Sarah Wilson (journalist)

Sarah Wilson (born 8 January 1974) is an Australian journalist, television presenter, blogger, media consultant and author of I Quit Sugar.

Sarah Wilson
Born (1974-01-08) 8 January 1974
OccupationJournalist, entreupreneur, blogger, media consultant, author
LanguageEnglish
EducationBachelor of Arts
Alma materAustralian National University
Notable worksI Quit Sugar & First, We Make the Beast Beautiful
Website
sarahwilson.com

Early life and education

Wilson grew up in the bush outside Canberra, ACT with five younger siblings.[1] She owned her first business at the age of 12 or 13, selling library-book bags, brooches, and gift cards.[1] She has a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, politics, gender studies and law from Australian National University which she undertook between 1992-1997.[1] She also completed an online course with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and describes herself as a health coach.[2]

Career

Wilson's first job as a journalist was as a restaurant reviewer for News Ltd's Sunday Magazine. At age 25 she had a weekly opinion column in News Ltd's Herald Sun.

Media roles

She was the editor of Australian Cosmopolitan magazine from February 2003 to December 2007.[3] During her time at the magazine, she interviewed former Australian Prime Ministers John Howard and Kevin Rudd, and entered the Guinness Book of Records by staging the World's Biggest Bikini Shoot at Bondi Beach.[3] During this time she was also the fashion editor of Channel Nine's Today show. Wilson's first host role as a television presenter came in 2009 as the host of MasterChef Australia. After she left the program, her role was not replaced and a Network Ten spokesman, David Mott stated; "Sarah has an impressive background with abilities that far outweighed her duties on the show."[4]

From 2009 until the end of 2011, Wilson wrote more than 130 weekly columns that appeared in Sunday Life, a magazine lift-out in the Australian Sun-Herald newspaper in Sydney.[5] Her columns focused on the wellness movement, productivity and lifestyle simplicity - themes which are also explored in her blog.[6] Wilson later became the face and program developer for Foxtel's Lifestyle YOU channel. She hosted the show Eat Yourself Sexy, a nutrition and wellness makeover program that screened on Foxtel in late 2011.

I Quit Sugar

Wilson is known for her I Quit Sugar books.[7] After she resigned from Cosmopolitan and returned to freelancing and weekly columns, she wrote about experimentally quitting sugar for a week. As she explains in First, We Make the Beast Beautiful she subsequently wrote the ebook, I Quit Sugar: an 8-week program.[1][8] Sales were good, with reportedly more than 100,000 copies sold in Australia.[7] The e-book spawned a hard copy book and then several recipe books, eating programs and supermarket products, leading to a business based around reducing sugar consumption.[9][10] The business employed 23 staff, and her online community had more than 2.3 million people.[11] Along with fellow Australian journalist Peter FitzSimons, Wilson has been vocal about reducing Australians' sugar intake and leading a more active healthy active lifestyle.[12] Wilson's views about sugar and some of her recipes have drawn criticism from some dietitians and commentators,[13][14][15] and her qualifications as a "health coach" have been criticised as being insufficient to allow her to provide dietary advice.[2]

Stating that her intention was never to build up a business empire and make money, Wilson announced the closure of her I Quit Sugar business in February 2018 and is now pursuing other entrepreneurial activities and charity work.[16]

Vaccination comments

In April 2013, Wilson was criticised for statements she made on the morning variety show Sunrise, where she claimed the evidence for the safety and efficacy of vaccines was "not conclusive".[17] Sunday Telegraph journalist Jane Hansen condemned Wilson's comments, writing "if you are going to hang yourself out there as a voice on healthy living, you have to be informed."[18] Wilson responded on Twitter that she was not against vaccinations and had been asked for the arguments that the anti-vaccination movement presented, rather than her personal views.[17]

Books
Library resources about
Sarah Wilson
By Sarah Wilson
  • I Quit Sugar, Pan Macmillan, 2012
  • First, We Make The Beast Beautiful, 2017[1][10][19]

This Is One Wild and Precious Life

Personal life

Wilson lives in Sydney.[20] She was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2008,[21] and lives with anxiety[19] and bipolar disorder.[16][22][23]

References
  1. Wilson, Sarah (2017). First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Story About Anxiety. Australia: PanMacMillan. ISBN 9781743535868.
  2. Australian Associated Press (21 August 2014). "MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules hosts 'not qualified to give dietary advice'". The Guardian Australia.
  3. Samios, Zoe (18 October 2018). "Ex-Cosmo editors Ingram, Freedman, McCahon and Wilson reflect on their time at the helm". Mumbrella.
  4. Knox, David. "Ten drops Sarah Wilson from MasterChef 2". TV Tonight. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  5. Burrowes, Tim (12 December 2011). "Sarah Wilson ends Sunday Life column". mUmBRELLA.
  6. www.sarahwilson.com.au
  7. Thomsen, Simon (22 February 2018). "'I QUIT': Anti-sugar campaigner Sarah Wilson is bringing the curtain down on her publishing phenomenon".
  8. Wilson, Sarah. "I Quit Sugar: an 8-week Program". sarahwilson.com.au. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  9. Stokes, Victoria (3 February 2016). "I Quit Sugar For 21 Days And I Didn't Anticipate The Results". Stellar Magazine.
  10. Delaney, Brigid (30 March 2017). "Sarah Wilson on living with anxiety: there's no sugarcoating mental illness". The Guardian.
  11. Isaacs, Emma (2018). "Just start". Winging it. Sydney: Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia. p. 22. ISBN 9781760556488.
  12. FitzSimons, Peter (18 November 2016). "How Peter FitzSimons quit sugar and alcohol and became a better husband". Sydney Morning Herald.
  13. McMillan, Joanna (29 June 2015). "Not So Sugar-Free After All".
  14. Berry, Sarah (27 July 2015). "A big, sweet paradox: is sugar really to blame for obesity?". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  15. Wainwright, Holly (19 February 2015). "An unapologetic rant: "Everyone, stop shaming me about sugar"".
  16. Macdonald, Emma (Winter 2018). "Sarah Wilson's changing appetite for life". Her Canberra magazine (13): [22] - 26.
  17. Starke, Petra (11 April 2013). "Wilson whips up vaccination storm". news.com.au. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  18. Hansen, Jane (3 January 2015). "Why anti-sugar crusader Sarah Wilson is still wrong on vaccination". Sunday Telegraph.
  19. Berry, Sarah (10 March 2017). "Sarah Wilson: Anxiety should be embraced and seen as beautiful". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  20. Sarah Wilson | About Me. sarahwilson.com
  21. Dennehy, Luke. "MasterChef recipe for recovery". Herald Sun. Retrieved 3 February 2012.
  22. Martin, Jessica (19 March 2017). "Making the 'beast' beautiful: What if your anxiety could be useful?". ABC News website.
  23. "First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety". Publishers Weekly.
Preceded by
program started		 MasterChef Australia
Host
April 2009– July 2009		 Succeeded by
Gary Mehigan & George Calombaris
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