Every patient has their own personal health goals. What do they want to see? What do they want to achieve with their diet interventions? Why are they doing this? What would success look like?
“List your top 3 health goals”
That’s the first question I ask in my assessment form at beginning of the onboarding. Below are the actual anonymized responses I’ve received from members over the year. The responses are in alphabetical order so you can see some common themes and challenges.
Take a look at the responses.
Do any of these goals resonate with you?
What are your top 3 health goals?
What would life look like for you if you achieved one of them?
What if you achieved all 3 goals!
This is the power of dietary and lifestyle interventions. My programs and protocols help you to identify roadblocks and break down hurdles. I then offer a step-by-step roadmap for you to implement specific interventions that help you to reach your own health goals. The first step is defining what they are.
Act on this
- Browse through the goals shown below.
- Consider what might be your top 3 health goals.
- Add your comments at the bottom of this post.
The first step I take is to align your interventions with your health goals. That’s how you stop spinning in circles and instead start moving forward.
Health goals of patients I have supported over the years…
| Achieve remission from Crohn’s |
| Achieve remission, ideally not requiring biologics or prednisone |
| achieve sustainable dietary modifications that will still allow me to eat with my family, go out to eat, travel etc |
| Address dysbiosis with causing SIBO/SIFO symptoms |
| Anemia of chronic disease (low RBC, low hemoglobin hematocrit) normal iron studies Low protien, low calcium |
| be able exercise normally and run on my own accord without interference |
| Be able to engage in cardio activity again |
| Be able to enjoy food again |
| Be able to have fully formed bowel movements |
| Be able to live a normal life without feeling like my symptoms control me |
| be fully functional and back normal without excuse |
| Be in best possible nutritional health |
| be in remission of Ulcerative Colitis and have a lifestyle that makes it stay like that forever |
| Be ready for travel after Covid |
| Be well enough to continue to live in St Lucia and keep on with our work as missionaries Eg not need to return to Canada for special care |
| Better sleep pattern |
| Bloating |
| Build muscle |
| Chrons Disease |
| Clinical remission of Crohn’s Disease |
| Clinical remission without medication |
| Consistent exercise routine |
| Continue to gain muscle |
| Control food allergies and inflammation in body |
| Control my symptoms |
| Cook more |
| Cook more |
| Create a healthy well rounded diet that allows me to get the nutrition I need |
| Create a system that allows for me to eat appropriate foods as conveniently as possible |
| Crohn’s management |
| Crohn’s disease |
| Crohn’s Remission and Healing |
| Cultivate a solid enough base for my own health so that I feel safe and motivated to help others achieve their own health goals |
| Decrease my symptoms |
| Determine sustainable dietary menu that supports above and maintains healthy weight |
| Develop a healthy nutritional plan that works for my personal schedule, fits my physical needs and is easily repeatable |
| Develop lifetime guidelines for optimal health based on my specific needs |
| Diabetes |
| Digest foods I haven’t been able to before |
| Digestive Issues – diarrhea/constipation |
| Digestive issues (bloating, gas, stomach burn’) |
| Eat a clean fresh diet |
| Eat better |
| Eat better |
| Eating to reduce inflammation (blood,mucus, urgency) |
| Eating to sustain breastfeeding newborn |
| Effects of diet on Crohn’s flares |
| Eliminate bloating |
| Eliminate intestinal inflammation caused by Crohn’s disease |
| Eliminate, or significantly reduce symptoms of ulcerative colitis |
| Energy |
| Energy level |
| Expand diet without causing symptoms |
| Expand/reintroduce foods into diet that are minimally invasive |
| Explore what foods do/don’t cause a reaction when eaten |
| Extremely active ready to hike and ski again |
| Fatigue/ weakness |
| Feel good |
| Feel healthy |
| Feel healthy overall like I used to |
| Feel mentally and emotionally healthy |
| Feel well physically and mentally |
| Fertility / future pregnancies |
| Fewer BMs |
| Fewer food sensitivities |
| Fibromyalgia (inflammation) |
