I’d like to introduce you to my friend Vincent Savino. This introduction means a lot because he almost died before I met him. Vincent is from New Bedford, Massachusetts, and wields a strong and proud New England accent. A few years ago, he suffered a widowmaker heart attack and was brought back to life thanks to emergency medicine (including, as he calls it, “See Pee Ahh” — as you’ll hear in this inspiring video about his journey).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRGtWJaPQZc
As he recovered from this life-changing (almost life-ending) event, Vincent became determined not to spend the rest of his years living in constant fear of another heart attack. Nor did he want to become dependent on medications for his survival.
Desperate for answers, Vincent scoured the internet, and through this search, he discovered the life-changing power of plant-based nutrition.
Vincent adopted a plant-based diet and soon validated that research for himself. His cholesterol dropped, the damage to his arteries began to reverse, and, to his surprise, he found himself with more energy and mental clarity than he’d experienced in decades.
Vincent felt he had a second chance at life and wanted to share what he’d discovered with others. He knew that heart disease was the leading cause of death on the planet and that most heart attacks could be prevented.
Since then, it’s become Vincent’s mission to help as many people as possible understand the power of diet and lifestyle to heal lives and implement positive, health-promoting choices.
What Is Lifestyle Medicine?
A growing body of research is showing us that lifestyle medicine, which features a whole food, plant-based diet, can help prevent not only heart disease but also Alzheimer’s, cancer, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and many other conditions.
And now, the lifestyle medicine revolution is beginning to take off. Since the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine began certification in 2017, 3,075 physicians in the U.S. and 1,263 other health professionals have become board-certified in lifestyle medicine. Worldwide, clinicians have now been certified in 75 countries.
Rather than relying on prescriptions and procedures to manage disease progression, patients who opt for a lifestyle approach can often largely manage their health, reclaiming control over their destinies.
However, that huge advantage is also a problem for some. Patients fortunate enough to get such sound health advice from a lifestyle-minded healthcare practitioner (or who, like Vincent, stumble across their information on their own) may encounter what is called the “knowing-doing gap”: in other words, the disconnect between what someone knows and what they do. That gap can lead to frustration, lack of confidence in making good choices, and even guilt and shame. That’s where coaching comes in.
As more healthcare providers, clinics, and wellness centers adopt lifestyle medicine principles, many practitioners are beginning to integrate coaches into their practices to help patients get lasting results.
Why Is Coaching Helpful?
The truth is making changes and building habits is hard to do alone. But there’s a lot of research about how to do so effectively.
Coaches can provide the support and guidance people need to make lasting changes while helping their clients set meaningful and realistic goals. They provide structure and help clients not just change for a day but create new habits that can last a lifetime.
Coaching can offer accountability for progress — sort of like “training wheels” until the client learns to balance, pedal, and steer on their own. It also supports clients in brainstorming and trying different approaches to change, treating them as experiments. So even when a particular attempt doesn’t lead to sustainable success, the client learns, grows, and feels positive about their progress.
In other words, coaching significantly increases the likelihood of long-term commitment to and execution of positive change.
What Is a Plant-Based Coach?
The scope of practice for a coach, particularly a health coach, focuses on guiding clients through behavior change, goal-setting, and accountability rather than prescribing specific dietary plans or treatments.
Plant-based coaches, in particular, specialize in helping people add more whole and unprocessed plant-based foods to their diets and overcome any real or imagined hurdles that might get in the way. You don’t have to be fully vegan or vegetarian to be a plant-based coach, nor do your clients (although it can help with many conditions!).
Plant-based lifestyle coaching helps clients explore their motivations, overcome obstacles, and build sustainable habits that align with their wellness goals, typically in areas like diet, exercise, stress management, and overall lifestyle. Coaches use techniques like deep listening, reflecting and reframing, motivational interviewing, and goal tracking to support clients in taking action.
Being a plant-based coach is about meeting people where they are and empowering them to define and execute their wellness goals in a way that works for them. Coaching offers a space for people to explore and celebrate a healthier, more sustainable way of eating — one step and one meal at a time.
In contrast, dietitians and nutritionists (who have different standing and credentials) have formal training in nutrition science. They can provide personalized nutrition advice, create therapeutic meal plans, and address medical conditions through diet. However, they may not know much about how to help their clients put advice into action.
This is the difference between designing a treatment plan and helping a person to make lasting habit changes. For some people, it can be the difference between knowing what to do and doing what they know.
Coaching is an orientation and a profession. Some dietitians, nutritionists, nurses, doctors, and other healthcare professionals also train as coaches to better serve and support their patients.
Where Do Plant-Based Coaches Work?
Most plant-based coaches work with clients one-on-one or in small groups, helping them make personalized changes to their diet and lifestyle. While many people are drawn to becoming entrepreneurs and starting their own coaching business, it’s important to recognize that there are other ways to make a meaningful impact.
For some, the stability, collaboration, and structure of working within a team or organization are incredibly appealing. Finding employment in a clinic, wellness center, or other health-focused setting offers the chance to leverage professional skills in a supportive environment surrounded by like-minded colleagues.
