My Balance & Wellness

I approached Sarah shortly after learning that I had been diagnosed as «pre-​diabetic». This condition runs in my family and I was eager to find new ways to approach my diet to prevent the need for medication and negative long-​term health impacts. In addition, I suffer from several auto-​immune issues and a painful hip bursitis that had begun to curtail some of my activities. It was clearly time to take some action but I did not have the information I needed to change my habits easily and effectively.
Sarah brings a tremendous combination of knowledge, energy and enthusiasm to her work. She has practical solutions from exercise to diet to grocery shopping and recipes. She has very positive energy and is able to encourage and motivate without being judgmental or preachy. She has her clients’ best interests at heart and gets joy in seeing them succeed and attain their goals.
Sarah is organized and efficient. She confirms meetings, sends out follow up notes and materials very promptly and checks in between appointments to monitor progress and provide feedback and encouragement.
Sarah customizes her approach to each client. She listens carefully to your needs and concerns and helps you map out a set of goals and a game plan. She is very current in her knowledge and provides many online and other supplemental resources as part of her services.
I could not recommend Sarah more highly. Three months after we started I have lost 12 pounds, have lowered my blood sugar levels back to normal, and am feeling more energy and less pain. I have significantly altered my diet without feeling «deprived». I am simply better able to select the right foods, interpret labels, avoid temptations, and enjoy a filling and wholesome diet that can be maintained for the long term.
If you are serious about improving your own wellness, you could not select a better coach and mentor than Sarah Hawthorne.

I found myself needing a comprehensive and reliable resource on nutrition, as well as encouragement and support to work towards better overall health. I was at a very low energy point and feeling discouraged about the extra weight I had gained.
In my first conversation with Sarah, she told me how she thought her program could help me overcome the general lack of progress on the health front. It all sounded convincing to me, so I signed up for six sessions with her. Over that time, Sarah gave me a broad education in how I could give myself a much healthier lifestyle including nutrition.
We met for one hour every two weeks, either in person or by phone. I would update Sarah before the meeting on current status. The first priority of the meetings was to review my experience with shopping, food preparation, and eating since the last meeting. Secondly, Sarah would introduce new concepts such as supplements to counteract side effects of medicines. Third, we would agree on a plan for what to do next, such as planning to learn some new recipes, or to shop at markets with better quality food, etc.
The benefits of working with Sarah have been tremendous. I completely reversed my eating habits from poor to good. I feel confident and encouraged about my health. Finally, I lost a good amount of weight. Moving forward, Sarah gave me a vast amount of information and recommendations tailored to my life, to progress even further.

My daughter Anna (14) worked with Sarah for 6 weeks. Sarah was a life-​changer for her. Anna has made significant positive changes in her food choices and eating habits. She has become very aware of what foods are and aren’t healthy, and she plans her meals to incorporate vegetables, nuts, calcium and fiber. She eats much less junk food and experiments with healthy snacks and meals. She loves to cook and bake – now instead of baking cookies she will bake sweet potato «fries» or a make a stir fry. She eats less processed food, and eats much more vegetables, fruit and whole grains than she did before. She and Sarah also talked about stress reduction and positive life choices. Anna loved working with Sarah. I wish I had worked with someone like Sarah when I was her age!

Sarah was so patient and non-​judgmental. We went through everything step by step and leaned so much! Sarah has great insight and suggestions on how to achieve your goals. The things I gained from our sessions I will carry with me.
Sarah will always have my gratitude. I would highly recommend her for any number of things. She has great insight and will get to the heart of the issue.

Sarah is the real deal. She has transformed my life in so many ways. I never learned how to cook (not good) and she comes in and we cook together, simple, healthy, easy to follow/​remember recipes that are healthy for me.
For the most part, have been a healthy eater, but getting older, I really needed some guidance. She has gone over the foods I eat and has made changes here and there, and has me eating way more vegetables than ever before in my life!
I cannot say enough good things about my sessions with Sarah. I have been impressed with her follow-​ups re: my little health issues, checking in to see how certain foods have helped or hindered. She is a real professional and knows exactly what she is doing and how to help you.
I really didn’t think I needed a ‘grocery store tour’, but our tour at Whole Foods was enlightening and needed! She really showed me stuff that I would have never known about.
If you are wanting some fresh, healthy recipe ideas, lose weight, help learning to cook (like me), some general inspiration, I cannot recommend Sarah enough.
She has transformed my life more than she will ever know. Thank you, Sarah!

We already knew about eating and living healthy, but we felt we needed more help and tools.
Are we really making the right food choices?
Is this good for us to eat or actually bad?
Questions we were asking ourselves everyday but now we met someone with all the answers.
From quick and tasty recipes, to how to make a trip to Whole Foods a whole new experience, Sarah not
only fills in nutritional gaps but opens new doors to better health.
We enjoyed our sessions with Sarah and found ourselves saying «I didn’t know that» with remarkable
regularity during our time together.
Sarah is not only a nutritional and health wiz — she makes this all fun and enjoyable. If you want to make
good healthy decisions for you and your family — spend time with Sarah.

