Have you heard of Nutritional Coaching? If not, that’s fine, by the end of this text you will have a clear vision of what this term is about. Initially, coaching is a powerful methodology of human development and empowerment aimed at certain areas of life, which can range from the personal to the professional scope. However, the population lives what we call a nutritional transition and, therefore, faces major health problems such as the development of obesity, chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs), as well as a growing increase in eating disorders. In this context, the aspect of nutritional coaching gains more and more strength, since it has helped in a significantly positive way in nutritional treatments and dietary reeducation by working in order to guide people who wish to obtain more quality of life.
From various tools, coaching and patient go together to meet a pre-established goal either through the adoption of specific menus, nutritional guidelines, tools that help in mind control, focus, determination and commitment of the patient with the process through which it will be necessary to go through to obtain the desired result.
Can everyone be Nutritional Coaching?
The answer is yes, but there are variations in the ways of acting. Or the nutritional coach can act by working the mind and determination in parallel with the nutritionist so that together they can awaken awareness and understanding of the need to change limiting behaviors and beliefs. Or even be a nutritionist who specializes in coaching to add to his clinical practice and thus work with behavior change tools, as well as with prescription of menus and nutritional guidelines, since the latter are exclusive attributions of the nutrition professional.
That said, it is important to understand that Nutritional Coaching uses your knowledge, tools and techniques to work the mind, not being restricted only to issues related to health and food. This is because every change comes from a reframing of thoughts, attitudes and behaviors. In this way, once these are “reprogrammed”, it becomes much easier for the brain to associate and adapt to a new lifestyle, making the patient’s goals only consequences of their change.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that nutritional coaching acts by guiding its patient in the process of food reeducation, identification and breakdown of limiting beliefs that often originate sabotaging behavior, work in order to elucidate and bring understanding about radicalist issues that involve feeding, such as, for example, miracle diets to achieve the perfect body. That is, the process becomes normal, easy and pleasurable.
How is Nutritional Coaching done?
Treatment is carried out by sessions that can happen weekly, biweekly or monthly depending on the patient’s need. In this, the professional performs together with the patient the elaboration of activity that will be the direction for the patient to achieve the desired goal.
These sessions cover several tools that are based on motivations, behavioral change, self-responsibility, emotional self-control, values and purposes. These, when added together, will be the agents promoting the state of consciousness of the individual and its consequent change. Being that this change is necessarily aimed at building a healthy life, reeducation and eating behavior.
Essential Tools of Nutritional Coaching
The first is to work with a goal-based orientation and thus develop greater autonomy in the patient. Which, in addition to facilitating the work from motivations, makes patients more prone to change due to the ability to see a purpose or need for it. However, such goals should be thought of in conjunction with the patient and enforceable within their routine.
In addition, in this context of generating change and transforming the mindset, much is said about the transtheoretical model that helps the professional coach to identify how motivated and willing this patient is. This is divided into five stages, being them the pre-contemplation where there is no awareness in the patient about the problem faced nor consideration about the change of habits; secondly we have contemplation where behavior change is already considered and there is an understanding of its necessity, however there are no plans to put it into practice; thirdly, we have the preparation, in which the patient is willing to modify his behavior and, for this, there is already a goal and small behavioral changes are already worked on on a daily basis; in fourth we have the action, a moment in which, in fact, it is possible to identify behavioral changes that have arisen even through the difficulties that have been overcome and, finally, we have in fifth place the maintenance phase that lasts around six months and goals are established that seek to prevent the patient from suffering regression to the previous stages.
What about clinical practice?
If you, after everything you read above, had the interest in nutritional coaching awakened and want to bring this incredible theory to your clinical practice, Science Play in partnership with Luciana Lancha has good news for you, Class 15 of the Lancha Method
. Which, through nutritional coaching tools, will teach you how to transform your patient’s life. In addition to bringing nutritionists a scientific update with regard to weight, obesity, eating disorders and behavioral nutrition.
