What is a Health Coach?

There is a lot of buzz these days about health coaches.  Well, what exactly is a health coach?  Have you ever had a doctor tell you to go on a diet, or reduce your stress, but not really tell you how to do it?  That is where a health coach comes in.   A health coach develops a partnership with each client to create a deeper understanding of individual food and lifestyle choices.  A health coach then works to identify a plan to help implement lasting changes to increase energy, reduce stress, and improve overall health.

I work with each client to provide guidance and support through the process of discovering foods and habits that have the most positive impact on your health.  I also help break down your goals into smaller, step-by-step actions, helping you overcome barriers that might otherwise prevent you from creating healthy habits.  Lastly, when needed, I am here to hold you accountable, and provide motivation.

Once you complete a program you will understand the role food and lifestyle choices play in your overall health, and know what works best for you.  You will have the skills necessary to overcome obstacles, which might sidetrack you in the future.  Most importantly, you will be able to set and achieve your future goals on your own.  

Here are 10 more reasons you should work with a health coach (from MindBodyGreen.com)

 A health coach will:

1. Show you how to make small changes that will build up to a lifetime of good health.
2. Help you identify the easiest changes to make today that will make the biggest impact on your health.
3. Help you identify the cause of the cravings and enable you to beat your cravings or binge eating.
4. Help you decipher the truth about what is healthy and what is not.
5. Teach you how to make healthy decisions one meal at a time!
6. Empower you to finally take care of yourself.
7. Teach you about the relationship between stress and chronic disease, how to reset your priorities, and how to get your stress under control.
8. Help you determine what foods are healthy for YOU and what will work for YOU.
9. Help you wade through the mountains of nutrition research to figure out what works for you and your health.
10. There are cookbooks, diet books, commercials, restaurants, and products labeled “healthy” on the market, and you need to improve your and your family’s diet. That’s what a health coach is there for!

So, are you ready for support, motivation, and accountability to reach your health goals?  Give me a call for complimentary health history session.

Kristi L. Willems

239-822-9905
willems03@me.com

About Me

My name is Kristi Willems and I am passionate about nutrition and fitness. As a wife and mother of two, I always tried to provide the best for my family, and thought I was doing just that. However, after reading Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis, Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter and Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes, and educating myself, my beliefs about what is healthy have changed.  Making small changes over the course of a few months made a huge impact on our family, health, and overall happiness.

This personal journey led me to enroll at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and go through their health coach training program. Throughout the course of a year I learned over 100 different dietary theories, listened to lectures by some big names from the wellness world, including Andrew Weil and David Wolf, and came to realize how other things beyond our plate have an impact on our health. This passion is something I feel the need to share. There are small changes anybody can make today that will lead you on a path of health and well-being.

I have become an avid runner and fitness junkie. My running journey began in 2009.  As a new runner I faced a few injuries.  Most notably was chronic compression syndrome in my calf in the fall of 2011, and tarsal tunnel in my ankle throughout 2012.  Our nutrition changed in the fall of 2012.  Since then I have managed to improve my running and remain injury free.  In 2013 I also added in the Beachbody program, Insanity, as a cross-training program.  My new eating habits, cross-training programs, improved mindset, and smarter training have helped me to get to where I am today as a runner.

In addition, I have a relationship with D-Signed Nutrition in Bonita Springs, FL.  Dee Harris, RD, LDN, CDE and owner of D-Signed Nutrition understands the importance of health coaching.   Not only has Dee served as a friend and mentor, but a synergistic partner in helping people achieve optimal health.  Together we meet with clients one on one or in a group setting, creating plans to meet their needs.  Stayed tuned for dates of upcoming events I will be hosting at D-Signed Nutrition, and other area business, as they become available.