Experience Health Coaching Live: A 60-Minute Session Demo

What actually happens in a functional medicine health coaching session? On our recent live coaching demo, we got up close and personal with this transformative process to see how the magic of the Coach Approach really happens.

The coaching process starts when a client with health goals seeks out a health coach to support them in making lifestyle changes. In this session, the client is FMCA’s Director of Marketing and Sales, Scott Hawksworth, a busy father of three (including twin infants) with big goals for his health. Though Scott is new to coaching, he’s in good hands with experienced health coach Holly Ladd, an FMCA graduate who now serves as our Course Facilitator/Practicum Supervisor.

Throughout the session, Holly lets Scott lead as he shares personal history, goals, and worries about the changes ahead. Holly validates his concerns and highlights the value of small, sustainable changes. She recommends the gradual integration of dietary changes to make the switch seem less daunting and encourage long-term food plan adherence. Holly offers strategies to help make these shifts more accessible, emphasizing how incremental adjustments and realistic goals will set Scott up for success. Together, they work through the potential roadblock of Scott’s upcoming vacation and identify an achievable victory that will help him maintain his commitment to his goals.

One of the most powerful dynamics on display in this session is the way Holly puts Scott in control of the conversation. She uses the Coach Approach and listens non-judgmentally, seeking to truly understand where he’s coming from so she can best support him in making changes. Scott can sense the difference—he feels empowered to make the changes he wants to make in order to achieve his goals, rather than being preached at and told what to do by an expert. This is quintessential Coach Approach, and it’s fascinating to see Holly apply it in action.

The demo session showcases the practical yet profound impact of functional medicine health coaching. Coach Holly skillfully strikes a balance between guidance and client autonomy, blending empathy with strategic planning to empower Scott to take charge of his wellness journey. Health coaches use these techniques to facilitate transformations among their own clients, fostering genuine connections and enabling sustainable change.

Check out the session to see how effective health coaching is so much more than giving advice—it’s about building a collaborative partnership with clients to unlock their potential and achieve their health goals together.

Watch the Replay

Experience Health Coaching Live: A 60-Minute Session Demo

Transcript

Dr. Sandi: I am very, very excited about what you are about to see because, for the first time, we are pulling back the curtain. You are going to see coaching live, unscripted, uncensored. You will see what it’s like to coach, and you will see Scott as the client. So, I will let them introduce themselves, but the process of coaching is really what we call client-centered. And you will see that emphasized. It is not about telling somebody what to do. And before we begin, I just want to make one point, and I’ve been talking about this on Instagram several times. And that is you may have seen all these AI health coaches. I saw another news article just this morning. And if anyone is fearing like, “Are we going to be replaced by nonhumans?” Absolutely not because what you will see today is coaching that is effective. It is not advice-giving. And all of these apps that are in development are about giving recommendations, taking your health data, and then recommending, telling you what to do. That is not coaching. It doesn’t say it won’t have a place, but it is not health coaching. And so without further ado, I’m going to turn it over to Scott and Holly so that we can get started.

Scott: Awesome. Well, I will introduce myself first before kicking it over to Holly. My name is Scott Hawksworth. I am the director of marketing and sales here at FMCA. And as you’ll see, I’m a busy father of three. I’ve been with FMCA just past a year now, and it has been such an amazing journey for me. But, you know, one of those things when I even first came across FMCA, I just didn’t really know what health coaching was. And over this past year, I’ve learned and I’ve been so excited to, kind of, take a seat in the client role and really learn first-hand all about coaching. So, I’m super excited to go on this journey.

Holly: All right. Well, welcome, everybody. So, my name is Holly Ladd, and I am a course facilitator here at FMCA. And I have been with FMCA since the very beginning. So, I have been part of the organization since 2015 first as a student and then as a course facilitator. And I love coaching. I love demonstrating coaching. I love coaching people. And I am really excited for this opportunity to have this very live, authentic coaching interaction with Scott today. So, I thought we would give you guys just a little bit of an intro.

So, here we are. We’re having a Experiencing Health Coaching Live between myself and Scott, who is a very great client. One thing Scott and I did, because we really wanted to make this a very authentic experience, was to have a foundation session, just the two of us, for about an hour to really get to know who Scott is, get to know his aspirations, what his strengths are. And it’s what we would do with a regular client. We would always start out with a foundation session. And what it does is lays the foundation for successful coaching. It’s really hard to set goals in a vacuum, and it’s really important that our clients understand their lives and have a chance to, kind of, dig in and look at their strengths, at their challenges, at their successes, and what drives them and their passions and values. And that’s what we did about a couple of weeks ago.

So, I found out that Scott’s married. He has two daughters, a son, works as a marketing director for FMCA, lives in the Chicago area. His why… And this is what’s so important in our foundation session is to really dig deep and really understand what our clients want their health for. And for Scott, it was abundantly clear that it was his family. He wants to be around for his family, vibrant, vital, playing with his kids, grandkids, just really not having to put any burdens on them because of his health.

He is coming to coaching because he has a strong family history of cardiovascular disease or stroke. Currently, he has elevated blood pressure and cholesterol, and he wants to make some changes to his diet and exercise to support his health. We talked about his health vision. And he said a life without a serious health event and to live with mobility, flexibility, energy, and to age actively and youthfully. And one story he shared, one vision he shared was, after his kids are out of the house, maybe he and his wife getting a really active dog and, like, running with the dog or biking with the dog and be able to keep up, which is a beautiful, beautiful vision.

His strengths, he has many strengths. He’s very creative. He has incredible perspective, a love of learning, perseverance, and problem-solving became abundantly clear in our conversation. And his main challenge right now is just time. And as many of us experience, he has a busy life with five-month-old twins and a four-year-old and their two full-time working parents. So, probably many of us can relate to that structure. And in terms of accountability, like how he keeps on track and accomplishes goals, he does well with structure and also to take things slowly. So, we’re keeping that into consideration as we work with him through these changes.

