Ah, the pros and cons of trying a different dietary lifestyle while on holiday… On the plus side, you’re not at home being taunted by a pantry and fridge full of temptation. On the downside, holiday destinations are jam-packed with luring treats. We’re on Victoria’s surf coast, staying at the township of Lorne – an idyllic spot nestled among mountainous hinterland encompassing Erskine Falls and the Great Ocean Road, about two hours out of Melbourne.
Like most holiday spots, Lorne is also over-flowing with enticements, begging me to abandon this crazy, sugar-free mission. There’s al fresco dining along the main shopping strip, quirky cafes, humming beach kiosks and even the pumping local pub screaming at me to sample their wares. And let’s not even TALK about the ice-cream parlours.
That was always a regular family treat on a hot day – an afternoon cone with two gourmet scoops. Or what about a splash-out afternoon tea where we all get a different piece of cake smothered in whipped cream and share? Not this week, sunshine.
Although last night I relented when Tom pleaded for a tub of Ben and Jerry’s chocolate ice-cream so he could feast away while we watched a DVD at home. Of course, on my sugar-free challenge, I went without.
Drinking alcohol has also definitely been a regular part of enjoying our holiday experience. It’s an indulgence – part of relaxing and having fun with friends. With no work to prepare for the next day, why not have fun? But my sugar-free goal is to have at least three alcohol-free days a week. Last night was one. Here’s my tip to make those nights when you feel like a drink, a tad more bearable while still remaining sugar-free.
The idea is to think of SPECIAL TEA as a specialty drink!!! (sorry, corny…) Okay, it might take a bit of self-convincing but it can be done. First of all, you buy the tea from one of those trendy tea shops where everything is packaged beautifully and comes in pretty boxes with fancy names. The best sugar substitute tea is LIQUORICE TEA. Some say it also works as an appetite suppressant. I love it because it tastes sweet and fulfils my sugar craving without making a sinner of me.
Another tip – it’s best to make a pot so you can refill your mug several times while watching something on the tele. That will fill you up too!
Today was Day Three of the ONE LINE RULE diet and here’s how it’s gone so far:
Breakfast – like yesterday, The Muesli, with 1/2 cup of Pura Lite Start Millk (5% sugar) and two dollops of Gippsland Dairy natural organic yoghurt and a dozen blueberries. I piece of toast with Vegemite. (which was probably a bit much but I was starving!)
Snack – Handful of raw pistachio nuts. Another handful of blueberries to complete my fruit quota for the day.
Lunch – Half a Mediterranean roasted vegetable Baguette. I checked the sugar content of roasted Mediterranean vegetables on the web and generally they’re about 4.6% sugar so I think I’m in the clear there. And the baguette is 1.6% sugar, so all good.
Snack – 1 Cafe Latte with Equal sweetener.
Dinner is yet to come. I’m thinking it will be another alcohol free day as they’re usually easier early on in the week, but we will see… I’ll report in tomorrow.
DAY TWO of the sugar-free ONE LINE RULE diet, and I’m doing okay. Just to recap, if you’re not up to speed with this challenge – the idea is to only eat food that contains less than 5 % sugar. So it means checking the nutrition labels on all food packaging and only eating that which meets the criteria. Once you start checking the labels on processed foods, you’ll be amazed at how much sugar is out there!
Here’s how today panned out, including one very surprising revelation!
Breakfast: The Muesli (97% sugar free) with half a cup of skim milk, two dollops of Gippsland Organic Natural Yoghurt and a dozen fresh raspberries. I’m allowed one serving of fresh fruit per day, so my raspberry intake was equivalent to half a piece of fruit.
Sadly, I can no longer enjoy my favoured Uncle Toby’s Anti-Oxidant cereal as it’s packed with TWENTY-TWO per cent sugar!!!
Morning Snack – Handful of raw pistachio nuts
Drive down to Lorne – I did well, drinking only water and keeping the mouth busy with sugar-free gum. We stopped along the way for Tom to buy a home-made bakery meat pie. I resisted, but the mouth-watering aroma in the car as we continued along our way had me breaking out in a cold sweat. Now I might have been able to eat that meat pie, but the bakery staff couldn’t assure me of the sugar content, so sorry, that means the pie gets a big fat cross. Who knows what sugar content was in the pastry or the sauce? Unlikely to be more than five per cent, but you never know…
I waited till we unpacked and then had a can of tuna – and you must buy SIrena – so much nicer than other brands (I usually opt for the basil infused flavour) – and a couple of Cruskits.(3.4% sugar) In the past, I’ve also added a dollop of my favourite Sweet Chilli sauce, but after discovering it’s full of more than FORTY PER CENT sugar, I’ve had to find an alternative. And here it is! Sambel Olek is fantastic for those of us who love a bit of spice in our food – a great chilli flavour and ZERO sugar content – YIPPEE!!!
Afternoon tea – half a cup of blueberries
Dinner – Now we’re on holidays in Lorne, it’s going to be tricky to stick to the three alcohol-free days a week rule, but I’m going to give it a shot. Tom and I had dinner at Kosta’s Greek restaurant in Lorne tonight and the food was sensational. My grilled barramundi was top class and Tom’s lamb souvlaki was superb. Guess what I drank? WATER!!! Yes, water – can you believe that? Damn, a chardonnay would have been great with the fish, but I did it…
My surprise revelation today came from two readers who commented on yesterday’s blog (thank you ladies!) who reminded me to check the sugar content of the milk I use.
