My initial wellness vision was to lose some weight to get healthier.

My Doctor recently prescribed a specialized diet to address some health issues, so I had to adapt to a new eating lifestyle. Mirabai has helped me every step of the way on modifying my diet and updating my old goals to new goals. With her help, I track my food on regular basis on MyFitnessPal so I can make sure I am adhering to a diet that is better for my health. My healthier eating has led to some great results! Following the diet prescribed by doctor, and with Mirabai’s help, I was able to lower my A1C and stop taking blood pressure medication.

She also helped me get on to a gentle regular exercise program. Together we designed a program to help me lose weight and reduce my stress. Then, when I had some orthopedic issues, Mirabai was there to help me adapt my exercises and helped me choose proper shoes for added stability.

Life changes are hard, but Mirabai is expert at helping with that. I found tracking on MyFitnessPal to be a nuisance at the beginning, but now I embrace it. With this tool, I can easily see if I am staying within my given parameters. And, during my sessions with Mirabai we spend time going over my food tracking to make sure I am staying on track and come up ways to make it easier to follow my special diet. It really helps me adhere to it knowing that Mirabai is reviewing my daily entries and holding me accountable.

I would highly recommend health coaching with Mirabai!

Mirabai and I are a good fit. She understands my needs and helps me make my changes my way.  She understands that one size does not fit all. Health coaching has made a real difference in my health and has improved my personal wellbeing.

Becky Roberts
Property Management

More health and fitness information and at home exercise programs from Mirabai Holland, Health Coach, visit www.mirabaiholland.com. 

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Health Coaching with Mirabai helped me define what was important and pressing for me to change if I wanted to live healthier. She helped me organize my thoughts so I was able to identify goals and develop my wellness vision. Then we were able to try different things until we found methods that worked for me, and that I could live with. This was not a cookie cutter approach. We tailored a program for MY individual way of doing things.

Mirabai never gave up on me when I was having trouble sticking to one of my methods. There was never any negative feedback, only encouragement and acceptance. If one thing didn’t work, we would work together to find a different way to go that would help achieve, or when necessary, adapt my goals and find more effective ways to accomplish them.

For example, part of my wellness vision was to learn to manage my sugar cravings. One of my strategies was to start tracking my food and sugar using the My Fitness Pal app. It gave me an idea as to how much sugar I was consuming on a daily basis. With that information I was able to substitute some of the sugar choices for healthier treats. I changed from eating full fat gelato or ice cream to Chilly Cow Light ice cream. It has less fat, less sugar, fewer calories and still tastes good.

I made lots of small changes based on very defined goals and that helped me. Reducing portion sizes, being conscious of calories, learning about nutrients vs. junk, and what is ACTUALLY IN the foods I was eating helped me want to make, and stick with, healthier choices. It’s not that I never have any junk or comfort food. But now I don’t do it often. And, when I do I can limit myself, so I don’t undo all the good I’ve done.

I’ve gotten really good results with this technique and I credit health coaching with Mirabai for helping show me how. My A1C went from 5.7 Prediabetic to 5.2 Normal. My Fasting Glucose went from 106 to 98 Normal. My total cholesterol went down to the 180s. My Triglycerides went down to 77.

Also, I never feel like I’m alone in this. Mirabai gives me good support. She is available between sessions to answer questions and to offer advice when I need it. This is not just a job to her – she’s dedicated, and she has my best interests at heart. She has a depth and breadth of health information at her disposal. And if she doesn’t know the answer off the top of her head, she knows how to do medical research so she’s able to find the information, then sends me links to what she finds.

I would definitely recommend health coaching with Mirabai to anyone looking to make healthy lifestyle changes.

Eileen Hansen
Utilities

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My wife Sharon introduced me to health coaching. She’s works for the county and she’s been working with Mirabai for a while. I saw her health and stress level improve tremendously, so I was open to health coaching. I wanted to improve my health, so I don’t decline. I had an idea of what I needed to change, but Mirabai took my ideas and helped me find ways to make healthy changes without turning my life upside down. And the great thing is, I had a ready-made support team with Sharon and Mirabai.

Over the last several months Mirabai has worked with Sharon and I together because we share common goals. We combine our two sessions into one mega session so we get a lot of time with Mirabai to work on our goals.

Food is a good example. Sharon loves to cook and Mirabai has helped us both read food labels and make healthier choices. After a lot of discussion, we decided that a Mediterranean style diet worked best for both of us. I work in the grocery business, so now that we’re doing this together, I get a lot of texts from Sharon about what healthy stuff to bring home for dinner. Frozen foods are high profit items in the grocery business and some of them are very good, but you have to be careful and read those labels because a lot of them are processed and have all kinds of junk in them. We’ve put an emphasis on fresh food.

I’m 61 now and I’ve worked in groceries since I was 17. My job is physical. I’m lifting heavy boxes, 60-70 pounds off and on all day. When my 8-10-hour shift is over I really feel like having a beer or two. But it wasn’t good for my weight or my blood sugar. Diabetes runs in my family and between poor food choices and a couple of beers after work, my sugar was bordering on diabetic and my weight was up about 12 pounds. My blood pressure was high, too. Mirabai knew not to ask me to give up having a beer after a long day. She suggested I consciously cut down by an amount that I choose and not stop entirely. I was able to have one instead of two and eventually not do it every night. Not having a beer before I go to sleep actually helped me sleep better and wake up less lethargic.

