Denice Murray Health Coaching

I had my regular blog post all written up and ready to go....until last night. I was headed out the door, and just wasn't feeling right. I've been going through perimenopause (SO NOT FUN!). Hubs was feeling a little under the weather for a few days. I've been refocused on my eating habits since Thanksgiving because I ate whatever I wanted for those few days. I felt off. Not good. Not SICK, but not good. I've been focusing on water and green tea, cutting back on sugar, eating whole foods, getting my body gently moving again (walking, toning, stretching) since the beginning of the week. Logically, I'm thinking, " I should be feeling pretty good. I've been doing all the 'right' things. Unless I'm coming down with whatever Hubs had, I should NOT be feeling so crummy. What gives? " It took me a couple of hours to realize this was just my body going through the process of adjusting to not having to deal with all the excess crap I was shoveling in...

This is your friendly reminder that just because you engorged yourself for Thanksgiving, doesn’t mean you’ve blown it and can’t get back on track. The turkey. The stuffing. The mashed potatoes and gravy. The rolls. SO MANY ROLLS . The pies. If you’re anything like our family, you probably stuffed yourself sick and woke up Friday morning regretting life (thanksgiving) choices. But fear not. This is not the end of your healthy eating journey. The key is to RECOGNIZE that you went overboard (and it’s completely reasonable and understandable that you DID – no shame or blame in it), and to regroup in a healthy, non-dramatic way. Don’t say, “Forget it,” and eat ALL the leftover pie the next day. You’re just asking for trouble. But on the flip-side of that, don’t go crazy with cleansing, detoxing, or fasting either (again, unless you just want to). It was food, it was a holiday, and it’s fine to celebrate for a day – or two. I think we put too much pressure on ourselves to eith...

Okay, I’m going to preface this post by telling y’all up front that I’ve been going through perimenopause, so my “filter” is broken. I’m being a lot more blunt than I used to be. So, if what I write seems abrupt or even straight up rude, my apologies. I’m just trying to get my point across but my finesse is currently offline. That being said, there is actually a good reason why calories in/calories out doesn’t always work when you’re trying to lose weight. On paper, it seems like it should be pretty straight forward – you eat fewer calories or burn more calories, you should lose weight. You’ve probably heard your body compared to a well-tuned machine many times before. But here’s the part that is just now being studied and researched as our society reaches historic overweight and obesity rates – your body is also a complicated chemistry set . And as I have mentioned before in other posts, your body is also UNIQUE . Down to the cellular level. So the way YOUR metabolism works is ...

At what juncture did we, as a society, hit the point where eating whole, minimally-processed, nutritious food became “diet” food….and ultra-processed, sugary, salty, extra-fatty foods became “normal”? I like pizza. I like fries. I like chocolate cake.  But I find it frustrating when I’m looking for healthy options on a menu or when we’re attending a game or tournament for Mini-Me, and I get asked, “Are you on a diet or something?” when I eventually settle for a grilled-chicken sandwich at a restaurant, or popcorn at the game because there are no other options. I know this is also an incredibly frustrating situation for Hubs as well. He is actively working on his health and wellness. He’s lost 40 pounds (YAY Hubs!), and is working on more. He has to limit sugar, white flour, and processed foods. That makes most foods at a concession stand null and void. It makes most fast-food places difficult to navigate. Sit-down restaurants are a little better, but still have very limited optio...

Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I should really go take a walk”, and instead you scrolled on social media for an hour? Or told yourself, “I’m going to prep a salad for lunch tomorrow with grilled chicken and a homemade vinegarette”, but then you convinced yourself you didn’t have time because there was laundry to finish, the dog needed to be fed, and it was almost time to start the kids’ bedtime routine? We don’t like to make changes. As humans, our brains are hard-wired to keep us safe. And part of that process includes being averse or resistant to changes. If what we’re doing has been keeping us safe and maintaining the status quo, our brain will play all the tricks it can to stop us from disrupting our peaceful existence. Even at the expense of our own health. So while you may want and need to take that walk or prep that salad, your brain is going to view it differently. If this is not part of your normal routine, the brain automatically reverts to, “What change is this?...

I am SOOOO guilty when it comes to sitting my butt on the couch (or in my chair) after a long day. Whether your job is more mental, physical, in an office, work from home, SAHM, on your feet all day, or whatever, after a long day doing ANYTHING , it’s difficult to find the willpower or motivation to get yourself up and moving again.        To help make sure you’re getting the movement you need throughout the day, I have 3 key recommendations. 1.  Schedule time into your calendar and guard that time like it is a sacred ritual.   Now, does this sound dramatic? Yeah, a bit.  But for some people, this is what needs to be done in order to make it work.  I have clients who treat their exercise time as a non-negotiable part of their day, and someone better be bleeding or missing a digit to disturb that time. If this fits your personality type, or if you’re the kind of busy mom who deeply needs to schedule each part of your day to make sure you’re getting...