And as a result of our conversation, we determined that for the next couple of weeks, he would do a food journal, just recording the foods that he ate, because one thing he said in the session was you can’t solve a problem unless you know what the problem is. And so he likes collecting data. So, this food journal was a way for him to collect some data on his own eating and maybe see where some issues lie and think about what he could do differently. And then another concept we thought about was the concept of exercise, not as, like, a full 30-minute exercise session at once, because that doesn’t really fit into his life at the moment, but this concept of exercise snacks, which are just little bits of movement and exercise throughout the day. So, we’re just going to have him think about some options that might come to mind for exercise snacks. So, we had a great conversation. And one thing I want to share with you is just a visual of Scott’s why. And you can… It’s so clear. Look at those cute kids. They’re adorable. His wife. You know, you can see that Scott has a lot to be healthy for. So, with that introduction, Scott, are we ready to dive in and do some coaching?

Scott: Let’s dive in. I’m ready.

Holly: So, you guys know this would be what we would consider a follow-up session. So, follow-up sessions are generally about 30 to 45 minutes. We’re going to do a 30-minute session today. And so we’ll get started. All right. So, hey, Scott, it’s good to see you again.

Scott: Hey, Holly. Great to see you.

Holly: Cool. So, what’s a highlight… It’s been a couple of weeks since we last spoke. What’s something that you’ve really appreciated over the past couple weeks?

Scott: I’m sorry. Say that again.

Holly: Something that you really appreciated over the past couple of weeks in your life.

Scott: Yeah, you know, I really appreciated, again, kind of, keeping with that theme of family. My sister came into town with her boys. And over this past… Actually, I took a couple days off work this week and we got to spend time. We went to the beach. We went to a couple museums here in Chicago, the aquarium. And they were really, really busy days filled with a lot of activity and a lot of good chaos as you get with big families. And I was just really appreciating it. And again, I guess tying it into, you know, why I’m trying to do this is enjoying that I could meet that activity and run around with my nephews and wrestle in the lake. And all these kinds of things. I was pretty tired at the end of the day, but I could do it.

Holly: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I love how you’re making the connection already between that experience and future experiences that you want to have for years and years down the road. So, again, incredible perspective that you bring to your life. Well, I want to start by just reflecting back on, you know, your food log. And I just want to check in with you and see how was that experience for you.

Scott: It was an interesting experience. It was one of those things where you don’t think about what you’re eating. Like, I know what I eat, and I try to eat healthy and all the things, but you don’t really think about it until I was doing this food log and I have a yogurt and I’d be like, “Oh, I got a lot of that. That’s a, you know…” And I’ll be honest, I don’t think I logged everything because, you know, sometimes I’ll snack. I’ll grab something here or there, but it even made me think about that. And there’s a few times where I was like, “Oh, I should probably log this, but it’s late and it’s just an Oreo, you know?”

Holly: For sure. So, again, just have a little bit more awareness of what you’re eating. And what learnings did you get from seeing, kind of, visually your food intake over those few days?

Scott: It’s funny. I found myself trying to, like, defend myself like, “Well, there’s some vegetables there,” but then I was like, “Oh, gosh, I think there’s a lot of dairy here. Oh, is there too much sugar?” It just, kind of, made me… As I was looking at it all laid out, I almost started scrutinizing it in a way and thinking like, “Is there is there things I could do better?” But then also feeling this, sort of, defensiveness of, you know, “Man, I’m really busy. Hey, I did a good job. We cooked dinner. We didn’t order out.” You know…

Holly: Yeah.

Scott: I think that piece.

Holly: Right. So, there were some definite wins that you saw, like, “Hey, we cooked dinner at home. We didn’t get fast food. We didn’t go out.” And then there were also some things where you’re like, “Maybe I could do this a little bit better. Maybe there’s a different choice or something that I could do differently,” and maybe just beginning to wonder about how things might change. And I remember in our initial conversation that, like, you don’t want a complete overhaul of your diet. That’s just extreme for you at the moment. And you’re willing to maybe make some swaps, maybe work on a few things that would be approachable and easy for you.

Scott: Well, exactly because, you know, my doctor has told me, you know, Mediterranean diet, that’s what you need. So, I think that was another piece I was looking at was like, “Is this exactly Mediterranean? I don’t think there was any fish,” you know, that kind of thing.

Holly: Yeah, yeah. So, there’s a little maybe uncertainty as to what exactly a Mediterranean diet is for you.

Scott: Yeah, 100%. I mean, again, I know, like, vague like, “Oh, it’s fish. It’s, you know, not heavy stuff.” There you go. That’s the extent.

Holly: Yeah. Yeah. So, it’s a little more nuanced than fish and not heavy stuff, and we can get into that, but let’s put the food on the side. So, you had a good… It sounds like it was a good experience doing the food log. You just, kind of…

Scott: Yeah, I would say it was… And, you know, I’m a data person as we discussed. You know, that’s how I ended up in marketing. And it’s just… It’s comforting to me to see things laid out because then I know I just think about it like I think about anything in my life. Okay, now where are the opportunities?

Holly: Right. And so given that and also just the perseverance that it took to do the log, because I know you’re a busy person and it was just one more to do during all those two days, so you did it, which also shows your determination in making a change. Thinking about those opportunities, was there any one thing that you were like, “Hmm, this seems like something that I might want to address”?

