If You're Looking for Health or Weight Loss Coaching, Here's the Low Down

Pricing, services offered, who may benefit, how to schedule a free discovery call, time slots offered, and info on my certification.

I recently received many questions about my coaching practice so I thought I’d put all the answers in one place to refer people back to.

But first, let me remind you that tomorrow, Wednesday, September 25, I’m having office hours at 1 pm Pacific Time. The last two office hours were so much fun connecting with all of you! If you are a paid subscriber, you will receive instructions on how to log on in a separate email.

For this next meeting, instead of using Zoom, I’m going to use Substack’s video conferencing feature that just went live and is surprisingly easy to use. However, you’ll need the Substack app on your phone, iPad, or Tablet.

I have several questions queued up already, but it’s not too late to submit yours through the Substack chat feature. If you need a reminder about how to use Substack chat, go to this post.

Who could benefit from coaching?

Anyone who needs help getting started fasting, tweaking their weight loss, troubleshooting, or anyone in need of encouragement or tips.

I also offer sessions for those wanting nutritional therapies for type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases, nutritional support for cancer, diet to help with mental health issues, traumatic brain injuries or concussion, migraines, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, dementia, and MS.

Keep in mind that in advanced disease states, nutritional support can often keep a disease from progressing but should not be relied upon as a stand-alone cure. For example, my cancer and diabetes clients use nutritional support as an adjunct to other therapies they are receiving. A medical doctor doesn’t have an hour to spend talking about how nutrition can support healing. That’s where I come in.

How many people have you coached?

So far, I’ve coached 34 clients, and have only ever received positive feedback.

How often do people meet with you?

This is entirely up to you. Some people meet with me only once, and they are off and running on their own. Others choose to book every week, every other week, or once a month for accountability. Others choose to go several months and just rebook when needed.

The beauty of the software system I’m using is that you can book, cancel, and reschedule without contacting me. You decide how often you need coaching. There is no expectation to continue after each session. My goal is to launch people on their own.

How do I make an appointment?

Making an appointment is easy! Go to my coach landing page to see links for the 15-minute free discovery call, the 60-minute weight loss consult, and the 60-minute health consult.

What time slots do you offer?

Most of my time slots are during the day but I have some limited availability on Wednesday evenings for those who work during the day. Once you click on the type of appointment you’d like to make, you will be taken to a calendar showing my availability. It will only allow you to book 4 weeks out.

What kind of certification do you have?

I received my health coach certification from the Nutrition Network’s online training program founded by Dr. Timothy Noakes. The Nutrition Network has trained over 6,000 practitioners in over 100 countries.

After researching different programs, I picked this one because of the high caliber of lecturers. Several of the professors who trained me authored the definitive textbook on ketogenic therapies called Ketogenic: The Science of Therapeutic Carbohydrate Restriction in Human Health. I read a digital copy of this textbook (the hard copy costs $140), and I was thoroughly impressed by the level of scholarship that went into writing it.

I believe that the Nutrition Network represents the cutting edge in science for how fasting and carb restriction can transform numerous health problems. The Nutrition Network also offers various accredited tracks for doctors and other health professionals in addition to their programs for lay coaches which shows how rigorous the training is. The education I received from them was excellent.

What is Your Pricing? (Note: This is subject to change.)

You have three options:

1. You can book a free 15-minute discovery call with me so that I can assess your coaching needs and how my coaching could help you.

2. A one-hour weight loss consultation is $75.

3. A one-hour consultation to discuss a complicated health situation is $95. The reason for the higher price is that I do a lot of research before and after these appointments. The health consultation appointment includes a comprehensive email with detailed research and recommendations so you can understand the science behind my recommendations.

I need to lose weight but I also have some health complications. Which appointment should I book?

When in doubt, sign up for a 15-minute free discovery call, and I’ll help you determine which appointment is right for you. However, the appointment you choose will depend on the services you are interested in.

I put a lot of research into the health call whereas the weight loss call focuses more on strategies tailored to your unique situation. If you are interested in both services, let’s start with fixing your health first, and you can switch to being a weight loss client at any time.

