Defining Health: Your Version Matters More Than The Industry’s
A personal reflection: Finding my place as an athlete, and coach, not conforming, or aligning to, the standardised mould.
Ever had that feeling where you're supposed to fit in and belong? Instead you feel like you must be doing something wrong like an outsider?
+ Defining Health +
The industry Vs The World Health Organization - WHO is right?
The Industry:
Walk into a gym, scroll through Instagram, pick up a health magazine - we are continuously exposed to health defined in remarkably narrow terms:
- Body Fat Percentages
- Aesthetic Standards
- Food Rules & "Clean Eating"
- Tracking & Measuring
- Celebrating Extremes
As an athlete I’m expected to embody these standards…
As a nutrition coach I should perpetuate them…
*mic drop*
They never felt right
…and…
I've seen how harmful they can be!
The World Health Organization (WHO):
“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK!
COMPLETE - PHYSICAL - MENTAL - SOCIAL - WELL-BEING
+ What Does Health Actually Look Like? +
Navigating my development as a coach working with a range of diverse humans, and an athlete - including my own relationship with performance, recovery, nutrition and food - I've learned that health isn't a one-size-fits-all concept.
Health might look like:
- Having energy for the things that matter to you
- Feeling comfortable and confident in your body, regardless of its size or shape
- Maintaining a peaceful relationship with food that doesn't consume your thoughts
- Managing your unique health conditions in a way that supports your quality of life
- Honouring your sensory preferences, executive function abilities and individual needs
- Finding movement that brings you joy, not punishment
- Having the mental and emotional capacity to engage with your life fully
Notice how none of these require a specific weight, body fat percentage, or adherence to a specific diet?
+ My Personal Struggle +
This is where things get personal, and honestly, uncomfortable for me to share.
As an athlete, I've always felt like I was supposed to be this beacon of "perfect health" according to industry standards. I was supposed to have the "ideal" body composition, eat in specific ways, and embody this image of what fitness and health should look like - ALL THE TIME!
But I don't
For a long time, that made me question whether I had any right to coach others in nutrition and wellness.
I've struggled with:
- Food relationships that weren't always "textbook perfect"
- Body changes that didn't match athletic ideals
- Energy levels that fluctuated in ways that didn't fit neat categories
- Mental health challenges that the fitness industry rarely acknowledges
- A genuine discomfort with the diet culture messaging that pervades sports nutrition
For years, I felt like a fraud. How could I help others find health when I didn't fit the industry's definition myself?
How could I be part of an industry that makes me so uncomfortable?
How could I work, asking for payment, providing coaching in this field?
I had worked so hard to qualify, and build a coaching service I was proud of - yet I felt an unsettling shame about it.
I was trying to market a business that, due to the culture that surrounded it, felt so wrong.
+ The Lightbulb Moment: My Differences Are My Strengths +
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to realise that my disconnection from industry standards wasn't a bug - it was a feature.
My struggles with conventional approaches to health and nutrition didn't disqualify me from helping others; they equipped me to help people who also don't align - which actually is a lot of people!
Those negative thoughts of shame should have actually been shouts of positivity. Yells of affirmation that my nutrition coaching services are SO needed!
The clients I work with aren't looking for another coach to tell them they need to eat less and exercise more. They're looking for someone who understands that:
- Executive function challenges make meal prep different for everyone
- Sensory preferences aren't just "picky eating"
- Mental health impacts nutrition in ways that go beyond willpower
- Family, friends, work - all jostle for priority in a never ending to do list while faced with finite physical and mental resources
- Sustainable health practices look different for different brains and bodies
- THINGS CHANGE - priorities, responsibilities, life - things happen - coaching and nutrition needs to adapt too
+ Building My Own Coaching Framework +
This realisation led me to develop my Ruth Grigg HQ Coaching Framework an approach built around you, not around industry standards.
+ Individual Assessment Over Universal Rules: Instead of applying the same protocols to everyone, we start with understanding your unique physiology, lifestyle, preferences, and challenges.
+ Flexibility Over Rigidity: Your nutrition practice needs to work with your brain, your schedule, your family situation, and your energy levels - not against them.
+ Progress Over Perfection: We measure success by how you feel, how sustainable your practices are, and how well your nutrition supports your actual life - not by how closely you adhere to external standards.
+ Collaboration Over Prescription: You're the expert on your own experience. My job is to provide guidance and support, not to impose my version of health onto you.
+ Your Health: Your Way +
Ever felt like you don't fit the traditional health and fitness mould - I want you to know it’s the mould that’s the problem, NOT YOU!
You might be someone who:
- Wants to be treated as an individual
- Juggles a complicated life
- Prioritises themself last
- Is overwhelmed by where to start on your nutritional journey - facing too much information and much of it conflicting
- Struggles to find the time to meal plan, shop, cook
- Processes sensory input differently and needs accommodation around food textures or environments
- Has executive function differences that make traditional meal planning approaches overwhelming
- Lives with chronic conditions that affect your energy and capacity
- Has a history with disordered eating that makes certain approaches triggering
- Simply doesn't respond to conventional wisdom the way you're "supposed to"
All of this is valid. All of this is normal.
All of this deserves to be honoured in your approach to health and nutrition.
+ Moving Forward +
As I've stepped more fully into my identity as a coach who doesn't align with traditional industry standards, I've found my work becoming more meaningful and effective. Not despite my differences from the mainstream, but because of them.
Your health journey gets to be uniquely yours. It gets to account for your neurodivergence, your life circumstances, your preferences, and your goals - not some external authority's idea of what health should look like.
This doesn't mean we abandon evidence-based practices or ignore nutrition science. It means we apply that knowledge in a way that actually works for YOU.
+ The Bottom Line +
Health IS NOT:
an aesthetic standard, number on a scale, or rigid rules to follow
Health IS:
The foundation that allows you to live your life fully
Whatever that looks like for you
As an athlete and a nutrition coach who's learned to embrace not fitting the industry mould, I can tell you this: there's tremendous power in defining health on your own terms.
Your version of health is valid
Your approach gets to be different
You deserve support that meets you exactly where you are
______
Does any of this resonate with you? YES, RUTH - I HEAR YOU!
Ready to explore what YOUR HEALTH looks like?
Ready to build habits that fit YOUR NEEDS?
Ready for YOUR NUTRITION to start nourishing your life?
I'd love to support you in creating a movement, nutrition and wellbeing practice that fits your life, your brain, and your goals.