Scott: Maybe the…. Well, there were two things. And I think in my food log, you’ll remember I, like, skipped lunch one of the days, and I won’t lie, that’s not super infrequent. Like, sometimes I just get working, I’m doing things and I’ll just skip lunch. And then I just realized, especially on that day, what then ends up happening or if I have a really light lunch, I get super hungry at, like, 4. And then I’m now in the thick of it, I don’t have time to eat, and so then I just, like, go into the kitchen and I’m just grabbing like snack this, snack that basically to quiet the hunger. And then I’ve now eaten more, and there was no real meal to it. You know, then, of course, I have dinner but I recognized I guess that when I skipped lunch, I still need the calories because I get hungry and I’m one of those people that gets grouchy when I’m too hungry. So, like, I don’t know, kind of, it’s like, well, I almost get it in a worse way if I’m not intentional with my meal, if that makes sense.

Holly: Yeah, I mean, that’s a powerful insight is that, you know, hangry Scott goes into the kitchen and just starts mindlessly eating whatever is available and not putting much thought into it. It’s just feed the monster, feed the hunger. And that maybe causes you to eat things that maybe you wouldn’t necessarily want.

Scott: A hundred percent because I’m thinking fast, quiet the hunger so I could move on.

Holly: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, let’s put food aside for a second. I want to check in on the exercise snacking. Was that anything…? Did you give any thought to that concept?

Scott: Yeah, I did give thought to it. I didn’t, like, try any of it, but I saw where pieces where that can work. I don’t know what they call it, like natural kinetic energy. Like, I stand up, like, during the day if I’m excited or I’m really thinking about a problem. I love standing up and taking a lap around the office or whatever. And I thought about how maybe a more intentional like, “Okay, I’m going to go stand up, and I could maybe do a shorter exercise.” Because as we discussed, you know, I’ve got this elliptical here that I haven’t gotten on and it’s like a thing of guilt for me because I used to get on it and now I don’t. And so I was just thinking like, “Well, how could I work that in?” And I was also thinking, as I carry two babies upstairs and things like that, we have a third-floor walk-up. That’s where we live. I’m like, “Is this an exercise snack? I, kind of, hope it is.”

Holly: I would say yes, absolutely. You’re carrying weight. You’re going upstairs. It definitely counts. And so another thing that you’re sharing is that you really aren’t a super sedentary guy. It’s not like you’re just sitting all day long. You do move, and to really recognize and value the fact that you are doing some movement throughout the day already. Even though it’s not organized, kind of, structured movement, you’re moving, right?

Scott: Yeah, it’s so funny because it’s like you’re… I’m living in it, but it’s, like, hard to quantify. Like, is that good? Because, again, it’s like this weird shame spiral I think that we’ve all gotten… Not all of us but I’ve gotten this messaging like, “Well, that doesn’t count. Exercise doesn’t count unless you go to the gym, you change your shirt, get your good sweat on.” And so I was trying to challenge that with myself, but I’ll be honest. They’re still this like, “Well, is that really exercise? You walked around the office, you know?”

Holly: Absolutely. Yeah. So, some prejudices and biases that are in there that are, kind of, clouding your judgment a bit about what counts as exercise. And, you know, maybe we can shift that and maybe we can move towards something that more feels like exercise. So, in our time today, we have about 20 minutes left. What do you want to accomplish? You know, we’ve gone through the food log. I know you want to make some adjustments to the diet. We’re talking a little bit about movement. Where do you want to focus the rest of our attention today?

Scott: I’m such a structure person, and I love goal setting. So, I think it would be cool if it was like, “Here’s a thing I can work on till our next session.” Almost like, “Now can we put it into practice? Can I incorporate a change into my daily routine or my life?” With three kids, routine’s kind of a fuzzy word. But is there something I can do? Like, if we’re talking about exercise snacks, again, I would feel like very excited if I could have something like a goal and like, “Okay, do this exercise snack over the next X number of time, and take one change of food or something.”

Holly: Okay, so you, kind of, want to address maybe both and have a small action step that you can take over the next week in both areas that will make you feel like you’re making progress towards your ultimate goal of, you know, lowering your blood pressure and being healthier.

Scott: Yeah, because I’ve just found, when I try to do too much and try, like, make wholesale changes, I’ll go to the store. I’ll go get all the things and I’ll do that but it won’t stick. I’ll fall back into old habits. So, I think that’s where I’m, like, incremental.

Holly: Right. Absolutely. And then, you know, you said you get into the shame spiral and then that can be very embarrassing to have all these grandiose intentions and not follow through. It just is a little bit defeating. So, let’s set you up for success.

Scott: I’m down with it.

Holly: Which do you want to tackle first—the exercise snack or the food piece?

Scott: Can we talk food? I just feel like there is so much around food for me that is like…

Holly: Yeah, great. So, in thinking of food, you mentioned the Mediterranean diet and not really having a whole lot of knowledge around what that is. And not that you’re going to go from how you’re eating today to the Mediterranean diet in a week. But wouldn’t you be interested in…? There’s a food plan, which is basically the Mediterranean food plan that has been created by the nutritionists at the Institute for Functional Medicine. It’s called the Cardiometabolic Food Plan, and it lays out basically all the foods that support cardiovascular health, that support lowering your blood pressure, dealing with cholesterol, preventing atherosclerosis and inflammation. And I would be happy to share that with you just in terms of, like, a list of foods at this point, not even the whole plan.

Scott: That sounds amazing because that’s part of the thing is, like, I know what we eat but, like, having at least, “Okay, this is within that realm of a Mediterranean diet versus this isn’t,” because, you know, the way it is, especially when we go to the store, I go shopping with my daughter Charlotte. She’s my helper and it’s so fun. But then when we get there, when we go to Aldi or whatever, it’s like, okay, well, I know what I normally get, so I just get what I normally get. Whereas having some knowledge would be very helpful as, like, okay, maybe go to this one.

