Study Food Coaching - develop the combined skills of coaching with nutritional knowledge.
- Learn about the approaches to evaluating and determining routes to change in a persons eating habits.
- Understand the scope and nature of food coaching.
- Learn about the practical, ethical, and legal implications of establishing yourself as a food coach.
- Understand what you need to do to work as a responsible and effective practitioner in food coaching.
AN EMERGING PROFESSION
Food coaching is an emerging profession. It combines coaching skills with knowledge of nutrition to help clients choose better ways of eating and diets which are healthier for them.
While dieticians may be experts at telling people what to eat, food coaches are experts at motivating people and helping them to develop better strategies to improve their eating habits
COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
There are 10 lessons in this course, as outlined below.
Lesson 1. Introduction and the Healthy Diet
- Introduction.
- What is Food Coaching?
- Why is Food Coaching necessary?
- Meeting with Clients: The Initial Interview.
- Building Rapport.
- The Consulting Room.
- Information Gathering.
- Goal Setting.
- Taking Baseline Measurements.
- Assessing Current Diet And Lifestyle.
- Healthy Diet.
- Food Pyramids.
- Food Plates.
- Benefits of a Healthy Diet.
- Frequency of Eating.
- Serving Sizes.
- Use of Supplements.
Lesson 2. Professional Standards for Food Coaching
- Introduction.
- A Code of Ethics.
- Ethics in Food Coaching.
- Confidentiality.
- Informed Consent.
- Making Ethical Decisions.
- A Guideline to Making Ethical Decisions.
- Legal Concerns.
- What you Can and Cannot Do.
- Keeping Records.
- Ethics When Working as a Food Coach in a Larger Business.
- Health and Safety.
- Occupational Health and Safety Responsibilities.
Lesson 3. Specialist Diets - Chronic Conditions
- Introduction.
- Benefits of Special Diets.
- Dietary Considerations for Some Chronic Conditions.
- Understanding Different Types of Special Diet.
- Dairy Free Diet.
- Vegetarian Diets.
Lesson 4. Specialist Diets - Overeating
- Introduction.
- What do we mean by being overweight?
- Measuring Body Fat.
- Body Fat Percentage.
- Measurement Techniques.
- Health Risks of Overeating.
- Treatment for Obesity.
- Psychological Theories of Overeating.
- Physiological Reasons Why People Overeat.
- Weight Loss Plans.
Lesson 5. Specialist Diets - Poor Nutritional Diets
- Introduction.
- Not Eating Enough.
Lesson 6. Food Coaching Adults and Seniors
- Introduction.
- General Dietary Requirements for Adults.
- Case Study.
- Pregnant Women.
- Seniors.
- Age-Related Illnesses and Nutrition.
- General Nutritional Plans for Adults.
Lesson 7. Food Coaching for Children
- Introduction.
- Law & Ethics and Children's Food Coaching.
- Involvement of the Parents or Caregivers.
- Family and Friends.
- General Nutritional Requirements of Children.
- Food Groups - What Children Need.
- Developing a Nutrition Plan for Children.
- Nutritional Disorders in Children.
- Obesity in Children.
- Underweight Children.
Lesson 8. Lifestyle Changes
- Introduction.
- Ways to Encourage Lifestyle Change.
- Motivational Interviewing.
- Strategies to Elicit Change.
- Stages of MI Interview Session.
- Lifestyle Diary.
Lesson 9. Moving on
- Introduction.
- Before Moving On.
- Assessing Client Progress.
- Regular Meetings/Reviews (How Often).
- Changing Plans as the Person Changes.
- Evaluation of the Plan.
- When Ready to Move On.
- Ongoing Support.
Lesson 10. Managing Your Food Coaching Service
- Managing Your Food Coaching Business.
- Meeting Clients.
- Where to Meet Clients.
- Own Safety.
- Importance of Marketing.
- Setting Fees.
COURSE AIMS
- Explain the scope and nature of food coaching and what is meant by a healthy diet.
- Explain why food coaches should abide by a professional code, and what the legal and ethical standards are.
- Understand different types of special diet for chronic conditions and their benefits to clients, as well as a range of other special diets and their impact on health.
