explorer and minimalist. She lives between the US and Bondi Beach, Sydney and ocean swims most days.

• Sarah Wilson website - http://www.sarahwilson.com

  Sarah Wilson is a New York Times bestselling author, former journalist and founder of IQuitSugar.com, Australia’s largest digital wellness site. Most recently she published First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, A New Story of Anxiety, which has been a bestseller in Australia and will be published in the US and UK in April 2018. On the side, always she campaigns against consumerist waste.
  If you’re after lots of official guff, mostly written by others…
  Sarah had her first business at 12, got her start in journalism redesigning the restaurant pages of a News Corp magazine on work experience (she taught herself Quark overnight; the editor gave her the reviewer job) becoming News Corp’s youngest opinion columnist at 24 was appointed Cosmopolitan editor at 29 and then hosted the first season of MasterChef, the most watched season of any show in Australian history.
  In 2008, however, Sarah was struck down with thyroid disease, forcing her to leave her career. She set out to heal herself via experiments she shared online; quitting sugar was one such. An early adopter of technologies she developed an engaged online community ahead of the curve. She soon realised a gap in the market for a solution to the sugar problem…so she created the world’s first consumer quit program, initially as an e-book (she self-published her 8-week program), then as an online product, which she ran solo for two years.
  Sarah’s a hyper-vigilant researcher and liaised with international biology and endocrinal experts to develop the most effective techniques for breaking fructose addiction. Some of the nascent science she surfaced has since informed the WHO’s nutritional guidelines and Sarah is regarded as an international pioneer in the realm. Her 8-Week Program was the world’s leading (if not only) consumer sugar-quitting program, completed by 1.5 million people in 113 countries, before she closed it in March 2018 for reasons she highlights here.
  Sarah’s I Quit Sugar series of books (there are now 15 titles) sell in 46 countries, the first becoming a New York Times bestseller and winning the ABIA publishing award in 2014. All four titles currently sit in the Australian lifestyle top ten-bestseller list. She was ranked in Greatist.com’s 100 most influential health experts in 2015 and as one of the top 200 most influential authors in the world in 2017 and 2018, based on web and international book scan algorithms. This is a science-backed ranking evaluating influence. She was the winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the year 2017 Regional Award.
  Sarah’s publisher writes…
  that she, “gravitates to ‘hard problems’ and intrepidly tries to solve them so she can pass on the hard-earned wisdoms to all who want to make life better”. She applied this formula to quitting sugar and now to the force in her life that’s brought the most pain and become her finest teacher: Anxiety. Her latest book ‘first, we make the beast beautiful’ encourages the myriad souls who dance with the condition to live the better life with anxiety. Maverick US bestselling author Mark Manson has described it as “the best book about anxiety” he’s ever read. Former Australian of the Year Prof Patrick McGorry described it as, “indeed quite extraordinary, illuminating what is at once a nomadic journey, a cri de coeur and a compendium of hard-won wisdom flowing from a uniquely talented individual… a tour de force.”
  If you wish to know what floats her boat…
  Eating, hiking, ocean swimming, bike riding, not owning very much and living life light. She has lived out of two suitcases for almost 8 years.

• Whimn - https://www.whimn.com.au/talk/people/the-real-reason-sarah-wilson-quit-i-quit-sugar/news-story/fadde518c5bcefb460af817f95581eb1

  The Real Reason Sarah Wilson Quit 'I Quit Sugar'

  "It felt soul-destroying."
  Jessica Rapana
  Whimn
  April 23, 20189:05am

  Sarah Wilson
  Sarah Wilson has opened up about her shock decision to close her multimillion anti-sugar empire, fending off rumours the business had began failing.
  The former magazine editor tells StellarI Quit Sugar "got to a point where it had gone from being a joy — creating, inventing, connecting with people — to a business concern."
  "It felt soul-destroying. It felt wrong," she says.
  While she didn’t want to “keep doing that scale, scale, scale, sell, sell, sell”, Wilson says she tried to sell the business but couldn’t find a buyer she could trust.

  Stellar cover with Sarah Wilson. Image: Georges Antoni.
  “My noggin is all over packaging and books. I would find it very difficult to sit back and watch somebody take my brand and face and do all kinds of things that I don’t agree with.”
  Her decision was not one that was financially motivated, Wilson says. "Money doesn't matter to me. I am aware that nobody else does it this way — that it seems insane. But I’ve always wanted to challenge the capitalist model."
  So, she decided to pull the plug in February this year, sparking accusations the business had begun failing or that she was jumping off the sugar ship before it sank. Both of which she denies.

  Image: Stellar.
  Now, having invested enough money to support her modest lifestyle until she is 94, the 44-year-old plans to focus on other passion projects, travel and maybe even motherhood.
  Wilson admitted she has tried artificial insemination with donor sperm twice, with both attempts resulting in pregnancies and miscarriages. The most recent being in February.
  However, Wilson said despite the adds given her age, she still planned to try again but had no plans of trying IVF or a donor egg.
  “I kind of feel that if my body is meant to hold a baby, it will do it on its own. If it’s not, I trust the flow of life — I am meant to do something else.
  "I have a responsibility now I have this security not to be the sad person who just wants more, more, more, more. That’s a recipe for misery.”

• Sydney Morning Herald - https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/health-and-wellness/sarah-wilson-to-close-i-quit-sugar-20180222-h0whgn.html

  Sarah Wilson to close I Quit Sugar
  By Mary Ward
  Updated22 February 2018 — 3:27pmfirst published at 1:19pm
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  Sarah Wilson has announced she is closing her health and wellness business, I Quit Sugar.
  The former Masterchef host made the announcement on her website on Wednesday.

  Sarah Wilson made the announcement on her website on Wednesday.
  "Seven years into a movement, five years into a business, I feel my work in the realm is done," Wilson wrote.
  In her statement, she said she would be closing the business in order to uphold a commitment to not taking on advertising.
  "Recently I've realised that to remain true to my original commitment, I must pivot course," she wrote, later adding, "I'm an educator, a communicator. Not a money-spinner."

  Wilson said she made the decision to depart the business 12 months ago, intending to sell. However, staying with the business during a transition period for a potential new owner was something Wilson said she "could not and would not do".
  "But, you see, for a business that has the founder's name and noggin all over it, my stance didn't gel in the market," Wilson said. "I suspect many also had a hard time understanding why a founder would want to walk from a successful business."
  Wilson, who edited Cosmopolitan magazine in the mid-2000s and has worked as a columnist for Fairfax Media and News Corp, said she would be sticking with advocacy but shifting her focus, noting she had "more education campaigns to ignite".
  "The anxiety discussion, the food-waste movement… this is where I need to be," she said. "As I say, my job is done in the sugar-free space and it would be remiss of me stay on board just to extract money for myself."
  Wilson started what would become I Quit Sugar in 2011, after giving up sugar as an experiment for her Sunday Life column. The experience led to an e-Book, which was then published in hard copy the following year.

  Her business grew rapidly. Wilson is the author of three New York Times bestsellers on the subject, which have been translated into 12 languages.
  According to her website, 1.5 million people worldwide have signed up to I Quit Sugar's eight-week nutrition program. The last round of the program will run in early April.
  With its ubiquity, I Quit Sugar has often been the butt of jokes directed at the wellness industry.
  The movement was famously parodied by Australian comedians Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney in their web series, The Katering Show, a light roasting which Wilson described as "friggen funny".

• News - https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/mind/i-quit-sugars-sarah-wilson-on-her-new-book-about-anxiety-first-we-make-the-beast-beautiful/news-story/da5fa26a6f936c8b7cba5ed78fe281de

  I Quit Sugar’s Sarah Wilson on her new book about anxiety ‘First, We Make The Beast Beautiful’
  SARAH Wilson is famous for her conversion to a sugar free life. But she also spent year’s battling anxiety and she’s paid a heavy price.

