Health is Not a Sprint, It is a Relationship With Your Own Body
Anna Hirsch-Nowak is a certified holistic nutritionist and holistic wellness coach. She helps clients return to balance and psychophysical well-being. She shows how to live more in tune with yourself. She wrote the eBook “Menopause – Your Inner Power.”
For many years, we have learned to think about health primarily through the lens of disease. A symptom appears. We run a test. We receive a result. We look for a diagnosis, and then for a solution. Of course, this is an important part of modern medicine. But health does not begin on the day we receive a diagnosis. It does not end when we receive a prescription.
A human being is not simply a collection of independent organs. The body is a complex, dynamic system in which different processes constantly interact. The way we sleep can affect our appetite and energy. The way we eat can influence our metabolism and gastrointestinal function. Chronic stress can affect our behaviour, recovery, and overall ability to function. Physical activity influences far more than our muscles. It also supports metabolic health, bone health, mood, and our ability to adapt to stress.
Our health is also shaped by our environment, relationships, daily rhythm, life experiences, and individual biological and genetic predispositions. This is one reason I feel so connected to the functional medicine perspective: looking at the whole person rather than focusing exclusively on an isolated symptom or diagnosis.
A symptom is not always the enemy
One shift in perspective that matters to me is moving away from seeing every symptom as something that needs to be switched off as quickly as possible. A symptom is information that something is wrong with our lifestyle. It does not necessarily tell us exactly what is causing the problem. It doesn't always let us draw a definitive conclusion. But it can be a signal that it is worth looking at the bigger picture.
Fatigue, sleep problems, changes in body weight, and digestive symptoms can have many causes. That is why I do not believe in the approach, “You have this symptom, therefore, do this.” Human health does not work like an instruction manual. We need context, history, and conversation. Sometimes we need appropriate medical assessment and collaboration with other healthcare professionals. We need time.
Where does a functional medicine health coach fit in?
In my view, a Functional Medicine Health Coach isn't another person telling you what to do. The role is to support people in changing behaviours, developing sustainable habits, and translating health knowledge and professional recommendations into everyday life. That distinction matters. We can know what is good for us and still struggle to put it into practice. We can know the principles of healthy nutrition. We can understand the importance of physical activity. We can know that sleep matters. We can even understand that chronic stress is affecting us. Yet our behaviour may remain unchanged. Not necessarily because we lack knowledge. Sometimes we lack space. We are overwhelmed, the proposed change is simply too big, or it does not fit our lives. Sometimes we are trying to change too many things at once. This is where I see enormous value in health coaching.
Knowledge is not the same as change
We live in a time when access to health information is almost unlimited. Never before have we had such easy access to information about nutrition, exercise, sleep, hormones, supplements, metabolism, and wellbeing. Yet we have also never been exposed to so many contradictory messages. Every day we hear what we are supposed to do. At some point, health starts to feel like a complex project we are expected to manage perfectly. We begin to feel that we are never doing enough. That's where something important can happen. Health, which should be an expression of self-care, becomes another source of pressure. I do not want to build that kind of relationship with health.
Health should not become another project to complete
One of the things I value most about the FMCA approach is moving away from constantly telling people what they should do. Modern life already puts us under enormous pressure. We have work, family responsibilities, deadlines, expectations, financial concerns, social commitments, and a constant stream of information. If we add another long list of “healthy things we must do,” we may create the opposite of what we intended. So instead of asking, “What should I do?” I often believe we need to ask, “What is actually possible for me right now?”
Not what is ideal. Not what works for someone on Instagram. Not what would be possible with unlimited time, energy, money, and motivation. What is possible in this person’s actual life? That is where sustainable change begins.
Sometimes less is more, and less is the best
In my work, it is often not about doing more. Sometimes it is about doing less but doing it consistently. Instead of five new habits, perhaps start with one. Instead of a complete lifestyle overhaul, make one meaningful adjustment. Instead of adding another supplement, perhaps return to the basics. Instead of following a perfect diet, find a way of eating you can actually maintain. Instead of exercising seven days a week, choose a level of movement that fits your current circumstances. This is not about lowering our standards. It is about thinking long term. Health isn't built in one perfect week. It is built through hundreds of small decisions repeated over time.
