Five-Minute Meals

Meg White • January 6, 2017

I’m not surprised that the fast food industry has really become so successful. With our lifestyles getting busier and busier we’re all looking for ways to save time – and money. But like a high interest credit card for every minute we save, we’ll spend 10 minutes later in life sitting in doctors’ offices, waiting in lines for prescriptions, and being laid up. And for every dollar we think we save we’ll end up spending $100 more on health care costs from the pesticides, preservatives, lack of nutrients, and artificial additives.

Enter my 5 Min Meals Series –

I get it. Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the days. But with a little planning and some creativity I can give you the tips you need to get nutritious foods in less time. Last week I taught my first 5 min meals cooking class – and it was a stellar success (if I do say so myself). I set a timer – and was about to make tasty filling meals in less time than it takes to sit in line at the drive through.

Now prepping fresh meat on the weekend is totally the way to go (cook up a bunch of chicken breast, bacon, etc….) but in a pinch prepared/frozen meats are a better option than stopping a greasy mystery meat joint. While my favorite grocery store for the products is the Sac Natural Foods Co-Op – the staff and convenience of Trader Joe’s makes it a close second. There refrigerated cooked meats – like the chicken strips below – and 3 min frozen grains – like their organic brown rice – making throwing a 5min meal together completely possible

Here are a few of the recipes I made – All of the recipes are for 1 Servings – for an active woman – Men add 50% more. Only you know your body. If you are eating healthy food, and exercising regularly, eat until you are satisfied.

I’m already brain storming for my next set of 5 min meals – try these out and let me know what you think!

Peanut Stir Fry

4 oz frozen cooked Shrimp
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Peanuts
1 Cup Broccoli Slaw
1/2 Bell Pepper
1 Cup Brown Rice

Directions: Cover frozen shrimp in cold water. Sautee oil and peanut butter
until melted – add veggies – cook to desired
consistency – add shrimp and peanuts.
Sautee until warm. Pour over brown rice.( Until you’re a pro like me this one might take you 6.5 minutes.)

Chicken Greek Salad

4oz Chicken
1 Tbsp Crushed Walnuts
1 Tbsp Feta Cheese
2 Cups Greens of Choice
Olives, tomato, cucumber to taste
Chopped Purple Onion to taste

Dressing: 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, 1 tsp garlic,
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions: Mix all ingredients together

This meal doesn’t have enough carbs, try adding toast or pita to make it a complete meal

Lavash Wraps

1 Trader Joe’s Lavosh Bread
1 Tbsp Hummus
1/4 Avocado
4oz Meat of Choice
Veggie Ideas: Bell Pepper, Cucumber, Spinach,
Lettuce, Olives, tomato

Directions: Smear Hummus on Lavosh, over with toppings, roll up and enjoy

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Refit Restorative Exercise with Miya Simpson

By MadDog Meg • January 30, 2018

One of the trivia questions I ask in my breathing workshops is: Which movement happens more often, breathing or blinking? The correct answer is breathing, because we don’t normally blink in our sleep. But why does breathing matter so much? The movements that we do most have the greatest impact on our functioning and performance.    Can you imagine doing jumping jacks while holding your breath? Breathing impacts our external movement, our digestive system, our sleep, and our nervous system’s communication. When breathing is inefficient, the brain perceives this as a threat to life, and normal functioning is disrupted. The “fight or flight” mechanism gets turned on, posture muscles get recruited (compensate) to do the job of the breathing muscles, and so begins the injury cycle. For these reasons, restorative breathing exercises are a foundational component of all our exercise programs.   Office, car, computer, and cell phone postures have played a huge role in the dysfunctional breathing epidemic in our culture. Whether you’re training for sports or everyday life, your training demands efficient breathing. My favorite strategy to improve this critical movement: balloon breathing. There are several techniques, but a great start is 90/90 balloon breathing. Balloon breathing trains the “core”, and by “core” I mean the diaphragm, which is the true core. The diaphragm is our primary breathing muscle. When we help the diaphragm do its job, we release tension in all the muscles of the torso that were compensating for the weak and poorly positioned diaphragm. Blow the balloon up with 4-6 breaths in a row, always inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth into the balloon. Then hold the breath at the end of the exhale for 3-5 seconds, empty the balloon and begin again.    Why does breathing matter so much? Well Neil Rampe the Head Athletic Trainer for the Los Angeles Dodgers put it this way "It's like driving with your alignment off, you can compensate by over-steering, but if you don't correct it, your tires wear out after 30,000 miles instead of 60,000". Efficient breathing is one of the best gifts you can give to yourself. Try balloon breathing 3-4 times a day to start reaping the benefits of efficient breathing.    For more techniques on how to build a strong foundation come to our next free workshop on Feb3rd from 12pm-1 pm at Action Fitness Community in East Sacramento.