The weekend is fun and a great time to just relax, watch TV, and maybe indulge in some junk food. But what happens when Monday rolls around and you realize you have to get back on the healthy train or your tummy will start to show telltale signs of those little indulgences?
While it can be said that most meals are difficult to keep healthy, healthy lunches during a busy work week can be the most impossible to maintain. Not from lack of trying, either. Salads, low calorie yogurts…they form a pattern that can get boring. So here are a few healthy lunch ideas that may help the fight on boring lunches.
So you forgot to eat breakfast, and lunch time rolls around. You are positively starving. That salad does not really look like it will fill you up either. For some reason, you crave a sandwich. Something you can hold in your hands and sink your teeth into. Sound familiar?
Try making a lettuce sandwich. Get a firm head of lettuce or crisp romaine, and use the leaves in lieu of bread. Put whatever you may typically have on a sandwich between them, although if you use a condiment, spread it on the meat or cheese rather than the lettuce. It will make it less messy.
If you happen to feel very creative, try to keep one of the leaves perfectly intact, and roll everything up into a lettuce burrito. If you are worried about the freshness of the lettuce and you happen to have a fridge where you work, keep a head of lettuce there, and pack your sandwich toppings separate.
Another healthy lunch idea that will satisfy the big lunch time eaters that have a sweet tooth without leaving a sense of guilt comes in the form of oatmeal. Packaged oatmeal has triple the calories that homemade oatmeal does, and less daily nutrients. Homemade oatmeal is easy to whip up before rushing to work, and will taste great even if you get to it later in the day.
You can add fresh fruit, raisins, and if you choose to use milk instead of water to make it, you get a great source of calcium from your meal. Most packages of cooking oats come with recipes for oatmeal, but never hesitate to deviate from the path and make your own!
If you are dead set on having those salads every day for lunch because they are the healthiest and quickest option, there are ways to spruce them up a little bit. For instance, tacos are not the unhealthiest option out there, it just happens that the shell is the worst part for you. So make a taco salad!
Even if you are staying away from red meat, any leaner meat such as chicken or turkey taste just as good with taco seasoning. Make your salad, pack the meat separately, and when lunch time rolls around, heat up the meat and shake it in with your healthy greens and other veggies, and you will have a salad that makes your coworkers come sniffing.
When it comes to healthy lunches, breaking away from whatever is easiest to bring can be very difficult. However, with a little bit of creativity, delicious, fun, and healthy lunches can be just as easy to enjoy.
