Nutrition Coaching is a transformation program that guides you through important—yet sustainable—changes in your eating and lifestyle habits with help from an expert coach. Dozens of diet and exercise fads come and go. That’s why I don’t follow fads. Instead, I specialize in taking complex nutritional problems and breaking them down into strategic daily practices—doable daily actions that are designed to fit into a busy lifestyle. Daily habits that are formulated to deliver results.

It’s for men and women who want to get in the best shape of their lives—for the rest of their lives. It’s for people with busy schedules who want personal accountability, a structured nutritional program to follow, and a coach to help keep them consistent and on-track. The main focus of coaching is to strategically help you improve your eating and exercise habits—all within the context of your day-to-day life. I don’t give you a crazy diet or exercise program to follow; instead, I help my clients build the habits they need to get results that last forever.

If you follow my recommendations and stick to your behavior changes, then yes, you will get results.  But you have to commit to making small strategic changes in your life. That’s something no one ever likes to admit about getting in better shape: it takes hard work, time, determination, and patience. Changing your body isn’t easy, but it is possible. Want to lose weight? Eat better? Feel less stressed? Get more sleep? I have helped many people do all that and more. I am confident I can help you too.

A good coaching plan:

• Provides both structure and flexibility
• Allows for customization – the ability to customize based on individual skill level, goals, health condition, availability, readiness and willingness
• Sets goals that are simple, segmental, sequential, strategic and supported
• Provides accountability – constant access to your coach with reminders to practice the nutrition, exercise, or lifestyle habits that are currently being worked on
• Is data-driven through the use of progress monitoring tools – measuring indicators at regular intervals is important to assess the efficacy of the plan, and to keep doing what works and change what isn’t
• Is based on solid nutrition principles that are evidence-based, not fad diets or heresay

Meal plans and diets aren’t useful or sustainable for the vast majority of clients. You often feel like you’re either “on” them or “off” them. The black and white nature of a meal plan suggests that people have to eat perfectly at each meal (to match what’s listed in the plan) — or they’ve failed. It’s psychologically unpalatable and unsustainable. Even more, meal plans are too inflexible. They don’t work with the reality of people’s busy lives. Work meetings, children’s programs, meals out, dogs that need walking, cars that break down, family members that get ill, etc. Meal plans take none of these into account. Finally, meal plans assume people already have the skills to follow them, but that’s simply not true. Most people who aren’t eating healthy today don’t have the basics down.

Without skills like:

• eating slowly and mindfully
• tuning into hunger and appetite cues
• planning grocery shopping
• choosing the right items from the store
• storing and preparing food correctly
• avoiding problem foods, and
• choosing better options at restaurants…

…following a meal plan becomes hopeless.

You might as well ask someone who’s only strong enough to bench press 135 pounds to do 405 pounds. No matter how badly they want to, they don’t have the skills or capacity, but these aren’t just intellectual objections. In my experience, only approximately 1 in 10 people can actually follow a meal plan for more than a few weeks. In the end, meal plans have such limited utility that I don’t recommend them.

I use habit-based (or practice-based) coaching, a method rooted in change psychology and built on the latest science of what actually helps people develop new skills and make change in their lives. Rather than telling people what to eat for breakfast and when to eat it, I help them build the skills (and daily habits) required to eat well, every day, no matter what life throws at them. I also help them discover what’s right for them, in the context of their own unique lives. That’s why my clients’ results are so sustainable.

Instead of giving people a menu that looks like this:

• Meal 1 (6:30am): 3 eggs, ½ cup oatmeal, 1 banana
• Meal 2 (9:30am): protein shake
• Meal 3 (12:30pm): turkey breast sandwich and small salad

…I work with my clients to create habits — which are both solid and flexible — to help them build the skills necessary to make better nutrition and lifestyle choices today (and for life). To support these habits, we also offer relevant educational information. Taking into account things like your unique schedule, priorities, belief system, food preferences, food tolerances, and more, I help you build your own “Owner’s Manual”.

I believe that people can only reliably get to their goals when they do two things:

1. Break down what they want to do (goal) into specific aptitudes (skills).
2. Build those aptitudes (skills) through strategic daily habits (practices).

The formula can look like this: Practice daily to build skills. Build skills to achieve goals. In the end, growth and development comes through daily practices and supporting experiences. Here’s an example of how this works: 

Goal: Eat better consistently

Let’s say you want to lose weight. You know that to lose weight you’ll need to eat better consistently. That’s your real goal: Eat better consistently.
But you don’t have all the skills to do it just yet. So you have to break it down into…

Skill: Hunger and appetite awareness

Which skills are required to eat better consistently? We’ve identified hunger/appetite awareness as the most important initial skill for making progress.
But that’s not quite a concrete thing you can do. So you have to break it down into…

Practices: Eat slowly and stop eating when satisfied

We use two daily practices to build the skill of hunger and appetite awareness.
Practice 1: Eat slowly.
Practice 2: Eat until satisfied, not stuffed.

This can take a month or more, depending on the client — two weeks for clients to learn, practice, and repeat each habit. At the end of a month, clients have two very important habits that they can now use for the rest of their lives. They’ve learned it by doing it.

Not surprisingly, clients usually lose weight during this time. Because, of course, they’re learning to eat a bit less and adjust their intake according to body signals.

Even better, they’ve built two new habits that they can use for the rest of their lives, no matter what else happens. Sounds a little strange and maybe slow? It did to me at first, but after years of using this approach, I know it is really the only method that works long term.

Expect to have better weight management, sleep, increased energy, mental clarity, improved mood, clearer skin, stronger hair, a reduction in cholesterol, blood pressure, joint pain, chronic illnesses, and a healthier relationship with food and your body.

Please note that results vary between individuals. Results are dependent on many factors such as your individual goals and adherence to the program. While I make every effort to customize the program based on your current health condition, lifestyle, goals, readiness, and willingness to change, there are other factors that are outside our control.

Rather than follow one discipline or philosophy, I am a  nutritional agnostic. While meal-plan approaches require you to choose between vegan, Paleo, Mediterranean, or other “labeled” diets, habit-based approaches don’t force this choice. This means my habit-based approach to changes in your lifestyle factors can work equally well for vegetarians (who eat no meat) or carnivores (who eat mostly meat). Of course, I do believe that a healthy diet generally consists of:

• whole, minimally processed foods;
• lots of plants;
• enough protein to meet your needs;
• a healthy mix of different fats;
• plenty of water; and
• carbohydrates based on activity levels.

However, I go much deeper than just the food.  I also dig into:

• Food behaviors (food timing, meal frequency, meal speed, and food amount)
• Food attitudes 
• Stress management
• Rest, recovery, and sleep
• Outlook (growth mindset)

It is not within my scope of work as a health coach to diagnose specific medical conditions or to prescribe medication. It is an individual’s personal responsibility to consult directly with their health care provider before, during, and after nutrition coaching.

Any information or advice provided is not intended to be a replacement for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment for any medical condition. Any information or advice is to be solely relied upon as nutritional and lifestyle recommendations towards supporting a healthier body and mind. Individuals should consult their health care provider before making any health care decisions or for advice about a specific medical condition. Where necessary, we may refer you to the relevant health professionals.