  Rebecca Sullivan@beck_sullivan

  news.com.au
  March 18, 20179:44am

  Sarah Wilson is the founder of the I Quit Sugar and now she’s written a book about her experience with anxiety.Source:Supplied
  SARAH Wilson happily admits that she has made a living out of telling people things they don’t want to hear.
  For the founder of the popular I Quit Sugar movement, those uncomfortable ideas include the following: Sugar is terrible for our health, our food waste habits are killing the planet and her latest, that we should embrace anxiety — a mental illness that affects 14 per cent of Australians — as a beautiful condition.
  “I have almost made a career out of tackling difficult subjects,” Wilson, 43, told news.com.au. “The reason I do what I do is to have big, mindful conversations with people who are as equally passionate about getting to the bottom of these subjects as I am,” she said.
  Her new book First, We Make The Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety, chronicles her own life-threatening battle with anxiety. She suggests the solution to coping with the condition can be found by embracing its quirks and obsessions.
  Wilson is frequently asked if she thinks medicine will ever find a cure for anxiety. Her response is, “Well, do we really want to completely cure it?” Being anxious and on-edge is part of her identity — and something she credits for fuelling her successful career — and she is reluctant to let that go.

  Sarah Wilson has been criticised for advocating a sugar-free diet. Picture: Tim Hunter.Source:News Corp Australia

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  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is used to diagnose mental illnesses, defines anxiety as “excessive anxiety and worry”.
  But it’s more than just feeling stressed or worried, like we all do at times. Anxiety is when these anxious feelings don’t go away — when they’re ongoing and happen without any particular reason or cause.
  Wilson was diagnosed with childhood anxiety and insomnia at age 12, then bulimia in her late teens, followed by OCD, depression and bipolar disorder in her early twenties. She has seen about three dozen psychologists and psychiatrists and has gone on and off medication for years.
  She has attempted to take her own life two times and regularly has anxiety attacks — she keeps Valium in her bathroom for times like this. Now, the former editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and MasterChef Australia host manages her illness with a good diet, meditation, weekly hikes and ocean swims, therapy and medication. And yes, she believes not eating sugar can significantly reduce feelings of anxiety.

  But it is still a daily battle for her to cope. It’s also difficult for her friends and loved ones to always understand what she is going through.
  “Anxiety is a very lonely condition because it’s your own weird thoughts in your head and it’s very hard to share it,” Wilson said.
  “It can become too hard and too big and that’s a really hard thing. It is very lonely and when people drop away because it’s too big for them and they can’t hold you when you’re going through a tough time. It’s the rudest, hardest, slap in the face.”
  Wilson has a term for people who don’t experience anxiety — Life Naturals. “They have a really hard time trying to fathom what we’re doing,” she said.
  Life Naturals find it baffling that deciding what to do this weekend or what to have for lunch can cause a spiral of erratic, worried thoughts.
  “It might seem ridiculous, because the rest of the time we seem so A-type, so it can come across as really strange. ‘What do you mean you can’t decide between avo toast and scrambled eggs? Just pick one!’”

  Picture: Tim Hunter.Source:News Corp Australia

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  She refers to her former partner, with whom she split while writing the book, as The Life Natural. The book is peppered with anecdotes about how the couple struggled to join their personalities — hers, neurotic, and his, annoyingly laid-back — into a long-term relationship.
  “The Life Natural disappeared for a few weeks, then emerged to tell me my anxiety was too big for him. He couldn’t ride with me. He was deeply sorry,” she writes.
  “This remains the hardest, most unresolved part of the anxious journey for me, and for many I’ve had the conversation with. The journey has to be done on your own. This is a terribly lonely thing to have to live with. And the loneliness hurts like hell, out there in the dark on your own.”
  When asked by a close friend, a Life Natural, why she was writing the book, Wilson said it was because she was tired of feeling lonely.
  “When you’re anxious, it’s terribly lonely, but what we can do is reach out to each other and say ‘I know’,” she said.
  “I’m sick of not talking about what matters in life, about ugly, taboo subjects like loneliness. My book is very much about ‘I am terribly lonely and if I can let other people know that, well at least we can be lonely together’.”
  Talking about taboo subjects has made Wilson an easy target for criticism. There are those who argue quitting sugar is “extreme” and encourages disordered eating, or that stealing leftovers off the plates of fellow diners — as Wilson often does to reduce food waste — is unhygienic and well, just plain weird.
  Wilson says she doesn’t take any of it personally.
  “I don’t blame people for being resistant and finding it challenging. People need to take some time to get used to the idea and I don’t take it personally and rarely do I get hurt,” she said.
  “I’m in the business of telling people what they don’t want to be told. I’m old enough to kind of go ‘Yeah, I get it’.
  “It’s not called ‘You Must Quit Sugar’. It’s more, ‘I quit sugar, I gave it a go, why don’t you?’ It’s a conversation and at no point do I arrive at the end or a definite answer. It’s not ‘I’m cured and to have it as wonderful a life as mine, you need to follow these steps’. I don’t want to put myself out there as some incredible inspiration.”
  For now, she’s found a way to make peace with her “little mate” anxiety and keep it under control. When she does spiral, she knows how to fix it and is able to extract herself quickly.
  “For me, it’s been a choice. I’ve committed and I’ve chosen,” she said.
  I’ve chosen to ensure my anxiety doesn’t get too wobbly and control my life and day-to-day I’m ever vigilant. It’s just life.”
  First, We Make The Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety is available now for $34.99 from Pan Macmillan.
  rebecca.sullivan@news.com.au

• Stuff - https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/101659698/i-quit-sugar-founder-sarah-wilson-shutters-business-to-focus-on-other-campaigns

  I Quit Sugar founder Sarah Wilson quits to focus on other campaigns and own health

  21

  Sarah Wilson is a New York Times best-selling author.

  The best-selling author behind the I Quit Sugar empire is shutting down her business.
  Australian entrepreneur Sarah Wilson announced the closure on her website, saying it took "a lot of careful thought and heartache".
  The 44-year-old claimed she was not a "money-spinner", rather "an educator, a communicator". Money had become too central to the business and the pressure was impacting her health.

  Sarah Wilson's I Quit Sugar business, in seven years, gained a cult-like following.

  "Seven years into a movement, five years into a business, I feel my work in the realm is done. I set out to educate the world about the truth of our eating habits and to find a technique that could shift things in a meaningful way.
  READ MORE:
  * What's inside I Quit Sugar author Sarah Wilson's kitchen
  * Sarah Wilson's 'I Quit Sugar Ultimate Chocolate Cookbook' isn't worth your time or money
  * Nutritionist says don't quit sugar
  "Once we arrived at the point where "scale" – growing the existing structure exponentially – was required, I realised the motivator now was money," Wilson wrote in a letter to supporters.
  The Sydney Morning Herald reported the website made more than $4 million a year three years ago. The business turned over $534,000 in its first year.
  Wilson said she had agonised over the decision.

  "I hope you respect it's not been made lightly, nor entirely selfishly. Yes, admittedly, my health – mental and physical – and my belief in living a life motivated by values were considerations."

