CHC Chronic Disease Prevention & Lifestyle Management 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client with prediabetes asks about the most effective lifestyle change to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes. What should a health coach prioritize?
- Eliminating all carbohydrates from the diet
- Achieving 5–7% body weight loss through diet and exercise (Correct answer)
- Starting metformin medication immediately
- Increasing protein intake to over 50% of total calories
Correct answer: Achieving 5–7% body weight loss through diet and exercise
The Diabetes Prevention Program showed that modest weight loss of 5–7% combined with 150 minutes of weekly activity reduces T2D risk by ~58%.
Question 2: Which behavioral change technique is MOST effective when a client consistently fails to meet their physical activity goals?
- Increase the weekly goal to create urgency
- Use motivational interviewing to explore ambivalence (Correct answer)
- Provide a detailed written exercise prescription
- Recommend a personal trainer instead
Correct answer: Use motivational interviewing to explore ambivalence
Motivational interviewing helps uncover intrinsic motivation and resolve ambivalence, which underlies sustained behavior change.
Question 3: A sedentary client with hypertension wants to start exercising. Which approach best reflects FITT principle application for this population?
- Daily vigorous-intensity cardio for 60 minutes from the start
- Moderate-intensity aerobic activity 30 min/day, 5 days/week, building gradually (Correct answer)
- Resistance training only, 3 sets of 10 reps every other day
- High-intensity interval training 4 days per week
Correct answer: Moderate-intensity aerobic activity 30 min/day, 5 days/week, building gradually
Current guidelines for hypertension recommend moderate-intensity aerobic exercise most days of the week, progressing gradually from a sedentary baseline.
Question 4: Which dietary pattern has the strongest evidence for reducing cardiovascular disease risk?
- Low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet
- Ketogenic diet
- Mediterranean diet (Correct answer)
- Carnivore diet
Correct answer: Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, vegetables, legumes, and fish, has the strongest evidence base for CVD risk reduction across multiple large trials.
Question 5: A health coach is working with a client to reduce sodium intake. Which food category contributes the largest proportion of sodium in the typical American diet?
- Table salt added during cooking
- Fast food and restaurant meals
- Processed and packaged foods (Correct answer)
- Natural foods such as dairy and meat
Correct answer: Processed and packaged foods
Roughly 70% of dietary sodium in the US comes from processed and packaged foods, not salt added at the table.
Question 6: When coaching a client with obesity on sleep hygiene, which explanation correctly links sleep deprivation to chronic disease risk?
- Poor sleep reduces appetite by lowering leptin levels
- Sleep deprivation increases ghrelin, raising hunger and promoting weight gain (Correct answer)
- Sleeping less than 8 hours has no measurable effect on metabolic health
- REM sleep is the only phase relevant to metabolic regulation
Correct answer: Sleep deprivation increases ghrelin, raising hunger and promoting weight gain
Sleep deprivation suppresses leptin (satiety hormone) and elevates ghrelin (hunger hormone), increasing appetite and contributing to obesity and metabolic syndrome.
Question 7: A client smokes 1 pack per day and has COPD. They express readiness to quit. Which evidence-based cessation approach should a health coach recommend?
- Cold turkey only, as aids create dependency
- Combination of behavioral counseling plus FDA-approved pharmacotherapy (Correct answer)
- E-cigarettes as a permanent replacement strategy
- Hypnosis as the primary intervention
Correct answer: Combination of behavioral counseling plus FDA-approved pharmacotherapy
Combining behavioral counseling with approved pharmacotherapy (NRT, varenicline, or bupropion) is consistently the most effective evidence-based cessation strategy.
CHC Chronic Disease Prevention & Lifestyle Management 2
A client with prediabetes asks about the most effective lifestyle change to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes.
What should a health coach prioritize?