You know that lunch is an important meal and that it can affect your overall health. But even after hearing all that lunch can do for you, you still have to learn how to “do lunch” right!  

Sure, healthy eating is a big part of it, but there’s other things you might not have considered – where and when you eat, for one! And what exactly is “eating healthy?” Let’s answer these questions and give you a good starting point for what a proper lunch should look like. 

What is “Eating Healthy?” 

For everyone, the definition of healthy will change. A well-rounded diet is adjusted to the individual depending on their age, health concerns, and lifestyle. However, as a general guideline, a good place to start is seeking out foods that can fulfill most (if not all) essential food groups.  

This means lean protein, fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and dairy to get the calories, carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals to stay our mental and physical best. It also means avoiding refined and processed foods as much as possible.  

What To Eat: 

Here’s a list of the foods you might include in your lunch to help you construct your ideal healthy diet: 

Vegetables: Leafy greens like lettuce or kale, starchy vegetables like potatoes or beets, legumes like black beans or peas, colorful root vegetables like carrots, onions, or radishes, and other things like cauliflower, zucchini, fennel, broccoli, or mushrooms.  

Fruits: Tomatoes, apples, all types of berries, avocado, bananas, mangoes, melons, guava, and cherries. 

Proteins: White fish including cod, haddock, halibut, tilapia, or bass, skinless chicken and turkey breast, beans, peas, and legumes, as well as eggs, tofu, nuts, Greek yogurt, and lean beef or pork.  

Dairy: Low-fat and/or lactose-free options for cheese and milk, plant milks, soy milk, Greek yogurts, or cottage cheese 

Whole Grains: Quinoa, buckwheat, barley, brown rice, farro, whole wheat pasta and breads, oats, and sometimes popcorn! 

What To Avoid: 

Avoid things like baked goods, fast food, white bread, soda, fried foods, processed meats, fruit drinks with added sugars, and other processed foods as much as possible! Indulging every now and then is okay, but a well-rounded diet should mostly consist of foods from the above list.   

Right Place, Right Time 

Where and when you eat can affect your eating habits. Most Americans say they eat at their desks and often check social media or the news during lunch. “Distracted” eating can cause you to consume more calories than you mean to. Studies have also proven that eating socially with coworkers or friends causes us to be more mindful of what we are eating so we have more control over our habits. Eating socially can also improve teamwork! 

Timing when you eat also aids in better eating habits. Believe it or not, you feel your best when you eat about every 4-6 hours! Another key to successful eating is planning small, frequent meals to keep yourself full and happy. Think about what time you ate breakfast today. Has it been more than 4 hours? It might be time to eat your lunch! 

What’s even more enticing is that people who take their lunch breaks every day feel more satisfied with their jobs, too! The next time you feel cranky at work, check the last time you ate! 

Other Lunch Tips 

Practicing these other lunch habits will help you make better lunch choices and keep you going strong. Though habits take time to build, they’re worth it in the long run. Give them a try! 

• Bringing Your Own Lunch – Packing lunch is a surefire way to make sure you eat healthily every workday! Waiting until you feel hungry to think about what you want to eat makes you more likely to go for quick, likely processed, convenience food. Planning a menu for the week is an easy way to make sure you have control over your food selection, portion size, and availability – No more desperate, last-minute fast-food runs!  
• Set a Schedule – Decide when you’ll have your meals and stick to a schedule! This ensures you never miss a meal and that you get your body used to a regimented eating schedule.  
• Sit, Don’t Stand – Standing while eating has a connection to overeating! Take the time to relax, sit down, and practice mindful eating (that means putting away your phone).  
• Choose Filling Foods – Complex carbohydrates take longer to digest, which means you feel fuller for longer after eating foods that retain their natural fiber profiles like whole wheat bread or sweet potatoes. High protein foods also work!  
• BIG Lunch, Small Dinner – Opt for a filling lunch that can keep you satiated until dinnertime to avoid over snacking in the late afternoon. 
• Make Healthy Swaps – Use olive oil instead of butter, skim milk instead of whole, honey with maple syrup, or brown rice instead of white to enjoy the same meals you love with healthy and just as tasty alternatives. 
• Drink Water – Drinking a full glass of water half an hour before eating can help you feel fuller. And don’t forget that it’s easy to consume more sugar and calories with sodas, juice, and other sugary beverages. 
• Use A Meal Delivery Service – Don’t have time to make food every day? A meal delivery service can cut hours out of your day while still getting you the nutrition you need to stay healthy.  

The post How To “Do Lunch” The Right Way appeared first on Fresh n' Lean.

Every meal can have an impact on your health, but maybe none so much as your lunch. “It’s just one meal!” you might be thinking, but that’s simply not true! Eating a quality and healthy lunch has the power to make or break the rest of your day!  

The Hard Facts 

The truth is, skipping lunch (or any meal, really) creates a domino effect on your wellbeing. Approximately 3 out of 4 people who skip meals fail to consume enough essential vitamins and minerals needed to stay healthy and energized. Even worse still, skipping lunch causes your body to go into “starvation mode,” which triggers those intense cravings for fatty, greasy, salty, convenience foods.  

The body’s response to a skipped meal is to overeat to try and regain the nutrition it missed out on. The result is usually consuming lower food quality and more calories than if you had just eaten lunch in the first place. 

Basically, skipping a meal isn’t simply missed, it creates a domino effect that’s hard to recover from! 

Lunch Fuels Your Brain and Body 

Have you ever felt super sluggish after working through your lunch break? Over 70% of employees say the number one reason they don’t take their lunch break is because they have too much work to do. However, the strategy of skipping lunch to make time for more work actually works against you. 