This path allows individuals to focus on their passion for helping others without the additional pressures of running a business. Some plant-based coaches work in doctors’ offices, hospitals, or wellness centers, while others serve as consultants in health food stores. Some coaches become in-house experts at gyms, spas, and yoga studios or work as wellness consultants in corporate settings.
Some channel their passion into cooking, working as chefs or recipe developers for private clients, meal-prep services, or plant-based restaurants. And some create online programs, while others speak at events and lead workshops.
There are also coaches who make their mark as bloggers or social media influencers, spreading the message of plant-based living worldwide.
How Much Money Do Coaches Earn?
Given the wide variety of ways coaches can work in the world, the short and wildly unsatisfactory answer to how much plant-based coaches can make is — it depends. Health and wellness coaches (this includes plant-based coaches) can earn a wide range of incomes depending on their experience, qualifications, niche, who they decide to work for, and how they structure their business.
But let’s look at some averages. As of October 1, 2024, Salary.com reported that the average annual salary for a Health and Wellness Coach employed by a larger US organization was between $52,991 and $81,266.
Working as an employed health coach can offer the advantage of a steady income, providing financial security and stability, along with benefits like health insurance, training opportunities, and an existing client base — all valuable resources that support growth.
It also frees coaches from the challenges of running a business, such as marketing costs and billing. However, fixed salaries offer less room for quick income growth, and the employer often sets the schedule and methodologies, reducing the flexibility and autonomy many coaches thrive on.
Additionally, following a company’s coaching approach can sometimes restrict a coach’s ability to offer the deeply personalized, creative guidance that makes this work so fulfilling. Yet, within these constraints, coaches can still make a meaningful impact. The key is finding an environment where you can bring your passion to life.
Entrepreneurial Health Coaching
Entrepreneurial-minded coaches who pursue private coaching can enjoy tremendous flexibility and autonomy. This coaching setup allows them to set personal schedules, choose the right clients, and tailor coaching methods.
Earning potential is also uncapped as an entrepreneur. Coaches can expand their impact and income through personalized sessions, group workshops, digital products, books, and online courses. They can also avail themselves of opportunities like public speaking, consulting for corporate wellness programs, and partnerships. The key to success on this path is business sense and the ability to build and market a personal brand, which can open doors and lead to growth.
However, this path comes with challenges, including inconsistent income in the early stages, managing all aspects of a business (from marketing to accounting), and the ongoing effort to acquire clients. The rewards come from the freedom to innovate, serve others, and scale impact and earnings meaningfully.
Challenges Plant-Based Coaches Face and the Training to Tackle Them!
I wish that plant-based coaching was as easy as handing clients a meal plan or shopping list and saying, “Do that!”
Of course, coaches would not be needed if making change were that easy. In fact, clients present many obstacles for us to overcome.
Some common challenges include resistance to changing long-established habits, confusion due to misinformation about plant-based diets, emotional eating patterns, and societal pressures that oppose adopting a plant-based lifestyle.
Once you’ve learned, practiced, and mastered a few key techniques, you can help people overcome these obstacles through skillful coaching. A couple of these techniques include deep listening — which builds trust by making clients feel understood, validated, and supported — and motivational interviewing — which helps clients tap into their reasons for change and empowers them to experiment with and commit to new habits.
Staying informed through continued education allows coaches to address client misconceptions with confidence and up-to-date knowledge, guiding them toward sustainable, healthier choices. That’s why it’s key that plant-based coaches are well-educated, not just in coaching techniques but in plant-based nutrition in general.
Coaches need to master the science of plant-based lifestyles and effective coaching techniques to help clients make lasting changes that improve their health outcomes.
Gaining solid plant-based lifestyle education can build the expertise and credibility needed to confidently guide clients on their health-promoting journey.
Food Revolution Network’s Plant-Based Coaching Certification
Recognizing the need to support our plant-forward community with the science of behavior change, FRN launched its Plant-Based Coaching Certification (PBCC) in 2023.
The program aims to empower a compassionate community of leaders with the nutritional knowledge, coaching skills, and impact strategies needed to support healthy, ethical, and sustainable transformation for clients, communities, and the planet.
To learn more about FRN’s approach to plant-based coaching, you can register for a free masterclass: “How to Help People Get Healthy & Spread The Food Revolution as a Plant-Based Coach.”
Register for the masterclass here.
FRN’s certification covers more than just the science of plant-based diets and practical coaching techniques. It also teaches effective strategies for real-world impact through entrepreneurship, employment, or community engagement.
In other words, FRN equips coaches to thrive as changemakers.
Other Coaching Resources
FRN is not the only game in town. There are some other great plant-based nutrition programs out there (although these do not offer training in coaching or marketing).
- T. Colin Campbell’s Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate
- AFPA Plant-Based Nutrition Specialist Certification
- Physicians Committee’s Food for Life Training Course
There is also an abundance of health coaching programs that aren’t specifically plant-based. Some do, and some don’t, include training in business and marketing.
Here are three of the most popular ones:
Coaching Standards to Consider
While you can earn a certification in plant-based coaching from FRN, no official governing body grants you the title of a “qualified” plant-based coach. That means you have the freedom to shape your path!
