The Difference Between a Health Coach and an Eating Psychology Coach

One of the great advances in the field of health and healing has been the emergence of the coaching profession. Coaches have made health information and education available to a huge number of people who are looking for a whole new way to live a more vital and disease-free life. There are many different kinds of coaches, and it’s important to understand how they vary so you can make the best choice for your needs.

If you’re someone who wants to help people lead healthier lives you might be considering whether to become a Health Coach or an Eating Psychology Coach.

The difference between a Health Coach and an Eating Psychology Coach looks like this: both understand the big picture of nutrition and health but one has specific training, tools and skills to help clients transform their relationships with self, body and food. And that’s what sets Eating Psychology coaches apart.

You know that you need tools to show clients the way toward better health – a strong understanding of nutrition, for example – but you also want to have some rock star skills to help people make sustainable change.

Health Coaches and Eating Psychology Coaches both have a broad-stroke foundation in health and nutrition. In this way they are similar. Both understand the nuts and bolts of optimal eating. Both grasp the importance of human motivation and goal setting.

While you can’t go wrong working as either type of coach you might be looking for a way to set yourself apart from the many thousands of coaches now starting to emerge in the market.

The best way to differentiate yourself is to study a unique and fresh approach to health and wellness that arms you with transformative and powerful skills that are results driven and sustainable. You can find this as an Eating Psychology Coach.

Here’s what makes Eating Psychology Coaches different from Health Coaches:

Eating Psychology Coaches are the only coaches devoted to improving health that have training in the psychology of eating.

Here at the Institute for the Psychology of Eating we teach coaches that food is a doorway into a deeper relationship with self and body. Examining our relationship with food is an opportunity to learn more about unmet needs, unconditional self-love, and life lessons.

Eating Psychology Coaches are the only coaches in the world trained in the fields of Dynamic Eating Psychology and Mind Body Nutrition. Both are cutting edge areas of study devoted to helping clients transform the most common and compelling eating challenges of our times such as weight, body image, overeating, binge eating, endless dieting, emotional eating, and much more.

Eating Psychology Coaches are trained specifically to help clients change unwanted eating habits.

Health Coaches in general have a basic foundation in nutrition and can teach clients about the types of foods to eat. But it’s one thing to know “what” to eat and well another to know “how” to eat. All the greatest nutrition information in the world does little good if you have habits that prevent you from eating in a way that benefits your body!

Eating Psychology Coaches possess the skills needed to help transform unwanted eating habits so clients can make true progress and end their struggle with food. They do this by helping clients examine and understand the thoughts, emotions and beliefs that drive their behaviors. At the same time, they teach clients about the importance of connecting with their body wisdom and resolving concerns in other areas of their lives.

Finally, Eating Psychology Coaches understand that what we eat is only the half the story of good nutrition.

Health Coaches in general turn to food first as the pathway to good health. Eating Psychology Coaches are trained to view food as part of what truly nourishes us. They possess unique skills in their approach to nutritional metabolism.

Eating Psychology Coaches hold the viewpoint that digestion, calorie burning, and all the nutritive functions of the body are powerfully impacted by things like stress, relaxation, breathing, pleasure, thoughts, feelings, rhythm and personal story. They help clients to understand that feeling better in your body requires examining stories, beliefs and thoughts – all of which play a role in our overall health. So Eating Psychology Coaches incorporate nutrition, but then go beyond it to truly help their clients get where they need to go.

You might say that Eating Psychology Coaches are a unique, cutting-edge evolution of Health Coaches. They take a mind, body, heart and soul approach to helping people transform their health. And their skillset gets results by changing lives in a powerful way and heartfelt way!