Celebrating Health Coach Week

Celebrating Health Coach Week

I’m celebrating Health Coach Week and am proud to be a graduate of the Integrative Institute for Nutrition (IIN), the largest health coaching school in the world and a pioneer at the forefront of a worldwide wellness revolution. What do health coaches do? We help clients integrate all aspects of their lifestyle, balance them and ultimately improve their mental, physical and emotional well-being and decrease health care costs. Here is an excellent article that explains how health coaches can help people with chronic illnesses; and here is another article that shows how health coaches help people break unhealthy habits.

When I was studying to be certified as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, I had to learn about more than 100 dietary theories. One of the major tenets of the learning was that of “Bio-individuality,” meaning, no one person is the same when it comes to our physical needs, such as food. That dovetails beautifully with what I have experienced over the past nine years of dietary journey, during which I experimented with different kinds of diets and finally chose to adopt the Blood Type Diet as my “default” lifestyle.

While the school did not point to any single diet that is best for our bio-individuality, I know, through my own experience, and that of hundreds of thousands of others, that the Blood Type Diet (+Genotype and SWAMI) can easily be counted as the best example of a diet that supports our bio-individuality.

As a student, I was taught to work with clients and help them find out, on their own, what works best for their unique bodies. This requires a lot of trial and error, a lot of guesswork and of course, time, energy and expenses. But if you start off with the BTD system, it’s like a short-cut that allows you to skip all the trial and error that can be not only time-consuming and costly, but also result in unpleasant or even devastating physical conditions (such as how going vegan wrecked my health once upon a time!).

Having said that, there is still a certain amount of trial and error if you follow the Blood Type Diet, because it is a broad-stroke categorization of people into 4 types (and 8 subtypes). The more advanced version of it is the SWAMI, which goes deep into your genetic information and generates a unique food list that is just for you and no one else. For many people who have been on the BTD, moving to SWAMI helps make the diet even more supportive in turning on the “good genes” and turning off the “bad genes” so you will see maximum health benefits.

Still, bio-individuality as a principle is highly valuable to me, and I continue to use it to guide my work. I believe that even if we each have the blood type, genotype or SWAMI to help guide our food choices, there is still room for tweaking. In addition, there are aspects outside of food and exercise that influence our health. In fact, as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, I have learned that the physical foods we eat are actually secondary to the “primary foods” in our lives. That’s right! As much as I appear to emphasize eating right all the time, that is just the tip of the ice berg of good health and well-being. There is a lot more under the surface.

So what are those “primary foods”? Check out the following circle to find out. Both types of foods are inter-connected. When there is imbalance in certain areas of our lives as shown in the circle, we may find that we resort to emotional eating to fill the void or numb certain emotions.

The Circle of Life | Louisa Wellness

The Circle of Life

Becoming aware is the first step. The next step is learning how to trust yourself, not just how your body responds to food and exercise, but what the “little voice” in your soul is whispering to you, and telling you what to pay attention to. For if you consciously or subconsciously ignore that little voice and omit the “hidden” needs of your being, physical symptoms will eventually crop up as a loud signal for you to pay attention!

If you feel that you want to go deeper than just focusing on physical food and exercise, or if you know what’s right for you but need some hand-holding or “kick in the butt” to establish healthy habits, I am here to help you. Having someone to cheer you on and ask you high-mileage questions can make a huge difference. Book a free consultation with me and see if we’re a good fit to become “partners in health.” Click here.

How My Father’s Death Awakened My Midlife Calling

How My Father’s Death Awakened My Midlife Calling

On August 12, 2009, my father passed away from a horrible disease — acute myeloid leukemia. His untimely death at the age of 75 sent a shock wave to my entire being. This probably was the beginning of my “midlife crisis” yet I was unaware of it at the time. It took me well over a decade to fully grieve from losing him. At the same time, a strong desire was born inside me to go on a health journey.

Along the path, I became so passionate about using natural, non-pharmaceutical means to turn around chronic conditions and optimize my health that I became motivated to become a health coach.

I had a calling to help others prevent chronic diseases and live their life to the fullest with the support of optimal health and well-being.

On my father’s death bed, he told me to create something unique bearing my own signature. Well, Dad, I’m not sure if I have succeeded… yet. But I surely am working at it by sharing my knowledge and experience with my audience, and working in greater depths with my private clients.

I made a video to commemorate my father on the 8th anniversary of his death. Please take a moment to watch the short video below, which explains why I do what I do today.

Healing Legacy

In addition to honoring my father, I’d also like to honor my paternal grandmother, who was known as a healer in her village in Indonesia. Even though I had never met her, I believe her gift of healing has been passed onto me, fueling my desire to heal both myself and help others heal.

My grandmother used herbs and plants to make natural medicine for whoever fell ill in her community. She also gave food to those in need. Funny I never saw the connection until I discovered my calling in mid-life.

As I celebrate my father and grandmother’s legacy for me, I appreciate the opportunity to share with you the gift that they have left me.​

To view my video, go to: http://bit.ly/eatrightchefcalling​

Video Transcript

Hi, this is Louisa today with a heavy heart. I’m sharing something with you that, it’s a difficult topic, but it is what makes me who I am today. So two days ago, it was the eighth anniversary of my father’s passing away. His death, marked a watershed in my life in that he woke me up to the reality of how our health is so important and how it’s related to our food and our lifestyle, as well as our emotional well-being.

And so this awakening. Initially took the form of me, looking into the possibilities of making sure that I and my other family members were healthy. What happened was that my dad died of leukemia. And shortly after that, I was diagnosed with benign tumors in my uterus, as well as some cysts in my ovaries.

I was beyond shocked because I have seen my dad go through a grueling treatment process at the hospital. I developed a mistrust for the healthcare system based on Western medicine. So to deal with my own health problems, I decided to look at unconventional ways, which led me to reading a ton of books on natural medicine and healthy diets.

Fast-forward without going into too much detail, that led me into a mission of becoming healthy and helping everyone else to be healthy through natural means. So, that’s what made me who I am today. I’m not all that I do, but I do care so much and feel passionate about what I do, which is to help people like you to achieve optimal health with natural means. I’m passionate about holistic health.

So, that’s what I’ve chosen to do. I feel like it’s a calling or perhaps it’s something that has chosen me. Either way, it has been an amazing journey and I just want to thank my father for this special gift. It’s a legacy from him besides his other gifts for me, including, his appreciation and talent for art, which will always be with me.

So, I conclude this video with blessings for my father’s soul. And, I just want to let you know that his soul lives on in me, and it will be a privilege for me to inspire anyone to go on a health journey and to find beauty and healing in their lives. See you next time.