What healthy is NOT..

As part of my coaching sessions, I often want to know what has and hasn’t worked for clients in the past. Most of them have tried and failed at diets and most of them have given up with any part of what they have tried that worked before – it’s very much an ‘all or nothing’ approach to dieting. Interesting many do not link lifestyle and how they feel about themselves into the way that they look at health – which is not uncommon – often diet and exercise are at the forefront of health and wellness.
Looking back at the past 9 months of full-time coaching some common themes have popped up with my client’s previous habits that they now recognise as being ‘unhealthy’ – although at the time was how they were choosing to live.

• Healthy is not…… RESTRICTION. Now, that probably seems a bit odd – if you want to lose weight you need to restrict certain foods – right? Many of my clients end up looking at this differently – no food is off-limits but what they have learned is what works for them and therefore many of the old, heavily processed foods just drop out of their eating.
• Healthy is not….. GUILT. Many tell me they feel guilty about “falling off the diet”, “giving up” etc, etc. But often diets are so bloody hard to follow because they do not fit you! Guilt about eating is incredibly destructive and once we figure out what feels good, does good and gives energy they guilt disappears – eating mindfully rather than binging or to suppress feelings go!
• Healthy is not….. EXTREMES. Extreme dieting (cabbage soup anyone?), exercising, etc. Actually its balance. Extremes are really hard to sustain and therefore adding a bit of goodness, relaxation, eating well, time for yourself, movement and sleep is all about finding the balance for you – if any of these feels like you need to force yourself or have excellent willpower then its unlikely to last – hence why most of my clients have stories to tell! Finding BALANCE is what we strive for – and once you find that it should be easy, just what you do!

So if you would like to reset your relationship with your health then please book a time for us to have a free 30 min discovery session and find out how Health Coaching can help you.

So, that’s my list – let me know if you have any others to add.