What video service do you use to meet with clients?

I prefer to use a video service instead of a phone call for my appointments because video helps me make a personal connection by seeing someone's face. For those who have iPhones and/or Apple computers, I find FaceTime is the easiest program to use. For those who do not, we can use Zoom. If there is some reason why a video just can’t work, we can do a phone call as a last resort.

For local clients, I love to meet in person. I normally meet people at Silo’s and Social but if this is impractical, I am happy to come to your home as well.

What is unique about your coaching service?

I consider myself a sort of ChatGPT for aggregating alternative health research. Actual ChatGPT is terrible at this kind of thing and regularly tells me things that outright false because it’s been trained on mainstream big pharma dogma. Google and other search engines hide alternative cures from search results, even info in medical journals, in favor of big pharma supported results.

Alternatively, I’ve trained myself on the highest quality research I can possibly find. One strange thing about me is that I remember almost everything that I read. So that allows me to synthesize a lot of data and point people to out-of-the-box solutions that are surprisingly effective. A lot of what I do is point people to resources to check out for themselves. I’ve read enough to know what direction to point people when they have odd health problems. There are no guarantees, but I’m always surprised at how simple solutions can make huge health changes.

Do you give medical advice?

The only people who can offer medical advice are those board-certified by a medical licensing board. Not even a medical doctor can give out medical advice without first establishing a doctor/patient relationship. Therefore, nothing I say should be interpreted as medical advice. This means that if you have a problem in need of medical attention (stitches or appendectomy), I will tell you to go to your local urgent care or hospital. (Full disclosure: I do not perform stitches over Zoom. 🙃)

However, this is a free country (somewhat) with free speech (in theory), therefore, we are allowed to talk about any topic as long as both parties agree that what we are talking about does not constitute medical advice. The client assumes full responsibility for any foods eaten or not eaten. If you fast for 18 hours and then develop a slight headache, that’s on you.

Therefore, I require everyone to sign a waiver stating that they agree that my recommendations do not constitute medical advice, and they bear full responsibility for the outcome of their actions.

If you have any questions about coaching, don’t hesitate to ask me a question in the Substack chat. I’m trying to get better about responding right away to people. A few of you asked for coaching info over the summer when I was traveling, and I never responded and the messages got buried. If that was you, reach out again. I’ve come a long way in streamlining this process in the last few months.

Substack Tip of the Week

Lastly, allow me to draw your attention to the new Table of Contents feature that Substack just released. Note, this feature is only available on the web version of a post. It won’t work while reading an email or in the app.

When you are reading a post in your email inbox on a computer, simply click the title of the post to be taken to the web version of the post. If you are reading the email on your phone and you click the title, it will open the app if you have it downloaded, and then this feature won’t work. But if you don’t have the app, it will open the post in a browser and this feature should work.

Now that you’re on the web version of the post, you’ll see a some dashes over on the far left side of the post, just below the heading.

When you click on those dashes, a table of contents will pop up that is hyper linked to each heading so that when you click on a heading, it takes you straight to the section in the article.

This works on all of my old posts that have headings.

I think you’ll find it particularly helpful on longer posts such as this one:

Fast Well, Feast Well, and reach out for help if you need it,

Leslie

[This newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not designed as a substitute for medical advice. The reader bears responsibility for any advice taken. Talk to your doctor before beginning any dietary changes, especially if you are on medications for diabetes. Fasting while taking certain medications such as Metformin and especially insulin can lead to dangerously low blood sugars. If your doctor does not support fasting, search for a physician who will support your fasting journey. Fasting is not recommended for those pregnant, breastfeeding, or for children and teens still growing and developing. For those with diabetes, personal fasting coaches are available through Jason Fung’s site TheFastingMethod.com. I receive no compensation or ad revenue for anything in this newsletter including links to books, videos, websites, podcasts, or supplements with the exception of a book I contributed to called Yankee Doodle Soup, but I only receive compensation if someone writes “Taylor” in the box labeled “contributor’s code” during checkout.]