By Use these easy tips to help you on the quest for better lunch preparation.
Prepping your meals should be very simple.
I will admit — time is of the essence every single day.
Like anyone, I’m super busy — but refuse to compromise my health.
I’ve learnt certain little things along the way — many came from research and good old experimentation.
It can be a challenge (and expensive) to find something that’s well worth your hard-earned money.
But if you are on a mission toward better health and longevity (not to mention weight loss), it’s important to understand what a sustainable and easy lunch should be. It’s also very easy to prepare on your own.
Usually, most of us want a quick fix that can be taken out of the fridge and reheated.
I call this a ‘no-brainer lunch’ prepared beforehand and eliminates that nasty ‘hangry’ feeling we get when we can’t handle another second without food (sound familiar?). Regret flourishes when we become more susceptible to making poor nutritional decisions a few hours later.
Plus, with the cost of living increasing — isn’t it a much more economical way of leading your life?
Research tells us that those who eat a nutrient-lacking lunch tend to make even worse health choices later in the day.
People who skip lunch eat fewer vegetables and protein (including the plant variety) than regular meals.
We all should prioritise meeting those vegetable, fruit and fibre intake thresholds that are hard to attain with only one meal.
Spacing your nutritional sources is a lot more beneficial throughout the day. For example, don’t just save vegetables for lunch or dinner.
Here’s how to build a more nutritionally viable lunch that hits all your nutrient goals whilst helping you control your weight and steady energy flow during the day.
Set your intention the night before
If your mission is to lose weight, you must set the intention the night before & have something prepared.
Eating out leaves us susceptible to eating more than we need and not eating enough of the good stuff.
Also, do you know what’s in that food?
For instance, sushi is amazing, but a tuna and avocado hand roll isn’t the right nutrient ratio to sustain your appetite.
Adding some vegetables and salad into the mix certainly helps.
If you love tuna and avocado, why not pre-make a salad with all your vegetables? Then, add a can of tuna and some avocado.
Why not make quinoa instead of rice?
Quinoa is delicious, cold, and a complete protein, rich in many necessary nutrients.
This meal isn’t hard to make the night before — and will keep you full and eliminate the risk of eating more (or the wrong kinds of snacks because you are hungry).
Eat at the right time or prepare healthy snacks
Try not to wait until the end of the day to eat.
You may think lunch at 4 pm is too late — and perhaps winging it until dinner is probably easier.
Perhaps you can get away with this a few times, but usually, not eating anything (or eating the wrong things to make up for the lack of eating) lowers our blood sugar level.
Then we feel tired, irritated and starving!
So, if you can’t get to a meal, then keep healthy snacks by your side.
I recommend nuts, some fruit, a boiled egg, yogurt, or avocado on sourdough.
Make your snack healthy, filled with good quality fats, protein and carbs.
All these combinations are portable and easy to throw in your lunch bag in the morning or the night before.
Best of all, you can probably keep them in your workplace fridge.
Balance of different nutrients is key
Aim to include all the important nutrients in your foods.
Don’t be afraid of carbs, as we all need a portion of them.
Quality carbs are what we’re looking for here.
A nice combination (for the sake of time) is to have a stock of eggs in your fridge handy or pre-make lentils. They are cold in a salad or heated up in winter as soup.
Roast your favourite veggies often during the week to add them to your lunch alongside chicken, beans, sweet potato or quinoa.
If you are time-poor, grab a pre-cooked chicken (or half a chicken), portion it, and add it to your meal options. It’s a very cheap and sustainable way to eliminate any waste.
Key take away
Make the most of the produce available during particular times of the year, or stock up on some frozen goods.
Lunch should always contain the right amount of protein, vegetables, fats and carbs.
If you skip this simple step, hunger will prevail, and those 3 pm chocolate treats will start to look much more enticing when that belly grumbles.
So, pre-cook what you can purchase those staple proteins and keep a stack of containers filled with nutritious food to make your life easier.
I guarantee that starting this simple meal prep habit will get a lot easier and more intuitive.
To summarise
- Pick staple, simple and cheap sources of protein (canned tuna, rotisserie chicken, eggs)
- Always include vegetables
- Add some fats like avocado and olive oil as a dressing.
- Chose your carbs wisely and cook yourself batches of quinoa, sweet potato and even some rice
- Please put them in separate containers, making them easy to pack in a bag when you’re on the go.
- Vegetables that are baked last a while in the fridge, so bake them a couple of days a week, and you will always shave a supply to add a few eggs or chicken into
- Pre-cook lentils and beans. Store them in a glass jar or container
- Keep nuts and seeds handy.
- Yogurt is your best friend.
Keep all your food jars if possible. Clean them and store all your veggies and condiments.
These are the steps I take, and I’m never without a meal and always eat the best foods.
Do you pre-make your meals, and what’s the best tip you can share?
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