- Discuss what is meant by overeating, its health implications, and how to develop plans to control or reduce weight.
- Describe what diets are considered unhealthy for a range of different body types.
- Understand general nutrition requirements of adults and seniors, and to discuss possible coaching strategies for working with adults, seniors and carers
- Understand general nutrition requirements of children, and to discuss possible coaching strategies for working with children and their parents or other caregivers
- Explain the importance of changes in lifestyle to improve the benefit of food coaching.
- Explain how the client will move on after food coaching has ended.
- Explain how to organise, market and manage a food coaching service.
FOOD COACHES WORK WITH CLIENTS TO BRING ABOUT POSITIVE CHANGE
Food Coaching combines coaching skills with knowledge of nutrition to help clients choose better ways of eating and diets which are healthier for them. Coaching is concerned with helping clients to define their goals, and then work out ways to achieve them. Coaches encourage clients to look at their lifestyle and how it might influence their diets and goals.
Why is Food Coaching Necessary?
Food coaching fills a void. Whilst there are practitioners in nutrition and diet, most don't offer coaching. Also, many of the government funded health initiatives are based on educating the public about diet and food choices. However, these often don't have great success rates because people lack the personal motivation and direction to commit to changes even when they are well educated.
There are many people who lack both motivation and knowledge, or who struggle with fad diets or other poor eating choices, who can benefit from having someone work with them to help them make worthwhile changes. Many of these people just don't realise how their diet is affecting their well-being, whether it's feeling sluggish or bloated or contributing to other health issues.
Food coaching is needed to help motivate clients to make better choices. People often don't succeed with dieting or making healthier changes to their diets because they stop trying. Perhaps because they don't fully understand the benefits of what they are doing, or maybe they receive little encouragement. As a food coach, you are there to keep them on track, and offer support and feedback.
HOW THE COURSE WORKS
Our courses are studied by distance learning and are available to start at any time. They are available to study online or by eLearning (USB memory stick), meaning you can choose where and when you study.
Food Coaching has been developed by highly experienced and knowledgeable professionals. Each lesson in the course includes set tasks, and is completed with an assignment which the student submits to their course tutor. The tutor will mark the assignment and return this to the student with comments and suggestions for further reading. In addition, with our specialist tutors onhand to help, students study with the reassurance of their support as and when they need it.
THE DIFFERENCE IN STUDYING WITH ACS
At ACS we provide you with more than just a set of course notes.
Your 'learning package' includes:
- Course notes.
- Self-assessment quizzes.
- Assignment feedback.
- You can interact one on one with a professional tutor with decades of experience - just email, phone or log on to chat to connect with them.
- Depending upon your course, your studies may involve independent research, interviews, practical exercises, assessments, Problem Based Learning projects, and more.
OUR STUDENTS SAY
"The diversified information provided within the various lessons of this course was precious as it made me gain knowledge on various diseases and since I'm a volunteer in a public health organisation and since I plan to become a private therapeutic consultant, such information made me further realise the importance of food and nutrition in the treatment of disease.
I always appreciated the comments of my tutor, since her detailed comments and remarks were so personal and always showed me where I did well and why. This encouraged me a lot in order to always do better in every next assignment. Overall, [my tutor's] support and comments were excellent."
Denise Abou Jamra, Lebanon - Therapeutic Nutrition Course
NUTRITION IS AN AREA OF INCREASING CONCERN - TRAIN, DEVELOP A BUSINESS, HELP OTHERS
There is ever growing concern about people's health and their dietary choices. Eating and living well impacts almost every area of a person's life - their physical health, their mental health, their well-being.
Educating people and helping them make informed and correct choices about their nutrition can help them live healthier, happier lives.
Whether you are intending to offer coaching services or already work within the counselling or health industries, this course provides a great starting point by developing your knowledge of nutrition and the delivery of counselling services.
You can enrol today - just go to the "It's easy to enrol" box at the top right-hand side of this page and select your payment options and learning method.
If you have any questions or want to know more about studying with ACS - please do get in touch with us; connect with our specialist Health and Fitness tutors today They will be happy to answer your questions.