The information overwhelm - why too much health advice isn't helping us get healthy

We're bombarded with instructions and advice about our health all the time - eat more protein! Fewer carbs! Count calories! Never count calories, count macros! Do more high intensity exercise! Do more Zone 2 training! Relax more! Move more! We've never had as much information at our fingertips, or more people giving advice about what we should and shouldn't be doing. It's everywhere. Articles, books, podcasts, influencers, our best friend, our best friend's mum. Frankly, it's exhausting. Not to mention often contradictory or confusing. It can leave us feeling overwhelmed, guilty, or stuck, unsure which way to go.

We also (if we're honest) don't really like being told what to do. There's something about being told we 'should' do something which makes many of us think - I'd rather not, actually, thanks.

That's not for me. It doesn't fit into my life. I don't want to go to a brightly lit gym five times a week. I don't want to eat salad for lunch every day. The data shows that even when we've had a major health scare and been told to transform our diets and exercise routines, few people follow through. A recent study found that only 14% of heart disease patients changed their diets after diagnosis, despite knowing it could really help their health and bring instructed to do so by a doctor 

So why is it often so hard to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and stick to it? And how can coaching help?

My take is that great health means and looks so different for each of us, and it changes throughout our lives too. There is no one set of golden rules that we can all adopt and which will make us all feel great. Wanting to feel healthy and living accordingly has to come from us - not through being told what to do by someone else. We're all unique - our bodies, metabolisms, aspirations, challenges, responsibilities, preferences. And that means we need to take some time to work out what being really well actually looks like for each of us. It might be about regaining our energy and sense of positivity. It might be about running our first 5km. It might be about tackling stress so we can find real rest and peace within our busy lives. Whatever it is, it takes a bit of free, uncluttered time and space to really reflect on this. 

And once we know what we want and how we want to feel, the next step is to work out how we're actually going to achieve it. Not in a vague, I'll start a diet or do more exercise kind of way. But in a - on Tuesday, I'll start a yoga class at that place round the corner sort of way. Or every Sunday, I'm going to find a new recipe to cook for the week that looks tasty, nutritious and quick to make. It's easy to make sweeping resolutions, but less easy to really make it happen, consistently, on a day basis. 

And that's where health coaching can make all the difference. I help my clients work out what good health actually looks like and feels like for them - not their friend, or their mum, or the influencer. And we work through how they can make that happen through realistic, achievable actions that my clients come up with themselves. Each week we then celebrate the wins, assess the challenges and blocks that have come up, and put some new actions in place. There’s such power in taking back control of your own health, tuning out 99% of the health ‘noise’ around you and focussing on your own path.