Denice Murray Health Coaching

This is the most common theme every new year – jumping into a “new” health and fitness routine, making resolutions to improve different aspects of your life, one of the primary areas being health and wellness. It’s not about the desire to change. It’s not about wanting to look or feel better. There are actually 3 important questions you should be asking yourself before you commit your time, energy, and hard-earned cash to ANOTHER diet or fitness program. Question 1 – What Has to Change In Your Life In Order to Meet Your Health Goals? It seems like the obvious question here would be “What Are Your Health Goals?”, but that’s not actually an important question. An Outcome Goal is an arbitrary thing: I want to lose 20 pounds; I want to eat healthier; I want to exercise more; I want to be less stressed. There is nothing wrong with having an outcome in mind.  But the harsh truth is, if you knew how to meet this outcome goal already, you probably would have done it by now. That’s ...

There is a movement going on in the nutrition world that is battling to conquer the harmful effects of “Diet Culture”. Where you are expected to look a certain way, be a certain size, be a certain weight, and follow restrictive and sometimes harmful diets. This culture can lead to eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, etc.), disordered eating (being preoccupied with foods, weight, and body image to the point where it affects your quality of life), and mental health issues. But on the less severe side of that is the effect of not feeling good about yourself because you’re not eating according to certain “rules”. Whether it’s cutting out carbs, cutting out fats, only eating vegan food, etc., there are a lot of “rules” that we place around food. Some of these restrictions are medically necessary (ex. Cutting out sugar because of diabetes, cutting out gluten because of allergies, etc.); some restrictions are for personal or moral reasons (ex. Eating vegetarian or vegan to avoid animal p...

I wrote an article about this a while back, but I think with the holidays in full swing (at the time of this post) it’s important to revisit this topic. When it comes to your health and wellness goals, consistency is the KEY to success. By establishing habits and routines you are far more likely to achieve your goals than by starting a new diet/weight loss program/fitness routine every few weeks or months. But there are other benefits to consistency with your healthy habits and routines during the holiday season. It will Help with Stress and Overwhelm .  This is the time of year for our family that activities go into overdrive. This week alone Hubs and I are working our jobs, we have basketball games for Mini-Me 4 nights this week, we have Christmas celebrations, and one of my sons is coming for a quick visit from college before heading back for finals. With all the back and forth we are doing, it’s extremely helpful to know that we have our meals planned out and prepped fo...

Hard Truths About Changing Your Health and Your Life. Unfortunately, there’s an untold side to changing your nutrition and fitness, losing weight, or improving your health that not very many people talk about. That is the criticism that can and does come with these changes. Most people in your life will be happy for you . They will be excited that you are making healthy changes, and maybe even inspired to start a health journey of their own. But there are some who will not. Most of the random comments - whether from a nosy neighbor or “Sally” in the office who always has something mean to say about her co-workers - are going to bounce right off you. “That’s just how Sally is,” will be the fleeting thought before you move on with your day. However, there will be comments or remarks that are going to catch you off-guard, and those comments are going to come from people you didn’t expect – a family member, a close friend, even your spouse. Something is going to slip out; a snide o...