This term gets thrown around a lot and there can be a variety of types of Health Coaches with different areas of expertise. However, the Institute for Integrative Nutrition defines a Health Coach as:
A Health Coach is a wellness professional who works with clients one-on-one or in group settings to help them achieve their personal wellness goals including weight loss, boosting energy, or sleeping better. It doesn’t stop there, though. Health Coaches act as a supportive mentor and guide to help their clients discover which foods and lifestyle makes them feel best. Coaches are accountability partners and even friends who give an unbiased approach to their clients and empower them to live the lives they love.”
That last line says it all, we teach you how to take the power back into your own hands. Too often those of us who struggle with any type of health issue want someone or something to “fix” us. Most of us Health Coaches know that feeling all too well. We search for that thing outside of us. The truth is…only you can heal your body. Only you can feel what’s right for you. It’s a Health Coaches job to help support you in finding those tools and ultimately connect you with trusting yourself and your body again. To trust that your body is working FOR you, not against you. Health Coaches take a “wholistic” approach to your program and journey.
Does any of this sound familiar?
- Perhaps you are at point where managing exercise and nutrition seem out of reach. A Health Coach should meet you where you are and guide you to feel better in your body and life in long term sustainable ways. You don’t have to face this alone or change everything at once to move forward.
- You get started on new wellness goals and get stuck on triggers and blocks that prevent you from moving forward. This is usually the time people stop and revert to their old habits. There are actually numerous psychological roadblocks to keeping us stuck. So it’s not really about willpower. A good Health Coach works with you on these and keeps you on track with your goals and accountable as well as adapts to any changes you may need to make.
- You struggle with chronic or sometimes overwhelming health conditions. Have you been trying to figure out your options here? Even told there are no solutions or options left or you just have to “live with it”? No matter what you struggle with: chronic disease, widespread inflammation, weight issues, digestive issues or anxiety and depression (just to name a few), Health Coaches strive to help navigate this confusing world and work to find the root of the issues, rather than just treating symptoms. You can start to feel better with even the simplest of changes and of course we work with any other practitioners you work with and their recommendations.
- You’re sick of wasting money on ineffective plans or treatments and find it difficult to stay motivated. Most of us have signed up for online diet plans (and how many are there?), started fitness programs or challenges, bought a multitude of expensive supplements, or tried ineffective medications. Only to hit a wall when life happens and we give up on the diet, put those DVDs back on the shelf, quit going to the gym, or search for the next best thing.
- Typically the biggest roadblock people face? Time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day as they say. But most of us lead busy, full lives. And sure you absolutely need to prioritize health as number one because in order to be there for others, we want to be our best selves. A Health Coach gives you back some of your time trying to figure out what works for you. We keep up on the latest in health and wellness and we work together to see what works and what doesn’t.
With more people than ever before suffering with burnout, digestive disorders, autoimmune, and just overall inflammation, etc., it’s imperative to have the support to move toward finding that power within. To feel your best self. To thrive, not just survive.
Find that someone who has your back. I’m here to support you.
You’ve got this!
Tara Rayburg
Holistic Nutrition and Wellness Coach
