5 Ways to Offer Health Advice Without Being Pushy

by | Updated: December 4th, 2016 | Read time: 2 minutes

Offering health advice is tricky business. Even though you may have the best of intentions, you can come across as being bossy or a know-it-all if your approach isn’t careful. If the person you’re trying to help doesn’t want guidance, or you present the information in the wrong way, you risk being rejected or ignored. You could also make someone feel like they’re ignorant — or, worse, inadequate.

How to Offer Healthy Advice Without Being Pushy

The goal in giving advice should be to come from a place of loving kindness and gently provide information that the person will be receptive to or excited about hearing. Here are five tips that will help you appropriately communicate your concerns.

1. Share an article or blog with the person you’d like to help. Tell your friend or loved one that you found an interesting article and you’d like her to read it. If the information changed your life or perception, don’t hesitate to share! Showing excitement will help you to appear enthusiastic rather than pushy.

2. Provide solutions rather than a scolding. Instead of saying to a friend or family member, “you know, you really should stop eating so much sugar, it’s bad for you,” ask if he’d like to hear about a recent study on sugar’s health effects. Another approach is to bring up someone who eats a lot of sugar. Say something like, “Susan’s been having some trouble eating too much sugar lately, and she found that by eating more protein, she doesn’t crave it as much.”

3. Watch a video. Invite your friend to your house, and while she’s there, ask if she’d like to watch a video on the topic of concern. Initiate a conversation so that she can share her feelings about the health issue. Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to also make a delicious, healthy dinner to eat before you start the “lesson”!

4. Ask if the person if she wants advice or to learn more about the health topic. Plunging into someone else’s health issues or eating habits can be invasive. If a person is overweight, and you want to help them to lose weight, be aware that offering unsolicited advice could also be shaming.

5. Live by example. If you really want to offer healthy help, show others how to live through your own healthy lifestyle and diet.

There’s no better way to offer advice than if someone asks for it, this is when they are most receptive.