Diet coaching - business idea
When looking for an idea for a business, it is worth carefully following the latest trends - what is in demand, what is a lot of talk about, what is fashionable. Among such topics for some time there is a broadly understood healthy lifestyle. And it is not just about promoting new miracle diets, but about something else - about the right diet, combined with physical activity and emotional and mental stability. Many people have found that to improve their health and well-being, it is not enough to "go on a diet", but you need something more. It is necessary to change old habits and develop new ones, as well as to direct a new way of thinking. It is not an easy task, as anyone who, even as part of New Year's resolutions, has found out that they will take an exercise bike out of the basement and ride it every day or at least every other day. The first step is usually not difficult, but the most persistent ones are successful in adhering to the decision.
In such moments, a good solution is to go to a specialist who will help you achieve your goals, offering advice, support and an appropriate motivational “kick”. And here comes the business idea mentioned at the beginning - diet coaching. Who is a diet coach? What exactly does it do? How can you become such a trainer?
What is diet coaching?
The above-mentioned diet coaching is the answer to the latest trends in a healthy lifestyle. It consists in creating individual nutrition programs, developed on the basis of information collected during conversations and in-depth interviews with the client. Its main task is to learn to consciously look at what, when and what for. It is precisely the development of such self-awareness that is the first step (of course, after the interview and summarizing the information) that the diet coach takes in working with the person who comes to him. It consists in developing knowledge about the human body, processes related to food, etc. In the next stages, habits, behaviors and beliefs related to eating are changed, based on information about the current diet, lifestyle, health, culinary habits or level of activity.
A very important element of the coaching diet is treating the client as an expert - after all, he knows best what he is, what he does and how. On this basis, a nutrition program tailored to the needs of a specific person is created, the implementation of which is monitored by the coach's diet. So how is a visit to such a specialist different from a visit to a dietitian? In the first case, the client himself (with the support of a diet coach) looks for solutions that are best for him. In the second case, it is the dietitian who determines the course of action. This, in turn, affects the motivation of a person who wants changes in his life. If we work out something ourselves, the so-called internal motivation - we do something because we want it ourselves. If, on the other hand, someone imposes on us the way of acting, resistance and - despite the initial great willingness - reluctance to change.
The task of a diet coach is primarily to help in understanding the nutritional needs of the client and to create together with him a nutrition plan that will be appropriate for his lifestyle. It is emphasized that after talking to such a specialist, the person is to take actions aimed at changes on three levels: nutrition, behavior and behavior.
Meetings with a diet coach may take the form of individual or group conversations (sometimes there are also mixtures of these two styles). The entire process usually takes from several to several weeks.
How to become a diet coach?
To become a diet coach, you must have knowledge of coaching, human nutrition and mentoring. Therefore, such a business can be started primarily by people who graduated in psychology or dietetics. It is also worth having interests related to the above-mentioned areas. A person who believes what he or she says can become an effective coach, and in order to believe, one must equip himself with the appropriate knowledge.
However, both people who graduated from the above-mentioned courses, as well as those that did not have much in common with this topic, should go to specialist training if they want to become a diet coach. During it, they will have the opportunity to broaden their knowledge in the necessary fields, learn about diet coaching techniques and will be able to experience such an impact themselves. Trainings are often conducted by practitioners who, during sessions with clients, created proprietary diet coaching programs. Importantly, when looking for such courses, it is worth checking whether they have the recommendation of the Chamber of Coaching. In this case, you can be sure that the training is conducted by specialists and that the money spent will not be wasted.
Another option is to complete the relevant postgraduate studies. Due to the fact that diet coaching or healthy lifestyle coaching is a relatively young field in Poland, few universities offer related courses. For example, a healthy lifestyle coach diploma has recently been obtained from the University of Lodz. It is possible that in response to the growing demand, more and more schools will provide an opportunity to acquire professional knowledge on topics related to diet coaching.
It should be remembered that a diet coach is a responsible profession - it is based on working with another person, requires understanding of many processes - both physiological and psychological, and human health is at stake. Therefore, before making a decision to set up a coaching dietary clinic or clinic, it is necessary to be very well prepared. However, it is worth taking an interest in this topic, as specialists predict that the demand for such services will certainly grow in the next few years.
