Learning from Laura

On April 26, Suffield’s College Counseling hosted Health and Performance Coach Laura Christoph for a discussion with Suffield female students about health and wellness. Laura touched on topics like nutrition and caring about what you eat, exercise, mental health, the role of diet on mood, and the body’s muscle tone, movement, and mass. Campbell White ’22 attended and said, “Ms. Christoph offered very helpful advice about healthy eating and how to balance your plate to get all the nutrients you need every meal to stay healthy.” Nadja Meite ’24 said, “I think the event was good, especially for girls to learn more about our bodies. This is because we may know our body well, but we need an outside person to tell us how our body works and how we can take very good care of it. I learned that we should know our body so that we work on it to look like the athlete we want to look like, and not like some other athlete.” Katie Pieper ’24 said, “I learned how the importance of nutrition not only impacts our lives as athletes but also our lives as students. Ms. Christoph taught us about how what we put into our bodies affects our strength and physical appearance as well as our mental states. At least for me, I had heard about different diets and eating habits for weight loss and improving your appearance, but Ms. Christoph talked about how those diets aren't necessarily healthy. Instead, Ms. Christoph talked about how to form a healthy meal plan and diet for girls, especially athletes. Overall, I learned how to improve my nutrition to support myself and help me reach my peak performance.”

Laura Christoph is a Senior Health & Performance Coach at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her role includes group and individual coaching to guests before, during, and after their stays at Canyon Ranch. She facilitates goal setting and active engagement with interdisciplinary teams, and fosters positive behavior change that results in optimizing health and performance. Prior to Canyon Ranch, Laura was a professor at the community college and university level for fifteen years where she taught a variety of nutrition, public health, fitness, and other courses.  Her doctoral research involved curriculum development for adolescent nutrition education, and she is co-author of two introductory nutrition college textbooks. Laura has also worked as a health coach for a decade, empowering clients to improve their relationship with food and working with amateur and professional athletes to improve sport performance. Laura holds a Ph.D. in Public Health Nutrition with a secondary focus in Community Health Education, Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, and she is a Certified Nutrition Coach and Certified Holistic Health Coach. Her areas of expertise are in public health education, nutrition education, eating disorder recovery coaching, and athletic performance coaching.