"Coming together is a beginning: keeping together is progress; working together is success.
– Henry Ford
When looking for a health coach, dietitian, nutritionist, or personal trainer, it helps to know the difference between them, enabling you to make the best choice. Regardless of which professional you choose, it's equally important to accept that making changes to well-established behaviors is not easy. The support of a well-trained professional can be just the thing to provide guided assistance as you make the progress you seek.
Let's take a look at the differences between personal trainers, nutritionists, dietitians, and health coaches –
Certified Personal Trainers assess clients' physical structure, function, strengths, and weaknesses and create customized workout plans that address specific imbalances. They demonstrate good movement patterns and provide support and guidance while monitoring proper techniques to avoid injury as their clients progress through the program. A certified personal trainer focuses on exercise programs and proper movement techniques. Insurance does not cover personal trainers like they do Physical therapists; however, some insurances will pay the gym memberships for seniors.
According to the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, there is a fair amount of overlap between nutritionists, dietitians, and health coaches. Still, each profession does differ slightly in focus and scope of practice.
Nutritionists focus on the dietary aspects of their client's well-being and how food choices and possible supplements affect reaching desired health goals such as weight loss and reversing chronic disease. They achieve health objectives by combining client-specific meal plans and supplementation if necessary. They educate clients about how food and supplements suggested by the nutritionist are digested and used by the body. Nutritionists create specific dietary guidelines that address particular health issues and prescribe meal plans and supplements while monitoring symptoms with bloodwork and other lab tests. Insurance typically covers services.
Dieticians, Registered Dietitians (RD), and Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDN) are experts with rigorous training who follow a national standard of practice. Dietitians typically work with physicians on improving client health through prescribed diets and supplement protocols based on individual needs. Dietitians can diagnose and treat diet-related illnesses and typically work in hospitals, clinics, and private practices. Dieticians collaborate with mental health professionals as their patients often have more severe nutritional issues such as eating disorders, specific medical conditions, and possible substance abuse problems. Insurance typically covers services.
Certified Health Coaches provide clients with a safe and supportive space to explore health, fitness, and wellness concerns and set specific improvement goals that enhance well-being. As valuable members of the healthcare industry who have additional training in the science of health behavior change, health coaches partner with individuals to set goals, unearth values & strengths, and access motivations to encourage the development of sustainable healthy behaviors and attitudes.
A critical link in the health care chain, health coaches, look at clients from a holistic perspective and fill a gap that helps improve overall health and ward off disease. They work with individuals and groups on weight loss goals, enhanced lifestyle behaviors, and the prevention or management of disease, illness, and other health issues. They empower, educate, and motivate clients to achieve their health and wellness goals.
Health coaches focus on more than just diet and nutrition, but all other aspects of wellness, such as exercise & movement; sleep, stress management, and recovery; mindset and attitude; time management, action planning, and goal setting; social connections and relationships, and career and life satisfaction.
Although Health Coaching is typically not covered by insurance, work is underway to demonstrate the value behavior change coaching has in improving health outcomes. Health care providers are beginning to employ certified health coaches as respected staff members.
Whether you choose to work with a health coach, dietitian, nutritionist, or personal trainer, it's essential to find one that is the right fit for you. Here are some simple guidelines to help you:
After deciding what type of support you need, begin searching for qualified professionals who may provide the help you want. Ask friends, co-workers, and family for anyone they have worked with, conduct an in-depth internet search, and ask your medical provider for a referral.
Begin research on available options and look for a proven track record from other clients who have experienced the results you seek. If potential professionals appeal to you, sign up for a FREE consultation (if they offer one) and get to know what services they provide and how they work, giving helpful insight to determine who to hire.
Once you narrow down your choices, use the answers to these questions to make your final decision:
Do they offer a service for what I need, within my price range, and when I need it?
How do they deliver their service, and will that efficiently work for me?
Do our personalities "click"? (Trust your gut)
Once you have the answers to these questions, you should be able to make the best decision to get started. Remember to read through the coaching agreement and understand the practice's cancelation policy if you need to terminate and find someone else.
We hope you will include Living LEAN Health Coaching as one of your options.
Perhaps the insight below may help you consider us!
Over many years of health coaching experience, we have learned a few things about new clients.
Here is what we've learned:
Many clients come to coaching with a deficit-based approach and expect their coach to tell them what is wrong and how to fix it. These same clients may also believe that health coaching, and the process of behavior change, is a straightforward march through a pre-determined laundry list of action steps that will "make" them healthy. Most clients come to us already knowing what to do and assuming they only need health coaching to hold them accountable and make them do it!
Here is how we feel about health coaching:
We do not "fix" our clients because we do not believe they are "broken." We understand that every client possesses the solutions they seek. The coaching process helps them rediscover established strengths and skills to make positive progress toward their chosen outcomes.
We do not "tell" clients what to do. We honor every client's autonomy to choose what behaviors are right for them and take actions toward their desired outcomes in a way that works for their unique life situation.
We do not "make" you do anything you do not choose to do yourself.
We promote evidence-based coaching methods and science-based education to support our clients toward sustained change.
Here is our coaching philosophy and focus:
We provide general education. We teach clients about topics and skills (e.g., nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, and change) to improve overall health, fitness, and well-being using accepted evidence-based information relating to each client's lifestyle and personal values and goals.
We assist you in the goal-setting process. We aid clients in defining and clarifying what they want, why they want it, and how it relates to their life priorities.
We support action planning. We help clients break down big picture goals into manageable small steps they can successfully do consistently.
We build positive mindsets and truthful awareness. We guide clients as they explore beliefs, ambivalence, and concerns around building new behaviors.
We offer accountability and support when clients are ready to experiment with new healthy behaviors—providing ongoing support and encouragement to clients to achieve what they want to do.
We encourage self-awareness. Helping clients see how behavior leads to future outcomes and the effects external factors have on these behaviors and mindsets. Teach how specific lifestyle habits connect (e.g., how sleep quality affects daytime performance) and guide clients through self-experimenting to discover what works well and what doesn't.
We utilize the support from a wellness team. If the members of our wellness team are unable to help you, we will provide referrals for other licensed and credentialed providers who can help you.
We would love to get to know you, understand your future health vision, and hope to help you reach the permanent happy, healthy, and purposeful life your desire. Request a FREE 30-minute consultation and decide for yourself if we are a good fit for you.
Another great resource from the Harvard Medical School about Health Coaching!
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