I am not interested in a perfect life, but in a sustainable one
I do not believe in a perfect lifestyle. I believe in a lifestyle that can be sustained, in flexibility, in balance, in conscious choices, and in consistency rather than perfection. We do not need another system designed to control every aspect of our lives. We need a better understanding of ourselves. That is why I do not focus only on the question, “What should you do?” I am much more interested in asking, “How can we make this change sustainable in your real life?” Because a recommendation only becomes meaningful when a person can live it.
Coaching is not about having all the answers
This brings me to one of the most important principles in my work. I do not believe a coach needs to have every answer. Sometimes the most valuable tool is a good question. In my work, I build the relationship with the client on respect, trust, and psychological safety. I want the person sitting across from me to know that they are genuinely being heard. I do not come with a ready-made answer. I come with curiosity. I listen not only to what a person says, but also try to understand their perspective, values, needs, concerns, and experiences. Active listening, empathy, open-ended questions, reflection, and supporting client autonomy are fundamental to the way I work. I do not want to make decisions for another person. I want to help them discover their own reasons for change. When change comes only from external instruction, it can be difficult to sustain. Real change begins when we understand for ourselves why we want to change.
Agency instead of control
In my view, one of the most important elements of health is a sense of agency. We cannot control everything. We cannot control our age. We cannot control every hormonal change. We cannot control our genetics. We cannot control everything that happens to us throughout our lives. But we can influence many of our everyday behaviours. We can learn to recognise the signals our bodies are giving us. We can make more conscious decisions. We can create environments that make healthier choices easier. We can learn how to respond to setbacks without turning them into a sense of failure.
This is why I believe health coaching should not take responsibility away from people. It should strengthen their autonomy, confidence, and sense of influence over their own lives.
My journey to the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy
My decision to complete the Functional Medicine Coaching Academy was a natural next step in my professional journey. I wanted to bring together my background in nutrition and psychodietetics with a broader, systems-oriented approach to health and professional health coaching. I wasn't looking for another certificate. I wanted to develop practical competencies, learn a structured coaching framework, and deepen my understanding of behaviour change.
I believe health coaching should not be based solely on intuition, personal beliefs, or someone’s own lifestyle. It should be grounded in knowledge, professional competencies, ethical practice, and a clear understanding of the role's boundaries. FMCA gave me those foundations. It also opened the door to an international professional community, which is important to me as I continue to develop my work with clients beyond Poland.
My focus: Women’s health after 40
One area particularly close to my heart is women’s health after 40 and the perimenopausal and menopausal transition. This is a time of profound physiological, hormonal, metabolic, emotional, and social change. It is also a stage of life when many women begin to realise that the strategies that worked for them for decades no longer seem to work in quite the same way.
Suddenly, the body can feel different. There may be more fatigue. Sleep may change. Body composition may change. Mood may fluctuate. Exercise tolerance may feel different. The stress response may change. A woman may begin to feel that her own body has become less predictable. Yet what she often hears is, “You should eat less,” “You should exercise more,” “You should have more discipline,” “You should lose weight.”
I do not believe women need another reason to fight with their bodies during this stage of life. They need understanding, reliable information, appropriate support, and space to learn how to work with a changing body rather than constantly fighting it. Menopause is not a failure of the body. It is not something that needs to be “fixed.” It is a natural stage of a woman’s life that may require us to rethink nutrition, physical activity, recovery, sleep, stress management, and everyday habits.
Chronic disease does not begin on the day of diagnosis
Many health problems do not appear suddenly. It rarely happens that one day we are completely healthy and the next morning we wake up with a chronic disease. Often, years of subtle signals precede a diagnosis. Sleep quality declines. Fatigue becomes persistent. Body weight or composition changes. Exercise tolerance decreases. Metabolic markers begin to shift. We no longer feel quite like ourselves. None of these signs automatically means that a person has a disease. But they may invite us to pause and look at health more broadly. This is why prevention matters. Prevention is not about living in fear of illness. It is about developing greater awareness of our health and acting where we can, before small problems potentially become more significant ones. When disease is already present, medical treatment can be essential. Starting medication does not mean that the work on lifestyle is over. In many situations, it is precisely then that support with nutrition, movement, sleep, recovery, stress, and behaviour change becomes even more valuable.
