I am vegan. I am thinking about the health coach certification but unsure about giving advice about animal protein
Hello Maru Lacayo,
Giving out detailed nutrition advice is out of a trainer’s scope of practice, anyway; so, that may save you… I do not see if you are trained to do so. Saying to eat a balanced diet which includes protein, leaves the protein choices up to the client.
Take care,
Natalie aka NAPS 2 B Fit.
Hi Maru,
as a coach or trainer, we should give the advice that is best for the client regardless of which limitation we choose to pose upon ourselves.
I am a vegetarian myself but when I talk about protein options with clients, of course I include all possible protein sources, including those coming from animals.
By your definition, would you advise a client against riding a bicycle just because you don’t do it yourself? Of course not.
I believe that you cannot be a good coach / trainer when you impose your own prejudices on others.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com
I agree with Natalie that if you do the Health Coach certification you need to look very carefully into scope of practice regarding how much nutritional advice you can give. Without a degree and licensure in nutrition this advice is likely to be fairly general.
I think this gives you two options. The first is as Karin says to be clear of your own path, but to explain options without demonizing paths that differ from your own.
The other is to market yourself specifically as a vegan. If you are clear before you take on clients that this is the path you walk and the path you teach I think you could build your business around it as a niche. To expand on Karin’s metaphor this would be to say…. if you wish to bicycle I will refer you to excellent bicycle coaches. But my particular skill set lies in snowboarding, and if that is right for you I would love to work with you.
I also think that you should advertise yourself as vegan, so you’ll attract clients closer to your philosophy. This doesn’t mean that you should not help or work with others who do not agree with your views (your choice of course). As a health coach you might not have to be to specific with nutritional information and or recommendations. You will need to check how far you can go with this certification.
Your job is to help others make better choices for themselves. This can be achieved by providing them with as much information as possible and then let them decide what works for them according to their needs, goals and preferences. Not always one size fits all.
Then, as Harris said, you should market yourself as a vegan trainer so that you will attract the clients who will appreciate your perspective.
If you are willing to talk to non-vegan clients in a manner that is non-judgmental, “I’m vegan so I can’t give you a lot of advice about how to cook meat, but the three healthiest meat proteins are ___, ___, and ___,” then you might be able to work within the scope of your health coach certification and your values, without doing dis-service to the no-vegan client. But if you’re going to actively avoid discussing any and all types of meat, in any context, then you will want to limit your clientele to vegans.