Holly: Right. And so can I share just a couple of big-picture concepts, not go into the weeds so much?

Scott: Sure.

Holly: So, big picture is the Mediterranean diet focuses on, as you can imagine, a lot of vegetables. So, the nonstarchy vegetables, so leafy greens, you know, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, anything that’s not starchy. You can have some potatoes. You can have some stuff like that, but squash, that would be considered a starchy vegetable.

Scott: Would sweet potatoes count?

Holly: Sweet potatoes are a starchy vegetable. They are allowed, but you want to make sure that you’re not overdoing the starchy vegetables.

Scott: Okay.

Holly: So, you can have as many, like, celery, carrots, beets, turnips, lettuce, arugula, spinach, broccoli. You can eat as much of that as you want. The starchy stuff we want to, kind of, limit a bit. In addition, healthy sources of protein, so fish, chicken, very limited but a little bit of red meat. If that’s something that you like, you know, we’re not going to eliminate all of that. Beans are wonderful sources. Beans, legumes. I noticed you had rice and black beans in one of your meals with tacos. So, beans are great. Legumes… Excuse me. Nuts and seeds, so almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, cashews, seeds like chia seeds and flax seeds. These all support good cardiovascular health. And then berries are super powerful. Blueberries are super powerful for them. So, those are, kind of, just some big pictures. Then grains, you want to be looking more at whole grains like whole oats, steel-cut oats, barley. You know, you don’t want refined grains like pastas and bread. You can have them, but you want to limit it, right? So, again, we’re not going to do this overnight.

Scott: Right.

Holly: Just so you get a sense of where you might be heading over the next few years because this could take a while. And then lastly, what’s really important is limiting sugar and processed foods. And I know you’ve talked about sugar a bit. And really sugar plays a big role in elevated blood pressure and cholesterol. And I know those are two areas that you are working with. So, those are, kind of, big principles. And looking at maybe a one action step, given those sort of overarching big principles that you might want to focus on for this week, what’s an area that you might want to focus on?

Scott: I’m, like, looking through. I was just, kind of, listing out all the different, like, veggies that are good. We do do lots of broccoli, which is good. And then, you know, wanting to limit the starchy stuff. We have a couple meals where we do do sweet potatoes. So, I’m, kind of, like, thinking like, “Oh, could we just lean on broccoli for that?” or something to that effect. Yeah, I think those pieces were, kind of, standing out like, “Okay, maybe little substitutions.” And, kind of, a question came up… The one thing my doctor always talked about is salt. And so one of the things with nuts is I’m like, “Okay, I know those are salty.” I know when I make broccoli, like, we put the salt and the garlic on it. We’ve got, like, this little, you know, pre-made Weber vegetable seasoning mix that we put on. And I’m wondering like, “Oh, is that a piece of this as well? Like, I can make the broccoli healthier by trying to reduce the salt,” or some nuts are good or not others because some are just really salted. You know, I guess I’m just curious like that.

Holly: Yeah, absolutely. So, great question. And, yes, sodium is one thing we want to pay attention to as well, limiting it to around a teaspoon a day eventually. Again, not something we’re going to ask you to do overnight. And nuts, when it comes to nuts, you really want to buy, like, a non-roasted, non-salted nuts, so more of a raw nut. So, it’s going to take maybe a minute or two to adjust to the nut without the salt, you know? And sometimes it helps to just roast them in the oven at home just to get a little flavor or on a sauté pan and just bring out a little bit of the inherent sweetness of a nut. It helps with the flavor a bit than just eating a raw nut. But then you’re avoiding salt and oils that may be not so good for your health and it’s just a better option for you.

Scott: Well, and that’s the thing is, like, through all of this, you know, I’m not going to be able to change my life and not have those days where I, like, didn’t eat as much or I get hungry, and I’m on the move, and I just need to snack. Like, I need to get some burst of food energy. And so as we’re going through something like, well, maybe, okay, substitute but, like, having raw nuts are available or something that I roasted that’s just right here on my desk at work where I can go, “Oh, man, boom, boom,” have some.

Holly: What does that sound like to you? I mean…

Scott: That sounds good. And especially if I’m trying to do it in such a way that I’m, like, limiting the saltedness and, like, getting like, okay, I like nuts. Can I do it in a way that I have that? So, if I do happen to have that crazy day where I don’t eat a full lunch or whatever, maybe I’ll be, like, more okay energy-wise and not quite so, “Let me cram everything in at 4 p.m.”

Holly: Yeah. And I’m hoping that the list of foods that you’ll get with this Cardiometabolic Food Plan will give you some other ideas of what you could just have on quickly on hand to grab when you’re hungry, you know?

Scott: Can I show you? Like, for example, like, I found this right here, this granola, I don’t know if you could see. It says apple, almond, gluten-free, honey granola. And so, like, I use this to, like, put it in my yogurt. But then what happens when I would eat the yogurt and I’ll be here, I’ll just start, like, just, kind of, shuffling some granola in.

Holly: So, if you bring out that…

Scott: [crosstalk 00:27:24.521] that or…

Holly: If you bring out that bag of yogurt…I mean, excuse me, granola. Can you tell me how much sugar is in there?

Scott: Seven grams.

Holly: Per serving.

Scott: Yeah, includes 6 grams of added sugars.

Holly: Okay. So, one thing to be careful of with granola is that the sugars in granola can add up very quickly. And so maybe it’s nuts instead of granola, right? It would be… And you can put nuts in your yogurt. It’s delicious.

Scott: Right. Right. That’s why I’m like, “Oh, it’s so good to eat by itself because it’s sugary.”

