Nutritional coaching to achieve nutritional goals.

2023-06-08 08:50:58

The new episode of the podcast “Sustainable Food” tells us about how nutritional coaching can help us eat healthier and more sustainably.

Vegetables and vegetables. EFE/Kai Forsterling.

Do we start diets but never finish them? What can we do to reach our nutrition goals? How can we meet our nutritional goals with the help of nutritional coaching?

Next to Laura González, head of Nutrition, Health and Well-being at Nestlé Spainwe answer these and other questions about how certain techniques can be applied to achieve a real change in our way of eating.

Nutritional coaching: personalization of the process

Las goals and achievements in terms of food vary greatly from one person to another. There are those who seek to eat better and healthier, those who want to gain or lose weight, improve their relationship with food or simply learn to maintain eating habits healthy and sustainable.

The implementation of all these objectives necessarily requires different nutritional recommendations. However, for this process to be viable, it always requires a professional customization of dietary guidelines.

Go to a professional who is qualified ensures patients receive adequate nutritional advice and an accompaniment that helps to put them into practice, defends the nutritionist Laura González.

In cases in which a change in diet is mainly sought, the nutritionist explains that it is usually decisive resort to what is currently known as coaching nutricionalwhich includes in addition to technical support, more emotional and personal advice.

The difficulty of adherence to new habits

If a person is not willing to change, it is very difficult to convince them to modify their routines, the professional exposes.

Varying the way of cooking, the size of the portions, the type of food that is included in a daily menu… are actions that need to be oriented with the work of a professional.

It is a pedagogical work that helps to reinforce the motivation for change. The expert gives as an example of this pedagogical work the explanation of how to eat healthier, what foods can be replaced and by which, etc.

The mango is a highly consumed superfood in Spain. EFE / Oscar Burgos

People determined to change: start the race with an advantage

If people come to nutritional coaching with full willingness to change They make the road so much easier.

Active listening or empathy are fundamental tools so that the patient can be aware of your progress within the process of nutritional change itself.

Nutritional coaching, a communication job

Communication work within nutritional coaching is essential for patients.

The feeling of taking a step back or not moving forward in the process usually discourages patients, which is why communication is important, clarifies Laura González.

Two nutritional issues that we cannot lose sight of:

1. Understand that changes in routines feeding are opportunities to learn.
2. stand up to the famous ‘miracle diets’ that are not healthy and foster frustration.

As explained by the expert, the message must flee from the feeling of guilt and move towards the concept of learning in order to acquire certain habits that naturally accompany us over time.

The key: realistic goals

The patient must go into detail with what he wants to achieve and be very clear about the objective, clarifies Laura González.

The nutritionist advises us to make a list of the skills and the strengths that we have that can help us achieve our goals. The idea is to set small goals to go little by little overcoming barriers.

It is interesting to expand the recipe book, to look for solutions to the lack of time, such as the batch cooking… the idea is to find a way to break the barriers, explains the expert.

When the goals are realistic its alot easier reach them. Laura González proposes to start with include more fruit pieces in the diet, change the whole grain bread for its full version.

Sustainable eating and nutritional coaching

The expert of Nestlé is clear, and defends that the work of a nutritional coaching can you help us eat healthier and above all more sustainable gradually introducing changes towards a more veggie diet every day.