Coaching Is Not Therapy

If you’re struggling with food obsession, binge eating, or constantly losing and regaining weight, you’ve probably heard the term coaching thrown around, but what does coaching actually mean and how is it different from therapy?

This matters more than most people realize. When you understand the difference, you can get the right kind of support instead of expecting one service to do what it was never designed to do.

Coaching Is Not Therapy

Let’s be very clear, coaching is not therapy and I am not a therapist, and therapy is not my lane.

I cannot treat childhood trauma, process deep emotional wounds, or help you navigate complex mental health diagnoses. I also cannot fix your marriage, resolve grief, or work through abuse or trauma histories. Those are real, serious issues that deserve licensed mental health care.

Expecting coaching to do therapy work is like expecting a personal trainer to perform surgery….. it’s different training, a different scope and has a different purpose.

So What Is Coaching?

Coaching is about behavior change, mindset shifts, and forward momentum. In food addiction recovery, my coaching focuses on understanding your relationship with food, identifying triggers, patterns, and danger zones, breaking binge-restrict cycles, creating structure and standards around eating and building food sobriety through accountability and community support.

In my work, I use tools like journaling and reflection, thought work and introspection, behavior mapping and trigger tracking, accountability systems and support groups and community coaching.

Coaching is practical, it is action-oriented and It is about what you do differently starting today.

What Coaching Is Not Designed to Do

Coaching is not designed to diagnose mental health disorders, treat trauma or PTSD, replace therapy, psychiatry, or medical care or provide clinical treatment for depression or anxiety.

That most definitely does not mean coaching is less valuable, it means it has a different purpose.

Food Does Not Fix Trauma, Relationships, or Life Problems

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Food does not heal trauma, it does not fix your marriage and it does not resolve loneliness, grief, or fear.

Food can numb feelings, food can distract you and food can give temporary comfort, but it cannot repair your life. Many people use food as their main coping tool for deeper struggles and that doesn’t make you weak, it makes you human. Recovery starts with honesty about what food can and cannot do.

Where Coaching Fits in Your Recovery

Coaching helps you change your daily behaviors and build a new relationship with food. In my Food Freedom coaching, we work on reducing compulsive eating and bingeing, breaking dependence on sugar and ultra-processed food, learning to sit with uncomfortable emotions without eating, creating routines, structure, and boundaries and building self-trust and personal responsibility.

Therapy often looks backward to heal the past, whereas coaching looks forward to build the future. Many people benefit from both therapy and coaching. They serve different roles and can work beautifully together.

Why Understanding This Difference Matters

If you expect coaching to heal trauma, you will feel disappointed and If you expect therapy to give you a step-by-step food sobriety plan, you may also feel frustrated. They are different tools for different needs and here is the empowering part….You do not have to wait for your entire life to be healed before you find peace with food. Even if life is hard, even if relationships are messy and even if trauma exists.

You can still build food sobriety, you can still change your behaviors, and you can still create structure and peace around food starting today.

Coaching Can Help You Build Food Freedom

Coaching may not be therapy, but coaching is powerful. It gives you tools, accountability, structure, and mindset shifts that most people never learn. It helps you stop using food as your primary coping mechanism and start building real skills for your life.

If you want support with your relationship with food, your behaviors, and your mindset around eating, that is exactly what I do in my Food Freedom program.

Remember, food can nourish your body, it cannot fix your life, but you can build a life that you no longer need food to cope.