You want to eat healthier, live healthier, be healthier.

Maybe you have undiagnosed health issues – chronic stomach discomfort, slow digestion, skin problems, low energy, a loss of vitality. Maybe you have a chronic disease – diabetes, heart disease, obesity. Maybe you are dealing with an autoimmune disorder or cancer and are finding the treatments quite debilitating so you’re intent on fuelling your body with its ideal nutrition. Maybe you simply want to serve your body so it can serve you. Maybe you just don’t want to hear ‘You look so tired’, ever again!

You want it, but do you know how to get it? 

Have you ever googled ‘how to be healthy’? 1,290,000,000 results. Yep, try sifting through that.

If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Consider this:

• Half of the people surveyed by foodinsight.org believe that it’s easier to do their own taxes than it is to figure out how to eat healthfully.
• 84% say they’d rather change their lifestyle than take medication to improve their health.  At the same time, more and more adults experience food related health issues.
• Three out of four respondents feel that changes in nutritional guidance make it hard to know what to believe and the same number don’t verify new health information before trusting it.

What’s a person who wants to get healthy supposed to do? Work with a health coach! Here’s why:

1. Your health coach can help you sift through the plethora of nutritional health information out there and target what is right for you – eat low carb, eat low fat, eat kale, don’t use coconut oil, don’t eat meat. How do you know what’s right for you?

A good health coach will know that one size does NOT fit all and will work with you to create a nutrition program based on proven research, ensuring a balanced diet – no crazy fads. Your health coach will develop a personalized nutrition plan based on your specific phenotype – the way your genes look in action –  and your current health status. You health coach will know that your current lifestyle and environment need to be considered so that your specific nutrition recommendations are targeted to your needs now.

2. Your health coach can work with you to determine your body type and identify the fitness regimen that will be of most benefit to you –  cardio is your bff, yoga is great for everyone, crossfit is the answer, running harms your joints. For everyone? I don’t think so.

An effective health coach will have identified your phenotype, will learn your fitness preferences and be able to recommend ideal fitness routines including best time of day and frequency and duration. Your health coach can help you decide whether group or individual sessions or both are ideal and whether indoor or outdoor routines or both, would serve you best. Your coach will ultimately help you find the exercises and routines that bring optimal results for your body and that you are most likely to stick to, even come to love.

3. Your health coach can also help you identify the stressors that act as triggers that hinder your success and work with you to find ways to manage them and even use them to your advantage. Terrible day at the office? Struggling to achieve home/life balance? Dealing with a challenging personal relationship?

They can help you find patterns in your life that throw you off balance and steer you from your charted course. Once you identify the triggers and see the patterns, your coach can work with you to design strategies to keep you on course, even turn them into triggers for behaviors that help you achieve your goals rather than derail them.

4. Your health coach can help you uncover other aspects of your life that play a role in your well-being and work with you to create the environment that you need to thrive. Have you considered how aligned your talents and social preferences are with your career and lifestyle? Have you actually identified your talents and social preferences? Are you in tune with how your mind works and how it affects your relationship with yourself, your environment and others?

A health coach can help you identify these preferences and tendencies and support you in bringing these factors into alignment with your life thus improving your overall well-being.

5. Your health coach can also help you stay motivated by helping you identify what really matters to you and finding strategies for success. Have you figured out what is really important to you in life? In health? Do you know what motivates you and why?

A health coach can help you focus in on what really matters to you and your health and wellness goals specifically. Together you can identify barriers to your success and determine how you will address them when they come up. You’ll discuss what will happen if you achieve your goals and what will happen if you don’t. You’ll focus in on what you really want and find ways to monitor your progress and keep you motivated.

Together with your health coach you will make a plan, work hard, celebrate progress, modify the plan as necessary, stay the course and reap rewards.

If you’re ready to get healthy, start here: The online health platform, ph360.me, and its next generation and virtual health assistant Shae™, can offer all of the insights outlined above. Through these programs you can access a health coach to support your journey to your best you.