  Wilson hinted that she would turn her attention to the food waste movement and issues around anxiety - something she suffered from.
  While Wilson entertained selling her business, she said that meant continuing on for a time in "golden handcuffs".
  "And so, after 12 months of a protracted set of discussions with various parties, some who came within millimetres of purchase, I have had to make what I believe is the best entrepreneurial decision I can: I'm closing, not selling."
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  "It would be remiss of me stay on board just to extract money for myself. In my experience in the entrepreneurial space, this is a recipe for eventual disaster. I've watched such a storyline unfold many times over. Instead, I now hand the baton to you, the community. The information is out there. Use it. Please spread the word."
  The business would continue until the final people subscribed to the I Quit Sugar course had finished - the final course was in early April.
  - Stuff

• London Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/mar/30/sarah-wilson-on-living-with-anxiety-theres-no-sugarcoating-mental-illness

  Sarah Wilson on living with anxiety: there’s no sugarcoating mental illness
  Her cookbook I Quit Sugar made her the face of health and wellness, but Wilson’s memoir, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, traverses much darker terrain

  Brigid Delaney
  Thu 30 Mar 2017 01.40 BST
  Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 15.15 GMT

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  Sarah Wilson’s memoir, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful, is about her struggles with anxiety. Photograph: Pan Macmillan
  I
  f you’ve visited a bookshop in the last few years, you would have found it hard to avoid a tanned and lean Sarah Wilson beaming out at you from the covers on the front shelves. Her cookbooks, I Quit Sugar and Simplicious, have been bestsellers, and her name is synonymous with terms such as “clean living” and “vitality”.
  Wilson’s latest book couldn’t be more different. The cover is dark blue, with an illustration of a gloomy octopus – even the title itself seems like something from a poetry collection with a small print run.
  First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is the story of Wilson’s struggle with anxiety – and it is a harrowing, sometimes claustrophobic read. The writing has an intensity reminiscent of journal entries, and the reader, brought close to Wilson’s pain, is liable to feel slightly anxious too.
  I've heard all the arguments against a sugar tax. I'm still calling for one in Australia
  Sarah Wilson
  Read more

  Anxiety is not a new thing in Wilson’s life. In the book we shuttle back and forth between time periods: there’s Wilson at 13, taken to see a counsellor for insomnia; there she is as a teenager, discovered in a shopping centre and encouraged to model but feeling different and separate from other girls; there she is in Santa Cruz as a university exchange student having a breakdown and returning home, only to be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. There are the fast, high-pressure years editing Cosmopolitan magazine and self-medicating with a bottle of wine a night, followed by her time on MasterChef, when she was trying to cope with an increasingly debilitating autoimmune disease.
  Now, aged 43 and a successful entrepreneur with her I Quit Sugar program (it’s not just a program but a mini-industry), the anxiety has come along for the ride. But lately she has been thinking differently about it, wondering if it can actually be a force for good – if she has found success because of, not in spite of, her anxiety. This is the act of “making the beast beautiful”, a departure from the usual positive-thinking literature, which encourages people to overcome adversity, rather than Wilson’s tactic of embracing it.

  “There have been a lot of successful people throughout history who have had anxiety – including people like Churchill,” Wilson tells Guardian Australia. “If you look at the history of writers and entrepreneurs, many have some sort of anxiety disorder. I thought it was time that we [had] a new conversation around it.”
  The idea for a book about anxiety came to Wilson a couple of years ago when she was on a panel at the Melbourne writers’ festival: “I was talking about sugar but all the questions were about anxiety. People are desperate to have a deep and proper and real conversation about anxiety.”
  She admits wanted to tell her own story, “because I am sick of feeling lonely”.

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  “Anxiety is a very lonely condition but I feel like there’s a yearning out there to connect over it,” Wilson says.
  Since the book was published at the end of February, Wilson has been swamped with people writing to her about their own issues with anxiety, or the anxiety of loved ones.
  “The feedback and engagement has indeed been overwhelming. I’m receiving hundreds, sometimes thousands, of emails, tweets, letters, texts and calls every day,” she wrote this week on her blog.
  The number of people reporting anxiety-related problems has risen sharply in Australia over the past few years, from 3.8% of the total population in 2011–2012 to 11.2% in 2014–2015, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

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  Sarah Wilson: ‘Anxiety is a very lonely condition but I feel like there’s a yearning out there to connect over it.’ Photograph: Pan Macmillan
  Wilson divides the experience of anxiety into a couple of camps. “You have this thing I call ‘fair enough’ anxiety, which a lot of people experience. It comes from things like public speaking or going through a divorce. Then you have disordered anxiety – and that can overtake your life. There’s not a rational trigger – it’s in your cells, it’s in your bones.
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  “Everyday anxiety is on the increase and the things that are part of modern life drive it. We are in a permanent state of frenetic, highly agitated states of being; not getting enough sleep, rushing, too much work, not enough balance – stressful conditions. We’re emulating anxious conditions in our everyday living. It’s in how we applaud A-type behaviour.”
  Wilson is still rolling with the punches. The book doesn’t sugarcoat life with anxiety, and its final chapters deal with Wilson suffering a miscarriage and a relationship breakup. She even notes, almost casually, that during the time she wrote the book, she attempted suicide twice.
  Readers, particularly those who only knew the beaming, sugar-free Wilson from her cookbooks, might feel quite concerned for her.
  “I was very honest about detailing self-harm,” Wilson says. “Nobody talks about the really ugly stuff.”
  Is she going to be OK?
  Defy the 'wellness' industry: here are some simple ways to feel better in 2017
  Brigid Delaney

  Read more

  “I do have anxiety and I have a good life,” says Wilson. “I would not have my business if I did not have these [anxious] episodes. In terms of my business, I have a GM in place and I have a team and I set it up so they don’t rely on me. And each year that passes my hands-on operational work reduces and reduces. In order to manage my anxiety I have to put in place healthy practices. It has enabled me to disappear and live in an Airbnb at the beach, or to travel or take off hiking whenever I need to.”
  Anxiety can be managed, says Wilson. “You just have to find your path with it.”
  • First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson is published by Pan Macmillan
  • Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14; Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78

• ABC - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-19/sarah-wilson-making-the-beast-beautiful-anxiety/8355808

  Making the 'beast' beautiful: What if your anxiety could be useful?
  By Jessica Martin
  Updated 18 Mar 2017, 9:18pm

  Photo: Sarah Wilson says she has a responsibility to facilitate a conversation about anxiety. (Supplied)
  Related Story: Healthy habits that can help to ease anxiety
  Related Story: Bipolar: Like a grunge song or a good luck potion
  There's a chapter in Sarah Wilson's new book about anxiety — First, We Make The Beast Beautiful — which conjures the image and sound of a bath being drained of water.
  In it, Wilson — journalist, ex-reality TV host, sugar-quitter, author — describes her experiences with what she calls anxiety spirals and how they take over the "everyday beige buzzing or background anxiety" she feels most days.
  An often-innocuous moment — such as someone not calling when they said they would, or not being able to decide weekend plans — will set in motion a deluge of anxious thoughts and competing potential fixes that builds into a screeching (bath draining) crescendo.
  "Some days I can slow things down, piece apart the thoughts and break the cycle," she writes. "But on others the force is too much and down I go into the abyss."
  It's an abyss the 43-year-old has come to know intimately over the last three decades, and one 14 per cent of Australians will be affected by in any 12-month period, making anxiety the most common mental health issue in the country.
  Diagnosed at age 12, Wilson has also experienced insomnia, bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression and mania, and bipolar disorder, all of which she says are just different flavours of anxiety.
  "I think having a diagnosis when I was younger was helpful because it allowed some breathing space; it was a shelf I could put my behaviour on," Wilson tells me over the phone.
  "But it never sat comfortably with me, and I've spent decades now investigating what is actually going on."
  Down black holes and spirals
  Indeed, First, We Make The Beast Beautiful is a study in anxiety, both in the scientific research, facts and figures it presents, and in the way it's presented.

