Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Arnold.
Sara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
For as long as I can remember, my life seemed to remain wrapped up in sports, athleticism, performance, health, and food – but my path here was anything but a straight line. I struggled with acne and digestive issues in high school, and experimented with pretty restrictive diets to find a resolution (of which, I never found). I was also heavily bullied from elementary to high school. Food, exercise, and controlling what I looked like became a mechanism of comfort and control in a life that, at times, was very chaotic. I had some pretty dark times that I experienced, especially in high school, however a little voice in my head (what I now know to be my eating disorder), told me that as long as I was pretty and skinny (which I controlled by exercising more and eating less), I would make it out on the other side. This led to over a decade long battle with an eating disorder.
I never “looked” like I had an eating disorder, so nobody ever thought twice about what I was doing. In fact, I was heavily praised for how “healthy” I was. Even at doctor’s offices, my labs and vitals would literally be terrible, and it would be blown off because I was “healthy”. I was chronically vitamin deficient, I had high liver values (from starvation), my blood pressure was low, and my white blood cell count remained low for years.
From the beginning, I was always drawn to helping people. From middle school, to my adulthood, I’ve been on 10+ mission trips all over the United States with my church, Woods Chapel United Methodist Church. Throughout my time in college, I switched majors but it always remained in the health care realm. I found dietetics through a disordered route – “Hey, I’m obsessed with eating healthy, exercising, and telling other people how to do it! This seems like a great fit”. However, I would likely still be struggling to stay afloat if this wasn’t the path I took.
I began my career as a dietitian with an eating disorder (that I still didn’t know that I had). In fact, my career choice reinforced my eating disorder. I was obsessed with looking at ingredient labels and eating healthy. Skipping a workout? Not a chance. I had clients wanting to work with me because they liked how I looked. At one point, I was training clients (I’m also a certified personal trainer) for hours a day, going to CrossFit workouts 6 days per week, walking my dog for miles a day, and likely also using workout equipment, on my own, between clients. I wasn’t necessarily trying to limit my calorie intake, however I was obsessed with only eating healthy, which naturally ruled out many higher calorie options, especially at restaurants. I convinced myself that gluten caused my acne, which was a rigid food rule that dictated my life for almost 10 years. In hindsight, this was how I got others to cater to my restriction. Pizza for dinner? I’ll get the salad since I can’t have the crust. I ended up unintentionally losing 30 lbs or so in my first few years as a dietitian and began to look malnourished. However, I continued to receive praise for how lean and fit I was. At 5′ 4″ and 110 lbs, my eating disorder wanted me to get even smaller.
It wasn’t until I decided to add gluten back into my life (I can thank my gluten-loving husband for this) and switched to a more sedentary job, that I started to gain weight and re-nourish my eating disorder-ridden brain, which led to glimpses of light in the darkness I had been in for years. With this job switch, I ended up getting many athletes in my office with disordered eating and eating disorders and related to their journeys. This was what I wanted to do. I’ve been in their shoes.
And then, KC Performance Nutrition was born. I wanted to create something that helped athletes and active people like me. This is not just a business for me. It’s a deeply personal passion project built on the values I wish I had access to in my earlier years. It’s my way of helping others fuel with confidence, rebuild trust with their bodies, and prioritize both physical health and mental health. Every client I work with is a reminder of why I do this work. In helping others, I continue to heal my younger self because I’ve been where they are, and I believe they deserve better.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. Healing, personally and professionally, has been anything but smooth. My biggest challenge wasn’t building a business, it was rebuilding myself. I was still untangling my own relationship with food while trying to show up as a dietitian and “role model” for others. That tension was really hard – realizing I had spent years promoting what I thought was health, when in reality, I was still living in a mindset of restriction and fear.
I’ve been in therapy for the years of bullying I experienced. Bullying made me into a shell of myself. My therapist calls it “trauma”.
