"It's amazing how you can get by without going to the shops for far longer than you think."
I first met Sarah Wilson in 2005, when I was working in advertising at Revlon. We met at the Cosmopolitan offices about a campaign, when she was the editor. I fell in love with her then.
Sarah was one of the original toxin-free living pioneers. In 2011 she launched her I Quit Sugar ebook and 8-week program, which changed the way the world thought about sugar. It got so many of us to quit sugar, or at least take a good look at how much we were eating every day.
Sarah was also one of the hosts of the first series of MasterChef Australia and has written international bestsellers. But more than that, she's captivating and the real deal. She lives, breathes and embodies everything she writes about.
I interviewed Sarah for my Talking Clean With Irene podcast while she was finishing her book This One Wild and Precious Life. The title comes from a Mary Oliver poem. Sarah told me the book is "really about, you know, what will you do to save this one wild and precious life?"
Here are the 3 things I learned from my chat with Sarah
1. Put off the trip to the shops
Sarah's trick is to delay shopping for as long as she can. She told me this happens to her about once a year. "I need to buy new underpants and I put it off and I put it off and another month goes by." Her answer is to "just make do".
Because once she's at the shops, she buys more than she went in for. "You get to the mall and you buy underpants and while you're there you might buy some towels and some vegetable knives and, oh, God, I'm here. I should just, you know, stock up."
Her advice is to hold off. "If you can just prolong the trip to the shops, you don't get sucked into that cycle." She said "it's amazing how you can get by without going to the shops for far longer than you think."
2. Use what you already have
Not shopping means working through what's already in the house. "You work your way through, whether it's the clothes that you haven't worn for three years, whether it's the tin of tomatoes at the back of the pantry." Sarah says "you can create a meal out of things that you thought weren't a meal. It's a really creative process."
And buying less has to be more fun than buying more. "It's got to be more charming than going to a shopping mall and spending money on stuff you don't need."
It saves money too. Sarah told me "we throw out, on average, about a third of our food."
3. Turn your leftovers into a game
Sarah wrote two big fat cookbooks on cooking with leftovers, Simplicious and Simplicious Flow, and I have both in my kitchen. They always inspire me to use my leftovers and to eat real whole foods. Sarah says they're about "almost gamifying" it, "like what can I do with this banana peel?"
Her recipes use whatever greens and herbs you've already got in the fridge. She tears stale sourdough into her burger mince, and bakes bacon rinds until they're crispy to crush over salads and soups.
Sarah says the game is what makes it stick. "People become proud of themselves because they know they're doing the right thing." And "we've got to make doing the right thing feel good. That's the only way forward."
It catches on, too. Sarah says change happens when other people see you doing it and enjoying it. So make it look good, and make it fun.
One wild and precious life
Sarah's mission is simple. "An open mind leads to a joyful life." And "I want people to live their full, one, wild, precious life."
About the Author
Irene Falcone is the founder of Clean Nectarine and co-host of The Lee & Irene Show. She started her first clean beauty business in 2011 with $100 in her garage and grew it to $20m in four years. She has spent over 15 years reading the backs of beauty and wellness labels, is a Telstra Business Women's Awards winner and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist, and has been featured on A Current Affair, The Project, Sunrise, Channel Nine Mornings and Sky News.
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