  Photo: Fourteen per cent of Australians will be affected by anxiety in any 12-month period. (Supplied: Pan Macmillan Australia)

  Describing her racing mind after not sleeping for six nights straight, Wilson writes: "Flooding through my head are thoughts about the emails that I need to send in the morning. I come up with an opening line for my next chapter. I map out my route to work tomorrow.
  "I come up with an idea for a friend's business, and the logo. And I work out the significance of one of Adele's lyrics.
  "These thoughts happen all at once in an explosion outwards."
  Which is a near perfect summation of the nature of the book and anxiety both.
  Research mentioned early on in the book suggests a chemical imbalance in the brain causes anxiety and other mood disorders; some people are content with this explanation and take medication to ease their symptoms.
  But for Wilson, who has taken anti-anxiety medication in the past, there's something else driving her anxiety, something deeper that warrants uncoiling.
  "I have a visceral desire to know what we're here for," Wilson says.
  "Nothing is more important to me that that. And it's a big question that has sent me down rabbit holes and black holes and spirals, and at times different parts of my brain can't deal with the magnitude, and so I flip out every now and then."
  The Big Trick for people with anxiety
  Or sometimes, with no rhyme, reason, cancelled dinner plan, work stress, or Big Question, it's just there.
  "I now know that my anxiety doesn't have to be caused by anything particularly fear-inducing," Wilson writes.
  "After more than three decades of it coursing through my veins, anxiety is sometimes simply in my bones."

  Photo: I wouldn't give back the richness, the depth, the emotional spectrum I've experienced because of anxiety, says Sarah Wilson. (Facebook: Sarah Wilson)

  Helpfully, the avid researcher describes myriad ways to help cope with these debilitating moments.
  If you've picked up a women's magazine or read a wellness blog in the last 10 years, some strategies will sound familiar — gratitude journals, yoga, meditation and other mindfulness techniques are usual suspects.
  There are also less obvious tips and tricks: get fitted for sports shoes (the touch and care of the shoe attendant is apparently calming), walk slowly with controlled breathing, quit sugar, study the tortured minds of philosophers, writers and artists who know the taste of existential crisis very well.
  And then, weaved gently throughout the book so as to not overwhelm racing or troubled minds, the big trick — the one that, if worked on diligently, is likely to make a lasting difference.
  Sit with, and really feel, your anxiety.
  This, Wilson says, will lead us to ourselves. "It's like we're searching for a Something Else that makes us feel... what?" she writes. "Like we've landed, I suppose. And that things are all good on this patch."
  Which is easier said than done, of course.
  Managing anxiety is a lonely, 24/7 job
  It's uncomfortable being present with any so-called negative emotion.
  The desire to distract yourself (with alcohol, emails, destructive relationships) can be strong and much easier to slip into than the work — mental, spiritual, and physical — it takes to train yourself to be at peace with the discomfort of being human.

  Photo: The vigilance managing anxiety requires is exhausting, Wilson says. (Pexels.com: Kaique Rocha)

  Plus, as anyone with anxiety, depression or other mental health issues knows, the work is hard.
  It's lonely and confronting; frustrating and tiring. It also takes breaks from actually working, which is disheartening at best and life threatening at worst.
  "The vigilance is exhausting," concedes Wilson. "Sometimes I think, 'Why does it have to be so relentless?' [Managing anxiety] is a 24/7 job.
  "But it makes it easier when I realise, as someone with my experience and platform, that I have a responsibility to facilitate a conversation about it."
  Which, incidentally, is one of the reasons she wrote the book.
  "I'd write about anxiety on my blog and each time I did people became very engaged," she says.
  "Anxiety is a very lonely condition; when you're anxious you've got to suffer alone.
  "But we can all reach out and let each other know that we're not on our own, there's other people going through the same thing."
  Making the beast beautiful
  Not each facet of Wilson's journey with anxiety will ring true for everyone.
  Not everyone will, like she did, move house seven times in two years for fear of being stuck anywhere too long.
  Not everyone will shower as many as 30 times a night or run aimlessly through Florence at 2:00am.

  Photo: Anxiety is a very lonely condition — when you're anxious you've got to suffer alone, says Wilson. (Facebook: Sarah Wilson)

  Not everyone will punch a hole in the wall at work, like Wilson did in an anxious "flip out" in her Masterchef trailer.
  Not everyone will isolate themselves from loved ones and move to a shed in the bush for months, find it nearly impossible to have a romantic relationship, or attempt suicide.
  If you or anyone you know needs help:
  Lifeline on 13 11 14
  Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800
  MensLine Australia on 1300 789 978
  Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
  Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
  Headspace on 1800 650 890
  QLife on 1800 184 527

  But Wilson's ultimate message, about fully exploring your affliction, accepting it, and discovering what it can teach you about the beauty of life, is something anyone with anxiety can do.
  "There's no point wishing I didn't have anxiety; it is what it is," she says.
  "But I also wouldn't give it up. I wouldn't give back the richness, the depth, the emotional spectrum I've experienced.
  "Anxiety is the thing that takes you down, this anxiety about not knowing what life is about takes you down. But it's also the thing that ultimately takes you to where the answer lies."
  Which is to say, the beast becomes beautiful.
  Topics: non-fiction, relationships, mental-health

  , people, meditation-and-prayer, australia
  First posted 18 Mar 2017, 9:15pm

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety

Publishers Weekly. 265.10 (Mar. 5, 2018): p61.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety
Sarah Wilson. Dey Street, $25.99 (320p)
ISBN 978-0-06-283678-6
Journalist Wilson (1 Quit Sugar) borrows the title of this uplifting, earnest memoir from a Chinese proverb on the theme of acceptance: using one's anxiety to find purpose, she believes, can make life beautiful. Wilson, one of seven siblings who grew up poor in the Australian bush outside of Canberra, suffered from anxiety for years (as well as from OCD, bipolar disorder, and Hashimoto's, a disease of the thyroid) and here explores the condition from many angles, meandering, as she explains, "through disciplines and between polemic, didactic and memoir." In the opening chapter, Wilson asks the Dalai Lama how to stop the internal "fretty chatter that makes us so nervous" ("There's no use," he says. "Impossible"). Later, she observes that the "correlation between creative contribution ... and anxiety is well documented." She offers simple tricks and practices throughout the book to reduce anxiety, including making one's bed every morning and learning to meditate. Wilson also points out that anxiety can have some benefits: anxious folks, for instance, tend to be good planners. Amusing, practical, and filled with delightful asides, this book will appeal to anxiety-prone readers, who will find much to calm them in these pages. Agent: Stacy Testa, Writers House. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety." Publishers Weekly, 5 Mar. 2018, p. 61. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530430310/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=eb289476. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A530430310

Wilson, Sarah: FIRST, WE MAKE THE BEAST BEAUTIFUL

Kirkus Reviews. (Mar. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Wilson, Sarah FIRST, WE MAKE THE BEAST BEAUTIFUL Dey Street/HarperCollins (Adult Nonfiction) $25.99 5, 1 ISBN: 978-0-06-283678-6
An affecting memoir of coping with anxiety over a busy lifetime.
"I am anxious often," writes Australian TV journalist Wilson (I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook, 2014). "But it's kept in check if I don't get anxious about being anxious." In a pleasantly meandering narrative that mixes what the author characterizes as "polemic, didactic and memoir," she ticks off a long list of the many afflictions that she's suffered: depression, hypomania, bipolar disorder, bulimia, insomnia, and, ever since childhood, anxiety. In response to them, she writes, she's tried about everything, from various chemical amelioratives to neurolinguistic programming, Freudian psychotherapy, and even "sand play." All of those illnesses, she avers, were variations on the same theme: anxiety, pure and simple. And she's not alone; even though anxiety wasn't classified as a mental disorder until 1980, as many as 1 in 6 people in the First World suffer from it, and men in particular suffer from anxiety in greater numbers than from depression. The developed-world part is important, since Wilson later wonders whether anxiety may not be a bourgeois sort of problem. In whatever instance, she observes, the whole business is a mess: "Anxiety...it's befuddling and clusterfucky for everyone involved." Having sorted through what she can, the author then looks into various things that she's tried to deploy in order to ward off anxiety, from taking a long walk to trying to declutter a mental lifestyle that, as she memorably puts it, requires us to "keep multiple tabs open in our brains, which sees us toggle back and forth between tasks and commitments and thoughts. And all of it competes. And it clusters. And down we go in a hyper-tabbed tangle." Small wonder that she quietly hints that it may be time to try a few psychedelics.
Those who endure anxiety will find Wilson's thoughtful, often funny self-analysis to be just the right companion and affirmation.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Wilson, Sarah: FIRST, WE MAKE THE BEAST BEAUTIFUL." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528959917/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=5dc59f96. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A528959917

