Frequently Asked Questions

A nutrition coach, sometimes called a “health coach”, is typically a nutritionist, counsellor, consultant, mentor and motivator all inone. The National Consortium for Credentialing Health & Wellness Coaches defines health coaches as: “professionals from diverse backgrounds and education who work with individuals and groups in a client-centred process to facilitate and empower the client to achieve self-determined goals related to health and wellness. Successful coaching takes place when coaches apply clearly defined knowledge and skills so the clients mobilise internal strengths and external resources for sustainable change”.

Nutrition coaches or health coaches help clients develop and progress towards their personal wellness goals by empowering them to take responsibility for their own health. They also recognise that being healthy involves more than just proper diet. As such, a nutrition coach also focuses on non-dietary aspects of a person’s life, in order to improve clients’ overall, holistic well being.

Nutrition coaches, in addition to providing general nutrition information and recommendations to their clients, can help their clients learn how to nurture good relationships with food and body, proactively create a balanced, healthy lifestyle as one tries to juggle new eating habits, among many other things. Nutrition coaches ultimately teach clients how to make healthy lifestyle choices and become self-sufficient. There are no state or national laws preventing nutrition coaching unless individuals trickle into more dietetic care to which they would be held to state laws and licensing requirements. Since a nutrition coach includes professionals from diverse backgrounds, not all nutrition and/or health coaches are licensed RD’s, yet in the same token, not all RD’s are health coaches that provide such well-rounded solutions for individuals.