MILK? Are you kidding?
Seriously, I must be dumb but I’d never even considered milk having ANY sugar content – but yep, you check out your brand. Some low-fat varieties are actually MORE THAN five per cent sugar!! Thankfully our brand is spot on five per cent, so I could breathe a sigh of relief, but it’s definitely a fact worth taking on board for those of you who are also keen to stick to the ONE LINE RULE.
Just quickly, I wanted to let you know this sugar-free concept is already gnawing at me… Today is NOT one of those alcohol-free days I mentioned, so I went to a friend’s house for New Year’s Day drinks which was enormous fun, but have since got home and am desperately craving a sugar fix.
I’m sure it’s because I’ve been drinking wine. My body is craving the sugar to keep the balance. So I’m in my office, and without thinking, reached to open the ‘secret treats’ drawer…
Yum…. Sesame Snaps! A treat I always justified because they’re also packed with sesame seeds which are great for you – right? But hang on. Let’s check the sugar content…. Hmmm.
SERIOUSLY??? THIRTY-SIX POINT ONE PER CENT???? YEP, 36.1 per cent. DAMN.
Can’t do that. I CANNOT break the ONE LINE RULE on day one.
Off they go – relegated downstairs to the general pantry.
Okay, I’m fine now. Guess I’ve had enough sugar for today anyway. Time to watch a horror movie with my daughter. Silent House. Anyone been there done that? Anything to take my mind off sugar…
SO after telling you all about my New Year’s Resolutionlast year, which was to give up smoking, I’m going to set myself some new challenges for 2013. And to make myself accountable (because I discovered this was quite valuable when I did the muffin-top Cool Sculpting experiment) I’m going to post a Blog every Monday with a New Year’s Resolution update.
Fireworks in Melbourne last night – New Year’s Eve
The resolutions are:
(1) To cut sugar out of my diet (apart from wine – details to follow)
(2) To stop playing I-phone games (time waster)
(3) To tidy my office before the end of March
(4) To go to the gym three times a week (apart from holidays)
(5) To absolutely NEVER smoke another single cigarette.
It’s all pretty trivial stuff. The bigger things – like volunteering for a charity, spending more time with my kids and personal emotional and career challenges – are important for me, but probably won’t make for entertaining reading, so let’s deal with my Top Five first. And in truth, cutting sugar out of my diet isn’t so trivial, because good health is everything.
Here’s a bit more about WHY I’ve nominated these five challenges:
(1) After interviewing Emma Dumas (see Blog – Dec 19th) about the massive health problems that stem from high sugar consumption, and the enormous amount of sugar in so many processed foods, I was inspired to make some changes to my own diet. Yes, I’m going to try cutting sugar out of my life. Being an addicted sweet-tooth, it’s a frightening thought.
Veronica however, was thrilled with my decision because of my need to say ‘good-bye’ to sugar properly. This meant a dedicated trip to Ben and Jerry’s Ice-cream parlour in Prahran, where I gorged on the new Maple Tree Hugger combined with Chocolate Therapy and she was in ice-cream heaven with the Vanilla Cookie Dough flavour. Seriously bad and seriously amazing. Just looking at this picture has me sighing with longing…
I’ll let you know the ground rules. As Emma advised, I’m aiming to stick to the ONE LINE RULE. This means eliminating any processed foods that have more than 5% sugar per 100g on the nutrition label.
Emma’s willpower is phenomenal in that she hasn’t had a lolly for more than seven years. I’m sure I won’t last that long and while I admire Emma’s strict adherence to the no-sugar diet, I don’t think I can set the bar quite so high myself. I’ll allow myself one piece of fruit a day and I’ll also allow myself wine (2 glasses) a maximum of four times a week.
Plus I love yoghurt with my cereal and the lowest sugar-content of any yoghurt I can find is in the Gippsland fat-free Organic yoghurt and that’s SIX per cent. So I’ll be breaking the ONE LINE RULE by one per cent, but I can live with that. It means I’ll be giving up what WAS my favourite yogurt – Vaalia Vanilla – because sadly, that contains 16.3 per cent sugar.
It’s amazing when you go through your own pantry checking labels, that you discover how many products contain such large amounts of sugar! This will be a toughie, but I’ll update you with tips about what works and what doesn’t.
(2) The second resolution is to stop playing I-phone games. I nearly didn’t include this publicly, as it’s an embarrassing admission. But yes, I started playing certain games because of the kids. You know the conversation.. ‘Mum, you’ve GOT to play Dragonvale because I NEED you to send me more gems!!’ ‘Sure, honey, I’ll do that’ And before I knew it, I was actually caring about when my dragons were hatching. Yep, I told you it was embarrassing.
Then there were the endless games of ‘Words With Friends’ which I justified to myself because I was dealing with ‘WORDS’ and it was stimulating my brain – wasn’t it?
But no, all the amount of hours I have wasted playing these games can’t be retrieved and could have been spent doing many more valuable things. Like tidying my office…
(3) Tidy my Office before the end of March. This is because I am sick of working under the ever-increasing mounds of paper on my desk. Enough already!! This mission can be accomplished! It’s not a massively high priority though, so I’ve given myself till the end of March. There are LOTS of piles of paperwork to be filed…. ho hum…. dreary stuff.
