During the last 30 years, we’ve certified over 130,000 health, nutrition, and fitness professionals. We regularly feature distinguished graduates who are using what they have learned to inspire others and make a difference.
Meet one of our featured graduates, Sarah Salain, an AFPA Certified Holistic Nutritionist.
Tell us about yourself.
Hi there! My name is Sarah. I’m a Registered Nurse & Holistic Health Coach specializing in holistic nutrition and hormones. I help empower women on their health and wellness journeys by educating and coaching on the importance of nutrition to overall health, as well as balancing hormones. I absolutely love holistic health, the beach, and spending time with my husband and two pups. It’s truly my mission to provide the best care, guidance, and support to all the clients I serve.
How did you initially become interested in health and wellness?
I’ve always been interested in health, but it wasn’t until I became ill myself that I truly took a deep dive into what holistic health and wellness meant. After completing AFPA’s Holistic Nutritionist course, I started delving deeper into holistic health, and my body began healing and feeling better. When I started implementing more nutritionally dense foods, changing my lifestyles and habits, and becoming more aware, my entire life changed, and a new passion for wellness began. Although my times of sickness were extremely disappointing and frustrating, it fueled a new passion to serve my clients as best as I could to finally help them get to the root cause of their health struggles.
Which AFPA certifications have you earned, and why did you choose those certification programs?
I personally chose the Holistic Nutritionist course and certification for a few reasons. As a Nurse, I was taught very little about how nutrition supports the body and how it can be used as medicine. I feel nutrition is one of the most critical aspects of health and wellness, related to every part of our mind, body, and soul. When I started learning and implementing the information I was being taught in the AFPA course, I was floored. I felt as if I had stumbled upon a new version of health and wellness that the entire world needed to learn about. I knew it would become my mission to spread awareness about whole foods, holistic healing, and simplifying diet and lifestyle to help change people’s lives.
Get Your Free Guide to Becoming a Holistic Nutritionist
Learn about the important role of holistic nutritionists, what it takes to be successful as one, and how to build a lucrative, impactful career in nutrition.
Tell me about your business and how you serve people.
SimplySarahHealing is truly my whole heart and soul. My mission is to empower women on their health and wellness journeys by understanding their cycle, supporting their hormones with nutrition, healing their gut, and truly getting aligned with their body. I have created three programs that help women lose weight, heal their gut, lower their toxin load, and truly understand their cycle phases while balancing their hormones.
What are your favorite parts of running your business?
There is absolutely no better feeling than my clients sharing their wins with me. Every week I just want to jump up and down when I get messages about their achievements. Whether it’s hitting their goal weight, feeling more confident in their clothes, feeling stronger in the gym, getting a positive pregnancy test after struggling with infertility, or just knowing and understanding their body’s specific hormonal cues at certain phases of their cycle. It’s so important to me that every single one of my clients leaves me with empowerment, confidence, and so much more knowledge than they came to me with.
What has been the hardest part of running your business, and what have you learned from it?
My clients truly become friends to me, so I celebrate their wins and feel their losses. Health journeys are not always 100% linear. Sometimes we get stuck, hit a rough patch, or have a bad week, so when my clients are struggling with their health and wellness journeys or even with a hard life moment, I truly feel it with them. I, too, am still on my own personal health and wellness journey, so I can empathize with how hard it really is to truly change your lifestyle one day at a time. Some days can be tough and defeating, but that’s why having a coach is so important!! I feel confident that my clients and I can navigate their own unique and personal journey together!
How has becoming certified with AFPA impacted your life?
When I signed up for the AFPA Holistic Nutritionist course, I had no intention of ever being a health coach. I was simply desperate for a solution to help me on my own personal journey. As I read, studied, and continued to learn, I felt like I was relearning an entire different system of health and healing. I became so passionate about spreading awareness regarding the importance of nutrition. After I started living by the information I was learning and started feeling better in my own health, I just knew it was my mission to help other women do the same. I was SO tired of running into women that were constantly dismissed for their symptoms, who were told how they were feeling was “just being a woman,” who were broken down, defeated, helpless, and were fighting their body. I wanted to heal that, help them find the light, and help empower them to reclaim their health back.
Do you have any client success stories you would like to share?
SOOOOO MANY. I’ve helped countless women become pregnant, have painless periods, heal their gut, lose weight without medication, find sustainable routines and habits, lower A1C, navigate PCOS, learn to go non-toxic and cycle-sync, empower them to lean into their hormones and cycles rather than toss it to the side, lower cholesterol, and make long-lasting forever lifestyle changes. My clients are the real deal!!! They truly inspire me every.single.day. I feel so honored to be a part of their health and wellness journeys.
What advice would you give others thinking about becoming certified through AFPA?
Do it!!! There were a lot of things that challenged my mindset about health, fitness, nutrition, and lifestyle in the AFPA course. Without this challenge, I would have never learned about holistic nutrition or functional medicine. If you have even a tiny spark of interest in a course, dive in! The content is AMAZING, filled with lifelong information. I also enjoyed all the studies and research provided throughout the courses.
Why should people work with you?
As someone who has had a health coach before, I encourage you to do your research and “interview” your potential coach! Make sure your coach is truly passionate and cares about your unique and specific journey. Find someone who may not have all the answers but will work with you to figure them out, someone who has an open mind and will be your biggest cheerleader! I personally keep my programs tight-knit so I can dedicate all of my time, passion, education, and purpose to my 1:1 clients.
Of all the programs I’ve stumbled upon, I haven’t been able to find one like mine. My Simply Aligned program is one of my favorite programs of the three I offer. Hormones and cycles are not heavily educated on, and most women live their entire adult life not truly understanding what their body goes through. Some may struggle with emotions, painful periods, feeling out of tune, low energy, fertility issues; the list goes on and on. The Simply Aligned program is specifically curated to YOUR unique cycle, where we work as a team to learn how to support the body in each phase whether it’s with recipes, nutrition, emotions, workouts, lowering your toxic load, even mindset work. We go into each phase with a plan and intention so you can finally learn how to balance your hormones and live in complete hormonal alignment!
I was once in a place where I was truly struggling with my health so it is important to me to “give.” Even if you aren’t exactly looking for a 1:1 coach, it is my mission to provide as many free resources and education as I can, so follow along for it all!
How can people find you online or work with you?
You can find me at www.simplysarahhealing.com or @simplysarahhealing on all social platforms. On my website, you can find my blog with a ton of free resources, my podcast, and information about the three programs I offer.
Get Your Free Guide to Becoming a Holistic Nutritionist
Learn about the important role of holistic nutritionists, what it takes to be successful as one, and how to build a lucrative, impactful career in nutrition.
