Frequently Asked Questions

A health coach is a lifestyle and behavioral health practitioner who takes into consideration your health goals, lifestyle factors, nutrition needs, and relationships as they guide you to make strategic nutritional choices and informed health decisions. Certified health coaches have received professional certification by nationally-accredited health and medical institutions, and have received rigorous training on how to work with people to develop and implement long-lasting and sustainable health changes.

Many of us know what we should be doing for our health, but often, we are not able to do it on our own. The WHAT is generally easy enough to identify. It's the HOW that gets tough. That’s where your health coach comes in: she provides success frameworks, resources, and tools used to develop and support sustainable health change, and acts as a health advocate and accountability partner you can rely on, which dramatically increases the positive outcomes of your personal health plan.

An integrative health coach focuses on the health of the whole person, recognizing that our sense of well-being is not only about nutrition and movement, but involves so many other facets that are intricately linked to our health outcomes and quality of life. Integrative health coaches have advanced training in how to integrate other areas of a person's health, such as emotional, social, mental, professional, spiritual, financial, and community health, as well as their sense of fulfillment and purpose, to more deeply support their change process and desired health outcomes.

Integrative health coaching is particularly beneficial for those seeking weight loss solutions because weight health is so intricately linked to, and influenced by, so many other areas of our health. Applying an integrative approach to the change process is particularly beneficial to sustaining weight loss long-term.

1. Certified heath coaches help you move from ‘stuck’ to ‘action.’ Many people already have ideas about the areas in their life they might like to work on, but health coaches go beyond the “what” (such as wanting to cook more at home) and help explore the “how” (What are the barriers to cooking more at home? Feeling like there’s not enough time? Not feeling confident with cooking skills or trying new foods? Feelings of stress and overwhelm?). Coaches help you explore and identify the barriers that are keeping you stuck, so you can work together to build a plan for how to work around them.
2. They help you set goals. Did you know that only 3% of the American population sets goals? We’re great at setting New Year’s Resolutions, but we stink with goal-setting! And without goals, our only strategy is to throw bologna at the wall and see where it lands. Goals are the engine of change, and a supportive health coach can work with you to identify your health goals, and break them down into action steps that are easy to follow, simple to execute, and sustainable to practice for the long-term. 
3. They take an individualized approach based on your health goals, lifestyle factors, and nutrition needs. Just like no two people are the same, no two wellness plans are the same. Working with a health coach to produce individualized health goals and plans significantly increases a person’s likelihood of being able to sustain new habits and behaviors.
4. They look at the big picture. Health coaches are strategists. They are trained to identify the myriad of factors that contribute to an individual’s health and quality of life. They understand how to build health goals and plans in ways that connect all areas of a person’s health so that the whole person experiences a long-lasting increase in their well-being. 
5. They are your navigator. Feel confused about what to eat? Is coffee good for you or not? What about dairy? Should you eat the banana? There is no one global answer for these questions, but a health coach can help you navigate what is right for you.
6. They help you learn how to help yourself. After navigating your way to one of your goals, you’ll learn which methods work best for you so they can be applied toward other efforts. Working with a health coach helps to build your sense of self-efficacy and self-reliance. Health coaching is truly a personal development journey.

Health coaching is defined as partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and health potential. Health coaching focuses on visioning, success, the present and moving toward the future. 

Therapy emphasizes psychopathology, emotions and the past to understand the present, and it works more with developing skills for managing emotions or past issues than does health coaching.

As part of a coach’s professional practice, the coach is expected to know when to refer a client to other professionals such as a therapist or mental health provider. 

The fundamentals of coaching are different from therapy. It is important to know the difference to determine which one is best for you and your personal situation. Therapists focus on why. They work to analyze their client’s past in efforts to understand the behaviors their clients are currently exhibiting.

Coaches focus on how to help their clients’ reflect on their current situation to achieve their desired goals. Coaches do not diagnose their clients or determine illnesses and pathologies that can be clinically treated. Coaches focus on their clients’ actions and results related to their established goals. They partner with their clients to measure their success with key performance indicators. Sometimes, both a health coach and a therapist will work with a client together in a complete health 'value chain' to help the individual arrive at their desired outcomes.

Health coaches offer support for the: 

• Attainment and achievement of personal and health goals
• Development of a sense of fulfillment and purpose
• Increase of self-awareness and self-compassion
• Future; they look ahead, helping clients' create goals and plans, and are focused on solutions

Therapists offer support for the:

• Exploration and comprehension of the subconscious and unconscious mind
• Recovery from past traumas
• Depression or anxiety that may affect an individual’s ability to function 
• Past; they look behind, helping their clients heal, and are focused on the problems

Professional coaching follows a Code of Ethics, similar to that of the healthcare field. 

Confidentiality and anonymity is honored and is a critical element to building a trust-based coach-client relationship. 

