We caught up with Aoibhín Garrihy at the Lloyd’s Pharmacy Change Your Health Direction Programme launch, where she told us all about her supportive family and how she maintains a healthy lifestyle.
The actress and her husband, John, welcomed their first child, Hanorah, during the summer and Aoibhín told us that their family have been incredibly supportive when it comes to looking after the baby.
“Hanorah is great, she’s just over the six-month mark now, so we have survived the slog. She’s brilliant and I’ve had great support around me as well, it really does take a village,” she exclusively told Goss.ie.
“I’ve been so lucky with my family and John’s family. They’ve all taken her under their wing and we’re just blessed. She’s a great baby, she’s a great sleeper, she’s been feeding away so, so far so good.”
It’s clear that family means a lot to Aoibhín, as she regularly teams up with her sisters, Doireann and Ailbhe, for her Beo events: Beo is an opportunity for us all to work together which is lovely.”
“Because I live in the west and the girls live in Dublin, it’s probably the only time we get to spend proper quality time together. So for us it’s kind of a family reunion every weekend which is lovely.”
The actress is extremely proud of Doireann’s recent television work, as she beamed about her younger sister and said: “Absolutely. We all watched the Christmas Eve episode of Podge and Rodge. Even, you know, we had heard all about The Doireann Project and she was showing us little behind-the-scenes snippets from it.”
“So I couldn’t wait for it to be launched and for everyone else to see how funny it was, because we knew what was in the pipeline. She had bounced some of the script ideas off us, so we’re very much a support network for each other.”
“The family Whatsapp group is ‘lit’, is what we say,” Aoibhín joked, before she added: “It’s great to see her doing so well, but I think having a supportive family around you is always a great help.”
The actress plans on focusing on Beo for the time being and doesn’t think she’ll join up with her sisters for their own television show, as she told us: “No, there are no plans for that.”
Aobhín’s business with co-founder, Sharon Connellan, is thriving at the moment, as they are reaching women across the country with their Beo events: “We started sixteen months ago and since then we’ve welcomed over 7,000 women across Ireland. We had our first event in the north at the weekend, so that was really exciting, to kind of go across the boarder and see how we got on.”
The pair plan to go even bigger and better this year, as she revealed that they have some plans for the company in 2019: “Yeah, we’ve great plans. We have a new website in development at the moment, hoping to drive out new content online. The January series will come to an end this month, but we’ll have more in the Spring, so it’s all go.”
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These ladies ???? BEO Christmas Soirée @knockrannyhousehotel Here’s to 2019 ????
“I love it, kind of getting feedback from women that came at the right time of their lives or it was just what they needed, that particular moment. I love getting messages like that, it’s lovely to hear from them. Yeah, we’ll keep pushing on.”
“Beo is my baby at the moment, I’ve another baby as well, but Beo is something that I’m really really enjoying more than I ever imagined I would. It just seems really important and it’s great to be empowering women, young and old, and something that I’ve become really passionate about.”
Aobhín also opened up about how she maintains a healthy lifestyle while juggling family life, her own business and social events: “It’s tough, it is tough and as women we tend to put ourselves at the bottom of the priority list. But there’s a quote I love and it’s that ‘self care is not selfish,’ that we really can’t serve from an empty vessel.”
“We have to keep replenishing the cup and whether it’s five minutes, ten minutes, half and hour, you need to give yourself that during the day just to recharge the batteries. For me I know I need a day a week, ‘soul day’ I call it.”
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Happy Nollaig na mBan ladies…Best way to spend Women’s Little Christmas @beowellness.ie ❤️
“We speak about this at Beo, that I think it’s really important that whatever it is that kind of gets your fire burning, you need to give yourself that time. For me it’s getting out in the outdoors. I love nature, I’m lucky enough to have the sea on my doorstep, so getting out with the dogs is really important for me.”
“I’m not so much a gym bunny different strokes for different folks. I know that my husband, John, he likes something completely different from what I’m into. He’s in the hospitality business surrounded by people all the time, so he loves to get away by himself.”
“I love getting a squad around me, getting the dogs, getting the baby, getting himself and we all head off for a day trekking or to the beach or whatever it is. But I think you really need to give yourself that time for you, it’s really really important and sleep of course, I couldn’t function without it.”
“But generally I tend to have low energy levels as it is, my iron tends to be low. So I will be checking into Lloyd’s and coming up with a masterplan to address those low iron levels.”
The mother-of-one also added that she felt keeping up her fitness during her pregnancy was important: “”Again, not the regimental gym-going bunny, definitely not, never have been. But getting out, enjoying the outdoors and enjoying nature, kayaking, trekking, swimming or whatever it is.”
“It’s something that I did right before my pregnancy and during pregnancy as well, it didn’t really change. If someone had said to me ‘you will swim in the Atlantic the day before Hanorah’s born’, I wouldn’t have believed them. But I did, because well she was born in the middle of a heatwave so that helped as well.”
“But I think if you can keep that level of fitness, if you’re feeling okay, it’ll really stand to you then in delivery and post-pregnancy as well. I’ve kept it up, thank god.”
Meanwhile, the former Dancing with the Stars competitor is missing the show, as it returned to RTÉ last weekend: “”I’m missing my fitness because it really is the best cardio you’ll ever do. It’s great, I mean again they’ve upped the ante again. I was watching it on Sunday night and it’s great to see all the pro-dancers back and the new celebs.”
“I just love it, it’s such a fantastic production and it’s great to be able to watch it from the comfort of your own couch and not have the pressure of the Sunday nights.”
“It’s just such a buzz and they will have a ball and they’ll miss it afterwards, I did. I had post-show blues, but it feels like a distant memory now and I couldn’t remember a step if you paid me.”
The mother-of-one also shared some information about the Lloyd’s Pharmacy Change Your Health Direction Programme with us, as it promotes a healthy lifestyle for people across the country.
“We’re here today to launch the Lloyd’s Pharmacy Change Your Health Direction Programme. Which is an eight-week free programme, which is available across all of the their ninety-one stores and it’s chance for you to transform your health plan and call in and get free advice.”
“It’s happening over the next eight week in-store. There are health coaches in-store offering tips and tricks for you to take away and implement in your day-to-day life and it’s all free.”
“So really now is the chance, January is a great time to do it and whether it’s weight loss or it’s energy levels, or you want to stop smoking or you want to get your blood pressure checked. Whatever it is, Lloyd’s is the place to do it and again, it’s all free, so why not?”
