Meet Sara

Welcome to Real Balanced! My name is Sara Nelson and I am a full-time recipe food blogger living in Wisconsin, USA.

On my site, I share tried-and-true recipes that are nut-free and often low-carb and can be made in minimal time.

Brief facts about Sara Nelson

• I am a 31-year-old lifelong Wisconsinite and am very proud to be a Wisconsin-based blogger.
• I am a full-time food blogger and LOVE everything related to running an online business (and could talk about it for hours on end!). If you’re interested in starting a food blog, be sure to read all of my business-related posts.
• My husband, Ryan, and I have been married since December 2017. We had been planning a big wedding for September 2018, but decided to elope at the Milwaukee County Courthouse instead.
• We welcomed our daughter, Lucy, in 2020 and our son, Simon, in 2022.
• We have a Boston terrier, Rowsdower, who we LOVE SO MUCH.
• I have a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice. When I began food blogging, I was finishing my Master’s degree while interning for the Mayor of Milwaukee.
• I am mildly addicted to podcasts. I listen to several hours of episodes every single day! I love topics related to true crime, decluttering, current events, business, and health.

My diet

I follow a lower-carb diet that is entirely nut-free (nut-free because of allergies).

After years of medical problems and thousands of dollars spent trying to get to the bottom of some serious sleep issues, allergies, and GI problems, I opted to try a ketogenic diet. It worked REALLY well for me for years.

Learn more about my journey to keto.

After years of following a ketogenic diet, I’ve started to incorporate more carbs into my diet and now eat a lower-carb diet. Aside from the fact that I eat this way because I feel my best (clear-headed, decreased joint inflammation, etc.), I specifically eat low-carb to eliminate my night terrors.

While I do eat more carbs now than I did in the past, I still have to be quite careful about what types of carbs I incorporate into my diet. Several foods, for some reason or another, trigger my night terrors. Over the years, it’s been a game of “guess and check” to see what foods cause these sleep episodes.

In addition to eating a low-carb diet, I also eat a diet that is free from peanuts and tree nuts (I do, however, eat coconut because it is not a true tree nut). I was diagnosed with life-threatening nut allergies in 2018.

You can learn more about this unexpected and sudden food allergy diagnosis in this post.

Press

Since I began Real Balanced, my work has been featured in major online publications, like Delish, Shape, MyFitness Pal, and The Kitchn.

I have been featured on podcasts to discuss my background, diet, and business. You can listen to all of these podcasts here:

• Eat Blog Talk: Episode 023
• Eat Blog Talk: Episode 36
• Fat For Weight Loss: Episode 33
• The Chopped Podcast: #176
• The True North Collective: Season 1, Episode 2

My digital cookbooks

I am the author of 6 digital cookbooks:

• “Fat Bomb Favorites”
• “Keto Dessert Favorites”
• “MINI Fat Bomb Favorites”
• “MINI Keto Dessert Favorites”
• “Keto Dinner Favorites”
• “Keto Breakfast Favorites”

All of these cookbooks contain delicious, keto-friendly recipes that are simple to make and will satisfy your cravings!

Order your copies here!

Get in touch

Have a question? Just wanna say hi? I love to hear from you! Reach out to me on social media, send me a message, or send an email to hello[at]realbalanced[dot]com.

Work with me

I love collaborating with brands that share the same values as me! If you are interested in a partnership, please navigate to my Work With Me page for further information or send an email to hello[at]realbalanced[dot]com to discuss.