Holly: Yeah, of course it’s delicious. Who doesn’t love it? So, yeah, thinking about those things, maybe… You know, another thing I noticed is that, you know, I know you love your Oreos, and there were a lot of Oreos. It was almost a nightly thing. What about thinking about just making that…? Well, is that something you’d be willing to, sort of, swap out or deal with at the moment or do you want to just keep that consistent?

Scott: I really like my Oreos. I like at night before bed having, like, a little burst of sweetness, I guess. And the thing with the Oreos is like I limit it. I’m like, “I will have no more than three and my glass of milk.” But I am open…like, can I get that sweet in a delicious snack that’s not Oreo? Even if it was like… Because that’s the other thing, I’ll be honest. My life is so hectic right now. Like, my wife and I were like, “We want to preserve our joys, and Oreo is a joy.” So, I’m like, “Well, but is there a way where I could get some sweetness, not necessarily having an Oreo every night?” Because I do… It’s like every night I’ll have some Oreos or something like that, or I’ll have some pieces of chocolate or something because it’s my nightcap.

Holly: Oh, pieces of chocolate, you said? So, dark chocolate is actually a good food in the Mediterranean diet.

Scott: I love dark chocolate.

Holly: Bingo.

Scott: Okay, okay. I’m going to write this down, dark chocolate. Is there, like, a percentage? Because, like, I’ll go like, “Give me 79%, 78%.”

Holly: Perfect. Yeah, go for it. 79%, 80%, 85%. I mean, the more cacao/cocoa you can get in your chocolate, the less sugar. So, yeah, go for it. It’s a superfood.

Scott: I was that weird kid that, when we would do Halloween and, you know, you always trade with your friends and everything, I was like, “Give me all the Special Dark. I’ll take it.” And they’re like, “This is yucky.” I’m like, “Give it to me.”

Holly: Right. Okay. So, summarize for me how you foresee the limited action step that you’re going to take for the next week around food that we’ve talked about and how you see it playing out over the week.

Scott: So, I think I’m going to start with the last one, dark chocolate. I’m like, oh, okay, I can go to Walgreens over here, grab a Ghirardelli dark chocolate and be like, “Scott, this is your snack to, like, maybe reduce the number of Oreos I’m having.” So, I think that’s one. And then tackling the nut piece. I feel like I need, like, a little more research to, like, figure out what kind of nuts. But I think I think having nuts on hand that are, you know, not super salty or baked or whatever, I could see that as just, like, a good step.

Holly: Okay. So, when are you going to go to Walgreens and grab your dark chocolate? When do you have time to get that?

Scott: So, I’m picking my daughter up today and we normally do a little grocery run or something. So, I’m just thinking, like, right off the bat, “Hey, can we swing by?” You know, and as part of we’re grabbing a few things here and there, I get some dark chocolate and then at least look at the nut aisle and see what they have.

Holly: Yeah. So, in the nut aisle, if there’s anything that’s just raw or non-roasted unsalted, go for it. And, you know, everybody has different nuts they like, but walnuts, almonds, cashews, any of those would be great.

Scott: I like almonds too, so cool.

Holly: Yeah, you can mix them up, too. You can have a mixture. It doesn’t have to be one.

Scott: A medley as they say.

Holly: A medley, yes. Exactly. All right. And I would say, how do you see this action step, sort of, tying into the bigger goal of, you know, reducing blood pressure and eating healthier at the end of three months?

Scott: Well, I think when I incorporate this and find something I like that will work with my routine, I’m pretty simple with food. Like, when I was a kid, I would have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch every single day. Like, I actually don’t mind eating the same darn thing. So, I can see, like, once I find my thing, I’m like, “Great, I can keep eating it.” And then I think too, there’s like this almost, like, guilt-free aspect like you telling me like, “Dark chocolates, you know, like, that’s not… You know, you’re reducing the sugar there.” Then I can just see me then not feeling any of the shame like, “Oh, I had so much sugar,” or whatever. I’m like, “I had a piece of dark chocolate, I’m okay.” And I think, for me, that’s just helpful. It just, like, makes me feel good, and then I’m not shame spiraling or whatever.

Holly: And so let’s think about the dark chocolate. It’s not the whole bar, right?

Scott: Right, right, right.

Holly: It’s [crosstalk 00:33:24.090], right?

Scott: Yeah, yeah. Right. Like, so have a piece, don’t eat through the whole bar.

Holly: Exactly.

Scott: See? I have principles, right?

Holly: Yeah.

Scott: Like, I only have three Oreos.

Holly: Totally, you’ve got self-regulation.

Scott: [crosstalk 00:33:39.007]. Don’t go all Willy Wonka.

Holly: Yeah. No, I can see it. Yeah, you have the strengths of, like, routine and structure. And for you, it’s just finding that routine and finding the structure and finding what to install where in your life. And once it’s there and installed, you got it.

Scott: Right. Yeah.

Holly: Yeah.

Scott: Cool.

Holly: So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to follow through with these two changes this week, 1 being “Forget about it,” and 10 being, “Yeah, I’m all in”?

Scott: I would say, like, 9. Like, the dark chocolate thing is happening. The nuts, there’s maybe, like, a little extra barrier there. Like, I got to figure out the nuts thing, because the thing with, like, roasting them, if it’s like… It’s so silly but it’s like even if it’s, “Oh, throw it in the oven for 10 minutes,” I’m like, “Oh, I need to watch it, and I need to do that.” And then I could see myself being like, “Man, I got to change these diapers. I don’t have time for the nuts thing.”

Holly: Yeah. Well, the roasting is not a necessary step.

Scott: Right, right, right, but to make them more appealing or whatever.

Holly: Yes. And then, so a 9. Why would you say it’s a 9 and not a 7?

