What is Health and Wellness Coaching?
- Health coaches work with individuals and groups in a client-centered process to facilitate and empower the client to develop and achieve self-determined goals related to health and wellness.
- Coaches support clients in mobilizing internal strengths and external resources, and in developing self-management strategies for making sustainable, healthy lifestyle, behavior changes.
- While health and wellness coaches per se do not diagnose conditions, prescribe treatments, or provide psychological therapeutic interventions, they may provide expert guidance in areas in which they hold active, nationally recognized credentials, and may offer resources from nationally recognized authorities.
- As partners and facilitators, health and wellness coaches support their clients in achieving health goals and behavioral change based on their clients’ own goals and consistent with treatment plans as prescribed by individual clients’ professional health care providers.
- Coaches assist clients to use their insight, personal strengths and resources, goal setting, action steps and accountability toward healthy lifestyle change.
Are you experiencing?
- fad and yo-yo dieting fatigue;
- confusion from the mixed messages about nutrition and wellness delivered by the media;
- food choices and dietary patterns based on speed rather than health;
- missing out on preparing your own meals because of your busy lifestyle, but wishing you could:
- knowing you could step into your best life, vibrant energy and wellness by eating clean and addressing stressors
How do I begin a plant-based diet?
Step 1 - get curious! Be a discoverer! Begin by taking a genuine interest in your wellness. The desire to cultivate the skills you need is the first step on your way to vibrant health and happiness. Learning about the vast variety of delicious and nutritious plant-based foods will take you to the next level. Once you start seeing the results and feeling amazing from the inside out, you'll be even more inspired!
Isn't eating clean and being plant-based expensive and time-consuming?
Eating clean and preparing whole, nutritious plant-based meals does not have to be a chore nor an added expense. It’s just like prioritizing what’s important in your life. Once you start to experience the benefits, you’ll learn ways to be a savvy, economical plant-based shopper. Remember - you are not buying meat, fish, or dairy which saves you a lot! I'll guide on how to shop and save, how to dine out, on vacation or on the go, so it all becomes second nature.
Is it hard to maintain a plant-based diet?
It's a matter of knowledge and practice. If you learn the right habits from the beginning, then it’s quite easy! One of the most significant aspects of a plant-based diet is that you introduce a lot more variety into your diet. You'll soon realize that it is not about what you can't eat, or replacing everything you ate before with processed meat and dairy replacement foods, but it's about what you can eat, by enriching your diet with nutritious and diverse whole, plant-based choices. It becomes quite natural. And trust me, once you start to feel and look your best, you enjoy it more and more!
I want to go vegan, but should I go cold-turkey?
Everyone is different, so there’s no one or right approach for everyone. For some, easing into a vegan diet is the way to go. It takes some time to learn what your options are and how to set up plant-based meals, including eating out. At first, you may have different cravings or energy highs and lows. If it's not done correctly, there's a risk of becoming a junk-food vegan. After all...fries, chips, and Oreos are all vegan! For those who are more familiar with the vegan landscape, diving right in may work. The right approach for you is something we tackle together.
Is a plant-based diet healthy?
Great question! If you have any concerns, always run your dietary changes by your primary care physician. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states: It is the position of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that appropriately planned vegetarian, including vegan, diets are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits for the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. These diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, adolescence, older adulthood, and for athletes. Plant-based diets are more environmentally sustainable than diets rich in animal products because they use fewer natural resources and are associated with much less environmental damage. Vegetarians and vegans are at reduced risk of certain health conditions, including ischemic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, certain types of cancer, and obesity. Low intake of saturated fat and high intakes of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, soy products, nuts, and seeds (all rich in fiber and phytochemicals) are characteristics of vegetarian and vegan diets that produce lower total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and better serum glucose control. These factors contribute to reduction of chronic disease. Vegans need reliable sources of vitamin B-12, such as fortified foods or supplements.
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Disclaimer:
A Health Coach is a mentor and guide who has been trained and certified in essential nutrition and health coaching, to help clients reach their health and wellness goals by supporting them to devise and implement positive, sustainable lifestyle changes. The role of a Health Coach is not to provide medical services; or to diagnose, treat or cure any disease, condition or other physical or mental ailment of the human body. The Health Coach is not acting in the capacity of a doctor, licensed dietitian-nutritionist, psychologist or other licensed professional, and any care or advice given by the Health Coach or on this website is not meant to take the place of the care/advice by these professionals.