Why an holistic approach to health doesn’t work

…did that get your attention? Me, a former holistic health coach and big proponent of the CHEK approach to health claiming it doesn’t work? What’s going on?

I don’t know what it is but I’ve had a nagging feeling recently that all is not as it should be.

I think it was triggered by an article I read in the Sunday Times a week or so ago. It was about the experience & expectations of the journalist who had just hired a leading UK personal trainer for a 4 week blast to get rid of a little paunch round her middle.

I can’t put my finger on it but there was something about what she wrote that triggered something in my brain – and it’s been languishing there as a partially-formed idea ever since. It’s bugging me, so I’m writing this in an attempt to coax it out.

I think it’s got to do with the fact that so many people use the term “holistic” nowadays that it’s boring.

It no longer means anything and it seems to be simply another adjective that people use when they want to convey that their approach is something more than average, something special and something better.

Except it’s usually not. It’s usually the same old stuff that pays lip service to a holistic approach.

I am not saying that a truly holistic approach to health doesn’t work – quite the contrary, I still believe it is the only approach to health one should take.

What I am saying is that if you are a CHEK practitioner, a CHEK exercise Coach or a CHEK Holistic Lifestyle Coach (aaagh, there’s that term again) or anyone who works in the health & fitness industry, it might be an idea to move ahead of the game and not continue to follow the crowd.

In my humble opinion, “holistic” health is just another term that goes straight over most people’s heads.

All they really, really want to know is…can you help them? If you don’t answer an emphatic and confident “YES” within the first sentence or two, you’ve probably lost them before you’ve even got to second base.