By Chef K.T. Murphy
5 Easy Healthy Lunch Ideas:
One of the easiest ways to enjoy a healthy mid-day meal is to make it tasty and nutritious. It’s also a good idea to have everything ready and prepped beforehand. Some prefer to prepare meals for the entire week, others take it day-by-day. Either way, the main goal is to keep your lunch tasty and delicious without being soggy and bland. Being prepared will ensure that you, and your family, get to eat a healthy packed lunch that tastes as good as it looks.
Especially now, more than ever since vending machines and processed snacks are easy to come by, eating healthy is becoming more and more of a challenge. When we eat a well-balanced lunch, we give our bodies the chance to stay full for longer periods of time, so you’re less likely to munch on not-so-healthy goodies. You’ll also be more energized, be more alert, you’ll feel more focused and better at retaining information throughout the day.
Here are 5 of the healthiest, yet easiest, lunch ideas you can prepare a day or two in advance:
No Processed Foods!!!
1. Sandwiches/wraps. Who doesn’t love a good sandwich? They’re easy to make, easy to pack and taste delicious when made using the right ingredients. For example, cottage cheese is one of these fantastic ingredients that’s high in protein and low in fat. Other great ingredients include avocado, which is high in mono saturated fats, and Greek yogurt, which is a great substitute for mayonnaise but without all the fat and calories. You can also use turkey, which is a lean source of protein with fewer calories than the traditional beef. For the wraps, the choices are endless. For example, you can use lettuce leaves, egg omelet, or whole-wheat tortillas as the wrap. but always have a milk perfered almond milk 3X more calcium.
2. Smoothies. Taking the world by storm, smoothies have slowly dug their way into our daily lives and now everywhere we turn, we see smoothies. And what could be more nutritious than a healthy, colorful smoothie to enjoy during your lunch break? Depending on what you add, smoothies are sure to give you the energy you need to get you through the day. They can have anything from fruits and vegetables to yogurt .
3. Salads. Sweet, salty or a little bit of both, salads combine some of the best ingredients available. You can use leftovers to incorporate into your salad. And for your salad dressing, you can use Greek yogurt or baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant) to make it healthier and more nutritious. Other smart choices to add in your salad are feta cheese, which is low in fat, salmon, which is great for the heart, and chickpeas, which are, chock full of protein and high in flavor. Whole-wheat pasta is great, as well as beans and lentils because of their high intake of protein, fibers iron and antioxidants.
4. Stir-fry. Some of the healthiest and quickest lunch ideas all revolve around stir-fry because it takes only mere minutes to prepare, plus, it’s packed with flavor and nutritional benefits. Make sure you use brown rice instead of white, because the former has more fiber and protein. Also, using olive oil will make your lunch a lot healthier and definitely more delicious than any take-out.
5. Soup. You can make soup 2 or 3 days in advance, then just take out of the freezer, warm up in the microwave and you’re ready to go. Soups are especially easy to prepare because you just put everything together on the stove, and let them do their thing. And when you come back, everything is all set! Tomatoes, lentils and almost all other types of veggies are great when making soup. One you’re sure to try is tortellini soup with tomatoes and spinach.