Reviewed by Karin Nordin, PhD

“More hugs.”

Ever seen a health professional write that on a prescription note?

Probably not.

Though we’re often told to improve our health by eating right, moving regularly, sleeping well, and taking the recommended meds, it’s less common to be told to focus on our relationships.

That might be a mistake.

Because here’s what we’re discovering:

Social health is vital—and in some cases, it’s a bigger priority than exercise or nutrition.

The impact of poor relationships is so severe that some experts have argued physicians should screen for social isolation just as they screen for heart disease or diabetes.1

One study even found that satisfaction with relationships at midlife is a better predictor of long-term health than cholesterol levels.2 (Not to exaggerate the findings of one study, but it does illustrate the importance of social wellbeing.)

If you’re a health coach, relationships may impact your clients’ progress as much as how friendly they are with salad, or the daily steps they average.

The good news: We don’t need hundreds of new friends to improve social health. (And actually, a few quality relationships may be better than lots of weak connections.3)

In this article, we’ll provide three strategies you can use to help clients (and yourself) leverage quality social health—and health overall.

Read on, friend.

What does “social health” mean anyway?

Hope this doesn’t offend anyone but…

We aren’t that different from monkeys.

Okay, maybe you don’t pick through your mate’s back hair for snacks.

But much like our genetic cousins, we humans are social animals. So much so that it’s impossible to separate our physical health from our social health.

As the graphic shows below, the two are that intertwined. 4,5

What if your social group doesn’t encourage health?

Your nacho-loving beer buddies.

Your “just one more helping” family member.

The cast of Arrested Development that keeps you glued to the couch.

You’ve probably heard the advice: “If you want to be healthy, hang out with healthy people.”

The advice is well-meaning, based on results from the Framingham Heart Study that revealed just how impactful our social context is. (One finding: You’re more likely to be happy, depressed, or obese if your closest friend is happy, depressed, or obese.6)

Despite this, we love our beer buddies, sloppy and loud as they are. And Grandma’s pie-pushing comes from love. And no one wants to live in a world where dysfunctional family sitcoms don’t exist.

Our social circles often define our identities; we’re very attached to our familiar groups. This remains true even if the friend, family, or professional group we belong to isn’t necessarily good for us.2

For many, the idea of leaving a stressful or unhelpful social base is up there with being asked to live on a desert island… naked and alone… with snakes.

If someone suggests you swap an unhealthy social group for a healthy one, you’ll almost surely dig in and resist. (And your clients will do the same.)

That’s why when addressing clients’ social groups, coaches should listen more than they advise, and draw out a client’s own wisdom.

Try asking:

“Is this relationship still benefiting you?How does this relationship relate to your current goals, priorities, and values?”

After reflecting on those questions, a few clients might decide they need to find new friends or roomies.

But not usually.

And that’s okay—because as a coach, you still have three powerful strategies to help clients strengthen their existing social bonds, so they can improve their overall health.

Strategy #1: Amplify the coach-client relationship

You’re part of your client’s social network.

In fact, there’s a fancy-pants name for the coach-client bond: the therapeutic alliance. It refers to the level of trust and rapport between a practitioner and the person they’re helping.

A strong therapeutic alliance can help a person feel supported and understood while surfing the tides of change.

And get this:

Client results are up to 85 percent dependent on the therapeutic alliance.

The stronger that relationship, the better the results.

How do you strengthen this bond?

Highlight your clients’ awesomeness. Point out their strengths and what they’re doing right. As much as possible, try to see your client from a compassionate, non-judgemental, and positive perspective.

Embrace client-led coaching. Help clients identify their own limiting factors and propose their own solutions. You’re a knowledgeable guide, but only a client knows what’s best for themselves.

Listen and validate. When a client is suffering, they probably don’t need you to search PubMed for more evidence. More than facts, your clients often need understanding, support, and creativity to get them through the tough stuff.

(Want to build trust and connection with clients? Read: “I’m a coach, not a therapist!” 9 ways to help people change while staying within your scope)

Strategy #2: Create intentionally welcoming spaces

Take a critical look at the virtual and/or in person gathering spots you oversee as a part of your coaching practice.

Are they places where members feel welcome, championed, and safe?

Do clients want to hang out in these spaces?

