Health Coaching Services

🚨 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗡𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘄𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗢𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 The 2025 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines outline a comprehensive framework for managing overweight and obesity. 1️⃣ 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 🔴𝗡𝘂𝘁𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝘆: 🔹Energy deficit aim for a 500–600 kcal/day deficit, leading to 0.5–1 kg/week weight loss. 🔹Macronutrient balance: ↳Protein (1.2–1.6 g/kg/day) to preserve lean muscle mass and improve satiety. ↳Fiber intake (25–35 g/day) to enhance gut health, regulate blood glucose, and promote satiety. ↳Carbohydrates should be high in fiber and low in glycemic index to improve insulin sensitivity. ↳Healthy fats (monounsaturated & polyunsaturated) should replace trans fats & refined oils to support cardiovascular health. 🔹 Dietary Approaches Based on Individual Needs: ↳ Mediterranean Diet, 40-45% carbs, 15-20% protein, 35-40% fats; rich in omega-3s, polyphenols, and fiber. ↳High-Protein, Low-Carbohydrate Diet, 30-40% protein, <30% carbs, 30-40% fat. ↳Intermittent Fasting (IF) & Time-Restricted Eating, though long-term adherence requires further research. ↳ Plant-Based Diets lower BMI, but require B12 and protein supplementation. ↳ Meal Replacements (800–1,200 kcal/day, for up to 12 weeks), effective for rapid weight loss in obesity, but require supervision. 🔴 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 & 𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 🔹Aerobic Exercise: ↳150–300 minutes/week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (brisk walking, cycling, swimming). ↳75–150 minutes/week of high-intensity aerobic exercise (running, interval training). 🔹Strength Training (2–3/week): Ideal Duration 45–60 minutes per session. 🔹NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis): ↳Encourage daily movement, standing desks, walking meetings, stairs. ↳Increase step count goal of 8,000–10,000 steps per day. 2️⃣ 𝗕𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 🔴 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Self-Monitoring, Sleep Hygiene & Stress Management, and Group Support & Coaching. 3️⃣ 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗢𝗯𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 🔴 Vitamin D for insulin sensitivity, Omega-3s for heart health, Magnesium for metabolism, Probiotics for gut health, Protein for muscle support, and Iron & B12 for post-bariatric care. 4️⃣ 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 & 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀: 🔴 𝗣𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗰𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗽𝘆 ↳GLP-1 receptor agonists (semaglutide, liraglutide). ↳Dual-mechanism agents (naltrexone-bupropion). ↳Lipase inhibitors (orlistat). 🔴 𝗕𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘆 ↳Indicated for BMI ≥40 kg/m² or ≥35 kg/m² with comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension). 📄 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱.👇 #ClinicalNutrition #Dietitian #Dietician #Nutrition #Diabetes #NutritionEducation #WeightManagement  #أخصائي_تغذية_علاجية #تغذية_علاجية

What do we mean by ‘person-centred’? ‘Person-centred’ is an outlook or philosophy that (as you might have guessed) puts the person or learner in question at the centre of all plans, discussions and interventions. This is in contrast to a traditional model where the focus is on a disease or health condition. A biopsychosocial approach A person-centred approach is often seen as a biopsychosocial one, taking into account all aspects of a person – their body (bio-), mind (psycho-) and their environment (social) and the ways these interact –and considering how best to support the learner The biopsychosocial model states that ‘health’ and ‘wellbeing’ depend not only on the biology of illness but on the whole person (body and mind) and their social environment (family, friends, socioeconomic background, etc.). To ensure good health, you need to look at the whole person and their environment. It aligns to ICF approaches (https://lnkd.in/gFsiCAn ). For example, a person’s neurodivergent traits might cause them to struggle with maths. They may therefore think themselves ‘stupid’ and have low mood, which affects their work and social life. To improve the health of this person, their underlying poor maths skills and their maths anxiety need to be considered. Simply medicating their depression would not necessarily be effective.

