Have you ever considered working with a functional health coach?
You’ve had some nagging health complaints and aren’t feeling as healthy and full of energy as you’d like to feel. You’ve visited your doctor to rule out major health issues and he’s recommended that you watch what you eat, start exercising and reduce stress. So you’ve tried dieting and exercise, but can’t seem to stick with it for the long run, and just wind up feeling frustrated and even worse!
You decide that it’s time to take charge of your health and so you go online and begin searching through the vast amount of information available on health and wellness. But there is so much information, and so many conflicting viewpoints on what is best, that just makes you feel overwhelmed and confused! You just don’t know exactly what to do to help yourself feel better.
If you find yourself in this situation, like so many others, this is when it may be good to work with a functional health coach.
Here are 7 benefits of working with a functional health coach.
- Functional health coaches have a tool that most other health coaches don’t have. Functional health coaches have access to functional lab testing, which allows them to be able to have a greater understanding of where the imbalances are occurring in your body, instead of just guessing according to symptoms. Most trained health coaches do not have access to these lab tests and don’t have the training to interpret the tests so that they have a better understanding of what is at the root of your health imbalances.
- They don’t just deal with symptoms. One thing that is common both in allopathic medicine and in many types of alternative health practices is to look at symptoms and deal with the symptoms instead of looking at what is actually causing the problem to begin with. The functional laboratory testing and experience of a functional health coach allows them to understand why a body is out of balance and what needs to be done for the body through diet, exercise, stress management, proper sleep and supplementation to help bring your body back into balance. They don’t treat disease, but help you to change your lifestyle in a way that promotes optimal health.
- They will tailor a plan according to who you are as an individual and what your needs are. There are plenty of different dietary theories to choose from, exercise plans to participate in and ways to reduce stress. And it can become overwhelming to try and figure out what will work best to restore optimal health for you. But although many would like for you to believe it, there is no cookie cutter, “one size fits all” approach when it comes to getting healthy. We are all unique individuals and have different needs. A functional health coach will tailor a plan to YOU!
- A functional health coach makes health changes safer for you. With all of the questionable fad diets and supplements out there, backed by millions of dollars of slick marketing, it can be easy to get sucked into ways of trying to help yourself get healthy that are really not so healthy! A functional health coach will help you to find the ways to gently nourish and support your body’s return to health in ways that are safe for you.
- A functional health coach is going to help you to stay accountable. This is something that a lot of people struggle with, but having to be accountable to someone for the steps you have to take to restore good health and vitality can significantly increase your chances of making lasting health changes.
- A functional health coach is also a teacher. Each coach has knowledge of foods that can help your body, exercises that are optimal for you, stress management techniques that will reduce stress so that your body can heal and nutrients that you need to rebalance and restore your body to optimal health. They can help to guide you and answer questions that you may have so that you don’t become so overwhelmed with all of the information available online. They will educate you so that you can ultimately make the best choices to support your health.
- They are your ally and are on your side. A health coach is there to support you. They can’t do the work for you, but if you are willing to take the steps necessary to change your lifestyle, then your coach will be there as your cheerleader. Your coach wants you to be successful just as much as you do, and they will do what they can to support you along the way.
If you are tired of trying to do it on your own and you keep falling short of making the changes that you want to make, then it may be time to consider working with a FDN trained, functional health coach. If you are ready to put in the work, then they will help you to succeed on the path to good health.