• Fit Yourself Club
  https://fityourself.club/a-review-of-sarah-wilsons-first-we-make-the-beast-beautiful-f07d96a8f244
  Word count: 1144

  Zachary HouleFollow
  Book critic, Fiction author, Poet, Writer, Editor. Follow me on Twitter @zachary_houle.
  Apr 26

  Sarah Wilson
  A Review of Sarah Wilson’s “First, We Make the Beast Beautiful”
  A Rambling Raconteur

  “First, We Make the Beast Beautiful” Book Cover
  1. This is a book review of journalist Sarah Wilson’s memoir on anxiety, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful.
  2. The book is written in a unique style. It is simply a series of notes, and this review is playfully mimicking the structure of the book (so you’ll know what to encounter when you read it).
  3. This is a memoir, but it’s also not really one. It has personal stories and anecdotes, but it also contains stats, medical research, blog post comments, self-improvement tips and much more. There isn’t a real logic behind how these things appear — they are ordered on the author’s whim. You’ll either go with the flow or be frustrated. Your call. This is something I don’t want to necessarily criticize, because it is a novel way of doing things and there’s a method to the madness, if you’ll pardon the idiom.
  4. The book might be a bit of a jumble as the author is not only an anxiety sufferer, but has multiple mental and physical health issues. So this is not a knock. The book is a product of the author’s illnesses, and the writing style matches that by veering off into wild tangents that may or may not relate to anxiety, with breathless sentences that run on in a mad dash to corral her worries with footnotes tucked away in these ramblings (usually, they’re something her publisher has said to her) and the overall feeling that this creates is a random selection of entries, which means you can pretty much start reading this book in the middle and it’ll still make some sense. If you tolerated that last sentence, you will love Sarah Wilson’s writing style. If not, you may knit your brow at times.
  5. Regardless of whether or not you like the style of the read, it is filled with interesting tidbits. One thing I learned about anxiety is that society basically functions as a result of having worrywarts in it. Many famous world leaders had anxiety. So, too, were a select group of gorillas that Dian Fossey researched. This book notes that Fossey decided to remove those anxiety-stricken gorillas from the group. She came back some months later to discover that the other gorillas had perished. It seems that group survival hinged on having jittery gorillas in the pack to alert the others to impending danger. Now that’s interesting.
  6. The book also has intriguing techniques worth trying. I might take a stab at sleeping on the other end of the bed, in reverse from how I normally sleep. (That is, sleeping with my head at the foot of the bed.) While reading this book, I also cut down on my caffeine consumption. Wilson, author of a previous book called I Quit Sugar, makes the case of cutting back on processed foods and anything sugar-related to quell those stomach butterflies.
  7. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful also had some interesting points on some of my own anxiety-quelling practices. I do Christian meditation occasionally, which is very similar to the meditation Wilson describes in her work. She notes that when you turn away from your mantra, that’s just little bubbles that are floating up in your brain — which is your cranium’s way of dealing with whatever ails you. I’ve always thought that turning away from the mantra was something of a bad thing, that the mantra is something you always have to return to and have God-like focus on. That still may be the case, but Wilson postulates that the thoughts that come to you when you’re (supposed to be) meditating aren’t necessarily a bad thing. That was kind of news to me.
  8. Is First, We Make the Beast Beautiful a book worth reading if you are an anxiety sufferer? The answer is, it depends. As I’ve already noted, there is a vast array of useful information in the volume. That alone makes it worth the price of admission. However, the author’s rambling style may actually be anxiety inducing for some. That’s not a personal criticism of the author or her choices, but, as I was reading the book, I was going through a bit of a crisis in my life and found that I could really feel the author’s anxiety lifting off the printed page. Instead of being a soothing tonic, I found this title to be frantic and brought out the sweats in me.
  9. Thus, on one hand, the book is helpful. On the other hand, the book may escalate the anxiety that you feel. Therefore, it really depends on your temperament as to how you may feel about reading this title. You may actually enjoy the author’s candor and ability to write how she feels. For others, it may be a chore. So, again, it really depends on your temperament and how much anxiety reading about anxiety you might want to have. This is not a soothing, “talk yourself off the cliff edge” kind of read. This is more a “written from the heart” style of writing.
  10. What about me? As you can tell, I feel a bit on the fence about this book. I see the good, I see the bad, you take them both and then you have First, We Make the Beast Beautiful. I don’t want to criticize the style too much as the writing feels deeply personal, and I don’t want to be in a position where I’m criticizing someone’s personality as opposed to the content. The content itself is good and well researched (with the caveat that Wilson openly acknowledges she is not a medical professional). I guess I’d say find a copy of the book in your library or bookstore, and read a few pages at random. If you don’t find your gut going all squiggly, you’ll be in for a reading delight. If not, maybe something else will work better. Still, First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a utilitarian read full of tidbits and trivia.
  11. Sounds like tidbits and trivia is your cup of tea? Dive right in.
  Sarah Wilson’s First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety was published by Dey Street Books on April 24, 2018.
  Of course, if you like what you see, please recommend this piece (click on the clapping hands icon below) and share it with your followers.

• Foodwatch
  https://foodwatch.com.au/reviews/item/diet-book-review-i-quit-sugar.html
  Word count: 1431

  Diet Book Review: I Quit Sugar
  Written by Catherine Saxelby on Wednesday, 25 February 2015.
  Tagged: Diet, nutrition, sugar, Weight loss