New research prototype for Personal Health Agent (PHA), a comprehensive research framework for delivering personalized, evidence-based health and wellness guidance. This system is built on a multi-agent framework that models support after a human expert team, each handled by a specialized LLM sub-agent: ▶️ Data Science Agent: Analyzes multi-modal data from wearables and health records, such as blood biomarkers, to provide contextualized numerical insights. ▶️ Domain Expert Agent: Acts as a reliable source of grounded health knowledge, tailoring information based on the user's specific health profile. ▶️ Health Coach Agent: Supports users in goal-setting and behavioral change through multi-turn, psychologically-inspired conversations. The Orchestrator dynamically coordinates these specialists to synthesize a single, coherent response to complex queries. Evaluations confirmed that this collaborative multi-agent approach significantly outperformed single-agent baselines in overall response quality, clinical significance, effectiveness and usefulness as evaluated by human experts and end-users. This work, including extensive evaluation of all agentic components using the Wearables for Metabolic Health (WEAR-ME) study data, establishes a validated blueprint for the next generation of trustworthy and coherent personal health AI. Read more about this research and the multi-agent framework: https://goo.gle/42kzjvZ Preprint: https://lnkd.in/dfZ96X5c

If I told you I had a coach to help me lift more weight, nobody would blink. But if I said I had a coach to help me handle my ICU rotation without spiraling? People might ask if I’m okay. This week’s Ditch the Labcoat episode with Dr. MC (Marie Claire)Bourque MD MSc FRCPC DABPN made something click for me: We’ve normalized coaching for performance in every elite field—except medicine. Doctors are supposed to manage life-and-death pressure with zero training in mindset, regulation, or recovery. We get protocols and pagers. Athletes get visualization, breathwork, and coaches who say, “You’re off today—let’s figure out why.” One quote from Dr. MCB stuck with me: “We train for the procedure. But not for the pressure.” That’s not just a burnout issue. That’s a systems issue. Here’s what I’m still chewing on: - Surgeons get praised for calm under pressure—but never taught how to build it. - Residents can quote JNC-8 but can’t name the last time they felt safe enough to say, “I’m not okay.” - And healthcare leaders? Most have never seen presence modeled as a skill, let alone taught it. Dr. MCB works with Olympic athletes, execs, and yes—docs—on the mental edge we should have been taught all along. It’s not about “wellness.” It’s about standards.

I work with so many high-performing professionals with ADHD. They’re smart. Capable. Often exceptional at what they do. And quietly… exhausted. Many come to coaching not because they’re failing — but because they’re succeeding at a cost. What I see again and again is this ADHD doesn’t burn people out. Working in environments that ignore how the ADHD brain actually functions does. The ADHD brain isn’t driven by willpower. It’s driven by dopamine, salience, and nervous-system safety. When these are supported, ADHDers thrive — at work and outside of it. 🔹 Interest activates the salience network Focus follows what feels meaningful, not what’s “important on paper”. 🔹 Urgency boosts dopamine and prefrontal activation Short deadlines help brilliant people start — without last-minute panic. 🔹 Meaning regulates emotion and motivation Purpose reduces resistance and emotional shutdown. 🔹 Autonomy keeps the nervous system safe Less threat = the prefrontal cortex stays online. When these conditions are present, I see ADHDers: ✨ produce exceptional work ✨ enter deep, energising hyperfocus ✨ think creatively and strategically ✨ sustain success without burning out Outside of work, the same principles apply. Structure with flexibility. Stimulation with recovery. Achievement with nervous-system regulation. The goal of ADHD coaching isn’t to “fix” anyone. It’s to help people understand their brain, protect their energy, and design lives and careers that fit. If you’re high performing but constantly pushing, masking, or running on adrenaline — this isn’t a personal failure. It’s a signal that your environment needs adjusting. You don’t need to try harder. You need the right conditions. This is the work I do every day with professionals who want to thrive — not just cope. If this resonates, coaching can help you work with your ADHD brain rather than against it. #ADHD #Neurodiversity #ADHDAtWork #BrainBased #PsychologicalSafety #ADHDCoaching #WellbeingAtWork

