According to the World Health Organization, by 2020 two-thirds of all disease worldwide will be the result of lifestyle choices. The primary causes of premature adult deaths in the US are related to these unhealthy behaviors: tobacco use, poor diet and lack of physical activity. Lifestyle medicine (LM) is defined as the “evidence-based practice of assisting individuals and their families to adopt and sustain behaviors that can improve health and quality of life.” There is a strong evidential basis for the preferential use of lifestyle interventions as first-line therapy moving from prevention only to include intervention used to treat disease. There is no doubt that lifestyle affects the course of an illness or health challenge, and yet the hurdle for healthcare providers is to see the “lifestyle prescription” translated into lasting lifestyle change.

Many well-intentioned healthcare professionals have attempted to educate and admonish their patients into making healthy choices, while seeing actual success in behavioral change happening far too seldom. Often doctors end up abandoning such efforts and just reach for the pharmaceutical prescription pad. A survey reported in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine stated that, during the previous 12 months, only 30% of US health professionals provided exercise counseling. The identified barriers included the lack of time, compensation, knowledge, and resources.

About fifteen years ago, my doctor ran many tests to rule out serious illness, and prove to me that I wasn't at death's door. I walked away with a label of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (lovely!) and the advice to "eat more fiber". Ten years later, through another doctor (William Davis, author of Wheat Belly), I experimented with eliminating wheat from my diet, and within a short amount of time all my stomach issues disappeared. To my surprise, in addition, cystic acne, headaches, and after noon fatigue disappeared too! My doctor, was very good in many ways, but what she was able to offer me focused on ruling out and "prescribing". I can only imagine how I would have benefited from a person that could walk with me in making lifestyle changes as I sought to feel better!

Wellness coaching is that missing link, and can play a vital role in Lifestyle Medicine. One of the primary tasks for a wellness coach is to co-creating a Wellness Plan with our clients. Together we work with a structure built on motivational interviewing and solid research that insures the client’s plan for lifestyle improvement will lead to success.

Wellness Plan
• Built on exploration, self-assessment, and treatment recommendations
• Client and Coach co-create
• Non-directive – client centered
• Responsibility on client/coach provides accountability and support
• Key considerations: client’s circumstances, abilities and capacities
• Designed to eliminate barriers and establish needed support
• Possibility, growth and self-actualization oriented
• Focused on behavioral change and lifestyle improvement
• Includes assisting client with medical compliance/adherence

Whether seeking to prevent disease, maintain health, or manage a recent diagnosis, a wellness coach will come along side of you and provide the needed support and resources. When clients are operating on a Wellness Plan that they have helped create there is buy-in. Clients are experts on themselves, while coaches are experts on the change process. Healthcare providers might try to "wear two hats” and combine their treatment work with coaching, but the barriers (the lack of time, resources etc.) make success a formidable challenge. Others are, instead, encouraging their patients to work with a wellness coach for the longer process of lifestyle improvement.

Wendy Dellis is a certified wellness coach. She joins years of training and work in the area of behavior change, experience as a fitness instructor and run club coordinator with a passion for adventure and people. She lives in Minnesota with her husband, Jay, and two sons.

The information contained on this page is for general information purposes only. Nothing here should be construed as medical or healthcare advice, but only topics for discussion. No physician-patient relationship exists; please consult your physician before making changes in diet or lifestyle.