My first training was with Wellcoaches.  I highly recommend this program to anyone who wants to coach individuals or groups from a Wellness and Whole Health perspective.   The focus is on telephonic coaching, which is perfect for the coach who wants to work from home and have minimal travel.  The training gives you a very in depth understanding about “change psychology” which is imperative for any coach to understand.  There are many tools that I gained from this program to help me help my clients to clearly define their goals and stay realistic about what they were willing to do on a weekly basis toward reaching their goals.

My second certification is in Plant Based Nutrition through eCornell and the T. Colin Campbell Foundation.  The program is an innovative online certificate program set up as a series of three courses designed to help you understand the role of diet in healing and managing disease. It expands upon the ground-breaking book, The China Study, and each course provides approximately six hours of learning based lectures and research of Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University in Nutritional Biochemistry, and a variety of other experts in the field of lifestyle medicine.  If you are interested in becoming certified in Plant Based Nutrition, go to the eCornell website for more information.

I have been asked if Wellness Coaching is a lucrative job. I will tell you that it takes time, in fact several years to gain enough clients to make it part time.  So if you are thinking about quitting your full time job or have recently graduated from college and think that this is what you want to do for a living, I suggest that you make it a “side job” until you are confident you can keep up a steady enough clientele that will support your lifestyle.

I do this work VERY PART TIME, and I am only willing to take on one to two clients at a time.  I also teach nutrition classes at the Florida School for Holistic Living, homeschool my kids, prepare healthy food, take care of many household duties, and take care of myself with exercise (running, dancing and strength training) and stress relief (meditation).   Eventually I would like to work 20 hours/per week, when both of my kids are middle school age and then maybe increase my time as they reach high school.

I love what I do, I cannot see myself doing anything else!  It is rewarding to be in those “aha” moments with a client who suddenly sees something about their habits in a new light and because of that decides to make a change that will better their health.  It is also wonderful to talk to them months later and find out that they have continued to make changes toward health improvement.

Got a question about what I do that isn’t answered here?  Ask in the comments section below!

This past week I was at a party and was introduced to a mom who when she heard I was vegan made the comment “Oh, yeah, I tried the vegan thing but there’s just so much hummus and pita I can eat”.    I did not know where to start with this comment and then the conversation got changed quickly…but what I was thinking later was, “Seriously? What were your reasons for wanting to go vegan? How long did you try eating vegan and did you only eat Pita and Hummus?”

This is not the first time I’ve heard about how a person found eating vegan or vegetarian to be challenging.   I suppose it can be difficult to make changes if your reason for going veg is not strong.  I’m guessing that a lot of people are trying it because Oprah did it for a week or because their neighbor or friend did it and lost weight, etc.

There are far more meaningful reasons to go veg!  Find your reason or reasons, write it down and then make a plan to make gradual changes that will help you to stick with it for more than a week or a month.

Are you doing it for your health?

• Eating a plant based diet low in animal foods decreases your risk for all degenerative diseases including cancer.  We are constantly hearing news about how plant foods are protective…when did you hear that animal foods were protective against degenerative disease?

Are you doing it for the animals?

• Love dogs and cats but still eat cows, pigs and fish?  Reading Melanie Joy’s book “Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs and Wear Cows” will help you to understand that farm animals are no different from domesticated animals.  If you have a love for animals, your reason may one that supports animal compassion.
• Approximately 10 billion animals are slaughtered every year so that humans can eat them
• In the US, “food animals” are not adequately protected from inhumane treatment

Are you doing it for the environment?

• Are you an eco-savvy person who has found all the ways to “go green” at home but not yet addressed eating habits?  Going vegan, vegetarian or even plant based is the biggest contribution you can make to going green…so stop worrying about changing out light bulbs and start focusing on your shopping list!
• Did you know over 50% of forest worldwide have been cleared to raise or feed livestock?
• A recent study by the University of Chicago revealed that a vegetarian diet is the most energy-efficient (VegForLife.org)
• Livestock rearing produces more greenhouse gasses than all forms of transportation combined

Once you have figured out a reason for going Veg that resonates most with you, figure out the obstacles or excuses that are keeping you from being successful with a vegan, vegetarian or plant based diet.  What is your plan to move through those obstacles?  I promise you there is a solution!  Need help with it?  Post in the comments section below or give me a call for a free 30 minute consultation!

I encourage clients and anyone interested in preventative health to read The China Study. It is 20 years of evidence based research that tells us the healthiest populations on the planet consume a diet centered on plant foods. These populations have almost NO incidence of degenerative disease unlike the United States where Type II Diabetes and Heart Disease have become an epidemic.

How does eating a Plant Based Diet and having healthy habits contribute to making the planet greener?

1. Eating less animal foods means less pollution in our ground water and air from factory farms
2. Eating less animal foods means wasting a lot less water and grains to raise animals from birth to slaughter
3. Eating less animal foods means we have more land to use for growing plant foods which require less resources.
4. And finally eating less animal foods and more nutrient dense plant foods makes populations healthier. They will require fewer pharmaceutical drugs that pollute our environment, especially our water ways.

A Plant Based Diet + Healthy Habits = Optimally Healthy Families and a Greener Planet!