After exploring exercise as the first topic of health and fitness goals, as promised, this next blog looks at diet (motivation will be the final topic to round out the health and fitness goal blogs). Diet (the food consumed by an individual) impacts nutrition (the process of using the food consumed for metabolism, growth, and tissue repair) and is an important consideration for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Just like before starting an exercise regime, you want a consultation with your Doctor before making big changes to diet. This is especially important if you have health issues or regular medication. Getting a blood test as a baseline before a diet change may also be really useful to monitor any potential deficiencies or if you have targeted goals such as reducing cholesterol. Registered Dietitians may be another useful health professional to consult.

Just like with exercise, when exploring diet I took the opportunity to expand my knowledge around food and nutrition. Again, I turned to the edX online learning platform and two excellent courses by Wageningen University and Research on Nutrition and Health: Macronutrients and Overnutrition, and Micronutrients and Malnutrition. I found the courses very informative and a great insight into how to examine the many claims around food and diets that we are bombarded with online. The basic principles of nutrition are explained well and you advance through different topics including weight management and nutrition in sports. The micronutrients course allowed me to really explore and consider vitamin supplements (a lack of support in general for their benefit, unless you have a specific medical condition requiring vitamin supplementation), fortification, and dietary diversification. The courses can be completed for free.

After consulting a Doctor (perhaps a registered dietitian too) and gaining a greater understanding of food and nutrition through a reliable source, you are then in a great position to start making goals with a coach. Moving from idea to implementation is a great way to use coaching. You are the expert on you, and with your coach should be able to come up with a strategy and ways to be accountable in your new diet journey and perhaps to incorporate this with your new exercise routine as well.