Though health coaching has been available for more than 20 years, it is only now beginning to gain mainstream interest. At is very basic core, health coaching is about supporting someone to achieve their health and wellness goals. It is a practice that is as diverse as the clients who are attracted to it – from the stay at home mom who wants to learn to feed her kids healthier foods while at the same time leading her own life in a balanced way, to the high level executive who needs to lose a little weight and find ways to sustain great energy throughout a stressful and fast-paced day. Health coaching can also support you in recovering from a significant illness or disease – to support you in your treatment plan and to make healthy food and lifestyle changes that will help you to be healthy for a lifetime. No matter who you are, you likely have at least one or two health related goals, and a health coach can support you to achieve them.

Health coaching is a powerful and transformative process. While a dietitian or nutritionist focuses specifically on diet and a life coach focuses specifically on helping you to get where you want to go in life, a health coach focuses on the whole package in a holistic and comprehensive approach. Typically, health coaching focuses on healthy whole foods, healthy relationships, good for you exercises, a fulfilling career and a deepening spiritual practice. With these 5 key areas in mind, a unique plan is tailored to help you achieve your goals and more.

A good health coach works with 3 basic principles:

Bioindividuality: Each human being is unique, and the concept of bioindividuality honors this uniqueness. Just as we each have our own individual DNA and fingerprints, we also have unique needs in the foods we eat, the type, duration and frequency of exercise we benefit from, the amount of sleep we need and so much more. Health coaching is about being supported to explore the options and to create a healthy lifestyle that works for you.

Crowding Out: Restrictive diets and other get-healthy-quick schemes aren’t effective because they focus on all of the things you can’t have. When we focus on what we’re missing, we start to crave it and sooner or later we give up and give in because it’s just too hard. Health coaching focuses mostly on all of the good things you can add into your diet and lifestyle instead. When you focus on the good stuff, you can be empowered and excited about the healthy new lifestyle you are creating for yourself, and those bad habits and junk food are crowded out of your life for good.

Small and Manageable Steps: It’s taken your entire life to get to where you are at today, and there is no quick fix, magic pill, or potion that’s going to instantly achieve your health and wellness goals. A health coach will usually work with a client for a pre-determined length of time (3 or 6 months) and focus on taking lots of small and manageable steps towards optimal health, rather than taking a big leap towards a lofty goal all at once. Having success in many small and manageable goals encourages you to keep on a healthy path and finally succeed in achieving optimal wellness.

When choosing a health coach, there are plenty of options. You might prefer an in-person approach and find someone who is working in your city; you might choose someone working at a distance who meets with you via Skype or telephone; there are even group health coaching programs to get you started. What is important is to find someone who you feel you resonate with, and who you can imagine trusting to help you to care for your health. Inquire about an initial consultation and spend that time getting to know your prospective coach and how they can assist you.

About the Author: Rachel Assuncao is a holistic health coach through Awakened Wellness, a health coaching practice based in Ontario, Canada and offering services worldwide via Skype or telephone. Learn more at www.awakenedwellness.com.