I moved to San Francisco in January and after several years of suffering from bloating, cramps, poor diet and bad skin, I decided to take this as an opportunity to start on my wellness journey and what better place than SF to do this! I started by visiting a naturopath, I’ve never been a fan of pills and antibiotics so this felt right. After lots of blood and food sensitivity tests, turns out I’m sensitive to 80% of my typical diet including egg, gluten, most dairy, oats and wheat as the main ones! My reaction — great, I might as well go live in the forest and eat leaves! That was until I met Sarah, first of all she is just a breath of fresh air, you can’t help but feel positive and energetic when she is in your company and she just has a lovely way about her! We did the 1 hour healthy shopping tour first, this was great for me as I had not got a clue where to start and my cupboards at gone where completely empty, Sarah gave me lots if tips and things to look out for on labels! That was a good start! Now next task, I don’t cook, I didn’t even own pots and pans so I booked the 2 hour private cooking lesson! This was great as Sarah sent me all the ingredients in advance and then came to my flat to show me what to do! I was a bit disorganized and stressed from work that day but that didn’t phase Sarah on the slightest!
The thing about Sarah is that she really does genuinely care! She is always following up and checking in with me and even sent me some lots of tips of healthy restaurants/​cafés in SF and social groups as I am new to the city!
I’m still on my journey and it takes time to reverse 32 years of habits so I will definitely be calling on Sarah’s help again soon!

Sarah is one of my most favorite people! She is a trusted health and wellness practitioner and a delight to spend time with.
While I’ve not worked with Sarah directly as a client, I am a Naturopathic Doctor and I send my patient’s her way in order for them to get more support and hands-​on help in making recommended dietary changes. I know her to be bright, knowledgeable, inspiring and super fun to work with.
All my patients love Sarah and how she helps them form new healthful habits. She will not just throw a dull meal plan at you, but will really take the time and go the extra mile to figure out what you like, what will work best for you, and what will fit into your life.
She has special talent for working with people who are struggling with adapting to and healing from food sensitivities or intolerances. She’ll go the market and really show you and teach you HOW to take care of yourself.
Above all else though, through personal experience, Sarah knows that true health is not just about being perfect all the time, but is really about balance. Whether you want to lose a few extra pounds, gain more energy, vitality and joy or learn how to cope with your personal food restrictions, Sarah is the best person to help you reach your goals!

From Skepticism to Success with Sarah
Finding myself post menopause and unhappy with the losing battle to keep my weight at a satisfactory level, I was grateful for the opportunity to try coaching with Sarah. Initial reservations subsided with Sarah’s gentle and client centered approach. Sarah gathered a clear history of my dietary and health background. She also carefully explored the psychological components behind my current state.
With each session I felt my defences diminishing and gradually learned to embrace Sarah’s advice and reassurance. Surprisingly, I found Sarah’s approach to be balanced and humane. Not for her the textbook espousing of calories and fat content. Sarah’s perspective on life and well being is simple, real and heart warming.
Quite simply, Sarah helps you to feel better both inside and out.
Thank you Sarah, I have achieved far more than I expected to and know that I will be able to sustain the changes made. I encourage everyone to take the opportunity to work with you.
Margaret in Melbourne, Australia.

I feel so lucky to have met Sarah! She is such a naturally positive and kind person that she really brings out the best in me. She pushes me to stay on track, motivates me to take better care of myself, and inspires me to live a better life each day at a time. My favorite thing about her is she makes me feel like what I’m doing is worth something by showing me my own value and reminding me to be a priority in my own life, which has always been a difficult task for me. Sometimes I feel uncomfortable about certain aspects of my life, but Sarah has taught me to accept myself for who I am, be comfortable in my own skin all while actively guiding me to change these things for the better. Sarah never makes you feel bad for accidentally slipping up or doing the wrong thing. The unique part about Sarah is that I haven’t ever once felt like I am making changes for her approval, but only for my own which is the greatest gift she can give anyone.

Sarah is amazing! Her approach is kind but knowledgeable, and you feel like you could tell her anything. She brought out feelings in me I didn’t even know that I had, and encouraged me to take some time and do something truly for me. One of her greatest abilities is to break down what I thought were insurmountable tasks (menu, exercise, supplements) and make them easy to understand and doable.
I feel like with Sarah helping to coach my path, I can finally get to a place in my health that I have wanted to obtain for longer than I care to admit. Our health is the most important thing we have to nurture, and I feel like she gave me the tools and the encouragement to change my entire life for the better. I highly, highly recommend her to anyone looking for a partner to help them on this journey!

Sarah truly made such an impact on my health & wellness. She is an absolute gem that everyone should include in their lives. Her influence and wealth of information has changed my life forever. In six weeks I learned a lifetime of information on how to eat, what to eat, food preparation, health care products and self care. Her support and information is invaluable.