| Figuring how my diet is contributing to my UC flare-ups so that I can make reliable, informed, worry-free daily decisions about what I eat |
| Find a long-term solution to GI issues so this doesn’t happen again |
| Find healthier food options |
| Find out what foods are good to eat and which foods to avoid for my condition |
| Finding foods that are satisfying and mentally help me |
| Fix my inflamation and digestive system issues |
| FODMAPs are still extremely limited, would like to overcome that |
| food allergies |
| Food choices when symptoms are worse |
| Freedom from Remicade through diet I want to succeed on the SCD and get off this medication |
| gain strength, improve my blood pressure, improve iron count, and no pain in my rectal area |
| Gain weight |
| Gain weight |
| Gain weight |
| Gain weight |
| gain weight and muscle mass and look healthy |
| Gain weight and retain it Goal is 95lb+ |
| Gas/bloating/cramps/bleeding with BM |
| GERD |
| Get back to a place where my body feels strong and healthy daily |
| get healthy enough to start trying for a baby in the next few years |
| Get into remission |
| Get more energy |
| get my ulcerative colitis in remission in whatever way works so that I can feel well again (Being strictly med-free is a non-goal) |
| Get my ulcerative colitis into remission |
| get some consistent energy back so I can live my life and not struggle & push get through each day do otherwise normal things |
| Good snack foods |
| Have a balanced diet that works with my body and needs |
| Have a balanced diet where I can limit flare ups |
| Have a better Diet |
| Have a clear understanding of the foods and drink I can eat and the ones I have to avoid |
| Have a strategy to quickly heal from a flare/hiccup from eating a trigger food Maybe like some supplement before/after eating trigger food |
| have all the knowledge about diet and having a large variety of foods |
| Have energy for exercise |
| Have energy to get back to weight training Maybe even bulk up |
| Have less frequent discomfort after meals |
| Have more ease with eating and food choices |
| Heal gut |
| Heal my colon |
| Heal my gut |
| Heal my gut and understand how my microbiome functions |
| Heal/Manage UC via diet |
| Healthy nutrition for Celiac patients, gluten free diet, increase energy levels, reduce fatigue |
| Healthy weight |
| Healthy weight management |
| Help in recovering from resection |
| How to deal with this condition from a working professional perspective |
| How to help manage my Crohns |
| I am able to eat the diet (I get very nauseous) and my body accepts the diet (decreases my inflammation) |
| I am on mesalamine and Azathioprine now without full remission I would like to be on remission with just the mesalamine and supplements |
| I do not want to loss my energy and having faint |
| I do not want to loss the hair |
| I want to achieve clinical remission in preparation for my pregnancy and to start a family |
| I want to get off meds |
| I want to learn about the best foods for my diet and the best vitamins |
| identify a long-term sustainable nutrition plan keep me healthy, at a good weight (1 |
| If I continue to use pharmaceuticals won’t those make it difficult to determine the impact that diet is having? |
| Implementing a diet that will help achieve remission from Crohn’s |
| Improve lifestyle |
| improve sleep and stress levels |
| Improved symptoms |
| Improvement in symptoms |
| In general be a healthy man, and especially having a balanced microbiome |
| incorporate a nutritional plan that allows me live a healthy & active lifestyle without relying on medication |
| Increase energy |
| Increase fiber and vegetables |
| Increased energy & concentration |
| Insufficient calorie uptake to support my weight |
| Joint ache (neck, knee, lower back) |
| Learn how to plan and execute nutritious meals that will help heal my gut |
| Learn how to properly implement SCD – never seems to work |
| Learn long term treatment/care for myself instead of taking or doing what will only temporarily help |
| Learning when and what to eat for my best health |
| Less joint pain |
| Less stomach discomfort |
| Lifestyle change to manage weight |
| Live a life free of constant GI discomfort and pain |
| Live well enough to not have another fistula and need surgery for it |
| Loss of bone due to Crohn’s disease |
| Loss of weight/muscle |
| Lower blood pressure |
