Patient Stories

“Sandra took me beyond the typical discussion of better diet and improved eating, down a path of self-discovery, ultimately leading to root causes and greater personal understanding. Today, I have a solid knowledge base from which I can develop better habits for a healthier life. I’ve had many “aha” moments along the way and am more aware of the powerful forces that influence my eating choices – putting me back in control. I’ve kept the weight off – it’s truly sustainable weight loss.”

“I’ve been seeing Sandra for a little over a year, sustainably losing about fifty pounds, which is over 20% of my starting weight.

Without Sandra, I would probably still be gaining and losing the same 15-20 pounds every few months.

More importantly, I think I’d still be struggling with the extreme guilt that comes with the failure of not being able to sustain weight loss.

Sandra never makes me feel stupid, and has helped so much in re-framing the process of weight loss: Instead of “I’m so dumb, why can’t I get this??” it’s now “This must be really hard if someone who is smart and hard-working struggles with it.” 

There will always be peaks and valleys in my journey to a healthy weight, but a burden has been lifted from my shoulders in my approach and attitude, and that’s due to Sandra’s expert care and guidance.

I was looking for someone who takes a holistic approach. 

As someone who has struggled with ever-fluctuating weight her whole life, it was important for me to find someone who could help identify and tackle the root causes of my bad relationship with food and help me create life-long strategies for permanent weight loss.

She is a joy to be around, gives me her full attention, and genuinely cares about my health and success. She strikes a wonderful balance of friend-and-counselor who is also extremely knowledgeable in her field. 

Sandra often frames problems in a different way than I’ve thought of them. She challenges me to come at things from a different perspective, and helps me come up with tools and tricks on my own to tackle things in the best way.

Her focus on self-compassion has been a total game-changer for me, and my mindset around my body and my weight loss goal is healthier and more productive than it’s ever been.

I would absolutely recommend Sandra! I value our meetings immensely. If you’ve struggled with sustained weight loss, her approach is practical and sustainable.”

“I have been seeing Sandra for the past 20 months after she was recommended by my naturopath. I like Sandra’s combination of medicine and psychology. There is no judgement and she uses science to get results.

She looks at the complete picture to formulate action plans. Not just diet, but how you physically are doing as well as your habits. Without any judgement.

Before I began seeing Sandra I had tried two other weight loss plans with little success. I would probably still be struggling and perhaps even worse off by gaining even more weight.

I have successfully lost 70 pounds, my A1c is down by 1.1 points, my cholesterol, especially my triglycerides, are back in a healthy range. I would definitely recommend her.”

“I’d highly recommend Sandra to anyone who is struggling with weight!

Before I saw Sandra my weight was definitely interfering with my mobility, and thus was affecting my ability to engage in lots of the things I love to do. I’ve improved a lot and am looking forward to getting even better!

I started seeing her because I was intrigued by the idea of “integrative medical” weight management, and the idea of taking a serious medical look at weight management.

She’s very knowledgeable, thorough, and encouraging, while also holding me accountable. She always has another idea for when I reach a roadblock, and goes the extra mile to explore all options. 

I also appreciate her incorporating appropriate medications to support this process.

One of the most important things she has helped me with is breaking through all the shame and self-criticism I’ve carried about weight for years. Her helping me see weight management as a legitimate medical issue, rather than a failure of self-control, has been a true breakthrough for me.

To my utter amazement, I’ve been able to stay true to a low-carb diet for over two years without relapse. I’ve lost over 90 pounds and am still going! I have recommended her to others.”

“If I had not started seeing Sandra, I’m quite certain that I would have continued to gain weight. I was at a point where I had little energy and many things just felt hard. Because of this, my confidence suffered.

Nothing else was working for me and despite good intentions, I continued to gain weight.

I really appreciate that Sandra treats the whole person. She reviews a client’s current health through bloodwork and identification of underlying conditions, but also seeks to understand lifestyle (diet, exercise, sleep habits), and emotional health (stress factors). 

For me, the lifestyle and emotional factors have made a big difference and where we focus nearly all of our time.

Sandra is really great at creating a safe space to be vulnerable about the emotions that come along with a weight loss journey. She is empathetic, non-judgmental, and sets realistic expectations. She is also great at driving accountability. As someone who is often in the “all or nothing” mindset, she’s done a lot to help me understand the positive impact that can result from small, incremental changes.

I have lost approximately 43 pounds and have gone from size 14/16 to size 8. I feel so much healthier and have much more energy. The thing I like most about this journey is that it is sustainable. While I’ve significantly changed my eating habits, I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything. It truly is a lifestyle change, not a “diet”.”

“I was referred to Sandra by my primary care doctor and I’ve been seeing her for over 4 years. I like the way she blends science with compassion to see the whole person.

When I first started seeing Sandra I had just been diagnosed with diabetes and I was scared. I already had high blood pressure and high cholesterol and I blamed myself for having all these issues. 

After all the years of failed weight loss attempts, she gave me a plan that actually worked! 

She taught me that my medical issues were connected to my weight and tied them in to her recommendations so that everything would improve. She showed me kindness and didn’t judge me.

Now I’ve lost over 40 pounds and am off most of my meds. Best of all, I’m keeping the weight off. I have a new granddaughter and am looking forward to playing with her and taking her on adventures. I could not have said that 5 years ago.

