Sarah's Simple Principles

The I Quit Sugar Author Talks to Sara Bunny About Her Back-to-basics Approach to Mental Wellbeing

Aussie wellness expert Sarah Wilson has come a long way since swearing offthe sweet stuff and is now best known as an advocate for better understanding of anxiety and mental wellbeing. When she somewhat controversially closed her I Quit Sugar empire last year, there was talk of her disappearing off to a quiet life in rural Australia, but these days food is still very much on her mind.

Recently, Sarah released a cookbook based on tackling the appalling levels of food waste happening in households throughout the Western world, and she’s been involved with seminars about the way nutrition impacts mental health. Life is busy to say the least, but since following her heart to a raft of new projects, the former journalist is brimming with energy.

“I kind of thrive on chaos!” she laughs, sitting down for a green tea with Good Health & Wellbeing. “When I say that, I mean I can be in a noisy café or at the airport and end up doing some of my best writing work. I think if you’ve got anxiety or you’re an A-type, you tend to spend a lot of your time trying to control your environment. But if you’re in an environment that you can’t control, you give up, you’re rendered choice-less, and that’s freedom. It’s a philosophy I often work to.”

Today we’re at a bustling café in central Auckland and Sarah is talking intently, a mile a minute. While some prefer to keep their personal battles out of the public realm, she’s spoken with stark honesty about her experiences of anxiety, bipolar disorder, and living life on her own terms.