Health and Wellness Coach Helps Clients Find Their Passion, Grit and Determination to Foster Healthier Minds and Bodies
When you listen to Jane Diamond’s story you immediately understand that if you follow her lead you can use perseverance, grit, and passion to change the world for yourself and your loved ones.
Diamond, who grew up with humble beginnings with two brothers and a caring single mother, learned at a young age to approach life with resiliency – which is clearly reflected in her style as a health and wellness coach and wellness industry leader.
Working her way through Temple University as a waitress, she fostered the routines she needed early on to get to her “end goal.”
Now, a successful Certified Health and Wellness Coach, Corporate Wellness Specialist, and Master Personal Trainer, she speaks on topics of Goal Accomplishment, Getting Your Kids Moving, Mid-Life Health and the latest trends that can help each of us foster a healthy lifestyle, for our minds and bodies.
“For me, it wasn’t about a social life in high school or college,” Diamond, explained in an exclusive PCM interview, “it was about learning how to take care of myself at a young age and finding the perseverance and passion I needed.”
After graduating from college with her sights on TV and film production, Diamond, a Philadelphia native, was involved in a horrific car accident that nearly left her crippled. A former ballet dancer, she lost use of her left leg. She underwent multiple surgeries, that left her with a limp…and so much more.
She turned a negative into a positive and made it her life’s mission to keep herself healthy and active, while paying it forward to numerous others.
After rehabilitating herself and serving as an inspiration to countless others, she taught fitness, has owned personal training studios, and was one of the first instructors to offer interval training to her clients.
A superb motivator, her drive and dedication to helping people achieve maximum health has resulted in a career that continues to inspire. She has pursued education in the health and wellness arena for more than two decades.
Her expertise includes executive coaching, designing and implementing corporate wellness programs to keep employees healthy and productive, and consulting with physicians on their practices to enable them to improve their own health, and the health of their business as well as their patients.
She addresses issues such as happiness, goal accomplishment, stress, burnout, retention, personal development, nutrition, disease management, and senior health, among others.
Diamond believes in “creating happier, healthier, and more productive lives. I feel that without credibility, a leader will not be effective inspiring others or articulating the company’s vision.”
Her background as a patient only serves to deepen her sense of empathy for her clients and proves extremely valuable in her work with individuals, community projects and doctors. She has lead programs with employees from Fortune 100 companies, and since most people spend the majority of their time in the workplace, her credo is “wellness is a business strategy.”
As January comes to a close, and February begins, many of us have left behind our New Year’s resolutions, and Diamond is here to help us find our perseverance and passion. While it is difficult to make significant changes, and get out of a rut, it is not impossible. So, how does Diamond help them people take that leap? Can someone actually develop a work ethic, resiliency and the grit to succeed?
“You do it by deciding not to wallow, ‘why me?’ and following the great role model I had in my single mother, who worked three jobs. There was no time for wallowing, and it gave my brothers and I a great deal of strength and purpose.”
Her early exposure to hard work and tenacity also gave Diamond “the confidence and skill to pull herself up and not let setbacks be the defining moment. Some people are born with this, and others need to learn how to do it for themselves.”
“I am your walking poster child for never giving up,” she said. “I had 14 operations on my leg. I underwent extensive rehab and still do it to this day. I tell myself, and those who I coach, ‘you are entitled to a bad day once in a while, but it can’t be every day.’ I guide my clients with hard science, my story, work ethic and the importance and strength from building relationships.
Said Diamond: “I saw two choices after my accident – to lay on this couch and become an alcoholic or drug addict or I can get up and have a life and maybe help other people to find their passion and purpose. I chose the latter one.”
The following is an exclusive interview with the dynamic Jane Diamond.
What are you trying to guide the people you coach to do?
Jane Diamond: To become self-leaders. Have self-compassion, grit and resiliency, and understand their passion and purpose – for a happy, healthy and productive life.
What do you do with a client who may be motivated but stuck?
JD: There are so many ways to reach somebody, if they are motivated. You have to determine what are the clear-cut goals they are trying to achieve, even if it seems so far out of reach. The key is to really get that person to break it down in smaller components. There’s ways to break it down.
What do you want to focus on?
JD: I feel quite passionate about how we care for ourselves. People have lost their ability to be accountable. There is a lack of self-accountability. We live in cities in which the diabetes rate is half of the population and people are walking into McDonalds, and other fast food places, and screaming that their meds aren’t working. I am concerned that people do not have any self-control and self-regulation, and the ability to be accountable to themselves. They are taking the easy way out.
What do we need to do to change this?
JD: To take command of our bodies and our own health. When it comes to heart disease and diabetes, for example, up to 90 percent of it is lifestyle, and that is pretty astounding. We need to look at how we can help someone be more self-reliant and take charge. When they thrive, they can be the next role models for their community.
So many of us are stuck – repeating bad habits. So, how do we get over that?
JD: Most of us make excuses. But there is a litany of things you can do when it comes to priming and preparing your environment to support what you would like to accomplish. We can create new, healthier habits.
Such as?