If you have tried everything and you need someone who knows the latest medical science and has a caring heart, you should see Sandra.”

“I started seeing Sandra after my orthopedic doctor told me I needed to lose weight to get my knee replaced. I was miserable and knew I couldn’t live like that any longer. That was 2 years and 35 pounds ago. 

I got my knee replaced 4 months ago and am working my way back to the life I had before I gained weight.

She gives me her full attention and really listens to what I am saying. She knows how hard it is to lose weight and doesn’t sugar coat it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had medical people tell me that I just need to “eat less and move more.”

She looked deeper at my metabolism and found things that were causing me to gain weight. Then she gave me strategies to address those issues and help me lose weight. That completely changed my perspective! 

I’ve spent so much time blaming myself for gaining weight, which has only made it worse. It’s so easy to drown out the self-criticism with a pint of ice cream. Now I understand how complicated it is and that gives me the strength to make better choices. I couldn’t have done that without Sandra.

If you are like me and you blame yourself for gaining weight and not being able to lose it, go see Sandra.”

“Within my first phone call with Sandra, I could tell how different her approach was than anything I had ever tried or learned from others. What I was doing clearly wasn’t working so I knew I needed to take a chance on something different.

My family has always made weight feel like an extremely shameful subject. Sandra takes all of that away. My whole life I was just told “you eat too much and exercise too little.” 

She helps bring to light the medical reasons behind weight gain and loss. 

Having that kind of encouragement without shame has been a huge source of my motivation. She has helped me find a lifestyle that works for my body instead of quick fixes “to my problems.” I feel that what Sandra has taught me and coached through is something I can maintain for life.

Sandra gave me hope back when I had run out. I was so tired of trying and failing. She inspired me to believe in myself and help me redefine how I see myself.

One of my favorite things is when I am feeling down or anxious about having results that show a weight gain, Sandra always finds a way to help me see it is not a bad thing. She helps reassure me that there are so many other possibilities than just “you ate too much and messed up.” (Which is what my brain tells me.)

Another thing that I love is she is so good at helping set reachable goals. She helped me build my confidence by starting slow and gradually building upon my success. Activities in weight loss can be very overwhelming all at once, especially when you go into it alone. 

Having Sandra guide me, helped me set the right pace for my success to not get overwhelmed and give up. This has been a huge part of my previous weight loss attempts and I am so grateful to have her expertise and guidance.

I have considered my whole experience with Sandra a success. No matter what the numbers say, everything she has taught me has been an extremely positive addition to my life.

– I have lost over 70 pounds while working with Sandra.

– I have learned how important movement is. I really appreciated that in the beginning, we started small with daily walks. I have never been very interested in “working out” and always felt forced to by my parents. So, starting with walks was a great way to feel like I was doing something good for myself. For the first time in my life, I am now a cross-fit member and truly enjoy being there for myself instead of others.

– We have addressed multiple things in my health more than just weight. I am sleeping better and have more overall energy.

– Learning how to eat for how my body processes has helped me with indigestion issues that I have had throughout my whole life

– I have been able to achieve and maintain a healthy level on all my blood tests as well. (Insulin, Glucose, cholesterol, etc..)

– I identified that alcohol was a huge contributor to my weight gain, and I am now coming up on 2 years sober.

When I hear people express their frustration about how nothing works, they’ve tried everything, I always bring up the things Sandra has taught me and let them know the valuable resource she has been to me.

I consider myself extremely lucky that my primary doctor had Sandra in her referrals. My life has completely changed since meeting Sandra. I am very grateful to have been given that connection.”

“I’ve struggled with weight problems most of my life. When I was younger it was easy to take off pounds and with my lifestyle it was pretty easy to put them back on and then some. 

As I aged it became increasingly difficult to lose weight and even easier to gain it back. Since 2005 I had become extremely overweight and started to experience many health problems associated with being overweight, not to mention the low self-esteem and eventually falling into depression and just didn’t have that great of an outlook on life anymore.

Then in March of 2011 I met Sandra and during my initial consultation I was finding renewed hope that I didn’t have to live like this anymore and that I could take my life back, if I made the commitment to do so. Can I say (without sounding too cliché) Sandra had me at hello! 

Seeing and working with her has changed my life! Her guidance, support, understanding of ME, and non-judgmental approach, has helped me face the many challenges of losing weight and keeping it off.

It’s not a diet but rather a lifestyle change. My commitment to this challenge has reversed my type 2 diabetes, I no longer suffer with metabolic syndrome and my entire outlook on life has changed for the better! I even learned to like myself again and that has been huge for me. I don’t beat myself up mentally anymore! To date I have lost almost 75 pounds, well on my way to my goal of 100 and my waist has dropped 10 sizes!

If you are serious about losing weight and you want to get your life back, I invite you to try this program. It really works! 

Over the last year I have referred several friends to her that are enjoying some of the same successes that I have. I owe Sandra, her guidance and her program a great deal of gratitude. 

While she is appreciative of the compliments she has a habit of turning the credit back to you, as you are the one doing the work! Maybe so, but I could not have done this without her commitment to help people like me learn to love myself enough to want to make a difference not only in my health, but in my life!”