If you decide your coaching community needs some work, consider this advice from Precision Nutrition super coach Jon Mills, PN2, who’s been building and maintaining successful coaching communities for years.

Know who you’re welcoming—and who you’re not.

Many coaches see themselves as the coach for everyone. That’s a mistake, says Mills. “When you welcome everybody, you by default welcome nobody,” he says.

Think deeply about the type of clients you want to attract and retain. Then consider what they might want from a community—and what might repel them.

For inspiration, consider what Valkyrie Western Martial Arts Assembly, the gym Mills runs in Vancouver, British Columbia did to cater to the queer community:

Posted a pronouns policyOffered non-gendered restroomsHung a pride flag in the front window

Those details helped clients know immediately whether the space was for them, Mills says.

Communicate your values and expectations.

Post a code of conduct. This helps clients know the rules that help keep your community safe and welcoming.

As an example, in our Precision Nutrition Facebook communities, our first rule is this:

Be respectful.

And we explain what we mean by that.

Everyone wins: Members know what to expect, and how to behave.

Uphold your group rules.

Don’t just pay lip service to values like helpfulness and respect.

You must actively reinforce them, Mills says. “It’s worse to have a code of conduct and not enforce it than to have no code of conduct at all,” he says.

Rule reinforcement is especially important if, like Mills, you coach clients who often feel unwelcome in typical spaces. When done right, you can create an atmosphere like the (now online) Valkyrie martial arts studio did pre-pandemic:

Valkyrie invited people to register for couch time—just as you’d register for sweating it out in a class. On any given day, you could find people chatting, laughing, and bonding.

For them, the studio was more than a gym. It was home.

Small group coaching: Where individualized attention and supportive group dynamics meet

For more than 21 years, Alwyn Cosgrove has gathered and stored data for every single training session with clients at Results Fitness, the gym he owns in Santa Clarita, California. That information—from roughly 40,000 yearly sessions—functions like an ongoing research study.

And it‘s led to a counterintuitive finding:

Clients do better when they train in small groups than when they work one-on-one with a coach or trainer.

This remains true even when clients are following different programs, Cosgrove says.

“You’d assume people would get better results when working only with a trainer because they’re getting more individualized attention,” says Cosgrove. “But the less individualized attention in a group setting seems to be offset by group dynamics.”

That might be because fellow clients “get” each other, allowing them to cheer one another on in ways friends and family may not be able to.

Strategy #3: Rally the support of family and friends

In coaching more than 100,000 clients, we’ve noticed something:

Most people focus on their shortcomings rather than their successes.

This negative focus tends to discourage and demotivate people.

That’s why, “at some point in virtually all of my clients’ journeys, we’ll have a conversation about building a cheer squad,” says Mills.

When friends and family support a client’s goals, values, and priorities, that client tends to be successful. There’s a sense of “we’re in this together,” says Precision Nutrition super coach Toni Bauer, PN2.

(Want to help clients get clear on the kind of support they need, and who to get it from? Use this FREE worksheet: Social Support Form)

But friends and family usually need a few pointers.

Because they can sometimes also be the people who (often unintentionally) sabotage a client’s progress by…

… Asking, “Hey, want some ice cream?” while scooping out two big bowls.

… Making comments like, “Wow, you’re eating less than usual. Are you okay?”

… Guilt-tripping, saying, “Oh come on, drink with us!” or “I made this cake just for you! Don’t hurt my feelings, now.”

As much as possible, try to allow the client to lead this solution-finding mission, says Bauer.

If you jump in with too many suggestions, your client will likely continually tell you, “No, that won’t work. You just don’t understand my friends/family.”

When brainstorming ways to overcome sticky issues with family and friends, Bauer suggests you ask questions like:

Has there been a time in your life when trying something new has worked smoothly in your household? If so, what was that like?

Could you tell me how you’ve communicated with your friends or family in the past? Let’s discuss what worked and what didn’t.

What’s the easiest, low-hanging-fruit change you can make that’s minimally disruptive to your friends’/family’s habits?

After contemplation, clients might come up with their own ideas.

If they get stuck, however, ask:

Do you need help with this? Are you interested in hearing some ideas that have worked for other clients?

If they say yes, you might tell them about that client with a nut allergy who asked her wife to only buy ice cream with nuts. The client knew she wouldn’t be tempted by nut-loaded ice cream, and it allowed her wife to keep a sweet treat in the house.