Conventional and functional medicine do not have to compete
I am not opposed to conventional medicine. Quite the opposite. We need physicians and modern diagnostics. We need evidence-based treatments and pharmacotherapy. But we also need greater emphasis on prevention, health education, and support for behaviour change. These areas do not have to compete. They can complement one another. A physician remains a physician. A dietitian remains a dietitian. A psychologist or psychotherapist works within their area of expertise. A physiotherapist focuses on movement and physical function. A health coach supports people in changing and maintaining behaviours related to lifestyle, while staying firmly within the boundaries of their professional role. This is where I see enormous potential for interdisciplinary collaboration. Not competition. Collaboration. Because people do not need more isolated systems. They need thoughtful, responsible support.
Knowing the boundaries of your role matters
The longer I work in health and wellbeing, the more I appreciate the importance of professional boundaries. A good practitioner should know not only what they can do, but also what they should not do. A coach does not diagnose disease. A coach should not interfere with prescribed medication. A coach should not promise outcomes they cannot guarantee or build their practice around fear. A coach should not present personal beliefs as universal truths. For me, this is not a limitation. It is professionalism.
A red flag, “I have one protocol for everyone.”
Functional medicine is becoming increasingly popular. I welcome the growing interest in a more personalised approach to health. At the same time, popularity brings another challenge: simplification. As interest grows, so does health marketing, and not every promise made in the name of “functional” health is necessarily supported by appropriate evidence.
That is why I always encourage people to check the qualifications and scope of practice of anyone they trust with their health. A red flag, for me, is the idea that there is one universal answer for everyone. This is not how I understand functional medicine.
If we genuinely want to look at a person as an individual, we have to accept that the answer will not always be simple. One hundred people may present with a similar symptom, yet their histories, circumstances, contributing factors, and needs may be completely different. That is why I do not believe in miracle therapies, universal protocols, or solutions designed to work for everyone.
I do not believe in treating people through Instagram reels
Social media can be an incredible tool for education. It can help us share knowledge, raise awareness, challenge misconceptions, and encourage people to ask better questions. But education is not the same as individual healthcare. One post does not know your history. One reel does not know your laboratory results. An algorithm does not know your lifestyle. An influencer does not necessarily know the answer to your health question. We therefore should not pretend that one piece of content can solve someone’s health problem. Health requires context. It requires conversation, understanding the person, and collaboration between several professionals. Social media education can be the beginning of the journey. It should not pretend to be the entire journey.
I do not want to tell people how to live
Perhaps this is the most important thing I want to communicate through my work. I do not want to create another system of rules and obligations. I do not want to tell women how their bodies should look. I do not want health to become a constant struggle with food, weight, exercise, or appearance. I don't want people to believe they are failing simply because they cannot follow every recommendation perfectly.
I want something different. I want to help people understand their bodies better and make more informed decisions about their health. Because health is not a competition. It is not an exam. It is not even a measure of our worth. It does not have to be perfect.
Health is a relationship
Perhaps this is why the sentence that best captures my philosophy is, “Health is not a sprint. It is a relationship with your own body.” A relationship that changes as we age. As our lives change. As our experiences change. As our needs change. Sometimes we will have more energy. Sometimes less. Sometimes we will exercise regularly. Sometimes life will require us to slow down. Sometimes we will eat in a way that perfectly supports our health. Sometimes we will eat something simply because we enjoy it. That is also part of being human. Health should not require perfection from us. It should give us more capacity to live our lives, not more restrictions.
That is why I believe in small decisions. In consistency rather than perfection. In curiosity rather than judgement. In awareness rather than control, and in a relationship with the body rather than a battle against it. The person is most important, not another protocol. Because ultimately, it is not about living perfectly. It is about creating a way of living that supports our health today, tomorrow, and for the years to come.
Read more from Anna Hirsch-Nowak
Anna Hirsch-Nowak, Health & Wellness Coach & Certified Nutritionist
Anna Hirsch-Nowak is a certified holistic nutritionist, holistic wellness coach, and menopause coach. She helps clients return to balance and psychophysical well-being. She is a guide and partner for her clients. She helps them identify their needs and supports them on their journey to improve their lifestyle and wellness. She is the author of the eBook “Menopause – Your Inner Power.” She is currently a student at the FMCA Academy. Her mission is to help people draw health from the connection of body, spirit, and mind.
