HOW HEALTH COACHING WORKS
A health coach (sometimes called a health and wellness coach) is a qualified behavioral change specialist who can help you make changes that support your overall wellness. A health coach will help you stay accountable as you make changes related to:
Physical activity
Nutrition
Weight management
Stress management
Sleep
If one of these areas is out of balance, the others may be as well. If you’re not getting enough sleep, you might not have the energy to work out or focus on meal planning. Combined, it might feel like too much to solve. Together with your health coach, you’ll be able to decide where to start and find ways to make small changes and create health-critical habits, ensuring that you can become consistent and achieve sustainable transformation.
A health coach helps you set reasonable goals and develop a plan for reaching them. They also help you figure out what might keep you from reaching those goals. For example, maybe you don’t think you’re capable of making the changes your doctor is suggesting. Or maybe you don’t think any changes you make will matter. Perhaps you’re working two jobs or taking care of children or older family members and can’t imagine squeezing anything else into your day.
Your health coach helps you take a look at all the factors that might be affecting your health-related behaviors and helps you come up with a manageable plan for working toward your goals.
Your health coach will regularly check in with you through email, phone, virtually or in-person meetings, usually over the course of at least three months. During these conversations, your coach will ask questions to get you thinking about how you can overcome challenges.
Health coaching is not:
Diagnosing or treating illness
While many people seek out health coaches to help them navigate complex health issues, most coaches are not medical experts. Diagnosing or prescribing treatments is generally outside of their scope of practice. The best outcomes occur when the coach, the client and health care providers come together collaboratively to achieve the client’s goals.
Telling you what to do
Health coaches believe you are your own expert and that you have the ability to come up with your own solutions. A health coach’s job is to support and guide you through that process and provide educational resources if you need them. Ultimately, it’s up to you to implement your own plan.
Being responsible for your success
Of course, your coach will want you to succeed, but you have to do it and want it for yourself. Being accountable is the first sign that you are ready for the coaching journey.
Health coaching is all about empowerment
Working with a health and wellness coach may help you:
Recognize your strengths
Use your strengths to reach your goals
Believe in yourself and your ability to make changes and
Develop a plan you feel good about continuing.
Research shows that health coaching may lead to measurable improvements in:
Blood pressure
Digestion
Cholesterol levels
Blood sugar level
Body weight
Fitness
Peri- and post-menopausal symptoms
Inhalene Health and Wellness Coaching
As an integrative nutrition, health and wellness coach, I want women to be empowered to make the right choices for themselves. There’s no “one size fits all” approach. No silver bullet or prescriptive action. No pressure to do things a certain way.
My health coaching approach is centered on your needs. That means I will:
Ask you what you want to change and encourage you to set your own goals
Ask you to be personally accountable for your health outcomes
Ask you questions to help you dig deep and truly embody what you want
Provide the educational resources to help you make the right decision for your circumstances
Support and motivate you through your transformation
Work collaboratively with your other healthcare providers to support your goals
My goals are to provide my clients with education and support to do what works best for them so they can continue to do the work of the world while taking good care of their emotional, physical and spiritual health. Doing good while being well!
Yours in wellness,
Marguerite
Inhalene Health and Wellness Coaching