JD: A great example is brushing your teeth. When you were a small child you did not walk in to the bathroom, grab a tooth brush and start brushing your teeth. You were taught, usually by a parent, how to brush your teeth and you practiced it everyday, multiple times per day until you got it right!
Please tell me more about this.
JD: Many habits beget other habits. If I drink a 6-pack of beer, I will tend to over eat. Repetition is key in creating habits. These are the things I work on with many of the clients I coach. Break down things to smaller components. Figure out, ‘what steps are needed to accomplish the goal?
How important is a good night’s sleep?
JD: Sleep is a major issue. With a consistent lack of sleep, you can mistake being hungry for being tired, and then you tend to overeat. So, when you tackle sleep issues you may also tackle over eating.
What are your coaching clients looking for from you?
JD: People who I coach are looking to find passion and purpose and accomplish a goal or goals. Some people come to me with clear cut goals, and others are just extremely stuck or unhappy.
How does someone figure out their goals, passion or bliss?
JD: I can’t come up with somebody else’s goal, that has to come from them. There are many ways to figure out where people’s strength and passions lie. I can let them know they are not in this alone and that they are on a journey of accomplishment.
How do you help your clients on their road to wellness?
JD: The key elements I like to help my clients with is goal creation and accomplishment. People are generally not happy if they can’t take some form of action. Everybody wants to have that purpose, so it’s about how to cultivate, take action and accomplish goals.
You are a strong believer in helping others.
JD: Absolutely. Giving back is one of the greatest ways of creating joy. It’s about achieving something that is greater than just you.
What questions are you asking new clients in order to help them on their journey?
JD: I am asking them what is your dream, what are your goals, and basically why do you wake up each morning? What is the hardest thing you have ever done?
What do you encounter with new clients?
JD: In the coaching arena there is a whole level of readiness that is needed to create change, and it’s hard to move someone if they are clearly not ready. It is so much easier if someone is whole-heartedly committed. I get some who are ready for the next phase of their lives, and others who are staying on a treadmill that they can’t get off of – because change is really hard.
How do you advise helping seniors as they are confronted with aging issues?
JD: My advice is to share your wisdom and move your body. Create joy and feel, energized and engaged by sharing what you learned. We need to continually participate in activities that require mental effort. We need to challenge our brains with mental exercise and learning activities that stimulate new connections
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Nine Wellness Tips From Jane Diamond we should be doing now to not only “age younger” but also do it with better health, more energy, strength, better cognitive skills, zest and vitality.
- Stay Physically Fit. Cardiovascular activity such as walking, running, swimming, and active sports are all magic pills, and offer such a big boost to your body, brain, and mood. Besides having the wonderful social benefits that exercise provides, significant health improvements are also found in a wide range of measures such as: blood pressure, resting heart rate, body fat, BMI, total cholesterol and depression.
- Don’t understimate the importance of exercise. Exercise is one of the most effective tools we can use to elevate our level of happiness. – not exercising is like taking a depressant. Even more great reasons to exercise; it helps in creativity and stimulates brain function.
- Strength Training: The Potent Age Eraser. Weight training is the best investment to your health. It encourages muscle cells to multiply and is extremely important in combating age-related decline in Muscle Mass, Bone Density, and Metabolism. Lifting weights causes your muscles to become stronger, and your tendons, ligaments and bones to be stronger. This strengthening will make your joints more stable and less prone to injury. Everyday tasks will become easier!
- Have a Younger Mind. Participate in “brainy” activities such as reading, taking courses for new learning, mental games, puzzles and hobbies. Learning may help keep our memory strong by creating a habit to lean.
- Stay Social. Social butterflies are at a lower risk of brain decline and dementia with age than loners. Social contagiants/connections help build relationships, which then makes us happier and more likely to adhere to healthier habits and ability to sustain changes.
- Become Mindful .There is no shortage of advice! It is so cheap that it is free on the Internet. All we have to do is ask GOGGLE anything – and so many answers appear. However, so much of this advice fails to produce change.
- Have Awareness and Mindfulness, on the other hand, is the key to change. Awareness and being Mindful changes things. Our behavior is influenced in both subtle and obvious ways when we highlight attention on something that is happening in the present moment. Mindfulness focuses our attention. Eating works the same way. When we notice what, when, where and how we are eating, our eating can change.
- Learn to Breath – Exercise your diaphragm. – Learn and exercise the great benefits to our body when we fully use our diaphragm muscle. The diaphragm muscle creates posture, conserves energy, increases endurance, increases serotonin, lowers heart rate and blood pressure and improves brain function. Length, depth and pace of breathing directly affects our neuropaths – it reflects what is happening in our brains.
- Learn Happiness. Success in all domains of life comes to people who describe themselves as happy. The connection between happiness and success is profound. If your emotional outlook needs a boost, think about things that give you positive emotions. Express gratitude by saying it out loud, writing it down, and thanking those who have been helpful to you. Enjoy and relish happy memories, exercise, and forgive. We are strongly influenced by what others do. Surround yourself with happy people. We are happiest when we are challenged, inspire passion, purpose and connect with others.
For further information, please go to: [https://janediamondwellness.com]
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