Exercise, particularly stretching, has also helped me tremendously. I’m leaning over quite a bit at work and 40 years of that have taken a toll on my lower back. I’m on my feet a lot too and I’ve had issues with my knees. Mirabai suggested that stretching could help relieve both issues, so I tried it. Now I’m doing some back stretches even at work and I have less pain. Stretching with the latex band has given me some good relief for my knees too.

The combination of Mirabai’s coaching and Sharon’s support has helped me make a real difference in my health. I lost those 12 pounds, my BMI went from 26.4 to 25.7, my Blood Pressure went from 133/78 to 123/71, and my Glucose went from 112 to 96.

Mirabai, Sharon and I are a great tag team and our results prove it. If people are willing to change and have the right frame of mind, you can do it. I would recommend health coaching to help you find out how to focus on what you want to change and get it done.

Mark Tarman
YourChoice Member

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Because of my experience with Mirabai, I believe everyone should have a Health Coach.  The benefits are immeasureable!  I made the decision to call a Health Coach when I learned that my A1C level was raised and I was pre-diabetic.  My cholesterol was in the 300s.  I had gained 25 pounds without even noticing.  I knew something needed to change and I couldn’t do it on my own.  I have been talking with Mirabai for over a year and it has been a very positive experience.  I call her my food cheerleader.  She has continued to boost my morale, give me the hope and the strength to continue my journey to a better, healthier eating life.  I have learned so-o much and learned better alternatives for my poorer choices that I used to make.  Knowledge is power. 

Even when I didn’t exactly keep to the plan, she never berated me.  She would point out the good things that I DID do.  “It’s baby steps”, she’d say.  “You’ve been thinking like this for a long time”.   I started doing things right, just a little bit a time.  It’s OK to fall off the plan, as long as you get back on the plan.  It hasn’t been easy.  It’s a way of thinking and I’ve been thinking wrong for a long time.  It’s been imbedded in my memory banks since childhood. 

Mirabai is very knowledgeable about a lot of varied topics that are very helpful.  She knows me now and she tries her very best to say what is best for me.  She knows I’m going to eat that chocolate at the pot luck, but she says that it’s OK.  I never feel bad about myself for not meeting my own expectations.

I have lost those 25 pounds, which was my goal. My A1C is now below the pre-diabetic numbers and my doctor told me to cut my cholesterol pills in half!  I feel good physically and I feel good about myself.  AND I look good!
Thanks Mirabai

Chris Palmer: Health Coaching Testimonial

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I started Health coaching because my A1C was 5.7 and I wanted to get it down. I was also concerned about my low bone mass, I wanted to lose weight, and do something about lowering my stress level. Health coaching with Mirabai helped me figure out what to do and put my goals into action.

First, to tackle my A1C, I started to add more fiber to my diet like eating more beans, and I cut back on my sugar by drinking less sweet alcoholic drinks. My A1-C went from 5.7 to 5.2.

I used food tracking to log my food mostly on a daily basis; and during my sessions with Mirabai we would go over all of my food and look not only at the calories but what nutrients were important and how to measure the different foods so that I was addressing my health needs.

We not only discussed the mechanics of what to do but we also created a way to make these changes express my inner creativity. For instance, I took photos of my food and took time to make the food on the plate look beautiful and appetizing. It was not just a routine, which can get boring; we made accountability fun.

Since I have low bone mass we looked at the amount of calcium that I needed to have on a daily basis and I combined eating calcium and vitamin D rich foods with taking half of the amount of a calcium supplement of 600mg. I was striving to have about 1200 mg of calcium a day due to my age.

We developed an exercise program together. I started to exercise on a more consistent basis and increased my exercise to 30 minutes of cardio three times a week and two days of strength training plus stretching morning and evening for about 15 minutes each time. I also started to do 5k’s once a month. Now, if don’t workout I really miss it and feel not as energetic both mentally and physically.

I also use Fitbit to help me track my exercise, walking and how many hours I sleep each night. I was getting 5-7 hours and it was not always restful. During one of my health coaching sessions, Mirabai encouraged me to change my schedule so I would get 8 hours of sleep, which made me feel physically better and able to be more productive at my job and at home. It made me able to cope better with stress.

I took notes every time I had a session with Mirabai as well as keep a journal of my thoughts and progress between sessions. This helped me stay on track. Putting it into writing, it put things in perspective. I could refer back to it and I could see what I was aiming for and not get lost along the way.

It was easy having the support from coaching with Mirabai to help me adapt and overcome issues that could have stopped me from continuing on this road of health and wellness.

It was hard sticking with it during a time when my health took a turn. But, I was able to work with Mirabai to adapt my short-term goals so that I didn’t have to completely reverse all the good habits and what we had accomplished. I just had to slow down and build up staying in my comfort zone. And Mirabai supported me and gave me the confidence I could do that.

Health coaching its not a quick fix because you are changing lifelong habits and behaviors that have taken many years to develop. And just because they feel familiar it doesn’t mean they are good for you. In order to change my behavior, it took time and patience. Now these changes don’t feel like changes; they are part of my every day life. And they serve as a strong foundation for future goals that I would like to accomplish.

As a health coach Mirabai was a perfect fit. Mirabai’s approach was to listen, to work around my schedule, to form goals for things I actually like and wanted to do, and to find pleasure in the process in changing my behavior to live a healthier and happier life.

I would recommend Health Coaching to anybody who needs to make a change in their behavior and put it into practice to help promote a better and healthier life for themselves.

Sally Cook
Building and Development Services

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