Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Kadison.
Sarah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always loved baking. Around holidays you could always find me in the kitchen making cutout cookies and gingerbread houses from scratch, and family birthdays always involved elaborate homemade cakes with multiple layers. I am also very artistic, so I loved not only making the recipes, but also decorating the finished products. Due to their high sugar content, though, these treats were mainly reserved only for holidays and special occasions.
During college, I developed an interest in working out and healthy eating, and started reading a few healthy food blogs that sometimes incorporated “healthified” treats. I started to become aware that by putting a healthy spin on my favorite foods, and using healthy ingredients in creative ways, I could make treats that were suitable to be part of an everyday diet. I wanted to start my own food blog, but didn’t know how to start, so during my senior year of college, I started an Instagram account (@sarahlynnfitness), to share healthy recipes, fitness tips, and to connect with others with similar interests.
After graduation, I found out I needed to commit to a strictly gluten-free diet, and could no longer use many of my go-to baking ingredients or recipes. I also adopted a newfound understanding of the struggles of those living with food allergies, and wanted to make more recipes that would be accessible for people with any food restrictions. I started to experiment more with my own baking recipes, making an effort to eliminate most common allergens, so that the recipes were not only gluten-free, but could have substitutions to be nut-free, egg-free, dairy-free, and soy-free. I began sharing the recipes I came up with on Instagram, and people loved them! I decided to compile a bunch of my recipes into an eBook, which became the first BakeToBeFit cookbook, The Healthy Cake Cookbook. It was so popular that I decided to start writing a second book right away.
Since the first book, I have released three more eBooks, The Healthy Cookie Cookbook, The Healthy Donut Cookbook, and most recently, The Healthy Brownie Cookbook.
I am now tagged in many photos on Instagram by people making my recipes every day. I decided to start a second Instagram account (@baketobefit) to showcase reader photos and also serve as reviews of the recipes for others to see. My business now consists of running social media accounts, coming up with new recipes for the blog, doing sponsored posts with other companies, and engaging with my customers on a daily basis. I love having the ability to help people enjoy desserts while still achieving their health, weight loss, and/or fitness goals.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There definitely have been struggles along the way, but I believe those struggles were actually what led me to do what I’m doing today. Around the time I graduated college, I was struggling with health issues that were treated with dietary changes. I was inspired to start creating more of my own recipes due to becoming more restricted in the foods I was able to eat.
I also took a leap of faith by quitting the job I started after college, and pursuing an entrepreneurial venture. There is always a lot of uncertainty as an entrepreneur, and no guaranteed salary, so that is a constant challenge that I face. I am thankful that I believed in myself and that my family supported my decision from the beginning. I still sometimes question if I’m on the right path, but then I remember all the people who have reached out to me telling me that I’ve made their life easier, helped them lose weight, or made them happier by being able to enjoy dessert despite dietary restrictions.
Please tell us about Bake To Be Fit.
I specialize in creating healthier, gluten-free, high-protein dessert recipes. I enjoy the challenge of transforming healthy ingredients into incredibly decadent looking and tasting desserts that do NOT appear healthy. My food photos often get reposted on “food porn” accounts that post the most unhealthy, delicious looking food, and people never know that the food in my photos are actually healthy alternatives. I think this is mainly what sets me apart from other healthy food bloggers. You probably won’t see any vegetables in their original form on my page, but they may be disguised inside a brownie or cake.
I am very proud that I’ve been able to help people and provide value, while being able to do something I’m passionate about as my full-time job. I am also proud of the fact that I do all food styling and photography myself without having had any professional training. I’ve really enjoyed developing a platform on Instagram and being able to interact directly with the people who make my recipes. I hope to continue innovating new recipes and products to transform unhealthy foods into healthier versions.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My favorite memory from childhood is when my grandfather, Grandpa Al, would come visit one day every week after school. He would bring me and my brother each a hot fudge sundae from Brigham’s, the ice cream place downtown, and it would be waiting in the freezer when we got home from school. Then he would take us out and we would go for a walk in the woods nearby, during which he would tell us stories (partly true and partly fictional) about the people who originally discovered the woods around our house. We would sometimes walk for miles, finding little ponds, train tracks, or broken glass along the way, and make up stories about how these things ended up where they were. I looked forward to these walks in the peaceful woods every week, imagining what had happened there in the past.
Pricing:
- Individual eBooks: $19.99-$29.99
- eBundles (include 2, 3 or 4 eBooks): $36.00-$65.00
Contact Info:
- Website: www.baketobefit.com
- Email: sarah@baketobefit.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/sarahlynnfitness and instagram.com/baketobefit
- Facebook: facebook.com/sarahlynnfit
- Other: youtube.com/sarahlynnfit
Image Credit:
Sarah Kadison
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