💝 Design Patterns For Mental Health, with key takeaways, practical guides and resources to help people better — and raise awareness for an often forgotten and overlooked topic ↓ 🔹 1. Asking For Help Is Hard Asking for help is really, really difficult for most people. Talking about intimate feelings can feel uncomfortable. Showing vulnerabilities can feel embarrassing. And asking someone for help might make us feel scared and vulnerable. But all of it are also signs of strength and brave. The world is challenging and difficult and unfair and not fully knowable. And getting through it alone can be painful and overwhelming. Support doesn’t necessarily mean finding the right answer, but even supporting a person in finding an answer is already an important stop. What it requires though is that people feel safe in engaging and expressing themselves, and that we leave assumptions of what users want or need on the side. --- 🔸 2. Design Patterns For Mental Health Mental health isn’t an on/off condition — it's in flux, with a wide range of changing abilities, motivations, emotions and demands. The more adaptive we are to any condition in which humans find themselves, the more effective our design will be doing its job. The Mental Health Guidebook by Microsoft frames it around 5 common cognitive demands: 🗂 Learn → examples, presets, templates, better defaults. 🥅 Focus → respect costs of interruption; easy recovery. 👩🏻🦱 Make decisions → show order to data and consequences of choices. 🧠 Recall → memory cues: bookmarks, saved snippets, reminders. 🗃️ Communicate → adapt to each person's preferred tone and mode. We can set up routes to anonymity and ways out. We can only ask people to explain and tell their story once. We need to provide a range of channels to communicate — and then set up a structure around timelines, process and next steps. And enable access to help from a real person wherever possible. When we fail to help people feel successful and in control, they frequently start blaming themselves. More than anything, we need to provide a sense of order, control, agency — and an environment that feels safe and supportive. --- 🔺 3. Everybody Struggles No one can do everything. Everybody struggles. Everybody feels like an impostor. But there are always wonderful people around willing to help day and night. And sometimes there is nothing more powerful than a sincere, warm-hearted hug, even if it’s digital, and even if it’s coming from a person miles away. And: if you are designing a product to help someone get help, hopefully the resources below will give you some good starting pointers. Good UX there can make a whole difference in the challenging and unfair world to people who need our help the most. --- ⁂ Useful resources: Design Patterns For Mental Health https://lnkd.in/eb6gyBM7 Trauma-Informed Principles and Patterns, by Melissa Eggleston https://lnkd.in/ePCq35uG [continues in comments ↓]

“You don’t know what you don’t know.” I’ve lost count of how many patients I’ve met who want support, but simply don’t know where to find it. They don’t know what’s available, what it looks like, or how to access the community-based care that could make all the difference. As doctors, especially in psychiatry, we talk about the importance of community initiatives and I rave about social prescribing in primary care… but often we lack a centralised system of validated, trusted third-party resources to signpost patients to. Instead, it often relies on individual clinicians and their own knowledge of what’s out there. That’s why I believe in making every contact count. Recently, I saw a patient on-call during a mental health crisis. We spoke for over an hour, and when her nervous system began to regulate, she said something quietly: “I want to try something new.” We opened Chasing the Stigma’s incredible ‘Hub of Hope’ directory together (kudos Jake Mills) searched her postcode, and explored what was on her doorstep. She lit up. From female-only gym spaces like The Bridge – Health, Fitness & Wellbeing in Southwark to free talking therapy services…she hadn’t known any of it existed. Another patient, a young man wearing a football shirt in clinic, spoke about feeling disconnected and unmotivated. When the time was right, I told him about Minds United Football Club- a brilliant initiative using football as a tool to support mental health recovery and social connection for those living with challenges like psychosis or bipolar disorder. His face lit up too. Football wasn’t just a game for him… it was a potential bridge to community, purpose, and hope. We often think of medicine as diagnosis and treatment. But sometimes, it’s about walking with someone to the edge of their world, and showing them the gate they never knew was open. Healing doesn’t just happen in clinics and hospital. It happens in gyms, kitchens, gardens, on football pitches, in community halls, and in spaces that feel safe, inclusive, and empowering. Let’s make sure our patients know those spaces exist. #SocialPrescribing #MentalHealth #Psychiatry #HealingCommunities

“So, what do you have?” If you’re a patient with complex chronic illness, that’s not an easy answer. Many conditions tend to travel in packs—forming triads, pentads, or even septads. These intricate webs of interconnected symptoms and diagnoses challenge both patients and healthcare providers. For example, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that presents with co-morbidities like postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), the three of which often form a diagnostic triumvirate. MCAS is frequently linked to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), interstitial cystitis (IC), and osteoporosis. Patients with EDS might also develop small fiber neuropathy (SFN), temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), and gastroparesis. Before you know it, you've racked up a long list of diagnostic acronyms that confuse specialists and primary care physicians alike. Research by Stefan Thurner and Albert-László Barabási has revealed these associations aren't just coincidental. They've discovered molecular pathways that connect seemingly unrelated conditions. Disease networks can model these condition clusters, highlighting the links between various systems. Recognizing and targeting these connections is key to better healthcare. These networks explain why treating one condition in isolation often fails to address the underlying dysfunction affecting multiple systems. Rather than addressing symptoms separately, physicians can use network medicine to target shared biological mechanisms, addressing multiple conditions with more precise interventions. For patients navigating this uncharted terrain, receiving this kind of integrative care can mean the difference between a lifetime of suffering and a possible chance at remission.

