What exactly is health coaching? How is it different from working with a nutritionist, or a therapist? What does working with one look like?

I had the opportunity to sit down with Tara, the founder and CEO of Rupa Health, a company who connects patients with integrative and holistic practitioners. I answered all these questions and more!

So Katie, let’s start with the basics! Where do you work and what is integrative nutrition health coaching?

I have a private practice, Whole Nourishment, and I see clients around the world virtually as well as in my office in San Francisco. I’m a behavioral food therapist and I am additionally trained in integrative nutrition coaching. You can see my full credentials on my About page.

“ Integrative Nutrition health coaching is the process of partnering with and guiding a client through overall lifestyle changes, with a focus on emotional health and nourishment on all levels.”

I help my clients become familiar with the emotional and behavioral patterns that keep them stuck in their food life and explore new patterns, beliefs, and mindsets that will be more supportive and affirming. The integrative part refers to bringing into focus all aspects of our self-attention that relate to radically authentic care.

“Food is only one form of nourishment.”

Health is the interplay between not only what and how we eat but also why we turn to food and what else we might want to turn to to get needs met such as rest, being in conversation with our nervous system, managing stress, and our self-talk. I also address the connection between our emotions and digestion and gut health - that’s whole health.

How does integrative nutrition relate to integrative medicine?

I see integrative medicine as piecing together various forms of healing modalities to contribute to overall health and well-being (like acupuncture, therapy, meditation, nutrition and more), instead of putting all your eggs in one basket like nutrition or exercise.

Integrative nutrition connects the dots between mental and emotional wellness and your actions. It’s how clients eat, how they think about food and their body, and how they show up for themselves every day (and how that impacts their food choices).

What’s the difference between a health coach and a nutritionist?

Nutritionists focus on the impact of dietary changes primarily. Health coaches provide nutritional guidance while also addressing other factors that impact health such as self-care practices, rest, mindset and emotions.

So… are you kind of like a therapist?

I offer therapeutic coaching, offering a safe space for exploring the role our mental and emotional health has in our food life. I bridge emotional health with behavioral health. I help clients bring the emotional awareness they’ve learned from therapy and apply it in their food life and how they attend to their physical and emotional needs on a daily basis.

What type of client is a good fit to work with you?

“I help clients bridge the gap between what we know or want to do and how we actually put it into practice. This includes baby steps toward living more intentionally and aligning how we show up for ourselves with our values .”

My ideal client is someone who:

1. Is ready to take action

2. Recognizes already that there isn’t a quick fix to changing emotional and behavioral patterns. Working with me is a long-term partnership.

3. Recognizes there’s an emotional aspect to their food choices

Most of my clients are dealing with either emotional eating, body image issues, the binge-restrict cycle, disordered eating and/or digestive issues. They recognize, and are ready to address, both the emotional and behavioral patterns for healing.

What type of client is not a good fit?

Someone who needs diagnosis or treatment for a mental illness such as chronic depression, or someone who wants a meal plan and to be told what to do. If either of these is their expectation, I guide them to a licensed psychotherapist or a nutritionist or dietician.

What kind of goals do clients come to you with, and what’s your approach?

Some clients want to stop the binge-restrict cycle or overcome emotional eating. Others want to help connecting the dots to understand why and how their disordered eating patterns developed in the first place.

I use a trauma-sensitive lens and a non-diet approach. You can read more here about my therapeutic orientation and the values that guide my work. In a nutshell, I help clients identify and process traumatic or emotionally disturbing experiences and look beyond food as their enemy. This helps them bring a more compassionate lens to the role food has played in helping them to feel safe or in control in the past. My clients and I will also integrate research-backed tools for body awareness, emotion regulation and self-soothing, making peace with food, and mindful eating so they can make choices from a place of care, respect, and intentionality rather than fear or control.

What kind of training do you have? How do Health Coaches get trained?

I have a Masters in behavioral epidemiology and additional training in mental health, emotional eating, mindfulness-based healing modalities, intuitive eating, and eating psychology. You can see my full training here.