(4) To go to the gym at least THREE times a week. After working hard to eliminate my muffin-top last year, I need to work harder at the gym to make sure I don’t grow massive bulges in other places. Spin classes are my preference, so I’ll let you know how this goes.
(5) And lastly, to NEVER have another cigarette. As I said in the blog about giving up smoking, I only broke a couple of times during last year, but this year, I don’t even want there to be ONE of those moments. Again I’ll keep you updated.
Let me know what resolutions you’ve made and how long you think you’ll keep yours!
So we’re only a couple of hours away from welcoming in 2013. I adore New Year’s Eve and last year we celebrated with a ripper party at our house that went till the wee hours of the morning. Friends brought kids and the sunroom area was awash with water from screaming tikes running wet from the pool through our midst. I’m sure I stayed up extra late, knowing that once I went to bed, it was all over. Smoking, that is. Yes, my resolution last year was to GIVE UP SMOKING.
Most people who know me didn’t think I could. I’d tried many times before and when the last time didn’t work for me, I declared, ‘I’ve given up GIVING UP.’ MY theory was that there was no point. Smokers would always be smokers – that the urge would never leave them, or me. What mostly happened when I gave up is that I became shockingly cranky, stacked on weight and then ended up taking it up again six months later. So what was the point?
I wasn’t what you’d call a chronic smoker. Mostly I didn’t have my first cigarette of the day till the afternoon. It was a ‘reward’ – a time for some ‘time out’ with a coffee after a hard morning’s work. Even if I hadn’t worked hard. And while I might only have smoked half a dozen cigarettes a day, smoking with friends while drinking, meant the number would increase rapidly. It was a treat – an indulgence.
I’d smoked regularly since I was eighteen, although had choked on my first cigarette at around fifteen. Then most of the men I dated smoked too, so it was easy to keep puffing away. Here’s a trashy picture – at 26, in Italy with Fletch, caught reading Jackie Collins while puffing away in bed. Ewww… but sheez, I loved it.
Then there were the parties, and yes, I’m sure I thought I was glamorous, not knowing how much other people recoiled from my stench.
Did I really think that hat worked? And the cigarette?
After we had children, I managed to hide my smoking from them until Veronica was about nine. When I thought she was asleep one night, I sat outside and was inhaling deeply when she burst through the back door, pointing at me in horror, saying ,’Mummy! You’re smoking! Oh no, did Daddy make you do it?’ Well of course I had to say, ‘Yes, naughty Daddy! He made me! But I’m giving up tomorrow.’
But I didn’t give up ‘that’ tomorrow all those years ago. And I was nagged and hounded by the kids ever since to give up. Fletch had also struggled with giving up smoking and gave up a few months before me, around October 2011. I hated him because he even made it look easy. But he did use nicotine patches. I promised back then I’d give up after the races, which then turned in to New Year’s Eve.
I knew this time was more serious than other attempts. For many reasons, but of course, the most important has to be for yourself and your health. But for those of you considering giving up – it’s not going to be easy. I did find it hard and I still find it hard occasionally. But there are things you can do to lessen the pain. So here are my tips for giving up:
(1) Buy this book or the CD version. It’s called How To Stop Smoking (and stay stopped for good) by Gillian Riley. I’m not a huge fan of self-help books and usually find them dull, so I bought the CD version and listened to it in the car. I’ve read several books about giving up smoking (including Allan Carr’s) and I think this is the best. It has the most practical approach and it’s not a gimmick. It doesn’t try to fool you into believing there’s one ‘easy’ quick solution. It spells out that you ARE going to find it hard, but tough luck – live through it and endure it, because that’s the only way to beat it. But it does also have some very valuable advice and ideas about how to deal with an addiction. It takes a deeper psychological approach which makes a lot more sense to me, than any form of hypnotherapy or tablet taking.
The best tip from the book is to make a list of all the reasons you are giving up. Then, Gillian says you must always give yourself permission to smoke. But before you actually do, you must read your list and accept you are giving up ALL those incredibly important things – before you light up. That makes it much tougher.
(2) Buy some electronic cigarettes – not with nicotine filters. I bought the Elusion brand, and while I don’t advocate using these all the time, as that reinforces the notion that smoking IS fun, it’s a good prop when you feel you’re about to break and reach for a cigarette. Basically, you inhale vapour which fulfils that need for something to fill your lungs – even though it’s not nearly as satisfying as the ‘real thing’.
(3) Keep plenty of sugar-free chewing gum on hand. It gives your mouth something to do without absorbing mega-calories.
(4) For the first few months, avoid friends who smoke a lot. This is hard, but I found a lot of my smoker friends really want you to take it up again. You get lines like, ‘Oh, go on, have one! You’d find it easy to be a social smoker!’ And you know they do it because smokers love company and it makes them feel better about their bad habit. But I still get smoking envy if we’re out to dinner and a few of the gang go outside to have a puff…
(5) Make a list of the reasons you are giving up (as suggested by Gillian) and review it regularly. Positive reinforcement is a great motivator.
(6) Remember that if you light up, that cigarette will be the first of hundreds more. It won’t just be ONE.
(7) If you DO break your resolution to give up because of an emotional upset or peer group pressure, or the lessening of will-power under the influence of alcohol – don’t beat yourself up, but get back on the ‘giving up’ band wagon straight away.