  Should you give up sugar entirely? And what about fruit? Is sugar a ‘poison’ or a ‘toxin’ as some people claim? Will you lose weight and have more energy? Written by Australian journalist Sarah Wilson, the book I Quit Sugar outlines the dangers of fructose in particular and sugar in general and provides an 8-week program for removing these substances from your daily diet. Here’s my review.
  Fear of fructose
  According to Sarah, fructose is your enemy. When she talks about sugar, she means fructose. She claims fructose encourages us to eat more, converts directly to fat and ‘makes us sick’. She believes sugar, which is composed of one molecule of fructose joined to one molecule of glucose, is a drug. She claims it ‘interacts with reward systems in the brain in much the same ways as addictive drugs’. Therefore a modest amount of sugar – as suggested by dietitians and government agencies - is not achievable because even just a taste of it sets off a desire for more. Much more.
  Where is fructose?
  According to Sarah, fructose is found in:
  Table sugar (50% fructose + 50% glucose)
  Honey (40% fructose)
  Agave (70-90% fructose)
  Bananas 55% sugar over half of which is fructose
  In the IQS Plan, you’re asked to quit:
  Fresh and dried fruit, fruit juice
  Muesli and muesli bars
  Jams, even if no added sugar
  Condiments containing sugar e.g. tomato and barbecue sauces, balsamic vinegar
  Flavoured yoghurts
  Honey
  Agave
  Palm and coconut sugar
  Chocolate, soft drink etc.
  Here are the 8 weeks on the IQS program:
  Start to cut back
  Operation eat fat
  Quit!
  Face the demons
  Get creative, experiment and detox
  Add some sweetness back in
  Recovering from lapses1
  Refining and moving forward
  Sarah suggests it takes 2 months to quit sugar i.e. 8 weeks, hence the 8 week program. The book advocates that when you first quit, you should quit everything sweet, not just added sugar. Rid yourself of fruit, honey, fruit juice.
  At the end of 8 weeks, some fruit and some table sugars can be introduced, she says (which to my mind contradicts her claim that even the modest amount of sugar suggested by dietitians and government agencies is not achievable because even just a taste of it sets off a desire for more.) Sarah says that most people will experience a period of detox where you feel like crap. It can last from one week up to 6 weeks but that once you get over it, it won’t be an issue again. So again, how can that be if you’re reintroducing it (albeit a small amount) at the end of the 8 weeks?
  There are approximately 6 pages dedicated to each week of the IQS 8 week challenge. Each week has a slightly different format but generally they all begin with an introduction for what to expect for the week and the goals you are expected to achieve. She also gives advice on how to achieve said goals. A factual section follows containing a few facts behind her philosophy. Nothing too difficult to understand. Then there are some meal suggestions for that week with page number links to therelated recipes.
  It is just a guide, however, she doesn’t tell you exactly what to eat or when. There are no meal plans or lists of what to eat or lists of breakfast, lunch and dinners.
  Sarah’s rules
  Only eat products with less than 3 to 6g sugars per 100g or 100ml.
  Read labels and avoid products that have sugar as the first or second ingredient. Also avoid fruit pulp, fruit puree, agave, honey.
  She gives examples of food labels with how much sugars are present e.g. fat-free mayo 23.0g vs whole egg mayo 2.2g; low-fat fruit yoghurt 15.1g vs natural yoghurt 4.7g; barbecue sauce 53.9g vs mustard <1g. You can drink alcohol as wine, beer and spirits contain minimal fructose but moderation is urged. Replace sugar with fat Sarah suggests you replace sugar with fat. She claims fat doesn’t make you fat, it ‘fills you up so you can’t gorge on it’. She says she uses ghee, coconut oil, organic butter, olive oil, walnut oil, macadamia oil, any animal fat (chicken skin, bacon fat). She steers clear of any polyunsaturated oils sunflower, soy and corn oils (she includes canola in this list but it’s not polyunsaturated). Sugar alternatives Sarah suggests these ‘safe alternatives’ in place of sugar: Rice syrup Glucose syrup Stevia Dextrose (100% glucose powder) Xylitol Sarah’s pantry picks are: Raw cacao powder Chia seeds Nut meals and nut flour Nut spreads and butters Cooking oils Sweeteners Spices e.g. cinnamon, cumin, dulse flakes (red seaweed), rock salt, vanilla powder Mustard Apple cider vinegar Tamari Coconut flour, flakes, cream, water, shredded coconut Green powders: Spirulina powder Protein powder Maca powder (Maca - Lepidium meyenii - is a member of the cruciferous family – think broccoli, turnips etc. and is grown in the Andes mountains. The root is ground to a powder and is often called “Peruvian ginseng.”) Acai powder Slippery elm powder Sarah’s story Sarah Wilson is an Australian journalist, TV commentator and blogger. She was Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and is now a commentator on The Morning Show, Sunrise and The Project. Sarah Wilson was a self-confessed sugar addict. She claims this lead to the development of sleep and mood disorders, to adrenal issues and then to Grave’s disease – an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. These problems have never left her. She continues to have stomach problems and autoimmune issues and has developed Hashimoto’s – another autoimmune disease which attacks the thyroid. She switched from bad processed sweets to more healthier ones like dark chocolate and honey but she was still eating too much sugar i.e. she would eat 3 pieces of fruit a day, dried fruit, honey in tea, dark chocolate and dessert (approx. 25+ teaspoons of sugar). In 2011, she decided to quit sugar. What started as an experiment soon became a way of life. She still suffers from Hashimoto’s and anxiety as she discusses on her blog but aside from this she obviously feels herself to be healthier. My take on IQS The book is beautifully laid out with a variety of fonts and sizes, gorgeous photography and lots of colour. Written in Sarah’s humorous style, it provides 80 delicious sugar-free recipes. Pictures of her and her recipes are spread throughout the book. I feel it should really be titled I Quit Processed Foods as Sarah eliminated everything canned, dried, frozen and in a packet – from canned tomatoes to frozen peas to pre-made marinades and rubs. While this is admirable, it’s somewhat impractical unless you’re home all day to do the cooking. And hard to achieve if you live in the country far from fresh food providores or in suburbia miles from a decent green grocer or supermarket. The bottom line I don't fully agree with the underlying tenet of this book. I don't believe sugar is a dangerous toxin or poison that must be totally eliminated. Yes, we over consume sugar and should cut our intake by half or more. Yes, added sugar has no nutritive value apart from the fact it’s a carbohydrate and so is a food you should target for reduction. However, small amounts (less than 10 per cent of kilojoules or Calories) can fit into a healthy diet. A little sugar or honey make whole grains taste better, and even meat and chicken is enhanced by a maple syrup glaze or a brown sugar marinade. There is certainly no need to delete fruit. One or two pieces of fresh fruit a day are all that's needed – and in fact in the FAQs on the IQS website Sarah says:” If fruit is your only source of fructose in a day, then two pieces of fruit is fantastic.” I agree that there is no need for fruit juice (read my post on reasons why I feel juice contributes to the obesity epidemic) nor dried fruit, which is concentrated in Calories but fresh whole fruit makes a satisfying dessert and easy snack and contributes to your daily fibre intake which keeps your digestive system healthy. I Quit Sugar by Sarah Wilson (Macmillan 2013), $34.95 Website: http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/

• Dans le Lakehouse
  https://www.danslelakehouse.com/2016/01/a-review-of-sarah-wilsons-i-quit-sugar.html
  Word count: 1935

  Uncategorized | January 12, 2016
  A Review of Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar 8-Week Detox Program + Cookbook

  Is quitting sugar one of your New Year’s resolutions? It’s not a bad idea! There is a growing body of (very scary) research that claims sugar contributes to cancer growth, inflammation in the body, a weakened immune system, obesity, mood swings, wrinkles (what?) and more health problems than you can shake a stick at. I’ve also read that sugar consumption depletes minerals and vitamins in the body. Jamie Oliver is so passionate about this, he has launched a war on sugar. It’s a scary thought to think that sugar can make us sick because it’s so pervasive (and so delicious). Once I started paying attention, I was amazed at just how many foods sugar is added to! Like I needed any help squeezing more sugar into my diet…
  I am a long time sugar addict and have an unhealthy history of bingeing on sweets when I’m stressed. I’ve gone so far as to eat baking chocolate because I’ve “needed” sugar so badly. There’s a noodles and cocoa thing that I’m not even ready to admit to yet. I come from a family of diabetics (probably not surprising), so I’ve been trying to kick the sugar habit for awhile. Last spring I bought Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar 8 Week Detox Program and Cookbook and gave it a whirl.
  I felt great doing the detox, even though it was very challenging at times (luckily I didn’t get many of the sugar withdrawal problems). Cutting back was easy and rewarding, it was the quitting all sugar – even fruit – that was really difficult. Afterwards, my sweet tooth wasn’t so pushy and I wasn’t crawling out of my skin trying to get my sugar fix. It worked! Unfortunately, almost immediately after “quitting” sugar, tragedy struck and wow, did I fall off the wagon! At first it was just because we were eating sporadically, sometimes late
  at night when only Tim Horton’s was available to feed us. Then family
  would bring by donuts (one day, I quite literally ate four donuts for breakfast). I’m embarrassed to say that I found a stash of super stale, 100 year old jelly beans and ate every last one. At some point while we were in Southern Ontario, my Mom and I found this amazing homemade pie shop and started swapping some of our meals for fresh peach pie (no regret there, I’m not going to lie). The sudden dump of sugar into my system actually made me very ill and brought on some extremely unpleasant symptoms, but I didn’t care. I was stressed non-stop for months, and sugar was once again my crutch. This fall I decided that I needed to focus on my health, so I quit sugar again and started a very strict, low-carb, low-sugar diet. Because I already did Sarah’s sugar detox, though, it was so much easier this time around! My body wanted to re-calibrate. I’m on the road to leading a life of moderation: maybe having a sweet once in a while because it’s delicious, not because I’m wild-eyed and craving it.

