5 Keystone Nutrition Habits to Encourage Your Clients to Adapt

Last Updated May 23, 2025 (originally published November 21, 2018)

When it comes to discussing behavior change and nutrition with your clients, it is outside of your scope of practice as a health and exercise professional to provide psychological counseling or detailed menu plans (unless you have additional credentials in those fields). However, if you aren’t talking to your clients about their health behaviors and nutrition, you could be missing important areas of potential improvement.

According to Charles Duhigg, author , nearly half of the decisions we make in a day are not actually decisions—they are habits. That is, we complete tasks without conscious thought (brushing your teeth and backing out of the driveway, for example, require almost no effort). 

If this same theory holds true for food decisions, many people probably put little to no thought into half of their intake. The decision to stop on the way to work for a coffee drink or eat candy in the afternoon may not be a conscious thought, but a habit driven by a cue. And, unfortunately, as Duhigg writes, some habits are “so strong, that they cause our brains to cling to them at the exclusion of all else… including common sense.”

Thus, if you want to encourage your clients to adopt a healthier lifestyle, focus on the process. Adaptation is a process, and being process-oriented rather than results-oriented may actually lead to better long-term results (and therefore, better client retention). Clients may be looking for immediate results, but they typically hire a health and exercise professional to help them learn, grow and progress in multiple areas of health and wellness.

What are the associative habits that lead to healthier behaviors? Your clients undoubtedly know they should eat a variety of whole, unprocessed foods, but how do you help them turn choosing whole foods into a daily behavior?

In other words, what are the keystone habits for improved nutrition? Exercise is certainly one. According to researcher James Prochaska, lead developer of the transtheoretical model of behavior change and author of Changing to Thrive, when people start exercising regularly they also start eating better, become more productive, smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and families.

Advising clients to adopt the following five habits may help improve their chances for success for healthy eating:

Advising clients to adopt the following five habits may help improve their chances for success for healthy eating:

• Increase awareness of current habits. The first step in changing a habit is recognizing the cues and rewards that accompany it. Because many people have a tendency to mindlessly consume food, awareness is the vital first step in developing healthier habits. Help your clients recognize and care about what and how much they are (and are not) eating. Calories count, but you do not always need to count them. Understanding patterns and triggers/cues is far more useful than calculating calories and macros. Keeping a detailed food record (either on paper or online) that allows for subjective comments for two to three days is a great starting point.
• Plan dinners for the week. Clients may notice that it’s easier to make healthy lifestyle decisions early in the day. Making smart choices is especially challenging when life becomes hectic. Consider a typical evening after a long day at work, picking up the kids, sitting in traffic and arriving home at 6:00 p.m. Feeling mentally and physically exhausted, many people are far more likely to heat up a frozen pizza or grab fast food rather than decide what healthy food to make and then actually cook it. Planning a dinner menu for the week removes the energy associated with making a decision when you are tired and hungry. In addition, it helps create a shopping list for the week. Urge your clients to plan to use fresh foods (e.g., salads and fish) early in the week and foods that last (e.g., frozen vegetables and meats) later in the week. 
• Sit down to eat, share and connect with others. According to the World Happiness Report, one in four Americans report eating all their meals alone the previous day, which is a 53% increase from 2003. Eating in solitude is associated with  cognitive decline and an increased risk of depression, as well as decreased food diversity, lower vegetable and fruit intake, reduced caloric intake, skipping meals, and over– and underweight. Approximately 50% of parents report having family meals seven or more times per week. Sitting down to eat with family or friends can coincide with a cascade of healthy behaviors. One study, for example, found that children who eat dinner with their families have higher dietary diversity, lower ultra-processed food consumption, and a healthy body mass index. In addition, frequent family meals may contribute to the emotional and social well–being of the parent.
• Enjoy food. Eating indulging foods should not produce guilt. When referring to foods and behaviors, throw out the words good and bad. Instead, consider what should be done more frequently and what should be done less frequently. Encourage clients to eat a variety of foods.
• Begin with the end in mind. As Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, urged, establishing a long-term goal and creating a series of small goals to progress toward that end goal develops consistent behaviors that develop into habits. One example is to sign up for a race or event (e.g., a half-marathon in six months with a 5K and 10K along the way). This “carrot” is what leads to those extra 20 minutes of exercise that might not otherwise have been done. And those 20 minutes, a few days a week, over the course of a year add up to a significant change and hopefully new habits. Additionally, encourage a growth mindset; that is, do not allow your clients to define themselves by their shortcomings or failures. After a hiccup, do not wait until Monday (or the 1st of the month) to reboot, but instead start back up on a healthy eating plan after those last few bites of dessert.

The simple truth is that no single secret or keystone habit exists. Hard work, consistency and patience—on both the health and exercise professional and client’s part—are vital to fostering lasting results. Above all, establish a consistently healthy culture that becomes contagious.

To learn more from Justin Robinson and other nutrition experts, register now for the ACE Health and Fitness Summit: Evidence-Based Nutrition for Coaches and Trainers. This event takes place on May 30, 2025, from 8:15 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. PDT. In addition to Justin’s session on optimizing fitness and well-being through gut health science, the event will explore everything from plant-based nutrition to obesity medications. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to elevate your coaching game with science-backed nutrition insights from our panel of experts.