And yes, I have broken my resolution several times during the year – but not often, so overall I’m pretty proud to say that I HAVE given up smoking. But this year, one of my resolutions will be to re-affirm my GIVING UP SMOKING vow and to listen again to my Gillian Riley CDs. I hope I can get through 2013 without breaking once. And let’s face it, isn’t it great not to have to wake up to THIS the next morning?
I’ve loved being a Blogger for the past six months and would much rather continue writing in this format than try to find a ‘real’ job. But then there’s that pesky question about making a living, which is quite annoying. Which means I’m going to look at advertising options for the website. BUT – and this is the BIG question – the Blogosphere is still a vast, fast-changing and ever-developing landscape, so I’d like to know what others think about the best way to tackle this. What do YOU think?
We’ve been looking at many options and I’m still weighing up several possibilities. I may even experiment with a few ideas, before I settle on one particular path. So I hope you’ll bear with me, knowing that whichever way this goes, I will always write truthfully and will not be subjected to the influence of advertisers.
At the moment, I’m pretty keen on trying a sugar-free experiment in the New Year, so it’s unlikely I’d be looking for sponsorship from confectionary or ice-cream manufacturers… I’m going to try getting fit as well – which could be a huge disaster – but advertising sporting events and healthy living would be another good fit. Conversely, I love sitting on my bum and being entertained, so advertising from the films and entertainment industries would suit too. Film reviews will become more of a focus in 2013. And I’ll always be writing about fashion and beauty products, so those brands and services would always work well.
For anyone interested in advertising on my website, you can contact my website designer, Kelly,on this email address: [email protected] for rates and details.
I’m also going to try a more reliable format in 2013, so you know what to expect from this Blog site on particular days of the week. More about that in the near future.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering – I have not been paid for any of the articles written on this website by anyone.
So I’ll keep researching this conundrum and keep you up-to-date with what I learn along the way. If it works, great, I can continue to write what I like and enjoy having a Blogger voice to the outside world.
If not, you might catch me at the local pub pulling beers. Which ain’t such a bad option, now I think about it…
I first posted this Blog FIVE years ago – on Boxing Day, 2012. To this day it remains the most popular Blog on my site in terms of ‘beauty tips’. And yes, I DO still use Careprost on my eyelashes. For those of you who missed the original, the information is still current and I’m still ordering the product through All Day Chemist.
This is the best product I’ve found to help with eyelash length – and I HAVE tried other much more expensive brands over the past few years – just in case there’s something better out there. But there isn’t. If you look at the before and after photos of my lashes, you’ll see proof it really does work.
I first learnt about Careprost when I was working as an MC at a charity function and was seated next to the keynote speaker – a young doctor who was speaking about the prevention of stroke. Not only was she smart and very attractive, I couldn’t help but stare at her eyelashes. Long, thick and dark – I could only assume she’d had extensions. Over lunch we struck up a conversation and, trying to be tactful, I asked what mascara she used. She told me the secret wasn’t her mascara, but a treatment she used nightly.
She’d been given the tip from another female doctor who, while researching glaucoma treatments, discovered a wonderful side effect of the eye-drops they were testing, was that all their patients had developed amazingly long lashes.
The product is called Careprost and can be ordered from an Indian on-line pharmacy called All Day Chemist. (www.alldaychemist.com) It costs only $11.00 and I’d recommend when first ordering, to spend the extra ONE DOLLAR buying the application brush as well. As the product is so cheap and postage isn’t, I’d also recommend buying there or four bottles at a time. The bottles are also quite small so it’s worth buying a couple at least.
This photo was taken when Tom was just a toddler and he’s now fifteen. So you would expect more than ten years ago, my lashes would have been a little bit fuller and longer than they are today.
Some say you shouldn’t brush the liquid UNDER the eye, as it may cause irritation, but I do the bottom lashes as well and haven’t experienced any problems.
Overall, it will probably take a couple of months to see a difference, but it’s worth it.
I tried having eyelash extensions once and found it not only expensive, but the tendrils drop off pretty quickly – not to mention the sheer horror of having to lie still for more than an hour to have them applied. THAT drove me crazy.
There’s one more thing. I do believe the mascara I use is one of the best on the market and also contributes to the appearance of longer lashes.
Kevyn Aucoin mascara. It’s produced under the Kevyn Aucoin make-up line – Kevyn being a formally famous Hollywood make-up artist, renowned for his brilliance. It’s a bit more pricey here than overseas, but it’s practically impossible to buy it on-line, as Mecca have the sole rights to importing it into Australia. Which means you can only buy it at Mecca and it’s about $35.
Oh yes, and I’m also rather fond of the Kevyn Aucoin marketing strategy which spins a good philosophy.
Ah, Les Miserables – I should have known that with Cameron Mackintosh producing and Tom Hooper directing, you couldn’t disappoint. But having such a strong passion for the musical version, I was fearful the movie wouldn’t live up to expectations.
Reading the history of the film’s development, it’s clear the road to final completion has been long and challenging with many changes in the production team along the way. Alan Parker was first named as the film’s director way back in 1988… and then there was a period where development stopped altogether.