(For help navigating resistance from friends and family, read: 3 counterintuitive strategies for getting loved ones to support your healthy lifestyle.)

Our social circles don’t have to be perfect to benefit us.

It’s nice when goals align with with loved ones:

Your household sits down and EVERYONE wants to try your new kale loaf.

But really, whose life is that??!

In reality, just like us, our friends and family are a mishmash of virtues and vices.

But that’s not what defines us.

Instead, it’s our willingness to accept and support each other wherever we’re at, that makes relationships so life-giving.

Social groups may never be ideal, but they can usually be improved by building on what’s already working, and adding on as needed.

With this mindset, your beer buddies may continue to love their brews, but cheers to you even if you decide to opt for seltzer.

(And who knows, maybe seltzer pong could be a thing.)

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References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

1. Larrabee Sonderlund A, Thilsing T, Sondergaard J. Should social disconnectedness be included in primary-care screening for cardiometabolic disease? A systematic review of the relationship between everyday stress, social connectedness, and allostatic load. PLoS One. 2019 Dec 19;14(12):e0226717.

2. Malone JC, Cohen S, Liu SR, Vaillant GE, Waldinger RJ. Adaptive midlife defense mechanisms and late-life health. Pers Individ Dif. 2013 Jul 1;55(2):85–9.

3. Umberson D, Montez JK. Social relationships and health: a flashpoint for health policy. J Health Soc Behav. 2010;51 Suppl:S54–66.

4. House JS, Landis KR, Umberson D. Social relationships and health. Science. 1988 Jul 29;241(4865):540–5.

5. Eisenberger NI, Lieberman MD, Williams KD. Does rejection hurt? An FMRI study of social exclusion. Science. 2003 Oct 10;302(5643):290–2.

6. Bzdok D, Dunbar RIM. The Neurobiology of Social Distance. Trends Cogn Sci. 2020 Sep;24(9):717–33.

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. The next group kicks off shortly.

–>

If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

Learning how to coach clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes—in a way that’s personalized for their unique body, preferences, and circumstances—is both an art and a science.

If you’d like to learn more about both, consider the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

–>

The post Social connections: Could they be even more important than cholesterol? appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

Liz Durant was unstoppable.

She packed 25 marathons into eight years before advancing to ultra-marathons—all while juggling a demanding career in accounting and finance, raising three kids, moving frequently, and squeezing in some competitive tennis, too.

At 45, Durant was offered a job as a personal trainer at a local gym. She decided to take it, jumping at the chance to share her love of running in a meaningful and purposeful way.

She dove headfirst into her new hustle, working to gain expertise in nutrition (through the PN Level 1 and Level 2 Certifications), endurance, and women-specific coaching.

Any given week, she’d teach 10 group fitness classes; spend 20-30 hours training in-person and online clients; train for her next race; chip away at certifications and other continuing ed; and of course be there for her family and friends too.

By her early 50s, Durant noticed it was getting harder to meet the demands. Hot flashes kept her awake at night. Injuries became commonplace. Durant felt burned out, struggling to keep up with her schedule.

She came to accept that she was entering a new phase of life. With help from a coach, Durant made adjustments to her lifestyle and nutrition habits.

“I had to really assess what was essential, and let go of some things that were not,” Durant says. “I practiced balancing my clients with my own training needs, and prioritizing my ‘big rocks’—sleep, stress, movement, and food.”

Before too long, Durant was back to feeling good and crushing her schedule.

And that’s how it hit her.

She would focus her coaching business, Affinity Fitness, on women just like her: 50-somethings who want to maintain an active, busy, healthy life, even while dealing with the realities of aging.

And that’s how she ended up finding her niche as a nutrition coach. Here are four illuminating lessons Durant learned from her experience—plus tips for you to try, too.

Lesson #1: Make it personal.

The more intimately you understand what your clients are up against, the more effectively you can support them.

Durant knew: “The 50s are a perfect storm of physical and lifestyle changes.”

Here are her clients’ top challenges, plus how she targets them.

It’s been a while since they prioritized themselves.

Many women in their 50s have spent years or decades caring for others, losing touch with their own bodies and needs in the process. (Durant has also found preliminary research on disordered eating and empty nest women, which aligns with anecdotal evidence from her coaching practice.)

