Why I became a health coach
I feel passionately about is helping people who have little hope and no where else to turn. That was me 20 years ago. Disillusioned by a medical system that was not built to help me, despite having good medical insurance.
Because IBS is not real disease (just a way to describe a collection of mysterious digestive symptoms with no known treatment), doctors can’t offer any real help. But can do psychological or emotional damage when they say IBS is “incurable” or “in our heads”.
Pharmaceuticals don’t help, addressing symptoms at best. We are left searching for a new paradigm and that can be isolating and scary. It is hard to keep hope alive.
The Internet offers alternative medical advice but there’s too much information and much of it contradictory. This leads to overwhelm.
I became a health coach to help people who are stuck between hopelessness and overwhelm.
My personal and professional experience taught me that IBS is a individual health puzzle to unravel.
It is our body’s way to communicating to us that the way we live our lives is not working for us. For example, it could be our habits of eating, sleeping, working, exercising or doing too much or our mindset of worrying, feeling powerless, paranoid or feeling stuck in unhappy relationships or a toxic job.
IBS is a sign that something is not working for us. And it is a very loud and motivating invitation to learn, grow and change.
Because of our sensitive bodies and souls, we can’t endure the unhealthy habits and addictions of the rest of the population. We need to know ourselves and take good care.
The IBS personality
People with IBS feel things deeply, notice things that others don’t, have empathetic hearts and strive for excellence/perfection in everything they do.
Our minds don’t shut off, it’s hard for our bodies to relax, we can be extremist and push ourselves past our limits. Our bodies seem extremely reactive to our thoughts and emotions. Other people don’t seem to understand the intensity we feel and live with.
The fact that there’s an IBS personality has fascinated me for years. It’s not a coincidence. And working with this personality to calm anxiety, a sensitive nervous system and perfectionistic tendencies lead to progress and alleviation of physical symptoms.
How this happens, I don’t know, I just noticed that it does for just about everyone who works on it.
These are the areas of gut health that I’m deeply studying not only to help my clients feel better but to keep my own gut health in line. The one time in 14 years that I had a relapse of symptoms I was able to clear it in 6 weeks by using these mind body principles I’ve learned.
What is a health coach?
A health coach is not a doctor or a nutritionist. Our approach is much more comprehensive and personalized.
We are in the trenches with you every step of the way as you face the challenges of healing your body and mind.
In my health coaching practice I use a wholistic approach. A mix of functional testing to look for pathogens, dietary counseling, supplements and a mind body approaches to gut health. Health coaches address the whole person. You are more than a stomach, small intestine and large intestine. We work with other organs, your nervous system and vagus nerve to improve digestive function and balance the bacterial environment.
I mostly use the GI Map and SIBO breath test in my practice to give clients the answers they seek. Proving that it is not just in their head.
Diet is probably the trickiest part of a healing protocol. Food is emotional so I help people eat as diverse diet as possible without fearing food. We pinpoint food sensitivities, calm inflammation and diversify the biome. a
We optimize digestion by balancing stomach acid, enzyme production, bile flow, as well as learning some food prep tricks that make food easier to digest.
We support the immune system by looking at bacteria killers and feeders and emphasizing the later.
It about more than just adding fermented foods and probiotics to your life.
Health coaches also offer a level of emotional support that other practitioners do not. Having a capable guide at your disposal helps alleviate the anxiety of doing it alone. I hold their hand through the entire process just like my coach did for me 14 years ago.
What a health coach doesn’t do
Health coaches do not practice medicine, we practice a whole person approach to restoring the gut. Not only will this bring symptom relief, but most importantly it will keep you healthy as you age. I teach my clients how to care for themselves for a lifetime.
Health coaches don’t treat symptoms, we track symptoms.
We don’t prescribe, we recommend a course of action.
We don’t diagnose, we assess by collecting information from functional test results, health history info and our health coaching conversations. I respect my client’s intuition and help clear their confusion.
Health coaches empower clients to heal themselves. Doctors treat disease. IBS is not a disease.
Health coaching was the only thing that worked in addressing IBS, after 6 years of trying on my own.
The power of mind body coaching
Excessive cortisol production is one of the biggest ways stress affects our digestive and immune function. Cortisol is an anti inflammatory hormone produced by our adrenal glands when we are anxious, stressed or inflamed. Eating foods that are tagged as inflammatory by our immune system can produce as much cortisol as an anxiety attack.
When cortisol runs through the system, digestion takes a back seat as the body prepares for fighting or fleeing. Cortisol also wears away the protective mucosal lining of the gut, leading to a permeable gut lining. This in turn leads to food allergies, environmental allergies and joint/body pain. These symptoms stress body and mind and perpetuate the cortisol cycle.
I work with my clients to stem this cortisol cycle, which is usually the missing piece of gut healing. You could be eating a clean diet, taking the right supplements, and moving your body but if there’s cortisol running through your body on a regular basis you won’t get the results or relief you want.
Working with my clients on issues like perfectionism, striving, fear, people pleasing, doubt/lack of trust can open up the doorway to true healing, mind, body and spirit.
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease, but a cry for help from a gut out of balance. When the body AND mind are complaining, it’s an opportunity to examine what’s not working and change it. After solving her own IBS mystery almost two decades ago, Angela became as a health coach to help others. Angela uses root cause medicine protocols personalized to the individual to solve each IBS mystery. Her tools are lab testing, dietary changes, supplementation, subconscious mind work and nervous system rebalancing . Learn more here.