 Skipping lunch is associated with mental fatigue and poor memory because your body hasn’t gotten the nutrients it needs. In fact, passing on your mid-day meal can cause your blood sugar to drop which makes you feel sleepy, weak, and even disoriented in some cases. When you’re tired, you’re more likely to be irritable and experience brain fog, which can create a cycle of depletion. 

On the other hand, eating a large lunch or an unhealthy lunch can cause a spike in blood sugar, which can lead to mental fatigue. It can also backfire and cause you to eat worse food later in the day! (And a whole new set of problems comes with that, too…)  

Eating a balanced lunch complete with healthy foods every day is the key to staying alert, energized, and on top of your A-Game. But odds are when you think of “healthy,” you probably picture chomping down on a salad sans-dressing. The good news is eating clean doesn’t have to mean sacrificing flavor. Our fresh, chef-crafted meals make it easy to eat delicious and nutritious lunches.  

Weight Loss and The Irony of Skipping Lunch 

If you’re trying to lose weight, not eating is NOT the answer! Remember how skipping a meal causes your body to go into “starvation mode?” Skipping a meal simply alerts the body that you’re at risk for starvation which means it stores more calories in preparation for “survival” later on. This causes your metabolic rate to slow down and your carb-cravings to go into overdrive.  

Studies find that skipping meals lowers your metabolic rate and you burn fewer calories. It’s a lot like removing a workout from your day! So not only will you consume more calories by the end of the day, but your body burns less of them off. 

There’s plenty of research that has proven time and again that those who skip meals are more likely to be overweight or obese. Starvation is not the answer. If you want to lose weight or avoid putting on extra pounds, then you must eat! 

What Else Can Happen If You Skip Lunch 

There’s a big association between blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, higher BMIs, and more in those that eat less throughout the day! Young adults who skip meals are likely to eat more added sugar, have a lower nutrient intake, and have a lower Healthy Eating Index than those that ate a well-balanced lunch. Other things that can happen when you skip lunch can include: 

• Feeling anxious 
• Being at a higher risk for nutrient deficiencies 
• Developing digestion issues 
• Being at a higher risk for developing an eating disorder 
• Slowing down your metabolism 
• Losing the ability to focus 
• Lack of healthy skin, hair, and nails 
• A decline in overall health over time 

While these may take time to develop, you’re certainly not doing yourself any favors playing a risky game of lunch skipping. Fitting in your lunch break is a simple way to save yourself a possible future of lengthy and scary health problems. 

A Good Lunch = A Good Life! 

Making sure you have a satisfying and healthy lunch every day can prevent the above issues from ever happening. And of course, it can help you avoid the dreaded hangry syndrome (which is pleasant for anybody). 

A good lunch keeps your metabolism going strong, which in turn results in better, healthier body systems overall. Whether you want to lose weight, be more productive in the afternoon, or just feel better, the key lies in taking your lunch break.  

The post Top 3 Scientifically Proven Health Benefits of Lunch appeared first on Fresh n' Lean.

Have you ever opted to work through lunch on a busy workday in order to get more done? Most Millennials say they skip lunch to “get ahead“ at work, but is this a smart move? You always hear that breakfast is “the most important meal of the day,” but lunch is pretty important too – it fuels the second half of your day and has a huge effect on your physical and mental performance. 

Why is Lunch Such a Big Deal? 

Not eating a balanced lunch complete with healthy fats, proteins, vitamins, and more means less energy in the afternoon (and no, pecking at that bag of trail mix throughout the day doesn’t count as lunch!)  

Skipping lunch can leave you feeling sluggish, tired, slow, and generally just NOT in the mood to do anything productive. If you pass on your break to finish a big work assignment, you might be doing more harm than good!  

What Happens To Your Body When You Skip Lunch 

When you skip lunch, you get overly hungry and usually end up reaching for easy, quick, high-calorie foods that you’ll likely regret an hour later – AKA a major midday carbo load.  

If you’ve ever found yourself craving carbs during the day it’s probably because you’re not getting the nutrients you need. When you miss a meal or overcompensate with highly processed foods your body goes into “survival mode.” 

Basically, your decision-making abilities get overtaken by your body’s natural response to skipping lunch and you start making bad food choices. In fact, skipping lunch can also lower the quality of your diet which can lead to major health problems down the road.  

Your Health Suffers When You Don’t Eat 

Is it really that bad to skip a meal? Studies show that both your mental and physical health takes a hit when you don’t do lunch properly — that is, if you skipping it altogether, or eat too much or too little during the day! It’s all about finding the sweet spot to keep you performing at and feeling your best.

What Should You Be Eating for Lunch? 

When you think “lunch”, you probably imagine leftovers, sandwiches, or some takeout down the street from the office. The good news is you don’t need to follow a formula when it comes to your lunch. As long as you avoid carb-heavy foods like white bread and include a rotating variety of vegetables, fruit, protein, and whole grain you’ll be on the right track.  

When it comes to eating right you don’t need to try to squeeze in every tier on the food pyramid into one meal. Instead, your goal should be to balance out the meals you eat throughout the day with a healthy serving from each food group. 

You also don’t need to stuff yourself full of salads either! While leafy greens can help, losing weight, staying healthy, and meeting all your fitness goals isn’t contingent on a diet made up exclusively of kale. Making a few substitutions in your diet can make a big difference. For example, swapping out butter for olive oil when cooking, or eating fresh or frozen fruit instead of dried.  

Bottom line… 

Lunch should be your priority. If you want to get ahead at work, take your break. Studies show that workers who take a consistent lunch break report feeling more refreshed, productive, and happier. Plus, fueling the second half of your day is a big part of job performance and mental clarity. You’re not doing you or your boss any favors by being hungry! 

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