Sarah Wilson - The I Quit Sugar Cookbook 306 Recipes for a Clean, Healthy Life

Dear Reader.

Id like to take a few moments to justify the next 373 pages.

As you may or may not know, I first quit sugar back in January 2011 because I had an autoimmune disease that seriously mucked with my ability to enjoy life. I wanted a better life, a richer life, a well life, so I tried going sugar-free. It worked and so I continued with the experiment a little longer. But along the way, several bigger, deeper themes emerged. I realized food waste mattered. More than anything else, actually. I also realized it shouldnt just be the quirky obsession of earnest types with black-framed glasses, farmers market satchels and single-speed bikes. Ha! Hello!

You see, it goes like this: the biggest source of CO2 emissions on the planet is food waste (not cars, not factories). The biggest food wasters are consumers (us!), not farmers or Big Food. Indeed, we toss out up to 50 percent of our groceries every week.

Ill say it straightthis is unconscionable, and the change we seek so deeply in life (to the planet, to our being) can must come from each of us. Each of us is responsible. For everything. And to every human being.

When you quit sugar, you essentially quit processed food and all its associated nasty additives. Which means you benefit not only from the absence of sugar, but also from eliminating a stack of other toxic chemicals, crappy fats and low-brow carbs. Quitting sugar, by necessity, steers you to the right outcome.

Plus, when you quit processed food youre left with real, whole food onlywhich you have to cook, right? This means youre motivated (forced?) to cook, which means you save money and time, plus your health improves with exponential flourish. Which in turn means you stick to this way of eating and living because it feels so good. And on and on the sustainable vibe flows.

The cooking vs. takeout time test

Friends tell me they dont cook because its too complicated and time consuming. But Ive conducted tests, I have timed friends as they got takeout while I cooked my beef stew for myself (with six portions of leftovers). My friends took minutes (finding car keys, driving there, waiting in line, reheating each dish separately) while I took minutes. Divide that by six and, wellyou can work it out.

Ive always eaten the whole apple, core and all. My tiny apartment kitchen is littered with recycled jars filled with the drippings from last nights chops (which I use to sweat my veggies, thus adding the right fats for absorbing the essential vitamins), the water from steaming my chard (perfect for padding out soup) and the olive oil from the marinated feta my friend was going to chuck when I was at her place for lunch last weekend (ready-made salad dressing, people!).

My fridge is a rainbow of fermented vegetables made from the ugly veggies my local markets cant sell. My freezer boasts a plastic bucket containing three fish carcasses that I retrieved from guests plates at a friends dinner party a few weeks back. Theyll be turned into fish stock shortly, a quart of which Ill send back to said friend as a thank-you gift. And I should mention the carcass haul came after Id been through my friends garbage and pulled out a bag of still-sprightly celery leaves and asked if I could keep themfor making my .

If shes lucky shell get a batch of that, too.

Other Sustainable Things I Do (as collated by my oft-bewildered friends and family):

I watch Sarah walk + ride(!) around the neighbourhood with her SLOW cooker. Who does that? Its always a different exotic dinner. Lorenzo