Time for Lunch!
(ABOVE: chicken salad from today in Berlin)
At lunchtime my meals are SUPER varied depending on what I feel like. My basic rule is that I have a bigger meal at lunch time and a much smaller meal at dinner time. This way, you are burning up what you have eaten at lunch throughout your day, keeping you sharp right up until you go to sleep. Dinner is small and easy to digest- soothing on the stomach before sleep!
Another basic rule is lean meat (lean protein) and veggies- with this combo you cannot go wrong! Try a lean piece of meat, some chicken, fish with a side salad. Eggs are also included in this! Protein fills you up and eggs in particular can be mixed around into so many different forms. They are also suuuuuper quick to cook. Why not make an omelette with cheese and spring onions? YUMO! It is 100% quicker than ordering food or jumping in the car to buy a sandwich! (see below my asparagus omelette and salad)
Now you are probably all thinking- this is great, but how on earth can I eat like that at work?? I cannot be cooking lean proteins at work!? And yes, you are very right!
So here are a few of my solutions….
First of all, I ALWAYS pack my own lunches. They are SO much cheaper (unless you live in Berlin because food is super cheap here!!), you know EXACTLY what you are eating and are not persuaded into buying something not so healthy at a restaurant or cafeteria at work. I pack:
– Hardboiled egg with salad
– Chicken salad with corn mmm
– SOUP!
– Green Salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, beetroot, cheese, carrots- anything I have in my fridge basically!
– Cold meats/ cheese and corn crackers with a salad
-Tin of tuna and salad (tin is already ready to eat wahoo!)
-Left over steak from day before mixed into a salad
– Rice paper rolls with Tofu or praws (See below, I made these a few weeks ago)
– Pita wrap with whatever filling I feel like
– Mixed boiled vegetables with dressing- it is sooo yummy or else I wouldn’t eat it trust me! Below is a photo to prove it! (I have also added some gnocchi)
– Yoghurt
-Mixed nuts
– Fruit
( yes, I pack a lot of salads! I eat vegetables either raw or cooked every day)
I always only drink water with lunch. In fact here are all of the drinks I drink:
-water
-tea
-coffee
-milk (never really by itself only in cereal/tea etc)
I never drink soft drink (maybe once in a blue moon when I am out with friends) just because I’m really not fussed with soft drink. I may have the odd glass of wine with a meal, but yet again hardly never, but I do think red wine is good and has health benefits in moderation of course!! When I say “hardly never” I can literally count on one hand how many times I would have drunk wine or soft drink within a year, it is that little! But I am a sucker for tea and coffee. I have an average of one coffee a day.
So my third and final basic rule is 2/3 vegetables and 1/3 whatever it is that you feel like. Even if you feel like something less healthy, say a pie or pizza or sausages, always remember to fill 1/3 of your plate with these and 2/3’s with veggies or a salad. You cannot go wrong! Oh and pizza is one of my favourite foods! mm mm!
(Below: Some of my sausages in London and small salad)
(Below: My warm chickpea and Tuna salad in London made by roasting veggies in a pan and adding tuna, salt, pepper and stock!)
(Below: My lean protein and salad in London- Red meat is SUPER important for females for the iron content!)
(Below: My lunch in Milan- cold meats, cheese mixed into a salad)
Hope you found this helpful! Thank you Bree for your question, keep them coming!
xem
BE GOOD 