Scott: Because I can just see where this fits into my routine. It doesn’t feel too daunting to just grab a bar of dark chocolate and be like, “This is your snack for the evening.” That doesn’t feel too daunting. I’m like, “I can do that.” I’m literally like, “Yep, I’m going to take my daughter. We’re going to go and I’m going to look for some dark chocolate.” So, that’s why.

Holly: Okay. Yeah. And so the only issue is, kind of, roasting the nuts. Are there any other challenges that you see maybe that might impede your success this week?

Scott: Well, we’re going on vacation next week. So, I think that’s going to be… You know, vacations are always tough, and we go to South Haven every year, South Haven, Michigan, for those of you who may be familiar, but there’s Sherman’s Ice Cream. There’s lots of snack, and there’s, you know… And then, like, when we go to the store in South Haven and, like, we collect our groceries for the week, it’s a lot of, like, “Get treats for yourself, live it up.” So, I do think that could be a challenge, but again, I think that’s where, like, the dark chocolate… I’ll be like, “Get some dark chocolate.”

Holly: Maybe there’s some local Michigan dark chocolate you can get.

Scott: There you go.

Holly: Yeah, so maybe just looking for a, you know, vacation dark chocolate that’s special that you may intertwine and, you know, “Hey, that’s, sort of, a big challenge, and we’re just diving into this with a very new habit.” So, what would be a win for you in terms of snacking over vacation, just one small little micro victory because, you know, it’s enjoy yourself?

Scott: Yeah, I think if I could find some dark chocolate and, like, not get the sleeve of Oreos and go to town and, you know, I’ll still, “Look, we’re going to go get some Sherman’s Ice Cream. It’s going to happen.” It’s a joy thing for everybody. But if I juxtapose that with like, “Hey, okay. I’m not going every night. I’m not pounding Oreos,” then I think that will feel like a win if I’m still being intentional.

Holly: Yeah. Oh, intentional. Still being intentional, that’s a big word. Still being intentional. Well, we actually are out of time. If you can believe it, we’ve worked our way through 30 minutes. And just to wrap up, I’m going to send you the Cardiometabolic Food Plan. So, you’ll have that. It’s just something to start exploring. But what’s an insight that you’re walking away with today from our session?

Scott: I’m seeing that, like, the little changes feel very doable. But then with the roasting the nuts thing, my brain seemed to go right to that and then be like, “Oh, no. Oh, I can’t do it.” So, I think that’s, like, the keep… When I can see the path to how I can work it in and it doesn’t feel, like, too overwhelming, then I feel, like, excitement about it. But if it feels like, “Oh, man,” you know, even as I look at this, you know, food plan, I think I’m going to really try to, like, have to temper my, I don’t know, expectations or like… Because I want to go all in, you know, but sometimes it’s like that’s not what this is about because it can work. Like, I can go all in on some things and it works out great, but then sometimes I’ll just, like, go all in and then I won’t stick to anything. And, you know, after so many revolutions around, you know, the sun, I’ve, kind of, realized, “Oh, really the little changes that build, that’s what gets [crosstalk 00:39:08.851].”

Holly: Well, yeah, I mean, it’s great perspective to understand that you’re going to need to, kind of, tamper your excitement about this food plan and just, kind of, gradually weave it in a slow… And you said that last time, it’s got to be sustainable and methodical. So, you know, experiment with the chocolate and the nuts this week. Next week, vacation. Whatever. Whatever happens happens. When we meet again, we can just see how things went. Maybe figure out… If you found a way to roast the nuts, great. And if not, we can figure that out and move on and just keep weaving in little bits of this food plan so that, you know, maybe six months to a year from now, you’ve, kind of, got a good part of it mastered.

Scott: Yeah, and that feels… That’s exciting to me, too, just being able to look back and be like, “Oh, my gosh, you know, I picked up…” Just anecdotal. I’m a musician. I wanted to learn guitar when I was 30. So, I just picked up, got guitar lessons, and I just plugged away and plugged away. Happy to say I can play all the campfire songs these days. That felt like such an accomplishment to me. So, that’s exciting to think about how I can build the pieces. And then when you say, like, six months, like, wow, if I look back and I look and I’m like, “Yep, we’ve got a Mediterranean diet. Boom, look at all this.”

Holly: Wow, that’s a great metaphor that you just came up with for yourself looking at how you, like, hunkered down, did the drills. I know what it’s like to learn an instrument. And you had to go through a progression of steps to get to the point where you could play…

Scott: In plateaus. Guitar has big plateaus. You get a lot of gains and then you’re like, “I can’t do this chord.” And then you have to push through it. It’s a rewarding instrument that way.

Holly: All right. Well, keep that in mind too as we go through that process. So, thank you for your time today. And, you know, you seem to be excited to dive in and just start with a couple of small steps that seem manageable. And I’ll really look forward to hearing how things go the next time we meet.

Scott: Looking forward to it.

Holly: All right. Thanks, Scott.

Scott: Sandi, I don’t know if you had some closing thoughts or anything you wanted to just, kind of, share some perspective.

Dr. Sandi: Yes, I want to say that this was not fake. This is what actually happens. This was not scripted. They had not planned this in advance.

Scott: Got my notes.

Dr. Sandi: They did not know where the conversation was going to go, and Scott was in control. Holly was not taking the lead. And I also want to emphasize the part that you don’t see. And that is that, when the session finishes, Holly’s going to have notes and she’s going to describe in her notes that she was educating Scott on this food plan that was developed by Institute for Functional Medicine nutritionists. So, she is not the one who is developing the plan for Scott. She is not the one who is ordering it, recommending it. Scott chose this. And what she’s doing is educating him about how to do it. And they’re also focused a lot on obstacles because change doesn’t happen in isolation. He talks a lot about his family, about upcoming vacation, issues that are going on that might be stumbling blocks. And the more a coach can help people to see that and actually rehearse for it in advance, they’re more likely to be successful. So, let’s open it up for questions.

