Top five reasons to work with a food coach

What the heck is a food coach anyway? Seriously, we’ve eating solid food since we were in diapers. So what is the point of having someone looking over our shoulders telling us how to eat?

Well, since you asked, here is a little list I put together. It is my top five reasons to work with a food coach:

1) Ever work with a personal trainer? You pay money for someone to torture you with sit-ups, jumping jacks and whatever other sadistic trick they have up their sleeves. Seriously, you pay someone to beat the crap out of you. I mean, you already know how to move. Why do you submit to torture? Because you want to do it BETTER! Now look at your diet. Perchance there is room for improvement?

2) The food choices you make are really, really important for your waist line. Studies have shown that people lose significantly more weight by modifying their diets than by exercising without dieting. It’s awesome that you spend hours at the gym. Yet do you know how to eat for your specific body? No two people are the same. The foods your friend needs to support a healthy weight may not be the same foods that work for you. I know, but you and your bestie do everything the same! Not this time, sorry.

3) You need a little help from your friends. It has been found that people who work with a coach or a counselor do better with their diets than people who do it on their own. You can feel super isolated when starting a new way of eating. A coach gives you someone who has “been there” for support and accountability. If you talk to me before loading a pound of Oreos into your deep fryer, you probably won’t over indulge. And if the idea of me glaring at you at the window of the McDonald’s drive through leaves you a petrified, shivering mess, all the better.

4) You don’t know as much about nutrition as you think you do. Did you know that most of us get the majority of our nutrition knowledge from ad execs? Yes, as I type, a middle aged, balding, pot bellied man is developing the next catchy jingle for the latest “health” food. Look at him! (Yes, look at him in your imagination). He has ketchup stains on his golf shirt and a snickers bar smashed in his side pocket. Stop falling for marketing gimmicks. Just because a food is advertised as healthy, natural, sugar-free, fat free or even organic, doesn’t mean it is healthy and nutritious.

5) Wouldn’t you like to understand once and for all why what you’ve done so far hasn’t worked? As satisfying as it is to work really hard and get no results, wouldn’t it be even more fulfilling to actually achieve your goals? Many of us feel that since we have been eating since birth, we should know how to properly nourish ourselves. Not true. In our packaged food, faster is better world, it is very hard to distinguish the right food choice. There is no shame in asking for help. Lack of results doesn’t necessarily signify a lack of willpower, but more often a lack of knowledge. A coach can help.