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 This chapter was written to provide information on how coaches can create effective coaching practices for individuals who have experienced trauma. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, 2014) defined trauma as a person experiencing physical or emotional harmful incidents, which damage their ability to function and psychological well-being. Although many young people who have been exposed to trauma may be reluctant to participate in organised activities such as sport (Bergholz et al., 2016), D’Andrea et al. (2014) suggested that there are many benefits of participating in sport for those who have been exposed to trauma: ✅Peer interaction ✅Structure ✅Being physically active ✅Perseverance 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 ➡️ 16.2 million adults living in England had experienced at least one significant trauma in their lifetime. ➡️ 31.9% of males and 37.4% of females reported at least one traumatic event, respectively. ➡️ The percentage of women reporting was higher in 2023/24 than in 2014 (31.2%). ➡️ 31% of people had experienced trauma as a child or adolescent. 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗔𝘁𝗵𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗮 SAMHSA (2014) proposed six principles that can be applied to sport and implemented by coaches. These are: 1️⃣ Safety through Communication All athletes should feel both physically and psychologically safe, and coaches should ensure that interactions between athletes are positive and promote a sense of safety. 2️⃣ Trustworthiness and Transparency When coaches make decisions, particularly around selection and de-selection, they should be transparent so players understand why they have been de-selected for a match, as this helps build and maintain trust between the athlete and coach. 3️⃣ Peer Support Encourage athletes to support one another, especially after making mistakes in training or matches, because criticism from teammates can lead to arguments or even fights (Bergholz et al., 2016). 4️⃣ Collaboration and Mutuality Give athletes independence, allow them to make decisions where appropriate, and seek their input on how things can be made better (Bergholz et al., 2016), as this will fulfil a key basic psychological need: autonomy. 5️⃣ Empowerment: Getting a Win Understand that all athletes have different strengths and weaknesses, in sport and in life, and empower athletes to develop their strengths and work on their shortcomings by fulfilling their need to feel competent. 6️⃣ Cultural, Historical and Gender Issues Coaches should refrain from using stereotypes and biases that are based on race, ethnicity, age, religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation. I provide more information on this topic in the book.

It's 1983. A psychologist in New Mexico noticed something  about his treatment of patients with alcohol use disorder. The more he argued with patients to change,  the more they resisted. So William Miller tried the opposite. He stopped telling patients what to do.  He started asking what they wanted. The results shocked the addiction field. This became Motivational Interviewing. And it's the most underused approach in healthcare today. Here's why every clinic needs someone trained in MI: 1/ It flips the script on patient care • Traditional medicine: "Here's what you need to do" • MI approach: "What matters most to you?" • Patients become the experts on their own lives • Clinicians draw out motivation instead of imposing it 2/ The evidence is overwhelming • Works for addiction, diabetes, heart disease, weight • Improves medication adherence across conditions • Reduces treatment dropout rates significantly • Even brief MI interventions create lasting change 3/ It solves the adherence problem • We don't have a knowledge problem in healthcare • Patients know smoking is bad, exercise is good • They're stuck between wanting change and fearing it • MI helps them resolve that ambivalence Here's the core insight: The more you push someone to change,  the more they push back. But when you help them voice their own reasons  for change, resistance melts. Four simple skills make it work: • Open questions that explore, not interrogate • Affirmations that build confidence • Reflections that deepen understanding • Summaries that connect the dots If you're integrating behavioral health into primary care,  MI isn't optional. It's the bridge between medical advice and  actual behavior change. We keep blaming patients for "non-compliance." Maybe we should look at how we're talking to them. ---------- 👉 Your clinic isn't using motivational interviewing. ⁉️ Why not?!