Scott: Oh, this is a good one. What do you do when the client repeatedly does not follow through on their self-chosen tasks?

Holly: Hmm, good question.

Scott: So, if I just said, “You know what? I’m not doing this.” We come back to our session. I didn’t eat the dark chocolate. In fact, I ate more Oreos.

Holly: Right. So, yeah, I mean, those are learning opportunities with our clients. As we look at what was going on, what were the circumstances, perhaps sometimes, at least in my experience as a coach, the client may think they want to start with food and then they realize that they can’t make sustainable food changes because they’re not sleeping enough. And then we might shift from food to getting better sleep so that they’re better rested to be able to make better food choices throughout the day. Or it may be something around stress. I call it the wrong domino that we choose, that we choose a domino that isn’t going to cascade and create a bunch of different changes. It’s one that’s really challenging.

So, sometimes it’s just picking the right domino. Sometimes it may be we pick something that wasn’t attainable. It was too big. And that’s why I appreciate working with Scott is he really was like, “I want something small. I want something that I can be successful at knowing my limitations.” And so we worked with that parameter. So, really making sure that the scope of the goal isn’t too large for somebody to be successful with. And then sometimes it’s just the goal isn’t really connected to a deep value or motivation within the person. And so they’re not really inspired to do it. It’s sort of like, “I don’t really want to do that. It doesn’t hit me.” And so sometimes we have to, like, connect it back to their vision and who they want to be and really, kind of, seeing the downstream effects or upstream effects, as you will, of making this one change. So, it’s a moment for exploration and allowing the client to feel, like, not judged for failure. But what did we learn? What did you learn in that experience? And that’s up to the coach to, kind of, bring it out. So, great question. And it’s why we exist as coaches because it happens.

Scott: What I want to say to that, like, Holly, the Oreos thing, like, you heard me saying, because it’s true, that is my joy, that little sweetness at the end of the day. I have long, sometimes hard days. And so I felt the resistance within me to be like, “No, don’t make me give up my little snack at night.” But then we found this… Now I’m excited. I’m like, “Oh, I can go into the world of dark chocolate and not feel a tremendous guilt about it and still get that that joy.”

Dr. Sandi: I would also like to add that sometimes when clients think they’re not being successful, that they’re failing and often as a coach, you want to speed up the timetable because you want to see your clients succeed. And if you step back and if you have the client step back and really dissect what happened, they might find that they are making progress. It’s just subtle, and it’s not very apparent. But maybe they’re spending more time thinking about it in contemplation, but they’re moving farther into action than they were the previous week. So, it might be a tiny little step. And so you acknowledge that, that change happens but it often can happen slowly but it’s still change nevertheless.

Scott: A hundred percent.

Holly: Yeah.

Scott: Next question here, how often is the coach meeting with the client?

Holly: It depends on the client. I generally start out for a new client wanting to work with them at least once a week, at least for a good time frame so that there… I found that, if there’s too much time between coaching sessions, they can fall back and it impedes momentum and progress. So, I like to work with them weekly for the first month or two, see how it goes. And then we may just mutually decide that every other week is a better time frame, or they may want to stay with once a week. So, it’s sort of client-dependent, but I do feel personally that when you’re starting out the client more frequently, like, once a week is more effective to support behavior change.

Scott: I saw someone say, “I thought the coach should be in control,” but that’s not what happened, right?

Holly: Well, you know, the coach is subtly in control in the sense that we want to guide the client through a productive conversation. So, we want to make sure that the client is getting what they want out of the conversation, and I guide that conversation. And I asked Scott what he wanted to, kind of, walk away with, and he said a goal or an action step. And then we decided to start with food. And Scott made all the decisions. And then I guided him through that conversation. So, I am leading the conversation, but it’s completely focused on the client. And the decisions are made by the client in terms of where they want to go, how they want to spend the time in the session, what’s an effective outcome for them. So, it’s a very subtle difference that you are as the coach somewhat in control, but it’s the client who’s determining the path that you take them down, if that makes sense.

Scott: Right, because I want to [crosstalk 00:48:27.310] all the things.

Holly: [crosstalk 00:48:27.198].

Scott: I want to exercise. I want to eat better. And when you were asking me, like, well, what do you think you’d like to really focus on? Then that helped me because the food log was impactful to me. And I’m like, I really think if I can make some changes here, that’ll help me feel like I’m on the right path.

Dr. Sandi: Think about the experience if you’ve ever been to a medical practitioner or a doctor, and they are in control and they are not hearing you, listening to you. They’re just saying, “Okay, here’s what’s wrong with you. Here’s the treatment plan. I’m going to call in this prescription. Any questions?” And you feel like [vocalization]. And the doctor’s out the door and you don’t feel heard. You don’t feel like you had the opportunity to say, “Well, I don’t know about this prescription. I still have some questions.” This is the exact opposite. It’s why it is so effective. It is why we have medical practitioners wanting to learn the coach approach, because it’s what we used to call bedside manner. It’s where that individual is feeling heard, understood. They know that it’s their voice. It ultimately is a self-efficacy, feeling empowered. And Scott’s going to be empowered to really look at those Oreos and say, “Nah, you know, I’ll go with the dark chocolate.”

Scott: Yeah. You know, and Sandi, to that point, you know, I’ve been told I need the Mediterranean diet by doctors for years. And I’m like, “Okay, got it. It’s fish, right?” And so that’s, like, the only thing that has been in my head. We need to eat more fish, and I haven’t done it. And so going in, like, this granular level, actually, I’m excited because I’m like now I can see my path to having a more Mediterranean diet as opposed to just being told, “Yeah, go eat more Mediterranean. It’s fish and stuff, you know?”

