Denice Murray Health Coaching

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...

So, Ozempic is a hot topic in the health, wellness, and nutrition world right now. It works by simulating GLP-1, a hormone that stimulates insulin production which helps to regulate blood sugar levels, prevents blood sugar spikes, and slows down food leaving the stomach. I t also plays an important role in making you feel fuller for longer and suppressing your appetite. This has made Ozempic not only an effective Type 2 diabetes medication, but also an effective weight loss medication. There is currently great debate and continued study on the long-term effects of taking Ozempic and other medications that act as GLP-1 simulators and stimulators. This post really isn’t intended to debate the pros and cons of using a GLP-1 medication. This is to give anyone who is interested in the AFFECTS of taking a medication like Ozempic an option of getting the same GLP-1 hormone stimulation from some of the foods you can be eating. The 3 things that stimulate this hormone naturally are Fiber...

You’ve said you WANT to lose weight, eat better, move more, be healthier. But what are you doing to make it happen? As Busy Moms, we have good intentions, but then the week starts, and something pops up. A kid wakes up sick. The dog got out of the house/yard on your way out the door and you spent 15 extra minutes getting them back inside. You didn’t have breakfast planned and, in the rush, you forgot to eat anything, just grabbed a coffee instead, and then the boss brings in donuts for the morning meeting and your good intentions for the day are sunk. Sound familiar? We all have similar versions of this scenario. My teenage daughter needing permission slips signed, can’t find the WHITE jersey for the game today so we spend time looking for it only to discover it was actually in her gym bag the whole time, and the cat decided this was the morning to throw up on the stairs in a trail down three steps – carpeted stairs. So, my good intentions for making a healthy breakfast are sh...

Last time I posted, I talked about 3 Tips to help you lose weight or eat better without having to do a lot of “extra” things – following a strict diet, joining a program, or even going to the gym. This post is going to expand on that by including 3 MORE Tips to help with your Health and Nutrition. But I want to explain something first. I’ve actually been asked multiple times which is “better” or “more important” – working on your nutrition, or working on your physical activity. And while the correct answer is BOTH , the more practical answer is Nutrition . 80% of your health efforts can be guided by what you’re putting in your mouth. This ranges from trying to lose weight, controlling blood sugar levels, protecting your heart, mental health, emotional well-being, etc. The list is incredibly long. So, while I will ALWAYS say that both Nutrition and Exercise are important for health and wellness, if I was “forced” to make a choice, I would rank Nutrition as the more important ...

One of the biggest obstacles I hear from busy moms who are trying to lose weight is how complicated it can get. Whether it’s tracking points, weighing and measuring all their food, following a strict diet and exercise regime….the list goes on. And it has also been shown that 70%-80% of weight loss efforts are more affected by the food you’re eating than the exercises you’re doing. DO NOT get me wrong – THEY ARE BOTH IMPORTANT! Nutrition and Physical Activity are critical to your health and wellness. But when it comes to weight loss, or reducing body fat and increasing lean muscle, I think we sometimes “miss the forest for the trees”. We’re so busy trying to find that quick, easy THING that’s going to turn our fat into muscle overnight that we forget we might be missing a simpler answer. If we are overeating, eating unhealthy foods (lacking essential nutrients), or not eating enough healthy foods (nutrient-dense), here are three simple tips for getting on track without going to...

Experimenting with your health and wellness options is important. Extremely . Can’t stress it enough. Why? One reason is that there may be things you’re convinced from childhood you don’t like (ex. Apples), until you try them AGAIN as an adult and discover they’re not so bad after all. Or, at the very least, you can find ways to incorporate those things into your life without it driving you crazy. One of those things for me is peanut butter. I was never fond of it as a kid, but as I got older, turns out peanut butter is actually good, and I'll eat it pretty regularly. Another reason to experiment is it can be a jumping off point for other healthy habits or activities. I hate doing crunches. I’ve never liked them. But I’ve found that if I do a few (10-20) before I get out of bed in the morning, I’m MUCH more likely to do them without blowing it off or talking myself out of it, in addition to setting a positive tone to start out my day.  Now, do I think doing 15 crunches in t...