According to the International Coach Federation (ICF), coaches honor the client as the expert in his or her life and work and believe every client is creative, resourceful and whole. Standing on this foundation, the coach’s responsibility is to:

• Discover, clarify, and align with what the client wants to achieve
• Encourage client self-discovery
• Elicit client-generated solutions and strategies
• Hold the client responsible and accountable

This process helps clients dramatically improve their outlook on life, while improving their health and weight management skills.

One of the key fundamentals of coaching is to preserve the autonomy of the client. Coaches do not provide solutions, dictate goals, or hold themselves as experts in the client's life. The relationship is a partnership that works to reframe obstacles as opportunities to get creative, learn, and grow. The goal of coaching is to encourage self-efficacy, self-discovery, reflective thinking, and personal responsibility. Once these skills are mastered, there is no challenge set before a client that she can not solve herself.

It depends on the coaching program. One-on-one sessions are typically 90 minutes for the first session, and 45-60 minutes for subsequent sessions, depending upon the coaching program. For small group coaching programs, the duration of the sessions is based on the number of individuals in the group.

Sessions are offered by video-conference (Zoom) and in-person, as desired by both the client and coach, and depending upon the location of the client.

For clients based in West Michigan, preferred locations for in-person sessions have included botanical gardens, nature trails, hiking trails, and even a pool!

HECK NO. 

At Pura Vida Health, we honor the uniqueness, completeness, and individuality of every one of our clients. Each individual we work with is typically wanting to build a 'new and improved' relationship with food, which can not possibly happen if an outside agency is dictating what that looks like for them. What we rely on are our proprietary frameworks for setting goals and developing action plans to guide the meal plans our clients create, as well as the foods they want to enjoy. But we are in not in the business of telling women what to eat.

Absolutely not.

If you have read Angie's personal story with having lost and kept off 100 pounds, you will learn that the participation in a Whole30 program played an instrumental role in her ability to jumpstart her weight loss journey. Though the Whole30 was a game-changing experience for her health and weight loss, it is neither relevant nor appropriate for anyone else, unless their health goals and plans suggest otherwise. If participating in a Whole30 program is desired by any client, it will be fully explored through the coach-client relationship and supported as the client needs. However, there are a myriad of other ways to jumpstart a health journey that can be just as effective. Connecting with Angie about the options that will work best for you is the next step.

To read about Angie's personal journey, click here.

It depends upon the coaching program.

The Lose Weight, Love Your Food, Love Yourself Program™️ is a six-month program delivered and coached on a bi-weekly basis.

The Eat Better, Feel Better Coaching Series™️ starts as a 90-day program delivered and coached bi-weekly, but may be extended based upon the client's rate of progress and need for continued support.

The cost of each coaching program varies based on a client's health objectives (which determine the number of sessions required), and coaching format (one-on-one versus group). It is recommended that you schedule a complimentary consultation with Angie to determine the best program and format for your needs.

It depends upon your HSA and FSA policies. Pura Vida Health, LLC accepts HSA and FSA dollars as payment for coaching services. However, please consult your HSA and/or FSA benefits and policies to determine if health coaching services are eligible expenses.

As well, many of our clients use wellness dollars they receive through their employers to pay for health coaching services. Check with your employer to see if you have access to similar funds, and how they may be used to pay for health coaching services.

The Lose Weight, Love Your Food, Love Yourself Program™️ (LWLYFLY) is a six-month signature program where Angie provides her entire weight loss framework, and works with you to design and build a custom weight health system that works uniquely for you, and your health goals, values, lifestyle factors, dietary and nutrition needs. This is a fully customized program, which positions you for long-term success and increased sustainability compared to commercial weight loss programs. There is no counting, tracking, or logging of foods involved; the signature program focuses on mindset change, education, health design, and behavior change support. It is ideal for clients who are looking for a completely new and different approach to permanent and sustainable weight loss.

The Eat Better, Feel Better Coaching Series™️ (EBFB) is a fully customized series of coaching sessions where you and Angie work together to identify the highest-priority focus areas for your health, and you build and implement action plans for resolving them. This type of coaching agenda is more client-driven than coach-driven; it does not come with a defined program or curriculum as the LWLYFLY program does. Instead, the coaching agenda is based on the output of your Personal Health Plan. The coaching series is ideal for clients who are looking to make long-term, sustainable changes with food and/or other areas of health, but don’t necessarily require weight loss.

The Health & Happiness Strategy Sessions™️ (HHSS) is a customized workshop-style session where you and Angie work together to identify one health goal, and develop a comprehensive action plan to ensure the proper steps are put into place for achieving that goal. These planning sessions are ideal for clients who prefer to work on one thing at a time, don’t require coach support for the behavior change process, or are interested in experiencing what the Pura Vida Health approach looks and feels like before committing to a full coaching program or series.