Durant helps clients practice listening to their bodies, so they can relearn signals like hunger and fullness cues.

They’re experiencing hormone changes.

As a result, many clients notice decreased energy.

“Performance and training start to suffer,” Durant notes. “Then your sleep is disrupted because of hot flashes. Plus, you’re more prone to injury.”

To address this, Durant helps clients adapt training and recovery to their bodies’ evolved needs. She also focuses them on improving sleep and managing stress by shutting off screens and winding down earlier in the evening than they’re used to.

Day-to-day life suddenly looks different.

Women this age are often experiencing significant life adjustments (becoming an empty nester; retiring). This means disrupted eating and exercise patterns.

Durant helps clients get a balance of lean protein, smart carbs, healthy fats, and veggies—often portioned for a slowed metabolism. (Hint: She uses the PN Macro Calculator. “The report that comes out of that is gold.”)

And Durant coaches them on a big takeaway from her own experience: “Being nimble is key. Don’t beat yourself if you need to re-prioritize your life to fulfill your basic needs. Progress, not perfection.”

Lesson #2: Specialize even within your specialty.

The clients in a given market or niche will have things in common, but it’s important to leave room for personal preference.

For example, while some of Durant’s clients love training online, “others have looked forward to getting back into the gym.”

To accommodate both groups, Durant offers online, limited in-person, and hybrid coaching models.

“I have several clients who travel south in the winter. We train in the gym when we can, and when we can’t, we use Zoom. My clients love the consistency and flexibility,” she says.

Meanwhile, Durant offers three different packages:

Sprint: Program design with just a bit of supportMarathon: Program design with individualized nutrition supportUltra: Program design, customized nutrition recommendations, and a weekly Zoom training session

“It’s all about finding what works best for individual clients.”

Lesson #3: Listen to your audience—not everybody else.

When Durant was getting her coaching business off the ground, she tried Facebook ads to get visibility. It’s standard marketing, but it didn’t work.

So, she thought more carefully about the women she wanted to coach. What are they interested in? How do they spend their time? What would be of real value to them?

It hit her like a sack of potatoes: Just like Durant, her clients were huge fans of the Instant Pot. She’d been running free workshops at the local library, plus paid sessions in clients’ homes. Why not take it to Facebook Live to get more folks interested in what she had to offer?

Liz started doing free sessions on meal planning and prep, plus recipe demos right from her kitchen. Immediately, she had an influx of new clients.

“It’s been awesome!” Durant says. “So much so, I am considering developing an online course on the Instant Pot for runners. Simplify their lives and give them more time to run!”

This kind of approach can take some experimentation, Durant warns—but it helps to keep an open mind. “Throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Try something for a month and see what happens,” she suggests.

Lesson #4: Think about the change YOU want to make.

Durant says specializing has helped her get clients, especially by word-of-mouth. But much more than that, it’s brought a clear sense of purpose and meaning to her work.

“I love helping women take care of themselves after they’ve spent so long taking care of others,” she reflects.

And for Durant, this mission has opened the door to a more large-scale vision: “I feel like there’s a notion in my generation that a big part of our purpose is to care for other people, even at the expense of our own health,” she says. “I want to change that.”

Durant—who’s now 59— believes we’re on the verge of a societal shift, where women of all ages are becoming more willing to prioritize themselves, and topics like menopause are becoming less taboo.

“Women are starting to understand that self-care isn’t selfish. And besides, when we take the time to prioritize our own wellbeing, we are more effective at taking care of others anyway!”

Clients pick up on this sense of purpose. They begin to envision a new future for themselves, too. They get results. They tell their friends.

“When we’re north of 50, we have an opportunity to create a new blueprint for ourselves,” says Durant. A new vision we can choose to think of as me, 2.0.”

With this new vision in mind, Durant is leading the way.

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. The next group kicks off shortly.

–>

If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

Learning how to coach clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes—in a way that’s personalized for their unique body, preferences, and circumstances—is both an art and a science.

If you’d like to learn more about both, consider the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

–>

The post 4 ways to find your niche as a nutrition coach appeared first on Precision Nutrition.

“I can’t stop thinking about food.”

Ever felt that way?

It’s normal to think about food a fair bit, and occasionally overeat.

