Books about mental health against a colourful background.

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Reading lists

Books that can help improve your mental health

The Anti-Anxiety Diet

A two-week plan for quitting sugar, rebalancing your gut and taming your anxiety, by the bestselling author of I Quit Sugar.

Sarah Wilson is a New York Times and Amazon #1 bestselling author, entrepreneur and philanthropist. She's the founder of IQuitSugar.com, whose 8-Week Program has been completed by 1.5 million people in 133 countries. A former news journalist and editor of Cosmopolitan, she was the host of the first series of MasterChef Australia and is the author of the international bestsellers first, we make the beast beautiful, I Quit Sugar: Simplicious, I Quit Sugar and I Quit Sugar For Life. She is ranked as one of the top 200 most influential authors in the world. 
 
Sarah blogs in an intimate fashion - on philosophy, anxiety, minimalism and anti-consumerism - at sarahwilson.com, lives in Sydney, Australia, rides a bike everywhere, is a compulsive hiker and is eternally curious.

A two-week sugar detox that tackles anxiety. 
 
Why are we so anxious? Why are more of us more anxious than ever before? 
 
The most recent and compelling science tells us that anxiety is not merely a chemical imbalance in the brain, it’s a result of inflammation and a dodgy gut. Which means that anxiety has a lot to do with our lifestyle choices, particularly what we’re putting in our mouths. 
 
If you’re eating more than six teaspoons of sugar a day, then no wonder you’re anxious. But there are some simple swaps you could make to help ease and soften your anxiety. Ditching processed food and eating more whole foods leads to better mental health. And the most direct way to make this switch is to quit sugar. 
 
In The Anti-Anxiety Diet, sugar addiction expert Sarah Wilson explores how the anxiety fix doesn’t have to be medication. It could be putting in place a few simple, sensible and life-enhancing dietary and daily habit change-ups. 
 
This is a little book about what to eat if you want to feel well. Packed with delicious, easy-to-prepare recipes and colour photos it’s a simple two-week plan to soothing the anxiety beast.

Sarah Wilson

Full of great, solidly researched, personal and genuinely useful tips for the anxious mind …I loved this book.

Probably the best book on living with anxiety that I've ever read, and I have (unfortunately) read many. Sarah is full of expert advice while remaining grounded and incredibly human. Her vulnerability is her strength. And after reading, it will hopefully be yours too.

Mark Manson, bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Moving, sensitive and inspiring... this is comfort and serenity in book form.

A witty, well-researched and often insightful book about negotiating a new relationship with anxiety.

Andrew Solomon, Professor of Clinical Psychology and author of The Noonday Demon: An Anatomy of Depression

Eloquenty written ... I love the concept of making the thing we fear most into something beautiful.

This book is just absolutely wonderful. I've loved Sarah Wilson for a very long time but this has blown me away. I return to this book over and over again. A really special gem.

Sarah is a brilliant and agile writer, who takes aim at under-exposed afflictions, helps us to understand them and shows us a path towards a solution. First with sugar addiction and now with anxiety, she curates the latest research and takes readers on a journey that will change the way we think about the disease and the people who suffer from it.

Dan Buettner, New York Times bestselling author of The Blue Zones

A tremendously entertaining, wise and effective book on how to walk through anxiety and reclaim life. Sarah’s battle and triumph over anxiety inspires and gives solutions that work. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful resides at the intersection of science and lived-experience. I know of nothing in the same league.

Xavier Amador, PhD, psychologist and founder of the LEAP Institute

Sarah's life mission is to help us all feel less lonely in our pain. These pages are filled with authenticity and clear direction for how to return to our spiritual truth.

Gabrielle Bernstein, New York Times bestselling author of May Cause Miracles

An affecting memoir of coping with anxiety over a busy lifetime ... Those who endure anxiety will find Wilson's throughtful, often funny self-analysis to be just the right companion and affirmation.

A new conversation about anxiety

'I loved this book.' MATT HAIG 
__________ 
 
 If you have anxiety, this book is for you. 
 
If you love someone who is anxious, this book is for you. 
 
I Quit Sugar founder and New York Times bestselling author Sarah Wilson has lived through high anxiety - including bipolar, OCD and several suicide attempts - her whole life. Perhaps like you, she grew tired of seeing anxiety as a disease that must be medicated into submission. Could anxiety be re-sewn, she asked, into a thing of beauty? 
 
So began a seven-year journey to find a more meaningful and helpful take on anxiety. Living out of two suitcases, Sarah travelled the world, meeting with His Holiness The Dalai Lama, with Oprah's life coach, with major mental health organizations and hundreds of others in a quest to unravel the knotted ball of wool that is the anxious condition. She emerged with the very best philosophy, science and hacks for thriving with the beast. 
 
First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is a book with a big heart, paving the way for richer, kinder and wiser conversations about anxiety. 
__________ 
 
'Probably the best book on living with anxiety that I've ever read.' MARK MANSON, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Sarah Wilson

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Books that can help improve your mental health

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