If you’re a health conscious human being, you’ve probably heard about, or even considered finding a health coach to enhance your wellness journey. Health coaching is gaining a lot of traction in the wellness world because as a community, we are coming to the realization that overall health is not simply the absence of illness or disease. Focusing on all aspects of health - including the physical, mental, and spiritual - will help you discover a well-rounded, more complete living experience.
To facilitate your search for the right health coach, we want to first shed some light on important facts about health coaching, and key points regarding how to choose a coach who has your health goals as their central focus.
What is a Health Coach?
Health coaches want to help you feel good physically, but to also find the energy and excitement you need to jump out of bed every morning ready to live your life. That means that what every person needs from their health coach is specific to them. This is why the approach your health coach should take is that of a teammate in life who wants to see you flourishing, thriving, and fulfilled. A teammate who not only custom tailors your lifestyle to what your mind and body need to function at an optimal level, but who also helps you find what it is that fulfills you in life as a unique person. In short, a health coach should address the whole package of wellness that helps you align with your highest self.
At a regular doctor’s office, your doctor has dozens of patients to service in one day. You generally get ten minutes with them, receive your recommendations, and then are sent on your way. The difference between a health coach and a doctor is that a health coach is there for you. You have your coach’s full and undivided attention during your sessions. That’s an hour plus of one-on-one face time where the focus is completely on you. The recommendations you’ll receive from your health coach are centered around tweaking or improving your lifestyle to better your overall health. This is why the one-size-fits-all notion is absent in health coach practices.
Why Use an OWL Health Coach?
You should think of health coaching as an additional tool for improving your wellness. Your primary care physician is still a valuable resource for maintaining good health. But just like top athletes seek out additional training to really master their sport with expert coaching, a health coach can help all of us achieve a higher level of living. This is especially true for someone living with a chronic condition.
When you work with an OWL Health Coach, you are in the driver’s seat. You have a great deal of influence over the strategies you and your coach will establish to move you further along toward your health goals.
OWL Health Coaches look at a broader view of your wellness status and the goals you’re looking to achieve. This means they address several facets of your life including your gut health, mental health, sleep hygiene, and checking in with your emotional state. This can help with a wide range of issues such as weight loss, adjusting to life-altering situations (like a heart attack), managing chronic conditions, stress management, improving health routines, and more.
The idea is to work backwards from where you see yourself and why you want to elevate to that version of you. This helps you understand that you’re making this decision and changing on your own terms and for your own reasons. Studies show that this psychological effect improves success rates and overall satisfaction of their wellness experience1.
What to Expect With OWL Health Coaching
Be prepared to share it all with your health coach. No topic is off the table because your coach is going to want to know everything. This is so they can have a really detailed picture of your lifestyle and what influences it has on your wellbeing. That’s because our health coaches operate under the knowledge that food isn’t the only influence over your health. It’s important for them to gather information about:
- Your daily life
- Your health goals
- The people who make up your support system
- Who you are as a person (your personality)
- What influences surrounded you as a child
- Where you’re at mentally
- Where you’re at spiritually
The list goes on, but all of it is important to tailoring your health plan. Your health coach will want to devise a plan that you’ll actually want to stick to because it suits who you are and how you live.
You won’t be told what you can and can’t eat. That’s not the goal of wellness. More importantly, the focus will be on figuring out favorable ways to incorporate more of the good, nourishing things your body needs to thrive. This can help you tune into what your body craves and why it craves those things. You’ll also learn to recognize your specific hunger cues in addition to noticing what your body and brain are addicted to.
From here, you’ll be able to understand what your body is trying to communicate with you on a deeper level plus how to respond to it. This will rewire your habits and help you strengthen newer, healthier routines around eating, sleeping, self-care, self-talk, social habits, and more!
How to Prepare for Your Coaching Session
For your first session there is no homework involved. However, if you want to optimize your first meeting with your coach there are a few things that will help you get the most out of your get-to-know you visit.
Food Journaling
Keeping track of what you eat for a few days before you’re scheduled to meet with your coach can really go a long way in painting a picture of your lifestyle and habits right off the bat. Your coach can take this information and begin searching for ways to elevate your living right away.
Track Your Elimination
Yes! We’ll talk about the details of when you ‘go’. This is imperative to gut health and therefore a helpful tool for understanding your entire body’s health status. The behavior of your gut can tell your coach what’s happening on the inside that you might not have been aware of.
Come with an Open Mind
Be ready to talk about any and everything. The better your coach knows you, the more tailored your recommendations. The thing to keep in mind with health coaching is that they are with you in your journey to expand into your new self. If you’re considering this life pivot, then chances are you’re already open to trying new things. All your OWL Health Coach asks is that you keep an open mind throughout your sessions and be ready to follow through with your health plan. You never know - the one thing you were sure would never work could be the missing piece to your health puzzle.
Book Your Call
All of our OWL Health Coaches are certified and experienced. We offer full coaching packages as well as services a la carte so that you have the option to “build your own” experience. You can schedule a free 15-minute consultation to learn more about each pathway, and decide which is best for you. We look forward to walking with you toward a more complete and whole life.
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Julie Weller
Julie is a self-made writer on a forever journey of fitness and health. As a high school music teacher, she has seen and experienced the challenges of maintaining good health while simultaneously balancing a career and healthy relationships.
Julie has always lived a healthy and active lifestyle. She loves the outdoors, hiking, and camping. Over the years she has continued to learn smarter and better ways to take care of her body while continuing to do the things that make her smile. Naturally, all of her teacher friends wanted to know how she did it - what was her secret?
Julie found herself explaining over and over everything she'd learned in her research, and sharing her experiences through trial and error. Her friends would take her advice, try some new things, and then come back to ask how to take it to the next level.
"You should charge for this kind of information!" Became a constant phrase, and so began her career of writing to share her knowledge with the world through health and wellness companies looking to spread healing and healthy habits within their communities. Now Julie gets to combine two of the things she enjoys most - writing and wellness - and use them to affect change in a real way.
When not making music with her kiddos, or writing wellness tips for a higher quality of life, you can find her reading, hiking, drumming, and fitnessing