But what about when thoughts of food crowd out almost everything else? When you feel an anxiety that’s only relieved by eating?

Or when it seems like you don’t have any control over what, when, and how much you eat?

It might make you wonder…

“Do I have an addiction?”

Many of us throw the word “addiction” around lightly when we talk about our relationship with food.

But some people—including, perhaps, some of your clients—are truly suffering.

In this article, we’ll explore:

What food addiction is.How it’s different from overeating.Why certain foods have more “addictive” qualities than others.Who’s most vulnerable.

(Quick heads up: As a coach you can’t diagnose food addiction, but you can support and be an ally to your clients dealing with it. You’ll also want to refer out to a qualified practitioner. Learn more about that here).

Let’s get into it.

What is food addiction?

Food addiction means having emotionally-driven, persistent, and uncontrollable urges to eat—even when you’re not physically hungry.

It affects 2-11 percent of people in Western countries. (The rates are highest in the US, with some research showing as much as 11.4 percent of the population could be affected.)1

With rates so high, you likely know someone with food addiction. Or maybe you’re the one struggling.

How do you know?

Here are some signs of food addiction:

Craving increasingly large amounts of (usually) high-calorie processed foods in order to feel pleasure, energy, or excitement, or to relieve negative emotions, physical pain, or fatigue.Spending so much time thinking about and getting food, and recovering from overeating, that it crowds out recreational activities, professional obligations, and relationships.Continuing to overeat despite negative effects like digestive problems, unwanted weight gain, or mobility issues.Experiencing withdrawal-like effects—irritability, low mood, headaches or fatigue1,2—when you’re not eating.

How is food addiction different from other forms of overeating?

If you overeat at most of your meals, or have the occasional out-of-control binge eating episode, are you addicted to food?

Not necessarily.

Pretty much everyone experiences periods of overeating, and/or instances of binge eating.

As the following continuum shows, it’s only when urges and compulsive behavior around food become severe, frequent, and chronic that a person can be diagnosed with an eating disorder or food addiction.3,4,5

As you may notice, binge eating disorder and food addiction share several major similarities.

But food addiction—which more closely resembles a substance use disorder—is more severe than BED because it causes even more life disruption.

How food addiction happens

Food addiction isn’t caused by one single thing.

For example, you can’t just blame it on genetics.

Factors like the amount of stress in someone’s life, how they respond to that stress, how lonely they feel, where they live, and who they spend time with also make an impact.

In other words, like most health issues, food addiction arises out of a jumble of biological, psychological, and social factors. (This multi-dimensional approach to understanding illness and health is called the biopsychosocial perspective.)

Let’s go into those categories now.

Biological factors: How does your body work?

In early human history, food scarcity happened on the regular.

To survive, humans evolved to overeat when food was abundant, especially when that food was tasty and calorie-rich.6,7,8 (Jackpot: avocado tree.)

But now, the instinct that once helped us survive makes it hard to stop eating.9

Highly-processed foods—especially those with a combination of sugar, fat, and salt—are the most difficult to resist.

Much like drugs and alcohol, these foods trigger a range of rewarding, feel-good neurochemicals, including dopamine. Highly-processed foods have this effect even when you’re not hungry.10,11,12

(In contrast, whole, unprocessed foods aren’t very rewarding when you’re not hungry, and it’s usually easier to moderate your intake of them.5,13)

These days, highly-processed foods are so accessible that you have to rely on your ability to self-regulate, or control your behavior, in order to resist them.

But people who deal with compulsive overeating (including those with food addiction) often have a hard time self-regulating.

Here’s why:

People with compulsive overeating may…

Struggle with impulse control, possibly because the planning, strategizing center of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) is impaired. This might be a hallmark of all addictions, and can contribute to poor recovery outcomes.14,15

React more easily and intensely to stressors. They have a higher level of cortisol release than others.16 And because stress can trigger addictive behaviors, people who are more physically sensitive to stress may be more likely to use food (or drugs or alcohol) as a way to cope.

Get more pleasure from food (at first).17,18 They may have a bigger dopamine response to highly-processed foods, more motivation to seek out that response again, and stronger cravings.19

Get less pleasure from food over time. When you often overeat highly-processed foods, dopamine receptors become less responsive to those foods.20 This means that a bigger “hit” of food is required to achieve the same pleasurable effect.21,22,23

Dopamine: Why we like it, and how it hooks us.

