Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard

In a culture driven by performance and optimisation, Sarah Ann Macklin shows us how true health begins with self-compassion. Grounded in science and enriched by her own lived experience, she delivers a clear, practical path to bringing body, mind and nutrition into powerful alignment. Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard is an essential guide for anyone seeking a calmer, more integrated approach to well-being.

William W. Li, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Eat to Beat Disease, President and Medical Director, the Angiogenesis Foundation

A hugely comprehensive and useful look at how we got to be so unhealthy, in our minds and our bodies, and how we might learn to be less so.

Alain de Botton, founder of The School of Life

This is different from any of the other fitspo, health and wellness books you will pick up. Yes, it is grounded in science and will bring you on your own incredible journey towards physical and emotional empowerment, but most importantly, Sarah relates to the struggles and realities of life. It will take you on a journey of self-reflection and change, allowing you to take up space, and own your body and your mind.

Stacy Sims, author of Next Level and Roar

This book will change how you think about health and self-worth, in a beautiful way. Sarah Ann writes with the honesty and vulnerability of someone who has truly experienced and practised what she teaches.

Mo Gawdat, Former CBO Google X and bestselling author

A profoundly important work that cuts through trends and shares the real way to lead your healthiest life.

Robin Sharma, #1 worldwide bestselling author of The 5AM Club + The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

Healing comes in many forms and is more than a meal plan. If you’ve been doing everything ‘right’ but still feel frustrated or stuck, this book will feel like a deep exhale. Too often, we focus on external fixes while ignoring the quiet suffering within. Stress and self-criticism shape our biology more than we realise. In Healthy Shouldn’t Be This Hard, Sarah Ann Macklin offers a compassionate, science-grounded path to lasting health from the inside out.

Dr. Will Bulsiewicz, MD, MSCI, New York Times bestselling author of Plant Powered Plus

Sarah brings rare integrity to the modern health conversation. Blending science with personal experience, she cuts through the noise and offers a practical, compassionate framework for sustainable wellbeing. This book feels both timely and necessary. Medically important and beautifully written. This will change how people think about their health.

Dr Shefali Tsabary, clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author

A brilliant and hugely relatable book. Sarah reminds us that health and wellbeing isn't just about what we eat, but also how we think, feel and look after ourselves.

Dr Rupy Aujla, The Doctor's Kitchen

In this brilliant book, Sarah weaves practical advice and real life stories with research based tools and of course the most important ingredient of all: compassion. If you have ever tried a diet or fitness regime, you need this book in your life

Dr Gemma Newman, Doctor, Author, Speaker, Reiki Shihan.

In an age of information overload and confusion, this book does an excellent job at cutting to the core of what you need to know to live longer, better.

Dan Buettner, Emmy Award-winning Netflix host and #1 New York Times Bestselling author of Blue Zones

Finally, a book that will help you stop punishing yourself.

Sara Szal, MD, New York Times bestselling author of Women, Food and Hormones

A practical and gently radical approach to nutrition. Sarah knows her stuff - and the toxic history of diet culture - and presents the information in a way that is genuinely useful and realistic. A sharp contrast to so much of the ridiculous regimens and protocols we are bombarded with online. Full of genuinely interesting info such as how our minds can change the health of our food and how our childhood impacts what we eat today, as well as practical and easy to follow advice you would expect from a nutritionist. An antidote to the misery and masochism of so much toxic health discourse, this book shows there is nothing healthier than a bit of self-compassion.

Matt Haig, author of Reasons to Stay Alive

We tend to assume the quest for good health has to be a grind, even a form of punishment. But it's absurd to make yourself miserable in an effort to feel better, and in this wise, grounded and inspiring book, Sarah Ann Macklin shows there's no need. Self-compassion is a lot more enjoyable and sustainable – and it works.

Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks