129: The Purpose of Health Coaching

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for the rest of his life.”

Years ago my son was learning to read and it took everything in me not to just give him the answer when he is struggling with a new word. I won’t lie, I did that at first and my husband quickly pointed out that every time our son was unsure of himself, he was getting in the habit of looking at me for the answer. I was crushing his critical thinking ability and his ability to progress towards independence.

Which, in my opinion, is precisely what so many (not all) programs are promoting in the fitness, supplement and weight-loss industries. Women are being robbed of the opportunity to learn how to fish. We are being disconnected from our physiology not reconnected to it. We adopt formulas and systems that dictate to our body, rather than learning methods for how to listen to our bodies.

You don’t create deep health for yourself by consuming more supplements than nutritious food, following someone’s meal plans forever, or only moving your body in the presence of a “professional”.

Nope.

You create deep health by trying some things on, listening to what your body needs and how it responds to your choices.

You create deep health by being willing to fail a little, so you can learn how to do better, and by accepting that progress is rarely linear.

You create deep health by finding ways to enjoy the journey, finding the joy in discipline and befriending the work involved in the change processThe .

Good health coaches don’t give you fish, they teach you how to fish and that is what today’s episode is all about!