| Lower Cholesterol and other blood work indicators of poor health |
| maintain a predominantly plant-based diet, but need major expansion / exploration at this time |
| Maintain gut health as I achieve it |
| Maintain normal labs on an ongoing basis and ensure ongoing remission |
| Maintain weight |
| make needed changes to manage the disease and not let it impact my lifestyle |
| Make SCD pleasurable minimize the impact of the SCD on my ability to eat out and sharing meals with others |
| manage crohns disease primarily through diet and lifestyle and not use biologics or meds |
| Manage my IBS and colitis with diet as much as possible |
| Meal planning, how to avoid cravings, Identifying the foods that triggers my symptoms, and to lessen use of medication |
| Minimize bloating/gas |
| More energy |
| more energy |
| More energy to enjoy life to the full |
| Mucosal healing and weight gain |
| Need a healthy way to address diarrhea and constipation issues when in a flare/setback |
| No bathroom disruptions during work |
| Not having to go on a biologic |
| Not sure if there are other nutritional approaches I should be taking that I am not doing already |
| Nutrition and wellness with a Jpouch |
| Ongoing optimum general health |
| physically feeling better |
| Preventing obstruction related to several colonic strictures |
| Psoriasis |
| Rebuild Microbiome |
| Reduce inflammation in my colon |
| Reduce LDL Cholesterol without GI discomfort |
| Reduce or reverse production of Thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPO) |
| Reduce severe urgency |
| Reduce SRB bacteria in gut |
| Reduce stomach discomfort after eating |
| Reducing inflammation in my colon |
| Regain the weight I lost |
| Regulate bowel movements |
| Relief from chronic diarrhea |
| Relief of gas and bloating specially at night |
| Remain on SCD |
| REMISSION and feeling better |
| Remission through diet control/ avoid surgery |
| Remove body ache and pains (chest, hands, head, neck and back) caused due to auto immune condition |
| resolution of GI symptoms |
| Resolve chronic GI issues – alleviate pain/burning |
| Resolve other health issues that have come about because of UC |
| Retrain my body and mind to accept healthy food |
| SCD Diet |
| Shaking, tremors, extreme fatigue, joint and muscle pain, nausea Following infliximab infusion and 6 months steroids |
| SIBO recurrence |
| Sleep well |
| Sleep well |
| Sleepiness, tiredness, foggy thinking |
| Stay fit |
| Stay healthy |
| Still having freedom to eat a variety of foods |
| Stool control- no diarrhea |
| Stop C Diff from recurring |
| Stop having diarrhea |
| stop over-eating feel satisfied after having eaten, rather than be thinking about and/or reaching for food in between meals |
| Stop stomach pains and bleeding |
| Strengthened adrenals and more energy running – I’m currently burnt out |
| Supplement and vitamin efficiency |
| Surf in the early morning |
| Surgery recovery |
| Travel internationally |
| UC |
| UC remission |
| UC remission |
| Ulcerative colitis |
| Ulcerative Colitis |
| Ulcerative colitis symptoms |
| Ulcerative colitis/crohns colitis |
| Uncomfortable, unpredictable, sometimes painful bowels, along with occasional bile reflux |
| Understand possible food triggers |
| Understand specifically which foods make me feel good and which foods make me feel bad by causing inflammation and active IBD |
| Understand what kinds of food heal me and that are bad for me Now i know few foods are good and bad but don’t know about the neutral-majority |
| Understanding food triggers |
| Underweight |
| Unsure if certain foods are causing an issue that is not immediately noticeable |
| UTIs/ Bowel Pain Syndrome – believe tied in to digestive issues and ph |
| Weight |
| Weight gain |
| weight loss |
| Weight loss would be nice |
| What can I eat sometimes? |
| What food to eat on a daily basis |
| What should I eat? |
| What should I not eat? |
| What supplements and herbs help to control symptoms and how they may interact with medication |
| Why the differences between SCD, IBD-AID, and AIP diets which all seemingly have similar goals |
| Work on overcoming my fears and phobias surrounding food |
| work out what is causing what symptom wise ie crohns vs BAM vs IBS vs fibromyalgia versus osteoporosis vs migraines then treat and manage |
| Would like more energy |
| Would like to get rid of my heartburn |
| Would like to get rid of my tiredness, more sleep |
