Health and Wellness Coach Lisa Charles is the CEO of Embrace Your Fitness, LLC, a health and wellness consultancy, and has been named the fitness/wellness research coordinator for the Rutgers University Aging & Brain Health Alliance. She is an author, speaker, consultant, and certified health coach and transformational trainer.
Wellness - Reimagined
What if we could look at Health and Wellness under a new paradigm? What if going to a doctor’s visit, taking your blood tests, getting your physical, going to the gym, or planning what to eat to nourish your body was just a part or piece of your health journey.
Wellness reimagined focuses on the entirety of the life process. It’s not only what you eat or how you move. Wellness reimagined encompasses how you sleep; how you breathe; all your methods of distressing; how you relate to others and how others relate to you; and how you navigate the business world and family life. This all-encompassing wellness approach can be taken alone or under the supportive watchful eye of someone dedicated to seeing you succeed.
Enter the Health Coach!
What is the Role of a Health Coach?
The Health Coach is a welcomed addition to Wellness reimagined. In the Health Coach, you get the ultimate cheerleader, instructor, guide, support system that meets you where you are and helps you to achieve your goals. With the Health Coach, an individual need never feel that they must walk this path alone.
In a world where stress and anxiety, burnout, eating disorders, self-isolation, and disturbed sleeping and breathing patterns are at high levels, Health Coaches, in partnership with doctors and clinicians, are becoming an essential tool to help people improve their overall health and well-being.
By turning client’s desires for enhanced wellness into action, Health Coaches give the necessary tools for clients to make better choices as they confront life’s daily challenges.
But how does the Health Coach get the job done? What are the coaching areas or methods that create lasting change?
Health Coaching in Action
The Health Coach professional helps people make lifestyle and mindset changes. Whenever you feel like you’re losing focus or motivation, a Health Coach will help you get back on track. When you feel like you can’t, the Health Coach shows you how you can. Consider them your health cheerleader with a wealth of knowledge. With your Health Coach, be prepared to set goals, overcome obstacles, and make permanent changes to improve your health. Constant connection is key, so whether in person, through phone calls, emails, and text messages, or on a telemedicine platform, your Health Coach is invested in your health success.
Key Areas do Health Coaches Address
Health coaching can encompass many areas that tie directly to enhanced wellness. Some of the areas include:
- Nutrition
- Exercise
- Sleep
- Spiritual coaching
- Breathing techniques
- Organizational skills
- Time management
- Life Balance
- Mindset mastery
- Stress management
But they can also specialize in other areas such as fertility, smoking, drug addiction and weight loss, to name a few. It is essential to have someone knowledgeable in your corner to help you make better choices and break unhealthy habits. Anyone can benefit from working with a health coach!
Six Reasons Why You Need a Health Coach
Having someone to support, answer your questions, and guide you is essential to help you make lasting changes. It’s like you have someone to pave the way for you and help you avoid any roadblocks. Below are the Six Reasons why Health Coaching is Essential.
Receive Personalized Meal Plans – Workouts and Sleep Plans:
A lot of aspects of our health are unique to us. Our DNA, metabolism, and gut flora are just a few examples. So why should you follow the same diet and workout plan as your friends? What works for them might not work for you. Perhaps a plant-based juicing plan may be what your body is craving. Or maybe there are crucial supplements that can help your body thrive.
The role of a Health Coach is to develop a personalized meal plan and workout and sleep routines that fit your unique needs and health goals. It’ll include the best time of day to eat and exercise, what foods to eat, and how much water you need to drink. The Health Coach will help you to improve your sleep and breathing patterns to assure the nutrients you take in will best serve your body in its healing process.
Understand the Link between Your Emotions and Eating Habits:
We often eat to cope with our emotions. When stressed, bored, or angry, we tend to reach for unhealthy foods. A health coach will help you understand your feelings and how they affect your eating habits.
The Health Coach will also teach you how to cope with emotions in a healthy way. For instance, if you feel like the walls are closing in on you, you can go for a walk or call a friend instead of eating a pint of ice cream.
And, no, their advice isn’t generic, like “just think positive.” Instead, they will help you understand your emotions and give you specific strategies to deal with them.
They Walk the Talk:
A Health Coach isn’t someone who just tells you what to do. Instead, they practice what they preach. So, if a Health Coach is giving you advice on eating healthily, they are likely following that advice themselves.
It is important because it shows that they understand your challenges and obstacles. In addition, you’re more likely to follow the advice of someone who’s been in your shoes.
They Hold You Accountable:
We all need someone to help us stay on track, especially when trying to make significant changes in our lives. Friends and family, although well-meaning, might not be the best people to help you with your health goals. They might enable your unhealthy habits or be too lenient on you.
A Health Coach, however, will hold you accountable for your actions. They’ll provide support and encouragement and give you that necessary reality check when needed.
They Help You Set Realistic Goals:
When you set a goal, it should be realistic, achievable, and specific. For example, “I want to be healthy” is not a realistic or specific goal. “I want to lose 20 pounds in three months” is. But even that might not be realistic or achievable, depending on your current weight, health, and lifestyle.
While your “realistic” will be driven by your desires and dreams, a Health Coach will help you set achievable goals based on your current situation.
The Expertise is Real:
There is a lot of misinformation out there about health and fitness. It’s tricky to know whom to trust or what information to believe. Health Coaches have the knowledge and expertise to separate the wheat from the chaff. They will provide you with evidence-based information that you can trust.
So, no more fad diets or risky workout programs. A Health Coach will give you the information you need to make lasting changes to your health.
Final Thoughts
A Health Coach is an asset on your journey to better health. They will help you develop healthy habits and easily navigate obstacles like emotional eating and anxiety. We hope after reading this article, you’ll consider working with a Health Coach to reach your health goals.
Remember, when looking for a Health Coach, make sure to find someone who is certified and has experience helping people with similar goals. Good luck!
