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Real Balanced

A food blog dedicated to sharing easy and delicious low-carb, keto, paleo, and nut-free recipes and resources.

Meet Sara

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

Sara smiling as she washes fruits on the kitchen sink

On my site, I share tried-and-true low-carb and nut-free recipes.

In addition to recipes, I am a new mom and often publish content related to my experience with motherhood.

And, if that wasn’t enough, I also love to talk about the business of blogging, and often share my tips and tricks for running a profitable food blog!

Brief facts about Sara Nelson

  • I am a 29-year-old lifelong Wisconsinite and 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 baby girl, Lucy, in January 2020! You can read more about my pregnancy and experiences with motherhood here.
  • 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, current events, business, and health.

My diet

I follow a low-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 low-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.

real balanced press as featured on graphic

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

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”
mini fat bomb favorites and mini keto dessert favorites ebook cover
mini fat bomb favorites and mini keto dessert favorites ebook cover
keto dinner favorites and keto breakfast favorites ebook cover

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

Order your copies here!

Blogging coach

I am a blogging coach who works with bloggers to improve their site, understand the technical facets of blogging, grow their email lists, and learn how to scale a profitable business.

Note that I am not currently taking on new blog coaching clients.

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.