Starting KC Performance Nutrition meant choosing recovery every day. I had to unlearn a lot of what I thought I knew about nutrition and redefine what “healthy” truly means. There were times I doubted whether I was the right person to do this work, but every time I heard a client say “I finally feel like myself again”, it reminded me why I was chosen to play this part.
On the business side, it’s also been a journey. It’s very important to me that KC Performance Nutrition never loses the values it was built on. It can be hard to be a healthcare provider that doesn’t align with weight loss and dieting. Especially a dietitian. But I will never move back into that space. With this said, it can also be hard to find other dietitians that hold my same values. I’m so lucky to have found Haley Wilson, my food-freedom partner in crime. She’s been a gift to KC Performance Nutrition and all of the clients she’s helped.
I’m still in the process of building this business while also holding another full-time dietitian role. I’m very grateful to be in a place where I can do both. I work 7 days a week. It’s not uncommon for me to work 12 hour days. But this is what I want. I will never back down from spreading KC Performance Nutrition’s message to whoever will listen.
The road hasn’t been smooth, but I don’t think it was supposed to be. The cracks are where the light came in – and those cracks are what make KC Performance Nutrition what it is today.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
At KC Performance Nutrition, I help athletes and active people fuel their bodies optimally for life and sport (if they compete). I’m a board certified sports dietitian and credentialed eating disorder specialist. I still carry my personal training certification but don’t actively use it right now. Specifically, I specialize in Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) and Eating Disorders. I’m credentialed and licensed to provide medical nutrition therapy – essentially attacking medical conditions and physical health through nutritional strategies. Dietitians are very different from nutritionists. Unfortunately, I’ve seen well-meaning but unqualified advice, from nutritionists, lead to under-fueling, injuries, REDs, and a damaged relationship with food.
I offer two paths – a Sports Nutrition option (focused on health and performance optimization) and a Disordered Eating route (focused on healing relationships with food, body, and movement – with, or without, an official eating disorder diagnosis).
Many of my clients come to me feeling like they’ve tried everything – tracking macros, cutting out foods, doing all the “right” things – but still feeling stuck in a cycle of burnout, frustration, or shame around food. My goal is to help them step out of that cycle and rediscover joy, strength, and trust in their bodies. The cool thing is that they also experience an improvement in their performance. They’re running faster, jumping higher, and playing longer.
I think if you were to ask my clients to describe me in 1 word, it would be: authentic. I show up to sessions, not only as an expert, but also as a human. I’m proud of that. What sets KC Performance Nutrition apart is that it’s built on lived experience and compassion, not diet culture. I know what it feels like to be praised for being “healthy” while quietly struggling on the inside. That experience shaped how I practice today – with empathy, transparency, and a focus on sustainable, individualized care. I don’t believe in quick fixes or rigid rules. I believe in education, empowerment, and helping people perform their best while actually enjoying their lives.
At its core, KC Performance Nutrition is about helping people break free from fear and perfectionism and build a relationship with food that supports both their goals and their well-being.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
You know what’s risky? Choosing to build a business rooted in weight inclusivity and with anti-diet values. That’s risky. It goes against a lot of what our culture, and ever our profession, often celebrates. Especially in an era of weight loss injections.
I worried about whether people would take me seriously if I didn’t promote weight loss, or if clients would still come to me if I refused to sell them the idea that smaller automatically means better. But I knew in my gut that aligning with diet culture would never feel authentic to me again.
Starting KC Performance Nutrition was also an act of vulnerability. It required me to share parts of my story that, for years, I tried to hide. There’s always a risk in being that open — especially in a field that tends to value “expert” over “human.” But I’ve learned that authenticity builds the kind of trust that no degree or credential ever could.
So I guess my view on risk is this: it’s not about being fearless, it’s about being brave enough to move forward even when fear is there. The biggest risks I’ve taken have led to the most meaningful rewards – not just in business, but in becoming the person I am today.
Pricing:
- Performance Coaching – starting at $250/month
- Recovery Coaching – starting at $350/month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kcperformancenutrition.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kcperformancenutrition/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcperformancenutrition/
