COACHING
A Recipe for Success
“To ensure good health: eat lightly, breath deeply, live moderately, cultivate cheerfulness, and maintain an interest in life.”
– William Londen
Benefit from Working with a Health Coach.
Working with a health coach can have a variety of benefits for clients. Some clients may take actions that they never considered possible or overcome sticking points that they thought were insurmountable. Others may see a shift in mindset that helps them take an important next step. Still others may discover how to make lasting lifestyle changes after years of cycles of success and failure.
Who Benefits from coaching?
Anyone who has a health or wellness goal, or concern can benefit from coaching. Some individuals probably have more to gain from the intensive support offered through the coaching experience. For this reason, if any of the following apply to you, coaching might be a worthwhile investment.
What is a Health and Wellness Coach?
A health and wellness coach works with individuals who want to improve their health and well- being. Using concepts drawn from psychology, behavior change, and life coaching fields, a wellness coach helps their clients overcome obstacles to maintain healthy habits for life. The wellness coach puts you in charge of creating your healthiest life possible, but also provides the tools, methods, and supportive relationship that ensures greater success. It’s a comprehensive and collaborative process between a qualified coach with a health and wellness background and a motivated client that encompasses discovery, problem-solving, action planning and the development of ongoing support systems for the purpose of ensuring clients achieve their desired health behaviors and/or outcomes to make lasting changes that support the individual through the lifespan.
Coaching is a process that helps you reach your full potential. Guiding individuals toward making sustainable long-term and long-lasting changes that lead to better health, more energy, more fulfilling relationships with family and friends, and a more productive life in general. As the proverb goes, you can give someone a fish and feed them for a day, or you can teach them to fish and feed them for a lifetime.
A healthy lifestyle encompasses daily exercise, proper nutrition, adequate sleep, and effective stress management. If any one of these areas is compromised, it can affect the foundation of our health, resulting in negative health outcomes.
While diet trends and fad diets have never been more abundant, people continue to get sicker.
The costs of cardiovascular disease in the U.S. total 317 billion per year and estimates of adult obesity costs range from 147-210 billion a year. Most of the spending is generated from treating obesity related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Better health is not a luxury rather a necessity. We can do better. Nutrition is the foundation.
The Coaching Process is designed to:
- identify core values as they relate to health behaviors
- advise clients as they explore their support network, barriers to change, motivation and self-efficacy
- guide clients as they define their health vision and desired outcomes
- assist clients as they establish preliminary short-term and long-term health and wellness goals
- brainstorm and facilitate strategies for meeting these goals
- collaborate to create a concrete yet flexible action plan to ensure lasting success
- provide ongoing support, guidance, accountability, and structure as client implements the action plan and works toward and ultimately achieves the desired goals.
NUTRITION
Don’t focus on a diet that has an expiration date. Focus on a lifestyle that will last forever.
What is the role of nutrition in the coaching process?
Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. With the availability of cheap, convenient fast foods, eating healthy while balancing daily hectic lives poses many challenges. There’s an array of misinformation and conflicting messages that can leave the public feeling overwhelmed or confused about what to eat or what not to eat.
With an abundance of experts in the health and wellness field today few seem to agree on the best way to promote health.
There of course lies the problem. Everyone is left feeling overwhelmed and confused about the necessary steps to improve their health.
Working as a Nurse for 20 years I too was confused by the conflicting views. I have studied science my whole life. It was clear to me much of the information out there was misleading.
I stopped looking outside of myself for answers and went back to the science. That’s when real change happened in my life.
There should be an understanding of the differences between health and wellness. Health is a state of being whereas wellness is a lifestyle with many components. Healthy is not just the physical, it comprises the mental and the social well-being also. True wellness aims to enhance well-being in all areas of one’s life.
Nutrition coaching is an integral part of the health and wellness coaching process. It’s providing guidance and helping clients make positive changes to their eating habits through education and planning. The coaching process provides clients the support, structure, guidance, and accountability they need to make the lasting and sustainable changes necessary to reach their full health potential. A healthy lifestyle is one that combines, daily movement, stress management, balanced nutrition, and adequate sleep.
There is no generic solution for a population. Individuals need a tailored approach to their unique needs.
FITNESS
“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver”
– Mahatma Gandhi
What is the role of fitness in the coaching process?
Fitness is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Participating in regular exercise or physical activity promotes strong muscles and bones. It improves respiratory, cardiovascular health, and overall health. Staying active can also help you maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and reduce your risk for some cancers. Exercise does not have be strenuous to provide benefits. It should be something that feels good that you enjoy which will motivate consistency. Consistency is the key to lasting health.
“The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
– by Buddha