How to Become a Health Coach (And Why Health Coaching Will Transform Healthcare)

Chris Kresser, M.S., L.Ac., is an internationally recognized leader in the area of ancestral health and integrative medicine. He is the author of The Paleo Cure and the force behind ChrisKresser.com, one of the top 25 health websites in the world. Chris has been studying, teaching, and practicing Functional Medicine for over 15 years with a mission to disseminate evidence-based natural health solutions to as many people as possible.

Today Chris is with us to discuss the growing need for health coaches in an age when about half of adults in the US have at least one chronic disease.  His aim is to curb the rise of preventable illness and to empower more people with the tools they need to recover their health. The ADAPT Health Coach Training Program will be launching in June with the enrollment deadline coming up soon, on June 3rd.

Here’s the outline of this interview with Chris Kresser:

[00:00:18] Healthy Skeptic Podcast; Danny Roddy, Steve Wright, Ben Greenfield, Robb Wolf.

[00:02:21] California Center for Functional Medicine.

[00:02:50] Sunjya Schweig.

[00:06:00] ADAPT Health Coach Training Program.

[00:06:17] Paleo f(x).

[00:10:01] Aetna wellness program pilot study: Steinberg, Gregory, et al. "Reducing metabolic syndrome risk using a personalized wellness program." Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 57.12 (2015): 1269-1274.

[00:12:54] Parsley Health.

[00:13:32] Rangan Chatterjee; Podcast: How to Make Disease Disappear.

[00:15:10] Obstacles to functional medicine.

[00:17:37] Mark Hyman.

[00:20:13] Qualities of a good health coach.

[00:20:21] Core coaching skills: Motivational Interviewing, stages of change, positive psychology, coaching to strengths.

[00:21:10] CDC Study: Liu, Yong, et al. "Peer Reviewed: Clustering of Five Health-Related Behaviors for Chronic Disease Prevention Among Adults, United States, 2013." Preventing chronic disease 13 (2016).

[00:22:21] Zoom video conferencing.

[00:23:34] Ancestral diet and lifestyle.

[00:24:45] Functional medicine principles.

[00:26:41] Building and managing a practice.

[00:32:22] International Consortium for Health & Wellness Coaching (ICHWC).

[00:35:04] Podcast: Rethinking Positive Thinking, with Gabriele Oettingen.

[00:38:22] Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck.

[00:38:31] John Kinyon, Forest Fein, Ken Kraybill.

[00:41:21] Coaching program structure.

[00:44:02] kresserinstitute.com; kresser.co/coach.