Why is coaching so popular, and SO powerful?

It seems like coaching is all the rage these days, and you may be wondering, "What’s all the hubbub about?"

I'm here to share how coaching can be a powerful tool to help you make meaningful changes, empowering you to feel better.

There are all kinds of coaches: coaches that help busy parents deal with the stress of raising kids, weight loss coaches, and business coaches that support entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

I’m a health coach. I sometimes call myself a life coach because I believe that doing work you enjoy is paramount to your health. I help professionals like you eat more plant-based whole foods so you have the energy to do all the things you love to do.

Now, you might not be familiar with coaching, or you may think that it’s all just "woo woo" and not for you. But my guess is, if you are exhausted at the end of most days and don’t have the energy to hang out with your friends on the weekends; if you’ve gained weight and your doctor tells you it’s causing your blood pressure to be dangerously high, then you would do what it takes to feel better. Because feeling good, and being healthy is priceless.

Health coaching is a bridge between the diagnosis you get at your doctor’s office and the support you need to make real changes in your daily life. Health coaching provides on-going motivation through the journey. It’s no different than hiring a trainer, they motivate you to stick with it and show you the most effective way for you to workout so you get results.

Here’s the thing, most people see their doctors once, maybe twice a year. That’s barely enough time to get a check-up let alone ask your doctor whether eating quinoa instead of white rice is better for your health — and by the way, as your coach, it absolutely is.

Did you leave your annual check-up with a high cholesterol diagnosis and a prescription?

Did your doctor spend time explaining that making changes to the food you eat could lower your cholesterol and keep you from having to take medication at all?

I’m guessing that wasn’t covered in your visit.

Did that the fact that you are working 55 hours weeks, you are feeling stressed out and not sleeping very well come up?

I’m guessing there wasn’t enough time to talk about that either.

I’m not here to blame doctors. They do the best they can. But unfortunately, our health system is not set up for doctors to give their patients the ongoing support they need to make lasting changes. Most of us are left to our own devices, reading health articles or trying the latest fad diets that don’t work.

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To explain how coaching can help you, let me tell you about Jane.

Jane is 46 years old, married with no kids. She and her husband moved out of NYC to Connecticut during the pandemic. She works in advertising as a Creative Director. She likes her job but spends too much time working. She works from home three days a week and travels into the city the other two days.

Jane came to me feeling exhausted —so tired that she often passed on going out with friends over the weekend. She barely had enough energy to do anything but sit on the couch in the evenings.

At her annual check-up, her doctor told her that her cholesterol was high and that she had gained 15 lbs since her last visit 18 months earlier.

Her hybrid job was blurring the lines between her personal life and her work. She wasn’t moving around as much as she used to. Approaching 50, she was concerned about the weight gain—not only from a "looking good" perspective but also from a health standpoint. She knew that weight gain as you get closer to 50 isn’t good for her health. She woke up most days with an achy, sore body.

When we met, she was eating a “normal” American diet: grabbing yogurt and granola for breakfast or a maybe a fruit smoothie —when she took the time to eat breakfast. She drank two or sometimes three cups of coffee a day. Lunch was a turkey or grilled chicken sandwich, or maybe a salad with shrimp or roasted chicken. Dinner was often takeout Chinese or sushi, or sometimes rotisserie chicken with a side salad or vegetables, accompanied by several glasses of wine.

Her afternoon pick-me-up was often coffee and a cookie. On days she worked from home, she would pass through the kitchen several times a day, grabbing a handful of chips or popping a few crackers with some cheese in her mouth and calling that lunch. When she had the energy, she and her husband would go out to eat. She might order fish as a main or maybe a pasta bolognese.

In our first session, I did a health intake to talk about where her health was and where she wanted it to be. Her goals were simple, have the energy to play on the weekends. Lose the weight she had gained in the past two years and reduce her bad cholesterol so she didn’t have to take medication.

What she immediately noticed was that working from home had affected her eating habits. She was drinking too much coffee and often skipping meals. Her intake of plant based whole foods was almost non-existent. Since moving to Connecticut she wasn’t walking as much as she used to. She had stopped exercising all together and working from home meant she was always on and no longer had time in the evening for herself.

No wonder her cholesterol was high and she had gained weight!

Jane and I worked together for six months, meeting every other week. She slowly made changes to her diet. She replaced her yogurt breakfast with oatmeal and fresh fruit and nuts several times a week. On the days she worked from home she made herself a healthy lunch, and she took the time to eat it. Doing that helped her feel full, and her afternoon slumps lessened. She started to get more energy and feel better in the first month.

I taught her how to navigate the grocery store and she learned to read food labels so she knew what was in her food. She had a handful of easy meals she could cook that made her trips to the grocery store easier and she started trying new whole grains and different vegetables.

With my support, she chose to eliminated red meat all together and chose to only eat chicken occasionally. In fact, some nights she would make a fully plant-based dinner for her and her husband. She realized that making a healthy dinner really only took 20 minutes with the right planning.

I supported her to find ways to delegate some of her work tasks which allowed her to shut down earlier so she had personal time in the evenings.

Her energy increased, and her body aches diminished. She started taking 15-minute breaks in the middle of the day to stretch and she found an on-line yoga class she was comfortable doing at home.

At her annual doctor’s visit, her cholesterol was back to normal, she lost 18 lbs, her energy levels were back up. The biggest surprise was that she was sleeping better and the brain fog she had which she wasn’t even fully aware of was gone allowing her to focus better at work.

I got my health coaching certification because I believe in the power of food and how it, with small lifestyle changes can dramatically improve one’s health. Coaching is the way I can help people like you learn to eat more plant based whole foods so that you can improve your health, get back your energy and feel better.

Don’t wait to schedule a free consultation with me to see how I can help you.

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