Holly: Great, good question.

Scott: Do you typically talk about the difference between homemade snacks like roasted nuts and maybe granola and store bought?

Holly: Well, it could enter the conversation in terms of educating a client as to what the ingredients are in many of the ultra-processed manufactured foods, even “healthy foods” that Whole Foods sells, for example, and really getting them to understand, you know, ingredients. And when you cook things at home, you have more control over those ingredients. And it depends on the time and the place. Like, I don’t think Scott was ready to go down that rabbit hole today, but it might be something that we would address in further sessions along when he’s feeling a little bit more motivation, maybe to look at that and cook his own foods and prepare his own foods and maybe study the Cardiometabolic Food Plan a bit and say, “Hmm, are these foods that I’m buying, do they align with this food plan?” And then we could have that conversation. So, again, it would come from client curiosity and not so much direction from the coach, but it could be an educational opportunity as well if the client’s eating a lot of, sort of, store bought foods and helping them understand what they’re getting in those foods when they want to make some changes to their lives and their health.

Scott: Yeah, there’s another question here that I’m curious about. And I think maybe it connects to this. You know, as a coach, how do you approach a client who is reluctant to find time to cook at home versus ordering out? And I’ll be honest, this is… You know, and I’m sure, Holly, in future sessions, we’ll talk about it. For me and my family, we are so busy. It is sometimes just like, “Oh, let’s just order delivery,” or, “Let’s just swing by and grab the food here because we don’t have any time. We got screaming babies.” I’m curious how you do approach that.

Holly: Yeah, I mean, it’s a real thing, right? That convenience factor of being able to get something quickly. And so it’s really just exploring other options. I mean, maybe there’s a better restaurant that you could pick up food from. Maybe there’s a cleaner option out there in restaurants. And then maybe there are some tricks around food prep or getting things at the store, like, a rotisserie chicken, which is quite easy to pick up at the store and steam some broccoli or have a salad. Then you’ve got yourself a great meal without, you know, spending a lot of time. So, there’s a lot of workarounds that we can educate clients on and also not to, you know, be saying you shouldn’t eat out. You shouldn’t eat out all the time. It’s just, like, respecting that that’s their lifestyle. So, how do we shift a bit or maybe two or three days a week they can commit to cooking at home and the rest of the time they’re going to go out? It’s these small, incremental, sustainable changes that have the most impact over time. And so acknowledging that many of us in this field in this world, we love cooking at home. We love going to find the healthy foods. We make the time. It is so important to us and making sure that we’re not imposing our standards on everybody else and allowing them to come to their own conclusions.

Dr. Sandi: I would like to add something, and this is absolutely a big issue. We had a few years ago a coaching in action. So, in our core curriculum, we show coaching and we had somebody who was an older woman and she was being coached. And we showed her the process. And often people… I’m in my 70s and many people I know eat every meal out. Why? Because they’ve been cooking for their family their whole life. They got rid of their pots and pans. They might be in small apartments now. They don’t want to cook, and they enjoy the process of eating out. And so the coach accepts that person where they’re at but perhaps helps them to make some choices on menus. And often, even if you are ordering in… Well, I used to do that. When my kids were little, we’d order food. Maybe it was a soup and I’d throw in some dark leafy greens in the soup. So, sometimes it can be a hybrid. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. And, again, this is if that invidual is interested in going down that route. And if not, you can still be supporting them to create better health but it might not be the one you think is so important. And that’s what we talk about so much at FMCA and what’s made coaching so, so powerful where they do feel like, “This person isn’t judging me, isn’t telling me what to do. I’m in control.”

Scott: And to underscore that, Sandi, like, I don’t know if folks watching could tell, I have some shame around eating too much sugar and all of this, especially with my health background and wanting to do right by my family and be living. So, there’s a lot of load there. And, you know, Holly, credit to you, because I don’t feel like there’s any judgment about the Oreos or what have you. It’s about, you know, making changes positively but not, like, you’re doing wrong. And I think sometimes I’ve had that experience with doctors where I felt just a little bit of the like, “No, you need to cut out the sweets.” And it’s not the most effective way I think, for me, to, like, make change is to feel, like, guilty every time I open up the candy bag or whatever.

Holly: Absolutely.

Scott: We are about out of time and, gosh, there are so many amazing questions. I wish we could get to all of them. If any questions did come up, like, about our program or anything, like, that, you can always email admissions@functionalmedicinecoaching.org. Yeah, I don’t know if there was any closing thoughts, Sandi, Holly, that you had. I just wanted to thank you, Holly, so much. I’m really excited for these changes and where I’m going because I mean, my why is right there. I’m so glad I could show the pics of my beautiful family because I want to be there and I want to be active. And I don’t want to follow the same path, you know, my father, my grandfather, etc. followed and be healthier. So, thank you.

Dr. Sandi: I want to thank… Go ahead, Holly.

Holly: Oh, I just want to say thank you to you, Scott, for being just an incredibly authentic client and making this very real for me. And I hope our conversation actually continues, and I can support you through this.

Scott: I’m planning on it.

Dr. Sandi: I’d like to thank you two for this wonderful opportunity to throw back the curtain. And if you like this, if you have ideas for some other things you would like to see, if you’d like to see a continuation, please let us know. And for those of you who are current students or who are members of our alumni program, these are issues we commonly talk about during my office hours. So, if you have a question here or if you’re one of those people, if your question was not answered, I will do my best. But if you are attending my office hours, we can continue the conversation there. But these are the things we talk about all the time in our core curriculum. So, thank you all for being here. We really appreciate you.

Scott: Love it. Thank you, everybody.

Dr. Sandi: Bye, everybody.

Scott: Bye.