Denice Murray Health Coaching

This is a problem I have struggled with for a LONG time. I would eat pretty well during the week with maybe the occasional slip-up, and head into the weekend feeling good.  So good, in fact, that I would sabotage all my efforts from the week by thinking, “I ate so well with my fruits and veggies, and kept a very close eye on my calorie intake, that it should be NO PROBLEM if I go ahead and eat half a large pizza while out with my family” – on Friday evening. Then Saturday would bring another day of, “Man, I’m SERIOUSLY craving something sweet – like a pan of brownies – but I’ll only have a small portion,” and next thing I know half the pan is gone from walking back and forth through the kitchen and grabbing a chunk here and there.   Sunday would bring more food, with the PROMISE to myself that I would get back on track Monday, and I would but the damage from a weekend of overindulging was already done. I had stalled my progress for that week, and it’s a cycle that I h...

Had lunch today with some friends after Mini-Me’s cross-country meet. We arrived a little late and we were all joking with each other. “Mr. T” laughed and said, “Yeah, now that the health coach is here, we’re all going to have to eat healthy.” And I just smiled and laughed because I thought it was funny. It sparked a short conversation about following the 80/20 rule – which is to try to eat healthy 80% of the time and give yourself the freedom to enjoy “junk food” 20% of the time. We also talked about moderation and not going to extremes with your food choices. Overall, it was a great lunch and great conversations and we had a great time. The “weird” thing to me is that after I had joked about eating what I wanted because today was part of my 20%, when it came time to order, I didn’t go CRAZY and eat a bunch of junk. I had grilled chicken, baked beans, fried okra, and Texas toast.  I only ate until 80% full. I left food on my plate and didn’t feel “guilty” f...

What is good for you? What’s not? Should you eat red meat? Should you avoid it? What about pasta? Or even gluten, for that matter? Sugar? A cupcake has sugar in it….but so does a banana. When it comes to healthy eating and nutrition, we all want direct and specific answers. I know I do. But the reality is, there is still a LOT about nutrition we don’t know. Studies have been conducted over the last hundred or so years, but then a new study comes along and overturns the previous information (think margarine and trans-fats). But there are still 5 generally accepted principles of nutrition that most members of the scientific community agree on. Calories In vs Calories Out Determines What You Will Weigh .  There are MANY factors that determine exactly HOW those calories are going to work in your body: appetite, food consumed, psychological factors like stress and sleep, how calories are absorbed; along with calories burned at rest, during exercise, while digesting food, and a...

If you are trying to lose weight, or even eat healthier, one of the BEST options is cooking at home yourself.  That would be recommendation Number One. You can control the ingredients (and if you’re a picky eater like me, that’s a VERY important key!). For example, I’m not a fan of avocado. I’ll eat it, especially if it’s “hidden” in other foods (think guacamole in a 7-Layer dip), but I’m not going to go out of my way to add avocado to my diet. You get a LOT more bang for your buck (more food for less money). For what ONE meal costs my family in a sit-down restaurant, I can get 3-4 days’ worth of groceries. You don’t have to get fancy and sometimes less really is more (you can throw a bunch of healthy stuff in a crockpot and LET IT GO!). It might be that you and your spouse/partner are having a healthy crockpot meal while the kids are munching on frozen pizza or mac and cheese, and that’s TOTALLY FINE! Everyone is fed, you can feel good about what you ate, and the kids are happy an...

Most of the time, if you mention the dreaded “Carbohydrate” word to people trying to lose weight, they will tell you they’re talking about bread, pasta, sweets (desserts like cakes, pies, ice cream, candy, etc.), potatoes, rice – and they would be correct. However, talking about carbs isn’t as simple as you might think. Broccoli is a carb. Strawberries are carbs. Beans are carbs. Almonds are carbs. When it comes to carbohydrates I think we, as the general population, have gotten a lot of mixed messages over the years – as research has continued and studies have been conducted – and our understanding of carbs has become a bit skewed. We have lumped certain unhealthy foods into the general category of “Carbohydrates” and by association, a lot of healthy – even NECESSARY – foods have gotten a bad rap. The most common sources of carbohydrates include Fruits, Vegetables, Grains, Milk, Nuts & Seeds, and Beans, Peas & Lentils. And all of these food sources – even the...

I read a really interesting article this week on the concept of Slow Eating , or Mindful Eating . Not gonna lie, at first, I thought the idea was kind of woo-woo. Mostly because I've spent most of my life in a hurry and trying to shove food in my mouth as fast as I can so I could either get to my next "thing" that I needed to be doing, or to get whatever delicious food I was eating scarfed down so I could eat MORE. Not to mention for the past few years I've been dealing with 3 teenagers who stuff their faces as fast as possible, and there was a good chance I might not get to eat at all if I didn't hurry. But the more I've learned as I studied health coaching, as well as working on my own personal wellness journey, the more Mindful Eating kept popping up in my classes and in my research. It almost sounds too simple to be effective. Eat slowly. Ummm....okay? Why? What does eating slowly do for your body? Well, based on research from the University of Rhode Isla...

SURPRISE….YOU CAN’T! I’ve been posting about food a LOT lately, and mainly it’s because watching what you eat (making healthier choices), controlling portion sizes, and pushing for whole, unprocessed foods is the “best” way to improve your health and lose weight. More on that in a second. E xercise is important.  Movement is crucial to long-term health.  There are so many ways that moving our bodies improves our health and wellness, and improves our body composition (muscle to fat ratios). But the reality is that unless regular healthy food choices becomes the way you eat MOST of the time, long-term weight loss/maintenance is much more difficult. Not to mention, it’s been proven in several studies that 70-80% of weight loss efforts are determined by what you eat while 20-30% depends on your exercise. As a trainer friend of mine mentioned, you can’t out-train a bad diet. You can maintain. You can yo-yo back and forth between loss and gain. But eventually the strain of i...