But after attending Melbourne’s premiere of the film on Friday night, I’m delighted to say the wait has been worthwhile. Based on Victor Hugo’s French novel from 1862, the epic screen adaptation is a triumph. While the story of Les Miserables is already a proven winner, (the stage show having been seen by an estimated 60 million people world-wide) it’s effect on the audience weighs heavily on the actors ability to impart the emotional authenticity of their experience. And this is where the film’s success lies – in brilliant casting and performances.
Hugh Jackman has long been recognised as a strong performer, but this truly IS his moment. As Jean Valjean, he conveys emotional depth and pain with a power and intensity that resonates immediately and continues throughout the length of the film. I don’t think I’ve gone through so many tissues in one film for quite some time. While I’m a huge Daniel Day-Lewis fan, it’s disappointing to hear that many believe Jackman will be robbed of an Oscar opportunity with Day-Lewis already being lauded an Oscar favourite.
There’s also been much publicity about the fact that the actors filmed their songs ‘live’ to camera, with an orchestra added in post-production. It’s a brilliant approach that adds enormously to the film’s strength because of the authenticity from the vocal performances. Anything else would have felt contrived.
Much has also been said of Russell Crowe’s performance – that’s it’s sub-standard and there’s many an actor who would have been better cast in the role of Inspector Javert. Quite frankly, I didn’t mind Russell’s portrayal. He obviously doesn’t possess the same vocal talents as Jackman, but – and probably BECAUSE the actors sang live – I felt his performance had strength in it’s weakness – that the weakness he conveyed was that of his character, which made him all the more human and believable. If moments of doubt were seen in his eyes, I saw that as an expression of his character doubting the strength of his own convictions – not Crowe doubting the strength of his own voice. It is Jean Valjean who forces Javert to reassess all his beliefs, and surely we as an audience, must see this occurring if we are to ultimately believe the path Javert chooses that leads to his downfall.
Anne Hathaway as Fantine is exceptional. Well deserving of all accolades she’s already received, Hathaway surprises with her ability. Passionate about the role, Hathaway reportedly threw herself into the part one hundred per cent, losing a lot of weight and her own hair as part of the process to achieve her remarkable performance. Is it possible to feel more despair than she conveys with those huge, dark eyes? Even her voice tears at the heart. Her version of ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ is powerful yet fragile, and I’m sure would have warranted a standing ovation had it been live theatre.
It’s also pleasing to see theatre actors included. Samantha Barks, cast as Eponine, played the role for a year in London and is outstanding. The only problem with her work is that she is so utterly convincing, it’s almost hard to believe Marius would actually prefer Cosette (played by Amanda Seyfriend) above her. Although fortunately Marius, played by the wonderful Eddie Redmayne, is perfectly cast for the role and ultimately persuades us of his undying love for Cosette. I don’t think I’ve seen a truer expression of ‘young love’ lighting up the face of a male actor with more conviction in many years.
My only criticism of the film would be about some of the overly dark and melodramatic set production, designed to give the audience a feel for the oppression and poverty experienced by those prior to the French Revolution in 1832. At times, (while we watch Fantine’s life fall apart) the shadows and lurid make-up give the film a pantomime-esque and surreal flavour. Perhaps the intention is to recreate a sense of theatre, but it subtracts from the real tragedy that is taking place. But that’s a minor issue when weighed up against the films achievements and that of its actors.
Overall, it’s bound to go down in history as a classic and one that shouldn’t be missed. Make sure you see it over the holidays on the big screen – although given it’s remarkable power, I’m sure it’ll be in the cinemas for quite some time to come. I know I’ll be going back to see it again. And again… and again…
Managing Director and owner of The Muesli, Emma Dumas is a crusader on an anti-sugar campaign. And not just to promote her breakfast cereal. She firmly believes SUGAR is the root of all nutritional evil. After interviewing Emma, I’m pretty much convinced too, so now the Muffin Top journey has ended, I’m going to try another experiment. I’m going to add another test of willpower to my list of New Year’s Resolutions. But more about that later.
Let’s chat with Emma first. This is the third in my series of interviews, under the banner ‘Inspirational Life Changes.’ It’s about people who successfully change careers at some point in their lives and turn to a job that’s quite different, requiring new challenges and skills. With people living longer, it’s a much more common choice, so it’s wonderful to learn from others who have been brave enough to take a leap of faith into another area of expertise and make it work. Their experience can teach and inspire us.
Before The Muesli took over Emma’s life, she was a successful television producer. From a stint in radio, she began working at Channel Nine in 1989. ‘I was in TV production for many years, starting at the Nine Network in Special Projects as a Producer,’ said Emma as we chatted over a coffee. ‘I then started up my own company, Prime Time Productions and left Nine in 1993.’
Working in Special Projects meant Emma was involved in the production of major live events, like Carols by Candlelight, the Logie Awards and the Arias. It’s a job requiring super organisational skills, not to mention a good dose of persuasiveness when trying to convince stars to appear on shows. Emma then produced several highly acclaimed programs with her own company, Prime Time productions with another partner from Nine.
‘Then I had the babies from ’98, so I sold out of Prime Time in 2000, just before the birth of our second, Sophie,’ said Emma. ‘From there, I had about six months off, then Michael Hirsh rang me from Working Dog so I started producing The Panel from 2000 until it ran its course, in about mid 2005.’
