Angela Gaffney |

Your Guide To Creating Easy (and Delicious!) Lunches

Angela Gaffney — Tue, 14 May 2019 12:30:00 +0000

Lunch tends to be one of those last-minute, throw-together meals for the whole family and when it comes to packing the lunch box, there’s often very little variety. Whether you’re packing for you or the kids, creating delicious and healthy lunches can happen with just a bit of prep work and you can easily have everyone’s lunchboxes filled with nutritious food in 15 minutes or less each day. It doesn’t need to be fancy or over the top, just nutritious so that you have all the support you need for a healthy, focused and energetic day. Read on for some tips and ideas for easy and delicious lunches!

• An ingredient list should be 5 ingredients or less. The longer the list gets, the easier it is to hide the yucky stuff! It’s like the “Where’s Waldo” game where there’s so much going on in the photo that it takes a while to find the star of the show! Just take a peek at one of the “Lunchables” products or a frozen meal, the ingredient list is often longer than your arm! Focus on whole, fresh foods and when needed, prepackaged foods with less than 5 ingredients.

• Create a picnic-style lunch for fun and ease. For sandwiches, select organic, whole grain bread that hasn’t been genetically modified, bleached and enriched. If it’s PBJ for the kids, buy organic strawberry jam; it may be sweetened with sugar, but the ingredient list usually ends there. You can buy all-natural nut butters that have only one ingredient: nuts! You could peel an orange, throw in some edamame, and serve guacamole and corn chips as a side. These foods are filled with good fat, fiber, vitamin C and plenty of plant-based nutrients. Invite the kids to participate in meal prep and lunch packing to make it a family affair.

•Double Your Dinner: This is one of the easiest ways to create a healthy lunch. Double your dinner recipe so you have an extra serving for everyone to enjoy the next day. Soups, spaghetti, beans and rice, quinoa, veggies and chicken, and chili are all easy things to pack up for lunch in a thermos. The key is to heat up your thermos before you fill it with food. Pour boiling water into the thermos, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes while you’re warming the meal on the stove. Dump the water out and dish the hot food into the thermos for warm-keeping until the lunch break begins.

This week, challenge yourself to step away from convenience and eat whole, fresh foods. I promise you that once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty easy to accomplish and you’ll love the variety of delicious food that you get to look forward to each day for lunch!

Why I Was Doing Breathing Exercises On An Office Floor (Plus Three Time-Saving Tips For Health!)

Angela Gaffney — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 22:10:56 +0000

So, you may be wondering….why was I stretching on an office floor?!

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Like many of you, I work full time, manage the household and get the kids to their activities and appointments. My day was full, my mind felt fatigued and my body tired. So I decided I needed to give myself a little TLC . . . in the comfort of a waiting room. That’s right. We were the only ones in the office and while my son thought I was funny for doing so, the time I took to close my eyes, take deep breaths and stretch helped me feeling clear, energized and more calm. It didn’t take long, just a few sweet minutes dedicated solely to myself. Small, quiet moments can make all the difference in the day.

Whether it’s taking a minute to stretch or do breathing exercises, choosing to grab a salad instead of going to the drive-thru, or carrying a water bottle with you while you’re on the road, integrating healthy habits into our daily life doesn’t have to be complicated. But it does take consistent focus and making intentional choices to help you reach (and maintain!) your goals. So today, I’m sharing three of the best time-saving tips to support you in health.

So much of achieving a healthy lifestyle has to do with setting yourself up to succeed; making small changes to your environment, giving yourself “nudges” towards your healthy habit, or taking an extra moment ahead of time to prepare something for the next day is sometimes all that it takes to keep you on the right track.

It is my hope that these simple strategies below will help you stay on track and achieve your goals – minimal time required! And if you find yourself with a moment to squeeze in a quick stretch on an office floor, I hope you’ll take advantage and remember that a life of health has everything to do with making the most of the time you’ve got, no matter how little it may be.

• Master Your Meals:

Dedicate one hour per week to plan your meals and create the grocery list. Make sure to reference the calendar for the week ahead so that you can build in realistic expectations for meal prep based on the amount of time you’ll have.
Keep a running list of healthy, simple meals and rotate them every week for additional time savings. No need to reinvent the wheel with cooking new recipes each week if you’re short on time!
Block out a time to grocery shop, clean produce, and prep meals for the coming week. This saves you time during the week and will make it possible for dinner to be on the table in 20 minutes or less.

Health Note: Food is the foundation of health! Meal planning should incorporate whole, plant-based foods that help protect organs, maintain great cellular health and protect the body from disease. Plant-based foods include; leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Compliment these foods with organic sources of lean protein and healthy fat.

