Denice Murray Health Coaching

While this might seem obvious, it’s been coming up more and more in my life lately and I feel like it’s something I should talk about again. My son is trying to do more cooking at home, and I’ve been getting a few calls lately about how to do things in the kitchen. None of my kids really had much interest in cooking growing up, although I made sure they were capable of feeding themselves the basics and were able to follow directions on a box mix of whatever. But, apparently this is more common than I realized, and I’ve heard people my age and older say they really don’t like cooking, aren’t interested, or don’t know how to make things that taste good. I’ll be the first to admit, my cooking skills developed because 1.) I was a picky eater; 2.) we were broke and couldn’t eat out all the time; 3.) there were foods I wanted to try that my family had zero interest in eating. My mom taught me the basics as a teenager, and I learned to follow recipes and watche...

When we say Nutrition is Individual it means that physically, down to the genetic level, everyone processes foods differently. This is why some of us have great grandparents who lived to be 101 years old while smoking tobacco, drinking whiskey, and eating bacon and lard every day of their lives, and others can’t look at a cheeseburger without our arteries clogging. One person can eat a bowl of cereal with no problems and another can eat the same cereal and it can cause a serious spike in their blood sugar. Why is this so important? Because health, nutrition, and weight loss tend to get painted with the wide brush of “If it worked for her, it should work for me”. And this is simply not the truth. It MIGHT work for you.  It might not.  It might work for your neighbor, your sister, your friend, or your co-worker, but for you….not so much.  This is why as a health and nutrition coach I continue to stress the importance of finding what works for you on an individual lev...

After my sons went to college, our household food routine changed. We were able to cook a more diverse array of foods at home. We no longer had to go to restaurants that the boys would eat at because they were EXTREMELY picky eaters and would only eat certain things at certain places (pizza, pasta, chicken strips, etc.). Once they started eating chicken strips more often, it actually took a LOT of stress off our family food dynamic. Then in college they started to branch out a bit more and have been willing to try a few more things – seafood, burgers, more types of vegetables, etc. Now we are faced with a new dilemma and that is picky eating for Hubs. Let me preface this by saying that this is not his fault . Due to medications, there are certain foods he can’t eat at all or things he must be really careful about so they don’t interact badly with his meds. But regardless of HOW it happened, we are still in the situation of having a limited set of options for him to eat. Some o...

Cold and Flu season is here.  And it sucks.  No one likes getting sick. No one wants to take off work to deal with the fever, stuffiness, coughing, aches, and overall feeling like crap. Or, as busy moms, when our babies get sick and we’re trying to take care of them and ourselves too, especially if everyone is sick at the same time – been there, done that, NO THANK YOU ! Kids are going to go to school or daycare. They are going to come in contact with other kids who are sick. They are going to bring it home and spread those germs around because that’s what kids do. You are going to have to go to work. Or to the store. Or to run various errands. You are going to come into contact with other people. You are going to touch surfaces that have not been completely sanitized. So, what can you do? Not surprisingly, it’s the little things that matter when it comes to fighting off colds and the flu.  The most basic of basics . NUMBER ONE – Wash Your Hands .  Just st...

I'm going on about adjusting your flavor profile to fit your likes and dislikes.  This is a topic I’ve touched on before, but I wanted to go a little more in-depth about it. The conversation got started in our house when Dearest Step-Daughter sent her dad (my husband) a Mediterranean Cookbook to help with his health and weight loss efforts. Hubs is NOT a fan of the Mediterranean flavor profile. I, on the other hand, am a HUGE fan of a lot of the flavors involved in Mediterranean cooking. Some of them I’m still not 100% on board with, but I’m learning little by little. This sparked a debate in our house. I told Hubs that we don’t have to cook exactly like the cookbook says and that we can adjust things to fit his flavor preferences. He asked, “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of it being Mediterranean ?” Well....he has a valid point. The long and short answer is – Yes and No. Perfectly clear, right? Insert eye-roll here . To make it Mediterranean, it has more to do wi...

It’s a busy time of year. You’re a busy mom dealing with life, but also trying to work on your health. The holidays are just around the corner. With so much on your plate, you might not feel like you have time to fit everything in. Maybe you aren’t the type who likes to get up super early to fit a workout in before the hecticness of your day begins – guilty . Or maybe you ARE the type who likes to get up early, get your workout in, but then the day gets away from you and before you know it you’re munching on Cheetos and a Diet Coke to make it through your afternoon before you get home and realize there’s nothing in your kitchen besides frozen nuggets, mac and cheese, and some applesauce cups. As a busy mom trying to work on a healthy lifestyle or lose weight, we have this idea that we have to do ALL the things to be effective. And in some ways, this is true. BUT! It’s also possible to make an impact on your health and start the weight loss process without losing your mind...

I was listening to a health coaching podcast and it was an interview between two coaches discussing their coaching practices – what was working, what wasn’t, what their clients are looking for, etc. Being the HUGE nerd that I am, I was fascinated by this conversation. I always want to gain insights into anything that will help clients, make me a better coach, and help busy moms feel BETTER . Coach 1 mentioned their practice and the focus of a new program being on preventative coaching. Coach 2 instantly jumped in with, “Yeah, that’s probably not going to work very well.” Coach 1: “Why?” Coach 2: “Well, preventative health and wellness isn’t ‘sexy’ enough . You’ll never get people to buy into it.” Both coaches laughed about the ‘sexy’ description, and continued their conversation, but I paused the podcast for a minute. I was definitely surprised by this answer. Like, don’t you WANT to prevent illness, disease, or chronic health issues? I would rather prevent them! It’s one of th...

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...

WHAT NUTRITION COACHING IS   Nutrition Coaching is a partnership between the coach and the client to examine the client’s eating patterns, the reasons behind their food choices, and to determine what steps can be taken to improve their overall eating habits and reach their nutrition goals. Yeah…. So, what does all that mean? First, why do you need/want to work with a nutrition coach?  Well, a few reasons.  Each person is unique – and by unique, I mean we all have different things that influence our eating habits. I didn’t try LASAGNA until I was an adult. Why? Because I grew up in a rural farm community, both of my parents did the same, as did THEIR parents, and even though there was limited access to grocery stores, my family for several generations ate off the land, so to speak. Beef, pork, and chicken was butchered from their farms. Eggs gathered every morning. Vegetables grown in the garden. There was not a lot of cultural diversity in the area, either. So…...