It was about that time that Emma’s good friend Donna Aston, (personal trainer for the stars and registered nutritionist) who she’d worked and trained with, sparked an idea. ‘She was saying to me, “My clients are doing my head in. They cannot get their heads around breakfast and get it right.” I’d written recipes for her over the years for several books so I said, ‘Oh don’t worry about it. I’ll prepare something.’ So I mixed up this concoction and started making The Muesli.’ Emma said, smiling.
‘I’d parcel it up in one kilo zip lock bags and started taking in ten or twenty at a time to her gym and they started to sell. It was based on the fact that people just could NOT get an option on a supermarket shelf that was actually healthy. There’s a big perception that all muesli’s are a health food and people are doing the right thing buying it, but they’re really grabbing things that are up to 48 per cent sugar. And that’s before you start thinking about the roasting and toasting and the damage to fats in all the roasted and toasted products.’
I voiced my disappointment, being a lover of the roasted and toasted variety, but Emma insisted NONE of them are any good. ‘Absolutely no good!’ she said sternly. ‘So with all those things in mind, I put The Muesli together. Something that was nutritionally great. Donna loved it. It was high in protein, the fats are all raw, so they’re in their essential form and it just happened to be naturally sugar-free, because I would never have included anything that was sugary – which is dried fruit or honey or anything like that.’
I’ve tried Emma’s muesli and also love it, but could have sworn there were sultanas somewhere in the mix. “No,’ said Emma. ‘That’s how it’s sugar free. Because dried fruit is concentrated sugar. Our muesli is fifty percent nuts and seeds. 36 per cent oats and 14 per cent coconut. And the nutrition panel contains just 1.6 grams per 100grams of sugars, which occur naturally from within those ingredients.’
Proof of it’s taste-good factor comes from it’s popularity. As demand from Donna’s gym clients grew, Emma found it difficult to juggle both her TV production job and being a muesli chef. ‘Well I was working as well, and so I was in a hairnet and gloves in the kitchen at night, mixing my fifty kilos a month in massive vats and chopping it my thermo mix and yes, it was tough. It really was. Particularly when I was doing things like Thank God You’re Here. They were massive days. I’d suddenly get an order and think, ‘Oh my God…’
From supplying just one gym, Emma’s business quickly grew. ‘Basically it’s been a learning process. The fact that our muesli has so little sugar in it appealed to me as a selling point. So down the track, I decided to team up with Heather Brodie, who is a friend, and then we started producing commercially mid 2010.’
Now Emma only uses her own kitchen for family food preparation. ‘We sourced a company called OmniBlend which is a co-packer. So they produce according to our instructions, making a blend exactly to my recipe and package it. It’s all done in a factory that meets all the food standards. Then we launched a website in early 2011 and it’s been growing ever since then.’
When working on the marketing strategy, Emma’s passion for the anti-sugar campaign grew. ‘We use a 99 per cent sugar-free slogan as part of the logo and the sugar thing kept resonating with me. I knew from research just how busy the marketplace was, so I knew there wasn’t any point putting just another muesli onto the shelves, among the dozens that are there already. I realised that the sugar thing was big. I also simultaneously became aware of David Gillespie who has written the book ‘Sweet Poison’ and he is brilliant. Everything he says, I absolutely subscribe to,’ she said, her voice becoming more emphatic.
‘I fully believe from everything that I have read, not just from him, but other research as well, that sugar is THE biggest health crisis the world will ever know. And the sugar industry – BIG sugar world-wide is SO powerful. The vested interests in keeping sugar in everything are so huge that they’re very, very good at information generation – information that creates confusion and clouds the issue and covers up what is happening.’
Emma then went into a detailed explanation about how sugar works. To summarise:
SUGAR = 2 MOLECULES (fructose and glucose)
FRUCTOSE is the ‘natural’ sugar everyone talks about.
Emma is not a fan of FRUCTOSE. ‘There are lots of foods that are labelled Only Natural Sugars and you can be guaranteed that they’re chock full of fructose. Sadly it’s the fructose that’s causing all the problems. Glucose is the basic building block of all energy. So our bodies utilise the tiny simple glucose cell for all of its energy.’
But apparently our bodies have not evolved in a way that enables us to process fructose. ‘The only area in your body that’s capable of doing anything with it – is your liver. So what it does, is to turn it immediately into fat,’ said Emma. ‘So fatty liver disease is something being diagnosed more and more and its because the fructose half of sugar. David Gillespie says that if you drink a glass of apple juice, the fructose in that glass of apple juice is circulating in your blood as fat, before you’ve even finished drinking that glass.’
And then Emma told me something I hadn’t known before. While other food types have corresponding hormones to let our bodies know when we’ve eaten enough, sugar doesn’t. Which means you can keep eating sugary stuff WITHOUT feeling full. ‘ It ALSO suppresses existing hormones, so not only will you take in more fructose, but you can keep taking in other stuff as well.’
Ouch. That sounds pretty bad… In effect, sugar can actually increase our appetite? ‘Yes,’ said Emma firmly. ‘It’s the single most addictive substance freely available.’
With that in mind, I ask Emma if her children are allowed lollies. And if so, do they actually eat them, given they must have heard her stance on sugar? ‘They do,’ she said. ‘Because I’m not a complete Nazi. But they’re very conscious of it. Although the 12-year-old is totally bored by me. But they take it on board and they do understand it and they probably do restrict themselves quite willingly without me needing to do much about it.’