The National Board of Health & Wellness Coaches (NBHWC) is a premier certifying body that sets health and wellness coaching standards in the United States. It approves training programs that qualify students to sit for the National Board Certification Exam.
NBHWC-certified coaches have access to expanded employment opportunities and the potential, in some contexts, to be able to bill insurance for service to clients.
Many FRN-certified plant-based coaches go on to earn NBHWC certification. Graduates of FRN’s Plant-Based Coaching Certification (PBCC) program have exclusive access to a fast-track pathway and a $2,000 tuition discount through FRN’s partnership with Lifestyle Prescriptions University, an NBHWC-approved program provider.
Finding the Right Niche
If you want to get started with coaching, work with friends and family members who want to change their diets to become healthier. Many coaches quickly branch out for greater impact and earning power. Every coach’s journey is different, so finding a niche that resonates with your passion and skills is important.
Whether you specialize in one-on-one coaching, group programs, or community education, finding your niche will help you connect with clients more effectively.
Going beyond nutrition education and considering real-world applications may help identify who you want to serve and how you want to do so. Like Vincent, some coaches might even consider their personal health challenges inspiring.
FRN-certified plant-based coach Adrienne Davis found her niche when she guided her husband through a 30-day plant-based experiment that helped him reverse his diabetes and change his life for the better. She now works with people in her community who have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, sharing the message that diet can fix what pills can only manage and giving them tools and skills to nurse themselves back to health. You might say her coaching niche found her!
You can hear Adrienne’s inspiring story in her own words here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqxLja5lLws
The Best Time to Become a Plant-Based Coach
I love the saying, “The best time to plant a tree was thirty years ago, and the second best time is now.”
This sentiment is also true when it comes to becoming a plant-based coach. For decades, the medical establishment more or less ignored lifestyle and diet. But now, lifestyle and diet are finally gaining serious recognition as front-line tools for prevention and treatment.
Health coaches are becoming more essential than ever as people seek to control their well-being and lower healthcare costs. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicted a 7% growth in jobs for health educators, including health and wellness coaches, between 2023 and 2033 — faster than the average growth for all occupations.
This rise is driven by a growing awareness that our health is something we can actively shape. Many people are turning to health coaches to help guide them on their path to vibrant living.
How mainstream is this going? Even The New York Times emphasized the importance of health coaches in their article “We Could All Use a Health Coach,” illustrating just how vital this role has become in today’s wellness landscape.
And health coaching will become even more vital in the coming decades. One reason for this is the predicted shortage of physicians in the US. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the shortfall could approach 86,000 physicians by 2036. This would leave patients waiting weeks or even months for appointments. Many would argue that excessive waiting is already happening!
That’s partly because primary healthcare providers are experiencing burnout at record rates. According to surveys in Medscape’s Physician Burnout & Depression Report 2024, up to 49% of doctors experienced burnout in 2024!
Plant-based coaches are emerging as a vital solution to an overburdened healthcare system facing practitioner burnout, doctor shortages, and long waits for routine and specialized care.
Coaches can help reduce the burden on healthcare providers by supporting clients in adopting healthy diets, improving overall wellness, and managing chronic conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
With healthcare costs driven by preventable lifestyle diseases, these coaches can play a crucial role in helping people reclaim their health, reducing the need for frequent medical interventions, and ultimately relieving pressure on an overtaxed healthcare system.
The Big Picture
As more people become concerned about the environmental impact of their food choices, the shift toward plant-based diets is accelerating. This trend is driven by increasing consumer awareness of the connection between diet, climate change, and sustainability, pushing more people to reduce meat consumption and seek plant-based alternatives and guidance.
There’s a saying that we need to think globally and act locally. You can’t get a lot more global in impact or more local in action than the food on your plate!
Being the Change
If you’re passionate about influencing policies and fostering systemic shifts toward a more plant-based world, you may sometimes feel frustrated. It can be so hard to get people to listen and take action!
But there’s a lot you can do, and having coaching skills and certification can greatly expand your options for effective advocacy. Whether you’re passionate about impacting your local community or scaling your efforts globally, you can advocate for policy changes that promote healthier, more sustainable food systems.
The ripple effect of your efforts can drive lasting change from local neighborhoods to larger societal movements.
The truth is, there’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to being a food revolutionary or a plant-based coach. The possibilities for structuring your day-to-day work are wide open, offering you a wealth of flexibility and room to grow in the direction that aligns with your passion and your skills.
If you become a plant-based coach, you can ride this wave and guide the movement forward. You can make a meaningful impact in people’s lives in a way that nourishes you rather than burning you out.
Whether or not you become a plant-based coach, there are many ways that you can help people shift towards a healthier and more plant-based diet. And when you do, you’re also promoting a healthier and more sustainable future for the planet and all the beings that depend on it for life.
Tell us in the comments:
- Do you ever find yourself “preaching” or “teaching” the people around you about healthy eating?
- Have you ever struggled to make changes to your diet? What was that like?
- Have you considered learning how to coach people to make meaningful and lasting changes to their diets and lifestyles?
Featured Image: iStock.com/EyeEm Mobile GmbH
