Easy and Healthy Ideas for Lunch

Lunch can be so tough for people.  Many times, people are out “hunting” for this meal.  Commonly we choose sandwiches or fried fast food (the two things all fad diets and sound nutrition plans have in common is no bread or fried foods!).  Ideally, we would all have a kitchen at our office to prepare a balanced meal, or at least a way to heat up healthy leftovers.  Depending on your goals, you might consider a robust meal for lunch and a lighter meal for dinner, like a salad.

Here are a Few Easy and Healthy Lunch Options:

Whether you’re on-the-go or stuck in the office all day, you can eat a well-balanced meal for lunch.

Salad

One of my biggest challenges as a Nutrition Coach is to get my clients off of bread (and other baked goods).  And, that challenge usually manifests itself with lunchtime options.  But, it’s rather easy if a person likes salads.  Salad options are really endless such as Caesar salad, taco salad, Cobb salad, Greek salad, and so on.  It is very easy to get the three macromolecules into a salad.  Here are some options to add onto a bed of lettuce.  Just be sure you are adding in enough protein to meet your daily requirements.

Healthy Carbs – any fruit or vegetable you can imagine can go on a salad

• Spinach, kale, cabbage, any microgreens
• Broccoli, cauliflower
• Carrots, radishes, beets, turnips
• Onions
• Corn, peas, beans
• Cucumbers, peppers
• Dried fruits
• Apples, oranges

Healthy Protein

• Eggs
• Beans
• Nuts/Seeds
• Fish
• Chicken

Healthy Fat

• Avocado
• Fish
• Nuts/seeds
• Olive Oil

Leftovers

Leftovers are a very easy way to eat a balanced meal on the go.  When properly sealed in containers, leftovers can be brought to work and left out and eaten at room temperature (see our information on healthy dinner options).

Meal Replacement Shake

This is the easiest route to go, but meal replacements are generally low in calories.  So, go for it only if you are trying to lose weight. 

Eat Out 

Eating out is inevitable for many people.  Here are some tips when deciding where to eat:

• Quality of ingredients. Cheap food is cheap because it is low in overall nutrition.
• Avoid bread, baked goods, and fried foods.
• Seek out places that have fresh avocado you can add to your meal to add in the healthy fat

If you have questions about what you should be eating for lunch, please call to schedule a nutrition consultation. 

Written by: Randy Moyer, DC, NSCS

Photo Credit: Randy Moyer, DC NSCS

Photo Credit: Photo by Hermes Rivera on Unsplash

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