Start Eating Healthy: Lunch Ideas 

Start Eating Healthy: Lunch Ideas For most of us, lunch is the meal of the day when we are away from our homes. It is challenging to eat healthy lunch when you are away from home, as most of the food you can buy from cafes or grab in service stations is usually not very healthy! With a bit of planning you can make sure to always have some packed healthy lunch with you! This should be your main meal of the day, and you can add foods with more calories like rice, pasta or bread. Stil, pay some attention to calories, but if you are planning a light dinner, this is time to eat more to get the energy you need for the rest of the day!  

First things first: add fruit to your lunch box!

  This is a type of food you can easily grab with you every day from home or a shop on the way to work. From bananas and apples to pineapples and melon, everything is amazing, full of antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. Perfect to nourish and feed your body and skin! We have been told fruits are so calorie rich that we should be careful, but it’s not really 100% true. As with most carbohydrate-rich foods, you take the same amount of calories by consuming a pile of fruit or vegetables! Add some seeds and nuts or yogurt and honey and you are sorted. If you feel it is too sweet and juicy for you and you want a more solid lunch, you can deep dive in the multitude of versions you can do with wraps!  

The art of wraps

  Take a corn or wholemeal wrap or any other wrap and open your fridge. You can use avocados and hummus or cucumbers, salad, tomatoes and pepper. Add some cheese, ham, eggs, chicken or seafood….the sky is the only limit here! Choose according to your taste, try different combinations and always add plenty of vegetables and green leaves! Recently I discovered another great type of food that I enjoy cold:   Healthy stir frys!   As I am still consuming a bit of meat I use chicken, turkey or seafood and I add loads of vegetables! I use broccoli, carrots, peas, zucchinis, tomatoes, pepper, garlic and onion.You can even add pineapple if you like! At the end I add soy sauce, sesame seeds, honey and spices to taste. The final result is a pile of vegetables with a bit of meat (you can use only vegetables or add some tofu to make it vegan). They are fresh, aromatic and also tasty when cold! If you want, you can add noodles or rice and voila! Your healthy lunch box is ready! In one average size wok you can make dinner for 2 and one lunch box. If you use egg noodles, you can make them fresh at work just by adding boiled water!

There’s nothing like tasty sandwiches and salads

  You can buy them on the go, but they are the best when made at home. This way you know what you are adding and you can choose your favorite ingredients, plus loads of your favourite salad! Choose anything for salad: cucumber, tomatoes, green leaves or red cabbage and add some healthy seeds. Separately, mix  the sauce. My classic recipe is lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, salt pepper and a bit of sugar, but you can twist this according to your taste buds.  

Don’t forget to add a snack!

  As a snack you can add a bar of raw black chocolate or bowl of fruits. It’s full of antioxidants and happiness hormones that will help you finish your working day with style! These are some, but not all ideas for your lunch out of home!   A handy tip: To count your vitamin and mineral intake please use cronometer.com. It’s a free app that counts all of your most important vitamins and minerals, plus many more. Cronometer.com also has the option to search for vitamin or mineral rich foods, for example if you want to know what types of food contain Zinc. A very handy tool to help you put together the healthiest lunch recipes!   Be healthy and full of energy! Zane Please join me in Healthy Aging Academy to get recipes,ideas and more to stay energised and happy.