Dopamine release happens in the nucleus accumbens, a brain region famous for its role in registering pleasure and reinforcing learning.5

Lots of things give you little dopamine boosts…  eating a tasty meal when you’re hungry, connecting with friends and loved ones, and achieving goals. However, certain activities and substances—like drugs, gambling, and (yes) highly-processed foods—can produce unnaturally high surges of dopamine.

Here’s why that can become a problem:

The greater the dopamine response, the more pleasure you experience. The more pleasure you feel, the more motivated you are to repeat it.

When you experience a dopamine surge, you learn to associate pleasure with the specific activity or substance that caused it.

As that learning continues, your prefrontal cortex and your reward system get hijacked. You become focused on getting more of the thing. And you have trouble experiencing pleasure from anything else.

Over time, your brain adapts to these floods of dopamine.

This is called tolerance. Tolerance drives you to chase more of the pleasurable thing, yet you rarely feel satisfied.

This is the addiction cycle.

(Want to know more about what food characteristics people find irresistible—and even addictive? Read: Manufactured deliciousness: Why you can’t stop overeating.)

Psychological factors: What’s your mindset?

When we ask clients, most of them say they’re more likely to overeat when they’re feeling stressed, tired, or sad.

Research supports this observation: Stress, depressed mood, anger, boredom, and irritability are common triggers of binge eating16,24

Binge eating often further triggers feelings of guilt and shame, and these feelings may promote more addictive behaviors.25

Because binge eating and food addiction are associated with challenges regulating emotions,26,27 food can be used as a way to self-medicate and temporarily feel better. (Foods with sweet tastes are especially effective at elevating mood and suppressing pain.28)

Food addiction is also associated with a history of trauma and abuse, and is found alongside a number of other mental health disorders like depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), psychosis,29 and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).30

(Want to support clients with trauma while staying in your scope? Read: How trauma affects health and fitness—and prevents client progress)

Although many people think of addictive eating as a form of “self-sabotage,” here’s a more compassionate, useful way to think about it:

For the person struggling, food is simply a safe place, a comfort to turn to when life feels overwhelming.

Social factors: What’s around you?

In animal research, addictive eating behaviors only happen when they’re given highly-processed foods.5

This isn’t to say that processed foods cause addictive eating. It’s just that their presence, combined with other biological and psychological vulnerabilities, makes food addiction more likely.

And due to social factors, some people are exposed to highly-processed foods more often than others.

Imagine you live in a “food desert”—an area that has poor access to affordable, fresh, and minimally-processed food. If all you can get at your local grocery store is packaged snack foods, white bread, and maybe some canned fruit, your nutrition and appetite will be harder to manage.

Similarly, not having enough money to buy healthy foods on a regular basis can make an impact. Naturally, you might do like our ancestors and “stock up” when calories are available. Some research supports this: Higher rates of food insecurity are associated with disordered eating behaviors like binge eating.31

You can also pick up on social cues around food.

If you’ve grown up with friends and family that regularly overeat, or use food to soothe, comfort, or entertain, they might encourage you (explicitly or implicitly) to do the same.

Even when you want to change, swimming against the current can be hard.

The irony of diet culture

Despite some progress through movements like body positivity and “Health at Every Size,” modern culture still prizes thinness.

In order to achieve that thinness, many people diet incessantly.

Here’s how that backfires:

When you think you can’t have access to something (in this case, food you find delicious), you end up wanting more of it.

This is called the limited access paradigm, and it explains why very restrictive diets not only often fail, but may even make people more likely to overeat and binge eat.32

[Facepalm.]

That’s why recovery from compulsive overeating and food addiction often focuses on body awareness, mindful eating, and developing a positive relationship with food—not dieting.

Interested in checking your bias towards thinness as a coach? Read: Are you body-shaming clients? How well-meaning coaches can be guilty of “size-bias.”

Help with food addiction: 3 ways to support clients (or yourself)

Health and nutrition coaches can’t diagnose or treat a food addiction, or any kind of eating disorder. But you can start the conversation, and be an essential part of a client’s recovery team.

If you’re reading this article because you’re struggling, we’ll suggest some ways to support yourself too.

