This blog is inspired by the culmination of almost every conversation I’ve had in the last seven days that I strongly suspect many of my readers will relate to. It goes like this –Me: “Hi, how are you?”Friend: “I’m sooooo [insert word associated with being crazy-busy-stressed-hectic-overloaded etc]”It’s hard to escape that we’re in the thick of that time of year. The time when everything we’ve been working on for the last 11 months is due, when we "must" catch up with everyone (even those we don’t like), and when presents expressing the depth of our love for those we do... Read full article »

It was a trip to the supermarket where junk food was masquerading as health food with a “gluten-free” label, it was the conversation with a woman who’s on a gluten-free diet to lose weight, it was the e-newsletter telling me that quitting gluten would help me to cure my autoimmune disease. This week I’ve reached peak “gluten-free” and although I’m wary, I’ve decided to wade in to the treacherous waters of this micro-nutrient diet-debate.As someone living with an autoimmune disease known as Sjogren's syndrome, I can tell you that I am very motivated to look after myself and explore any... Read full article »

The class promised that it was “ideal for beginners and home cooks wanting to learn how to make hearty and filling vegan meals.”  I’m not a vegan, but having looked extensively into what diet is best for our health, I do try to eat mostly plant-based food, consisting of nutritious, real ingredients. I’m also a terrible cook who aspires to improve, which is how I came to find myself in an inner-city cafe, feeling very off-trend in my jeans and jumper amidst the hippies and the hipsters.I’d always assumed that because vegan cuisine involves not cooking with animal products, by... Read full article »

If you had bumped into me at the mall this morning you might have thought I’d gone crazy. My regular readers will know that I’m a health journalist with an autoimmune disease and that, among other things, I prioritise eating well. Indeed, I regularly write about my struggles with healthy eating in this mad world which seems set against me. So upon seeing me at the mall with a shopping bag full of sweets and treats, it would have been easy to assume that I’d fallen off the wagon. But in fact my candy-buying-binge was all in the name of... Read full article »

I recently found myself racing through university corridors, heels clacking on concrete floors, lost, and late for an interview. Having just battled Sydney’s peak hour traffic and struggled to find parking in our city’s gridlocked streets, I was disoriented in a maze of modern building design. Apparently the state-of-the-art business school, with its “9,100 square meters of flexible teaching and learning space” was designed to “inspire and enable generations of leaders.” All it inspired in me were sweaty palms, a tense jaw and a cortisol spike that would scare off even the most vicious of sabre tooth tigers. It was... Read full article »

Recently my house was overrun by an unruly group of four-year-olds and their associated parents and siblings. The event was to celebrate the coming together of my mother’s group in our shared experience of taking custody of our respective squawking, drooling, begrimed bundles of joy four years earlier. Between the bangs of balloons, an all-in buffet, and the “astonishing” appearance of Superman, I paused for a moment to take in the glorious, wondrous, chaos of the day. About a month before the event I had set myself a challenge. I wanted it to be junk food free. It was a... Read full article »