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FOOD COACHING VRE110

Duration (approx) 100 hours
Qualification To obtain formal documentation the optional exam(s) must be completed which will incur an additional fee of £30. Alternatively, a letter of completion may be requested.

Study Food Coaching - help your clients achieve their goals to healthier living.

  • Understand how to help clients define their goals.
  • Learn how to develop ways for clients to achieve their goals.
  • Understand the impact of nutrition and lifestyle on a person's health.
  • Learn to make a difference - help people develop strategies and motivation to change their eating habits.
  • Course Duration: 100 hours of self paced study.
  • Start Date: Start at any time to suit you.

It's easy to enrol...

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Please note, choosing offline (USB stick) will attract a 5% surcharge on top of the course fee

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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.
Courses can be started anytime from anywhere in the world!

Meet some of our academics

Tracey Jones (psychology)B.Sc. (Hons) (Psychology), M.Soc.Sc (social work), DipSW (social work), PGCE (Education), PGD (Learning Disability Studies) Tracey began studying psychology in 1990. She has a wide range of experience within the psychology and social work field, particularly working with people with learning disabilities. She is also qualified as a teacher and now teaches psychology and social work related subjects. She has been a book reviewer for the British Journal of Social Work and has also written many textbooks, blogs, articles and ebooks on psychology, writing, sociology, child development and more. She has had also several short stories published.
Melissa LeistraBachelor Education, Masters Human Nutrition
Jade SciasciaBiologist, Business Coordinator, Government Environmental Dept, Secondary School teacher (Biology); Recruitment Consultant, Senior Supervisor in Youth Welfare, Horse Riding Instructor (part-completed) and Boarding Kennel Manager. Jade has a B.Sc.Biol, Dip.Professional Education, Cert IV TESOL, Cert Food Hygiene.


Check out our eBooks

Human NutritionBoth a text for students, or an informative read for anyone who wants to eat better. While covering the basics, the book approaches nutrition a little differently here to some other books, with sections covering ”Modifying diet according to Genetic Disposition or Lifestyle”, “How to find Reliable Information on Nutrition” and “Understanding how Diet relates to Different Parts of the Body” (including Urinary, Digestive, Respiratory and Circulatory System, the Brain, etc). This ebook was written to complement the ACS Nutrition I course, and provides a solid foundation for anyone wanting to grasp a fundamental understanding of Human Nutrition.
Counselling HandbookA book for both students, as well as volunteers who may be involved in helping people with problems. This is a starting point for understanding counselling, and a reference for developing counselling skills. The book contains seven chapters: 1. Where can counselling be used 2. How to see behind the mask 3. Emotions and attitudes 4. How to communicate better when all you have is words 5. Theory versus practice 6. Diffusing difficult situations 7. Golden rules or tips
How to be a Life CoachLife coaching is a relatively new profession - although coaches have been around for a long time in the guise of trainers, instructors, managers and tutors for various professions and disciplines. Life coaching is not easily defined, but it is a type of mentoring which focuses on helping individuals to achieve what they would like to achieve and thereby to lead more fulfilling lives. Unlike other forms of coaching, it takes place outside of the workplace and is concerned with all aspects of a person’s life.
Nutritional TherapyDiscover how the way you eat can impact upon the affects of an illness. This book is unique, written by our health and nutritional scientists. Chapters cover: “Scope and Nature of Nutritional Therapy”, “How different factors Interact with Nutrition”, “Different Ways” and “Appropriate Therapeutic Responses for Different Health Issues” Thirty different conditions are covered from Mental Illness and Gastritis to Coeliac Disease and Osteoporosis.