What is a healthy lunch?

There’s so much good to be said for how much you can change your health by making your own lunch.

When you are getting started eating better it's important that you make lunch and take it to work with you. By making your own lunch you are getting the highest quality calories.

The easiest thing for most folks is to make a sandwich. Here are some guidelines for items that you should pick up at the grocery and keep on hand for making a quick and easy lunch.

Sandwich Construction Kit:

Filling Choices:
Reduced-fat Swiss
Reduced-fat Cheddar
Reduced-fat Monterey Jack
Goat Cheese
Sliced hard boiled egg
2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter (topping can be fruit or fruit preserves)

Toppings (use as much as you like):
Sliced tomato
Lettuce
Arugula (Rocket)
Spinach
Sliced cucumber
Sliced peppers
Any kind of sprout
Onions

Spreads (choose one)
Light Mayonnaise: 1 Tbsp.
Any Coarse Ground Mustard: 1 Tbsp.
Dijon Style Mustard: 1 Tbsp.
Your Favorite Chutney: 1 Tbsp.
Roasted Garlic: 2 cloves
Tapenade: 1 Tbsp.

Salads

Salads are a great idea since greens and veggies don’t add up to many calories and are chock full of fiber, vitamins and antioxidants (another great example of good quality calories).

There are some recipes for salad dressings included in the Sides & Extras recipes section for just this purpose. These generally have about 50 to 100 calories in a serving and use better quality ingredients than you will find in bottled dressing. Another good tip is that if the greens are very dry, you will need less dressing because it clings to the salad better.

Leftovers

Dinner leftovers make the perfect lunch. It's a great idea to make extra at night or on the weekends so you have something to take for lunch. The rule of thumb is that a lunch serving is half of a leftover dinner serving.