  I’m asked a lot about my struggle to quit sugar and I always recommend I Quit Sugar as a starting point because it’s such an excellent resource. The book is full of scientific info, Sarah’s personal journey, easy ingredient switches, recipes, and, of course, the structured 8-week “detox” to help the body re-calibrate and stop craving sweet.

  I looked at so many books about quitting sugar before committing to her detox and there were certain things about her book that appealed to me, which is why I decided to write this review. The book itself is a joy to read because it’s simple to understand and full of beautiful photos and adorable graphics.

  What I really like about Sarah is that she’s uplifting and positive. She isn’t condescending or dismissive (I’m reading The Whole 30 right now, and something about the tone really rubs me the wrong way). Sarah doesn’t like “diets” – she just wants her readers to eat nutrient-dense foods and form a healthier relationship with food. In one of her books she talks about wanting to decide when she eats sugar, not be force fed it by the companies who add it to packaged foods. That really stuck with me. Sarah tells you to be gentle to yourself while doing this detox and this attitude makes it seem so much more doable – and more enjoyable! Plus, her recipes are delicious and she’s got this refreshing, don’t-stress-about-measuring approach that makes her recipes foolproof. Perhaps the biggest selling feature for me was her passion for cheese – oh my goodness, do I love cheese!

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  A Peek Inside the I Quit Sugar Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook

  After sharing her personal story and some sugar facts, Sarah delves into the detox. Each week of the program is laid out in its own chapter:
  Week One: Start to cut back (this was surprisingly easy and empowering!)
  Week Two: Operation eat fat (this was a fun week)
  Week Three: Quit! (this was a hard week – even fruit was forbidden)
  Week Four: Face the demons (knowing I was half ice was all that got me through)
  Week Five: Get creative, experiment…and detox (tips for staving off cravings were helpful)
  Week Six: Add some sweetness back in (yay! she outlines which fruits have more/less fructose)
  Week Seven: Recovering from relapses (lots of healthier alternatives for cravings that creep in)
  Week Eight: Refining and moving forward (best advice: “don’t be an anti-sugar bore” – love that!)

  Each chapter has facts, recipe suggestions, tools to succeed, and healthier alternatives. It seemed like a friend was cheering me on! Even if you’re not sold on the structured detox, each chapter has great tips and ideas for healthier substitutions. Plus, the recipes are really good and they make up half the book!

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  A Look at the I Quit Sugar Recipes
  I find that healthy lunches and dinners are pretty easy to figure out, but the breakfasting, snacking and desserting is what trips me up. This book is great because although it has lunch and dinner ideas, it has a lot of breakfast, snack, and dessert substitutes that are easy to make. I will say, though, that there’s a learning curve when it comes to baking with alternative flours and sweeteners. Although refined
  carbs are cut out, you can still enjoy pasta, oats, root vegetables,
  rice, etc., but that means no more cooking with refined white flours. I love baking and was surprised when things didn’t turn out as “pretty” as I’m accustomed to. The textures were completely different and difficult to get used to, but I still found a lot of fabulous new recipes. Before they were gobbled up, I managed to snap photos of a few things I tried.

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  Pumpkin Pie with Almond Flour Crust
  This pumpkin pie was a hit with family, although I found it’s almond flour crust to be a little gritty. I think you just have to get used to the change in texture, but I’m committed to experimenting more with almond and coconut flours.

  Brown Rice Syrup Frozen Raspberry Ripple
  Although Sarah shares recipes for sweet treats, to be eaten now and again, she warns that any sweetener should be consumed in moderation. Difficult advice to follow when I got completely hooked on her popular raspberry ripple (pg. 186). The ingredients? Frozen raspberries, unsweetened coconut, coconut oil, unsalted butter, cocoa powder, and brown rice syrup. It’s a frozen treat and is an amazing ice cream substitute. I’m actually salivating a little as I type this.

  Cheesy Biscuits Made with Coconut Flour
  These are also a little gritty (that’s a common complaint of mine) and it’s the cheese that makes them really delicious, but they definitely fulfill a cheesy cracker or croissant craving in a flash. They taste best when they’re fresh out of the oven and still warm.

  Zucchini Ricotta “Cheesecake”
  This zucchini ricotta cake is so damn delicious! I have made this so many times and it’s my favorite recipe from the book so far. It’s a really tasty brunch meal, with my favorite herb: dill. It is sort of sweet, but savory, and is a snap to prepare.

  Criticisms…?
  If you’re a diabetic or pre-diabetic (or just concerned about diabetes, like I am), there are some things to note. Sarah’s focus is fructose so she suggests brown rice syrup as an alternative, but because it’s still pretty high on the glycemic index it’s not good for diabetics. It was a let down to bake a couple things for my diabetic Dad and learn that they weren’t a good substitute after all. Plus, Sarah suggests quite a bit of cheese, which has lactose (which increases blood glucose levels) and should be consumed in moderation by diabetics. I can’t really criticize her for these points, though, because she explains, many times, that this diet is what works for her body and she encourages the reader to figure out what works for their body. It’s not meant to be a diabetic guide, but I will still hoping that the switches she recommends would be good for my diabetic family members. I’m still doing research on my own, to figure if I can adapt some of her recipes for diabetics.

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  Would I Buy This Book Again?
  Definitely! Enthusiastically, wholeheartedly, YES! I re-read it often for a much-needed pep talk and there are still so many recipes I have to try that look delicious and are better for me. It’s a great resource for anyone looking to reduce their sugar intake, so I highly recommend it. While doing the detox, my cravings did subside and had I not immediately
  endured the most stressful few months of my life, my switch to living
  sugar-free might have stuck. Still, even though I fell off the wagon,
  getting back on this time around has been so much easier. I’m looking forward to the future and finally getting a handle on my sugar addiction.

  I just wanted to share my review because I don’t buy books often. When I do, I spent way too long reading reviews, comparing content, and weighing my options. The I Quit Sugar book stood out among a sea of sugar-free books and what’s better, Sarah has great resources on her website and a ton of inspiration on her Instagram account, so there’s always additional support for the quitting sugar journey. I’m actually thinking of buying her I Quit Sugar Cookbook as well, because it has 300+ recipes!