• Drink Up:

Have a designated glass or stainless-steel bottle for daily hydration. Keep it on hand while traveling, at work and at home.
Consume 80 oz of water daily. Make sure you know how many water bottles you’ll need to drink in order to accomplish this!
If a hydration reminder is needed, place a rubber band on the bottle and move it down the bottle for every fill-up until you’ve accomplished the goal of 80 oz. You can also set a hydration reminder on your phone or download an app that will send you reminders each hour!

Health Note: Every process in the body depends on water! People are often dehydrated because they simply don’t make time or remember to drink water throughout the day. Plan ahead; have your own bottle in hand and take advantage of every fill up station.

• Pack -n- Play:

Schedule daily movement into the calendar a week at a time. Whether it’s a 15 minute walk around the block, a class at the gym, or playing a group sport, put it into the calendar just as you would any appointment so you’ll be sure to use this time for movement!
Pack your gym bag or any necessary equipment the night before so it’s ready to go.

Health Note: Movement will help decrease stress, increase metabolism and keep you feeling energized. By planning your daily workouts and packing up ahead of time, you’ll save time and keep workouts efficient (even when you’re short on time!) and you’ll be more likely to keep your “appointment time” for exercise when you’ve planned for it!

Now it’s your turn: I hope you’ll hop over to the Facebook Page and share YOUR time-saving tricks that help you make health a priority!

Your How-To Guide: Meal Prep & Planning!

Angela Gaffney — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:54:06 +0000

I talk often about filling up your plate with colorful foods. But it can sure seem overwhelming if you’re new to the concept! Check out this video from Week 8 of the online Feel Good, Look Good Master class where I show you how simple it is to get a variety of foods and colors into a day’s worth of meals!

In this video, you’ll learn:
• How to balance protein, fat, and carbohydrates
• How to consume more vegetables and leafy greens (hint: it’s not as difficult as you might think!)
• How to use “transition foods” that are pre-prepared foods to help with your meal planning when you’re pressed for time.

Enjoy the video!

If you want to learn more about the Master Class, click here!

Healthy Shopping (Even on a budget!)

Angela Gaffney — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 15:43:09 +0000

Budgeting is a practice that we implement in many areas of our life; we budget our money, our time, and our efforts. If we didn’t, we could easily end up broke, burned out and exhausted! The practice of shopping on a budget is no different. In order to achieve your goals, you’ll need to make choices that support you in doing so.

Shop on a budget and still eat healthy, nourishing foods by following these tips:

• Stock your pantry and refrigerator with cost-effective staples.

• Avoid shopping in the aisles of the grocery store and fill up on the produce section of the store.

• When possible, purchase non-perishable items in bulk for cost savings. Warehouses such as Costco and Sam’s Club allow you to do so as well as online stores such as amazon.com.

• Decide what your priorities are; use the “want’s –versus- needs” exercise to help you out. If you’re struggling to prioritize where you spend your money, you can begin by asking yourself if the item is a “want” or “need” in your life. If it’s a “need”, then it is must be a priority. This means that you may have to give up purchasing the $100 pair of shoes to achieve your goals and include all of your needs into your lifestyle.

• For every meal, fill your plate with 80% plant-based foods: vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans, leafy greens, nuts and seeds. The other 20% of the meal may include animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs. This will help you gain a lot of nourishment while staying on budget.

• Instead of purchasing boxed snacks, cookies and chips take the opportunity to schedule one or two afternoons a month where you can bake your own goods and freeze for future consumption.

• Plan ahead. A budget-conscious shopper has a plan in place. While there are few coupons available for whole, fresh foods, you can still be strategic by reviewing the sale items and planning your weekly menu accordingly.

• Check into the option of a CSA or door-to-door organics company to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables. These options can provide a cost savings in the long run. Shopping at local Farmer’s Markets can also help you save some pennies.

• Decide to make healthy shopping part of your lifestyle; dedicate the time and effort needed to sort out your personal budget and plan accordingly. Once you get your feet wet and complete a few shopping trips, you’ll better understand how to meet the needs of your family while achieving your money goals.

• Remember that convenience doesn’t always come without consequence. Making the investment in your health today means less money being given to doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies later on. Whole, fresh foods will nourish your body and fight disease so you may enjoy all your days for the long haul. That’s a “need” in my book, how about yours?

For fruits and vegetables, select the items that are on sale and couple lower-priced items with some higher-priced counterparts. For example, you could add onion, kale, garlic and bell peppers to a spaghetti sauce. The kale, onion and garlic are inexpensive items while the organic peppers will run you about $3.50 per pound. In total though, you’re paying very little to add nutrients to your meal and the sum of the vegetables provides you a large portion for feeding the whole family.

Challenge yourself to see how many fruits and vegetables you can fit into your shopping cart for $75.00; I think you’ll be amazed with the results!

Using staples that are versatile, plant-based, and full of fiber and nutrients will keep you satiated and on top of your game whether you’re headed off to work, school, or play.