Denice Murray Health Coaching

This has been a rough week. Lost a family member, and it was also my dad’s heavenly birthday. When it comes to emotional times like this, I would like to say that I am good at handling the emotions while sticking with my health and wellness goals. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. I have always been an emotional eater. Something to celebrate? Eat.  Bad day? Eat.  Frustrated? You get the idea. The day after I found out a member of my family had passed away, I binged on cookie dough and chips. And nachos. And chicken strips. And potato wedges. Again, you get the idea. But here’s the thing. I’m admitting all this to you because even as a health coach, I’m still a human being who makes mistakes. I mess up. I let my emotions override my good judgment and even though I have done incredibly well at reaching my goals in the last couple of weeks, I “blew” all that by binging out in a moment of stress, pain, and tears. As a health and nutrition coach, I know the benefits o...

What does it mean to let go of food “rules”? Most of us, at some point, probably learned the basics of nutrition in school – eat your fruits and veggies; eat your protein (and depending on where you live that protein source may vary); some fats are good, others are bad; carbs are good, but also bad; drink your milk; drink your water; sugar is bad. As busy moms, we got older and our lifestyles changed. So did our metabolisms. Many of us went from being able to eat anything we wanted in whatever amounts we could handle to not being able to look at a cookie without gaining weight. We have been influenced by our families and upbringing. We have been influenced by our culture and society. We have been influenced by media and marketing efforts. We have been influenced by friends and colleagues, our spouses and children. Whatever influences have been at work in your life, there is a 100% chance your views about food have been impacted. And I would like to tell you that it’s okay to le...

This is being posted with permission from one of my clients because it’s an issue that I would like to address with a wider audience and not something many of us think about when we’re starting our weight loss/health journeys. My client and her husband had a disagreement about her efforts to lose weight, and it was something she wanted to discuss in our session. The first few weeks of her efforts have gone very well. She’s been setting small, attainable goals and has met them each week. There’s not been a lot of movement on the scale, but we’re not focusing on that right now, only on helping her create the habits and routines she needs to change her lifestyle. The first issue came up over the weekend. She and her husband were out with their children – 3 under the age of 10. So, they decided the best choice for lunch was to go to a pizza place considering the kids are picky eaters. While money isn’t a huge issue for them, they still like to be financially responsible so when they ...