Quinoa Tabbouleh from Sara Wilson’s I Quit Sugar Cookbook

I’ve been obsessing over Sarah Wilson lately. Not only because she’s a hot Aussie babe, but also because I’ve found so much incredible information on her website about feeling your best.
In order to feel her very best, Sarah eliminated sugar from her diet in 2011. She learned that sugar could be a major factor in her autoimmune disease. She was eating lot of “healthy” sugars – some granola here, some honey there, some dark chocolate after dinner – but all of this sugar (even though it was natural) was bringing her down. After eliminating it, magical things starting happening and she’s never looked back. She’s even created an eight-week program to help people kick it!
NOW, I know that the thought of cutting out sugar sounds terrifying. But it doesn’t have to be all or nothing – and it certainly doesn’t have to happen overnight. Maybe start this week by raiding your pantry and reading all the labels. What has sugar in it? Probably a lot more things than you realized. Almost every spaghetti sauce at the grocery store has it listed as one of the top ingredients! It’s so surprising when you really start to look. One of the first things that I do with my clients is show them to read labels. It’s one of the greatest tools to have when you’re trying to get healthy.
To kick off Sarah’s new book (which comes out today!), I Quit Sugar, I asked her team if I could preview one of the new recipes. And here it is! For more recipes like this one, you can visit Sarah’s site or check out her new book. Thanks Sarah for being an inspiration!
{ Summer Quinoa Tabbouleh }
Serves 4-6 as a side
1½ cups cooked quinoa
1 bunch scallions, green parts only, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup finely diced cucumber
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ cup chopped mint leaves
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Allow to sit in the fridge for 1–2 hours before serving.
4 Comments
Ana
April 10, 2014I think everyone should cut off sugar. I started doing it 5 months ago as a temporary cleanse, to help figure out my severe adult cystic acne. What do you know? After giving up all sugar (except fresh fruit) and gluten, I am acne free now. Sugar is really the worst thing that humans invented 🙂
Jessica
April 12, 2014Ana, thanks for sharing!!
Rita Graham
April 30, 2014Can you name me a book for beginners to kick the sugar habit?
Jessica
April 30, 2014Hey Rita! Sarah Wilson’s book I Quit Sugar is very helpful. There is an 8 week program in there. It’s not entirely plant-based – but you can modify if you want to go all veg. And then there is the classic book that was way ahead of its time, called Sugar Blues (published in the 80s). It’s pretty dense and really goes deeeeep into sugar and its history. Less of a how-to and more an expose. I would highly recommend both!