1. Create a safe, compassionate, and encouraging environment.

If a client comes to you with some deep stuff, don’t feel like you have to figure out their childhood or fix their biology.

Instead, focus on understanding their current situation, helping them feel safe, and developing a trusting relationship.

The best ways to do that? Practice empathy and active listening.

(Read more about empathy and listening skills: “I’m a coach, not a therapist!” 9 ways to help people while staying within your scope.)

Because people with food addiction and binge eating disorder may be more sensitive to reward,33,34,35 coaches can also help “reward” clients in more affirming ways.

Meaning: Give them lots of praise. Celebrate every “win” you see.

And if a client comes to you feeling shame over a certain behavior or feeling, reassure them that this isn’t evidence of their inadequacy. Missteps and imperfections are human. Feeling sensitive to them is just a sign that they want to do better for themselves.

If you’re struggling with food addiction:

You’ll benefit from self-compassion and non-judgement too. Try not to blame or criticize yourself for “causing” this or “being too weak” to pull yourself out of it.

Be your own buddy: People are much better at changing when they come from a place of love and support.

For more practical, self-compassionate ways to feel better, read: “How can I cope RIGHT NOW?” These self-care strategies might help you feel better.

2. Drop the nutrition lecture.

Yes, maybe you’re a health or nutrition coach.

But in this case, focusing too much on nutrition (especially calories and energy intake) can backfire.

Clients struggling with food addiction are usually already overly concerned with what and how much they’re eating—and they probably feel tremendous shame around that.

➤ Instead of nutritional value, focus on how foods make clients feel.

You can ask (with kindness and genuine curiosity): “When you eat [insert trigger food], how do you feel in your body? And what thoughts come up?”

Although sometimes uncomfortable, this exercise can help clients identify foods that do feel good in their bodies, and align with their values. Over time, this can build a more positive, practical relationship with food.

➤ Help clients develop awareness around their triggers.

Ask gently: “What was going on before you started to feel the urge to eat? Where were you, who were you with, and how were you feeling?”

When you’re aware of your patterns and habits, it’s easier to find opportunities to re-route them.

(Here’s a worksheet that helps clients identify and disrupt unproductive eating habits: Break the Chain worksheet)

➤ Collaborate to come up with eating-replacement activities.

Stress is a common trigger for overeating, so ask your client to make a list of activities that calm them down, and bring them joy.

Note that overeating isn’t “forbidden.” Clients always have the option to use this coping mechanism.

But they can also slowly develop alternative behaviors to eating—which they may learn to prefer over time.

If you’re struggling with food addiction:

Here are three small actions you can take to start helping yourself feel better:

Focus on how foods make you feel rather than their caloric value.Use the Break the Chain worksheet to develop awareness of your triggers.Create your own personal list of replacement activities.

3. Refer out.

If you suspect your client has food addiction, you may want to start with this worksheet: The Yale Food Addiction Scale. While you can’t diagnose your client (unless you’re also a qualified mental health or medical health professional), you can use this tool to begin a conversation.

Most importantly, empower your client to seek help outside of your coaching. Remind them that seeking professional help takes courage and wisdom, and that you’ll be with them along the ride.

For most people, a family doctor is a good place to start. Family doctors can perform a formal assessment, then refer to appropriate help, whether that’s a licensed therapist, a psychiatrist, or another health professional.

If your client wants help finding a therapist, find one that’s trained in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which has been shown to be effective in managing and treating addictions and disordered eating.

You might be the first (and only) person your client has confided in.

Take your role seriously, display acceptance and compassion, and help your client get the care they deserve.

If you’re struggling with food addiction:

You’re not supposed to do really hard things by yourself. It often takes a team of support, so reach out.

Talk to a trusted loved one for moral support, and consult your family doctor or a licensed psychotherapist to get professional help.

Asking for help doesn’t make you weak. It means you have your own back.

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References

Click here to view the information sources referenced in this article.

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Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification. The next group kicks off shortly.

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If you’re a coach, or you want to be…

Learning how to coach clients, patients, friends, or family members through healthy eating and lifestyle changes—in a way that’s personalized for their unique body, preferences, and circumstances—is both an art and a science.

If you’d like to learn more about both, consider the Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

Precision Nutrition Level 1 Certification.

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