Articles
Free, plain-language articles for health and wellness coaches on Food as Medicine, nutrition science, and coaching practice. Each one gives you the key evidence in a few minutes, shows how to use it with clients, and links to the course that goes deeper.
Written by James Peth, MS, MPH, PhD, who has taught nutrition and physiology since 1996.
Coaching skills and motivation
Self-determination theory: the quality of motivation
Hearing "I should" versus "this matters to me," and the autonomy-supportive moves that make the difference in session.
Beyond SMART: goals, visions, and if-then plans
What goal-setting research recommends instead of "achievable," and how to turn a client's vision into plans that hold up.
Motivational interviewing, updated
The current spirit and four tasks, and what changed from the older principles many coaches first learned.
Small steps: what habit research says about timelines
Why 21 days is a myth, what the 66-day average really means, and designing cues with clients.
Atomic Habits through a coaching lens
The book's most useful part for coaching, cues and environment, tested against the research.
Cues, routines, and alternate plans
Breaking the link between a cue and a routine, and planning the alternate route ahead of time.
Fast and slow thinking: why setting up surroundings beats willpower
The Planner and the Doer, and why arranging surroundings ahead of time works better than willpower.
Food as Medicine and nutrition science
Fish or fish oil? What the omega-3 trials show
Why the evidence favors eating seafood, what the large supplement trials found, and where a coach refers.
Color, variety, and food first
What the produce research supports, and color as a curious, nonjudgmental conversation opener.
Calcium from plants: content versus absorption
Which plant foods the body actually absorbs calcium from, and what to check on a label.
Plant protein and the "incomplete protein" myth
What current science says about plant proteins and combining them.
Energy density, fullness, and the thermic effect of food
A non-restrictive idea for clients who want weight loss, and the truth about "metabolism-boosting" foods.
Healthy shopping on a tight budget
Which common shopping tips hold up, which work against clients with little money, and co-creating a list.
Eating behavior
Mindful eating: what it changes and what it doesn't
The outcomes the evidence supports, and how mindful eating differs from intuitive eating.
Food cues and flexible if-then plans
Helping clients write their own plans for food cues, and spotting a plan that is turning rigid.
Dopamine: wanting versus liking
What dopamine actually tracks, and what that means for cravings.
Mind, stress, and movement
Intention, attention, attitude: the three axioms of mindfulness
A quick check on why a client's practice isn't working, plus what mind-wandering research shows.
Is there a best type of exercise?
What the physical activity guidelines and step research say, and helping clients build their own plan.
Deep work, focus, and flow
What focus research supports, and how it connects to wellbeing.
Swedish death cleaning: clutter and stress
What the source book says, and what research on clutter and stress holds up.
Evidence and professional practice
What the health coaching outcome evidence actually shows
Where effects are real but small, and how to describe outcomes honestly to employers and clinical partners.
When a client asks if fish oil can replace an antidepressant
What the evidence shows, why the decision stays with the prescriber, and language for the referral.