Nehal Solaiman was in her third trimester of being pregnant, and issues weren’t going as deliberate.
As a scientific pharmacist, Solaiman didn’t want a doctor to inform her what she already knew: She was gaining weight too shortly.
Thanks so much, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, she thought.
Because it turned out, nevertheless, her decreased thyroid output wasn’t the one situation. Solaiman additionally had gestational diabetes. Larger than regular blood sugar ranges had been inflicting her child to develop too massive, too shortly, elevating her threat of a variety of issues.
“I needed to get more healthy, however with out weight-reduction plan or deprivation,” says Solaiman, PN1, who was working at a hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. “I attempted to study all the pieces I may about diet so I may assist myself.”
Her efforts paid off. By the top of that third trimester, Solaiman not had gestational diabetes—and she or he delivered a wholesome child boy.
The expertise impressed her to earn a diet certification from Precision Vitamin, then launch a facet enterprise as a diet coach.
What would drive somebody who’s already bought a busy profession to begin a part-time diet teaching enterprise?
We questioned that, too. So we requested.
On this interview, Solaiman shares what she realized from a Precision Vitamin certification that modified all the pieces for her. She additionally reveals how she landed 10 shoppers throughout a worldwide pandemic, and why she will get a lot satisfaction from being a diet coach.
For those who’re pondering of getting a diet certification or launching a facet hustle as a coach, you’ll discover her solutions illuminating.

Nehal Solaiman added a rewarding facet enterprise as a diet coach to her busy scientific pharmacy profession.
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What can healthcare professionals study from a diet certification?
After utilizing diet to unravel her points with gestational diabetes, Solaiman found a brand new mission: to assist girls with related issues.
“I needed to assist them perceive their our bodies—and discover ways to drop a few pounds with out deprivation,” she says.
As a part of her pharmacy coaching, Solaiman had studied diet and biology. However she didn’t know how one can assist folks change. It was one factor to inform somebody that broccoli was good for them. It was one other to encourage them to truly eat it.
“As a diet coach, I didn’t wish to simply hand them a paper and ship them house,” she says. “I needed to assist them change their habits: to sleep higher, scale back their stress, and overcome emotional consuming and different boundaries.”
Why is the Precision Vitamin certification a superb match for medical professionals?
Solaiman didn’t want to check the Krebs cycle, metabolic pathways, and even the position of particular nutritional vitamins and minerals. She had that down.
What she was lacking: the artwork of teaching. How may she actually assist folks change—particularly with the various boundaries that stood of their method? “For me, PN stuffed a niche,” Solaiman says. “Items 1 and three had been all about teaching psychology—and I cherished that. This was all new for me.”
Precision Vitamin’s emphasis on deep well being teaching—serving to folks to thrive in each a part of their lives—sealed the deal.
What would drive a busy pharmacist and mom to launch a facet enterprise?
At first of the COVID pandemic, Solaiman was working in a hospital.
Her son, Younis, was only a 12 months outdated—and she or he didn’t watch to catch the virus at work after which carry it house.
So she took a go away of absence.
She launched an internet teaching enterprise partly to herald an revenue, however it was about much more than cash for her.
She noticed this as a long run profession transfer—and a method to assist folks change their lives for the higher.
How do you develop a training enterprise throughout a pandemic?
It began organically, when her sister-in-law realized that Solaiman had just lately change into licensed as a diet coach.
“She was a nursing mom, and she or he heard how I’d remodeled my well being throughout my being pregnant,” says Solaiman. “She needed to drop a few pounds—however not by happening a strict ‘eat this, not that’ weight loss plan.”
Solaiman arrange common Zoom conferences, together with every day check-ins.
Inside three months, her sister-in-law was down greater than anticipated: 30 kilos (14 kilograms). “She instructed me that she by no means felt disadvantaged,” Solaiman says. “This new method of consuming had change into her life-style.”
Quickly her sister, three different inlaws, and their mates had been reaching out to Solaiman for assist. Round this time, Solaiman started selling her teaching providers on Instagram.
Roughly six months after touchdown her first consumer, she had 10 regulars.
What’s Solaiman’s recipe for fulfillment?
Due to COVID, 100% of Solaiman’s consumer interactions happen nearly. She schedules two Zoom periods a month with every consumer, and affords every day assist with WhatsApp.
“Utilizing WhatsApp, they’ll message me each time they need assistance or are struggling,” she says.
Her shoppers come to her in the hunt for fats loss. To assist them, Solaiman takes a whole-person method, addressing all the pieces from sleep to emphasize to emotional consuming.
“I attempt to get to know their complete story: their life-style, job, household, stressors, sleep habits, all the pieces,” she says.
She creates customized applications for every consumer, utilizing the Precision Vitamin Calculator to show them how one can type meals into “eat extra,” “eat some,” and “eat much less” classes. Purchasers use hand parts—a straightforward methodology that helps you shortly gauge how a lot to eat—to make sure they’re getting sufficient lean protein and greens.
“I additionally assist them to deal with making every meal just a little bit higher,” Solaiman says. “Somewhat than utterly hand over meals they love, they discover ways to change how they prepare dinner, their portion sizes, or the timing of sure meals.”
Will she return to scientific pharmacy?
Sure, she is going to, she says.
However she’ll proceed to educate diet on the facet, too.
“Finally it’s my hope that diet teaching is my foremost job and scientific pharmacy turns into the facet job,” she says. “I really like to assist folks. Although I can try this as a pharmacist, I will help much more folks as a diet coach.”
Solaiman primarily needs to work with girls.
“They typically don’t know why they’re so drained or why they’re gaining weight,” she says. “I would like them to know that that is extra about their well being than about their form. It’s your blood sugar, insulin response, and hormonal stability that actually impacts how you’re feeling. When somebody brings these components right into a wholesome vary, in addition they are likely to drop a few pounds. However they don’t need to deal with the dimensions or the numbers with the intention to do it.”
For those who’re a coach, otherwise you wish to be…
Studying how one can coach shoppers, sufferers, mates, or relations by wholesome consuming and life-style adjustments—in a method that’s customized for his or her distinctive physique, preferences, and circumstances—is each an artwork and a science.
For those who’d prefer to study extra about each, contemplate the Precision Vitamin Stage 1 Certification. The subsequent group kicks off shortly.