Sarah was one of the many people I had hoped to meet in person at Low Carb Denver 2020, but she had opted out of direct attendance for what I had assumed were for the same reasons as everybody else, with Covid beginning to spread for the first time. It wasn't until her opinion piece was posted later that year in July that I realised there was more to it in her case.

Her famous TED Talk from 2015 - still quite new at that time - was the very first thing I found after having completed the initial "Beginner Banting" course on low carb through the Real Meal Revolution, and helped to reassure me that Tim Noakes wasn't the only one out there supporting low carb. That video provided an important bridge for me and my own journey, helping me to discover others like Stephen Phinney, Eric Westman and more.

Last year, after she reposted that talk to Facebook, I commented on it, thanking her for its role in my journey. And to my surprise, she actually replied:


She didn't have to do that, and there was certainly no expectation on my part that she might, but she did. And I think that speaks to her humanity, that she found the time not just for research with her circle of professional colleagues and so on, but to acknowledge everyday people like us now and then as well. Not everybody of her standing is also as accessible as she was.

That Facebook post now sits in my "Saved" collection, and it's not a big collection. It serves as a reminder to me that there is value in sharing our gratitude for others, while those others are still around.