• Gabrielle Maston
  http://gabriellemaston.com/i-quit-sugar-book-review/
  Word count: 1915

  I Quit Sugar – Book Review
  0
  By Gabby on March 21, 2013
  Diet reviews

  One fine sun shining morning a few weeks ago a client of mine, who works in the publishing business handed me over the new book by Sarah Wilson titled ‘I quit sugar’. My initial reaction was: ‘what right does a popular journalist/editor have to write about nutrition and diets? Clearly under qualified and trying to make money out of pushing another ridiculous fad diet!’
  After a second thought, I decided that I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. Actually, Sarah Wilson in general is quite a good writer. My personal confession is I used to read her news paper column every Sunday morning, as I chowed down my porridge. I liked the way she thought abstractly and tried new things. She is adventurous and interesting.
  I decided I’d give the book a try, after all the graphics were really cute. It has a full gloss cover, pretty pastel layouts, rustic pictures of food and recipes using obscure ingredients.
  For next 24hours the book had me hooked! I read it in my lunch breaks at work, on the cross trainer, whilst eating breakfast and dinner. It didn’t leave my side.
  I quit sugar book review
  At first I was annoyed (I know not a good start) due to the fact that in week 1 Sarah tries to explain why sugar in general is bad, using sub titles like “The science” and “sugar= poison”. It was written in authoritarian style quoting studies that were performed on rats, however never actually providing a journal reference.
  Regardless of a journal reference or not, you can’t make direct correlations to affects of substances on humans by comparing effects on animal studies. Humans and animals have completely different physiology and dietary needs. You can only make a guess of what effect it will have, which is not proof. It just gives you an idea for further research, to investigate with in a human population group.
  The other part of misinformation was around the conspiracy surrounding the anti-saturated fat movement. Sarah Wilson claims in her book that governments around the world conspired to promote poly-unsaturated oils due to some sort of money making scheme. This was not the case, poly- unsaturated oils are promoted because mounted research showed that saturated fat was linked to heart disease at the time.
  This recommendation has reviewed every few year, each time the new Australian guidelines for healthy eating are released. The latest version was only released last month, where the same conclusion was drawn. Saturated fat should be limited, not added to the diet and swapped for healthier fats.
  Before jumping the gun and assuming that the professionals who reviewed the Australian guide to healthy eating were bias, I assure you the panel was not. The process of these recommendations occurs by gathering some of the leading experts in nutrition. Most of the panel complied of professors and researchers that have been in the dietetics game for more than 30years. In addition, public review is also invited. All dietitians, public health professionals and members of the public are invited to send in recommendations and suggestions for review. So unless every food authority and dietetics qualified professional around the world has this wrong, I really find this conspiracy theory unsubstantiated.
  I say around the world because every country with nutrition recommendations around the world, has the same stance on saturated fat as Australia. Not because we all copied each other, but that’s what the research points to around the world.
  There is only one controversy being reviewed in the saturated fat arena. That is concerning the different structures of saturated fat. Some studies have shown that saturated fat in coconut oil due to its chemical structure may not be as bad as once thought, however the jury is still out on that one. There is research for and against. Like most things further investigation is required before we jump to conclusions.
  Lastly the claim that our low fat food supply is being “pumped full of high-fructose corn syrup” . This is not the case at all. In Australia food industry does not use high-fructose corn syrup, like in the United States. Our sugar cane industry is far greater here and hence most of our added sugar is derived from cane, just read the ingredients on the back of your food labels.
  It is really unnerving to see these sorts of unsubstantiated claims in popular books from popular writers. It plays havoc with messages in public health campaigns, which have a lot of research and tax payers dollars invested in them trying to get people healthier. Messages such as those found this is book confuse people and add to the unnecessary nonsense people get sucked into when it comes to improving their diet.
  Sarah Wilson claims that by the end of her experimental dieting period using the principles in this book, she “cured” herself from irritable bowel symptoms, which I totally believe because unknowingly she actually reiterated the low FODMAP diet.
  FODMAP is an acronym for sugars found in naturally in different foods:
  Fermentable
  Oligosaccharides (fructans and galacto-oligosaccharides) Found in legumes
  Disaccharides (lactose) In dairy products, with the exclusion of hard yellow cheese
  Monosaccharide (fructose in excess of glucose) fruit and wheat
  And
  Polyols (including sorbitol and mannitol) sugar alcohols found in chewing gum
  These are a group of short-chain carbohydrates that are poorly absorbed, in people with gastrointestinal symptom. A diet high in FODMAPs can induce diarrhoea and/or constipation, bloating, wind and abdominal pain. Some of these symptoms in which she mentions in the book and her blog.
  When people get results from following a low FODMAP’s diet it can be simply removing some or all of the problematic sugars they react to. For example if some one is wheat intolerant, they won’t necessarily react to lactose, soy and nuts as well. Intolerances are specific to individuals. It seems in Sarah’s case, the book is unknowingly geared towards people who react to all but the oligosaccharide group (sugars found in the legume group).
  In addition, to cutting out dietary triggers to irritable bowel, people have different sensitivity levels depending on hormone, life events, stress etc. Which means some times people react to small amounts of these foods or can tolerate much more on any given day.

  Fructose and high fructose corn syrup are completely two different things
  In the book Sarah uses the terms high fructose corn syrup and fructose interchangeably, but they are certainly NOT the same. Fructose is a natural low GI sugar produced in fruit. High fructose corn syrup is sugar produced from extruded and refined corn. Corn is a high GI grain hence high fructose corn syrup is high GI. Normal fructose is low GI, they do not affect the body the same way.
  The research looking at high fructose corn syrup, is not the same as looking at fructose found naturally in fruit or vegetables and this is were I think this book makes the biggest mistake. Encouraging individuals to cut out fruit in the first few weeks due to the ‘sugar content’ is really bad advice. Statistics show that most Australians don’t eat nearly enough fruit and have high rates of bowel cancer and constipation. This is because the average diet lacks fibre, partly from not eating enough fruit or vegetables! This message about omitting fruit, is a terrible message to send given the implications for health over all.

  What I liked about the I quit sugar book
  The book does a really awesome job at producing some really interesting recipes containing low fructose, lactose and wheat, that look and taste delicious! I tried and tested a few recipes. It’s defiantly an area of nutrition where there are not very many resources for people with these type of intolerances. Besides it’s suitability for intolerances they are generally nutritious food combinations, that may be fun to try.
  The recipes and recommendations on food choices are balanced and very nutritious. It is no wonder she lost weight on this diet. The recipes are packed full of nutrient dense foods and they are all portion controlled, with lots of yummy alternatives. This should be the basis of any diet.

  What I didn’t like about the I quit sugar book
  There is a part of this publication where Sarah attributes the diet to helping overcome lupus, which didn’t sit well with me. There is no science to back up this claim, so we do need to proceed with caution.
  In science and health, there are some things that are yet to be discovered or explained. I never doubt a person feels what they think they’re feeling. Many times I have come across clients who have cut out a food group and claimed it reduced symptoms of a condition they were experiencing. The latest one being turning wheat free diet to cure eczema.
  Now there is nothing in journal papers about that, yet when my client came to me wanting to cut out wheat on a trail basis. I helped her devise a balanced plan and her eczema reduced significantly. It’s not gone, but her quality of life has improved. I have not doubt about the improvement, however I cannot explain why it’s working?
  Some times peace of mind knowing that we are making an effort to help ourselves is enough to make us feel better. When ever you eat healthy and lose weight regardless of diet type you also feel better.
  In the book Sarah mentions she feels healed from this style of eating in regards to Lupus. As to this day, there is no known cure for lupus, it is an autoimmune condition. There are not even recommendations on how to management it through food. However, in science as previously mentioned there are shades of grey. If there is a perceived benefit and a person if willing to make an effort then by all means try. If they feel better great! However I don’t think this is going to be the latest thing in Lupus management.
  The second thing I disliked was the title of the book, I would rename the title to something more appropriate. “I quit sugar” is fear mongering and misleading, because Sarah hasn’t quit sugar at all.
  The recipes in the book use rice malt syrup as a direct sugar replacement. Rice syrup is maltose sugar which is two glucose molecules put together. Glucose is your purest form of sugar. In addition, one of the recommended beverages to consume is made up of sucrose which is glucose + fructose combined.
  Don’t get hooked up in the hype, reducing your added sugar may help you lose weight (start by cutting out junk food, sweets, juices and soft drink). Trying to avoid all sugar in general is not necessary and almost impossible. There are natural sugars in almost everything containing carbohydrates! If you are experiencing bloating, loose stool etc then see a dietitian to trail a low FODMAP diet. Trust me when I say it will be less complicated and cheaper.