Before you read the next part of the interview, take a look at this picture. A banquet of lollies to choose from that most people would find hard to resist… Is your mouth watering yet? Now read on.
Jen: And do you have a strict diet yourself?
Emma: I do. I lost about nine kilos in 2005 with Donna when I first began this. And I’ve kept it off. I basically cut out all processed foods – anything white – bread, potato and sugar. But I was never a massive sweet tooth. I’d eat a bowl of chips before chocolate.
Jen: How long since you’ve had a pig out on lollies?
Emma: Well, I used to eat dark chocolate, and I loved that but then I realised even that has too much sugar for what I want to do. I have to take this seriously, so sugar is the thing I completely restrict so it’s been a long, long time since I’ve had a lolly.
Jen: What, a year? (can you hear my incredulous tone?)
Emma, Oh no! It would be since 2005.
Jen: REALLY??????? Emma: Oh yes.
Jen: NOT ONE LOLLY? Emma: No.
Jen: You’re a freak.
There was a long pause, as I sat there stunned. How could ANYONE not eat ONE lolly for SEVEN years??? I mean, revisit that photo above. How could anyone say NO to that? But it’s a good thing, right? So how has Emma managed this – what is her SECRET to such amazing self-discipline?
Emma says it was probably easier for her than most, as she didn’t really have a sweet tooth to begin with. ‘I’d have a dim sim over a lolly any day. But it’s hard for most people because sugar IS the single most addictive substance. And if you are a sweet tooth, then you probably are addicted.’
That would be me… But Emma assures me there’s hope. ‘You can wean yourself off it,’ she said. ‘You will literally though, have withdrawal problems. Headaches and that kind of thing. And you can avoid chocolate and lollies, but the problem with our food source – the way that society is now – is that so many of the foods available for us that are on the supermarket shelves rare LOADED with sugar.’
‘That’s been my big thing that I’m campaigning about. Because sugar is killing people. It is completely implicated in every single health crisis we have going on. Obesity, Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease, heart disease. You name it and sugar is implicated.’
But Emma says it’s a hard battle to fight because so many major corporations have so much money invested in industries that use sugar. ‘For instance, Sixty Minutes ran a piece about the dangers of sugar earlier in the year, but only two weeks later, Channel Nine had a piece on A Current Affair that exonerated sugar. Because of the advertisers. So the vested interests are massive.’
‘We’ve been terrorised for forty years by the slogan ‘Fat Free’ but to make the fat free food bearable, they load it up with sugar to compensate for taste. To make it palatable. And in those 30 to 40 years, the correlations between sugar consumption and the diseases that we’ve talked about are massive, And we’re not getting slimmer – we’re getting fatter a lll the time. You can guarantee the sugar industry has been behind the far-free campaign.’
So what do we do as a community, I ask? ‘I truly believe if people did nothing else but attempt to control their sugar intake by limiting anything that they buy, eat or use in cooking to LESS THAN FIVE GRAMS PER 100 GRAMS OR LESS THAN FIVE PER CENT SUGAR, it would make a difference. If we all did nothing more complex than that, we would see a massive impact.’
Emma calls it THE ONE LINE RULE. ‘And dieticians and nutritionists will jump up and down and say, you can’t put it all down to one thing, but what’s being prescribed and what they’ve been saying for the last forty years hasn’t worked. We’ve just been getting fatter and sicker. So I say, stick to this simple rule. Limit the sugar to this level and there’ll be a huge difference.’
I have a VERY important question that’s bothering me. I can cope with vetting the products I buy at the supermarket. I might even be able to cope with cutting out lollies.
‘Interestingly, fructose changes it’s structure in wine – in the fermentation process, ‘ said Emma. ‘So wine’s never good in excess, but it’s not as bad as you might think.’
THANK GOD. ‘So…’ I ask optimistically, ‘does that mean wine is better for us than apple juice?’
‘WAY better,’ said Emma definitively. ‘I’d be drinking wine over apple juice any day.’
YAYYYYYYYY. That’s the best news I’ve had all week.
More wine, less apple juice.
To get her message out there, (about sugar, not wine…) Emma wants to start speaking at schools to educate young people from an early age. With a Bachelor of Applied Science behind her, she has the credentials. ‘It’s just common sense,’ she said. ‘I’ve got two daughters at body-image age, and THE ONE LINE RULE resonates really well and really safely with kids at a dangerous age.’
‘It’s a much safer awareness than worrying about fatty food. Just look at the nutrition box on the labels of food and you’ll easily see whether there’s more than five per cent sugar or not.’
And what about fruit? Emma says one piece of fruit a day is fine. For breakfast though, NO jams or honey on toast. Choose vegemite or avocado instead. Better still, stock up on The Muesli!!
So that’s the challenge I’m going to set myself in the New Year. I’m going to add THE ONE LINE RULE to my resolutions list and see how long I can stick with it. Along the way, I’ll give you tips on which foods to avoid and which ones get a big tick.
Emma says while she misses the people and personalities she worked with in the television industry, she’s loving her running her own business with Heather. They’re extending their range of The Muesli to include a gluten free variety and even have plans to go international.
If you’d like to try The Muesli, here’s a SPECIAL OFFER. If you subscribe to this Blog (and it’s free, so just push the right buttons and you can do it in a minute) then just be one of the first TEN readers to email Emma, and she will send you a FREE 450g pack of The Muesli.
Happy Christmas!
Email Emma Dumas at [email protected] And to find out where to buy The Muesli, go to the website at http://themuesli.com.au
This morning I was going to write about how stressful the lead-up to Christmas has been, but the front page of The Age stopped me in my tracks. I’m sure you’ve all heard about the horrific school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut by now, and despite being shocked by all the information, it was the photos of those beautiful children that really kicked me in the guts. This was the first time I’d seen images of the children who were killed.
It changes the colour of Christmas, doesn’t it? Christmas IS all about kids – their joy, anticipation and innocence gives the festive season some meaning. Forevermore Christmas will now be a time of mourning for those families who lost their babies. And the six adults. Knowing so many families’ lives have been devastated by this tragedy, of course, makes our troubles seem pathetic.
The only positive to come from this is to hug our own children all the more tightly and cherish each day we have with them. Put aside trivial concerns about messy bedrooms, the unpacked dishwasher, sibling squabbles and marital spats to remember how precious and fleeting life is.
I feel guilty now about what I was going to write. About how Christmas can be a burden – especially for women, who often bear the brunt of present shopping and food preparation. I was also going to whinge about how I’m finding it hard to match the enthusiastic festive spirit of my daughter, and now I feel I deserve a huge slap in the face. So here’s a new version of what I wanted to tell you.
It started when I had friends over for drinks at the weekend and felt I couldn’t even begin to tidy the house because it is crammed with Christmas junk. And it’s Veronica’s fault. Because of our daughter, our house is swamped with Christmas chaos. Littered with STUFF from floor to ceiling. Her brother groans as we start pulling STUFF out of boxes each year. ‘Oh no, not again,’ he moans. ‘Crap everywhere, AGAIN.’ In a way, I know how he feels. I sigh inwardly as Christmas approaches, knowing I’m going to have to heave umpteen boxes out of the attic and down the stairs to help Veronica create her Christmas heaven.
Veronica has always adored Christmas. Every year she wants to put the Christmas tree up earlier than anyone else and she starts playing carols, singing along. Making Christmas shopping lists is a matter of utmost urgency and care. And Christmas shopping trips must be planned well in advance. I thought this was something she’d grow out of – perhaps after discovering the secret about Santa’s true identity. But no – at seventeen, she’s as enthusiastic as ever.
Every year Veronica pesters me to take her to Christmas Kingdom and buy more STUFF. It’s been an annual ritual since she was about nine.
Now, it’s not that I’m an excessive spender, but over the years the STUFF has accumulated. Her enthusiasm is annoyingly infectious. I find it impossible to say ‘NO’ when she pleads for ‘just one more’ decoration for the tree. We now have about three miniature moving English villages, large silver stars swinging from trees in the backyard, a tiny Santa rocking on a swing, a glowing Santa that lights up against a wall, a battery-operated Santa that pushes a cart, a dancing Santa, stuffed unicorns, large gold reindeers and reams of plastic lead-light Christmas stickers on windows. Not to mention the hoards of decorations and tinsel covering every inch of bench space.
I asked her why she loves Christmas so much and she said it’s because it’s a time for celebration. I was mildly and pleasantly surprised. At least she didn’t say because of the presents. And she loves the carols. Because of Veronica, we watch Carols by Candlelight every Christmas Eve. She insists the whole family do this together.
So you can imagine how devastated she was when she found out she had to have FOUR wisdom teeth removed last week.
‘Not in the holidays!’ she wailed. ‘Plus I have a Christmas party on Sunday!’ But it had to be done. After suffering braces for two years, there was no chance we were going to let those wisdom teeth undo all the good work that had been done. (not to mention the cost…) So off to hospital she went.
It’s a painful experience. I remember going through exactly the same procedure at her age. As I drove her home from the hospital, she turned her face to the window so I couldn’t see her tears.
I predicted time spent in bed watching movies and eating custard and ice-cream the following day. There wouldn’t be much room for Christmas cheer amid the pain-killers, mouth wash and ice-packs.
But no. Before lunchtime, Veronica was in the kitchen dressed in her Christmas t-shirt and ear-rings. ‘I have to make some cupcakes for the party tomorrow,’ she said. With a bandage swathed around her head holding ice against her swollen cheeks, she cooked and she iced, baking and stirring for the entire day and evening. Cooking for her friends and creating a magical gift, instead of buying something from the shops. In-between, she threw up twice, as a reaction to the anaesthetic she’d had the day before.
It was a Harry Potter themed party so she made dozens of multi-coloured miniature cupcakes, all topped with the letter ‘H’ for all to eat, plus a special batch of Harry Potter cookies as a Kris Kringle gift.
And unlike her difficult, camera-shy brother (see earlier post ‘Who is that Stranger Hiding from the Camera) she was even happy to pose for a photo for me – despite her swollen and slightly bruised face.
How could I have dared to even think of complaining about the Christmas chaos in our house when the creator is our beautiful daughter who brings us and so many others, so much joy? To complain about anything, particularly to do with our children, when others are suffering such unimaginable grief in Newtown, would be criminal. To those families, I send my deepest, most-heart-felt sympathies, hugs and tears.
Instead, this is my ‘thank you’ story. Thank you, Veronica, my darling daughter for being you and keeping the Christmas Spirit thriving in our home. And to whichever God is out there, looking out for my family and keeping them safe. Thank you. Forever, thank you.
