What 's for LUNCH?

"What should I eat for lunch? A salad"?  I can't count the number of times I get this question.  I may be the wrong person to talk with about salads. Don't get me wrong, I love salads and eat them from time to time,  but me personally~I need lots of protein. My husband always laughs at me because I'm a MEAT girl...! The biggest misconception is  if you eat a salad then you must have had a healthy lunch, right? Not necessarily. By the time you add all of those little "toppings" and then pour on the dressing, well~you've just bombed your lunch.  Salads are really GOOD choices IF you make wise decisions when making yours~ add lots of protein and have your dressing on the side. Better yet, make your own and then drizzle it on or dip your fork in there before you take each bite~that will l make the biggest difference amongst my salad lovers...:-)

So what do we eat for lunch, then? I am a huge proponent of leftovers. We all need something quick and easy so if we've prepared for the week properly and/or made "extras" at dinner the night before, then lunch will be a snap. I always cook more meat & veggies than we need so I can use it for the next few days in a wrap, mixed in with rice/quinoa  or in a "salad"...see, I do eat them! I'll share with you quite a few of my choices for lunch. The main thing to remember is to have a protein, complex carb  & a healthy fat to fill you up and get you through the next 2-3 hours  until it's time to eat again. Remember, we are eating  5-7 times per day in order to keep our metabolism in HIGH GEAR and our blood sugar regulated.

Protein:

Canned or fresh Tuna (chunk light in water..... my personal favorite is skipjack ~Albacore rarely due to the mercury content)

Canned or fresh Salmon (wild caught when possible) Salmon counts as a protein and healthy fat.

Chicken Breast or Ground chicken breast

Pork tenderloin or loin chops

Lean Steak

Bison

Turkey breast (this is where the meat muffins come in handy)

Lean ground beef (grass fed when possible)

Tofu for my non~meat eaters

*any of the ground meat can be used for taco meat, meat muffins, burgers, etc.  Think of all the yummy foods you would normally eat and go from there.

Complex Carbs:

Sweet potatoes

brown rice

quinoa

Beans, Lentils, & other legumes

whole grain bread (Ezekiel is best)

Arnold Whole Wheat Deli Flats (I call it flatsie bread) are fine also. I like to have a burger from time to time and these are what work best for me.

whole grain wraps

whole grain pastas (spinach pasta is great also)

Most veggies~broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, yams, cauliflower, greens, etc.  

Fruit 

Healthy fats (in moderation, of course)

Natural peanut or almond butter (notice this under the fats category and not the protein category..:-)

Avocado

coconut oil

olive oil (if you make your own dressing w/ vinegar and evoo then you have your "fat")

raw nuts/almonds

**be sure to check your serving sizes on your grains. 1 serving of these. If you are still hungry~fill up on your veggies. If you are lifting weights and working out (which you should be...:-)~a rule of thumb is 1~1 1/2 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Calculate how many meals you are eating, realistically, and divide that by the number of grams of protein you should be getting and that will give you a guideline as to  how many grams of protein per meal.

I'm building my lunch, snack, and dinner portfolio and will be posting more about specific meals, recipes, etc.  Please let me know if you have any questions!. I hope this is at least helping you get going in the right direction. I really wish I had a solid week to put everything on here but I don't, unfortunately. My real job is making people look beautiful!!  This is something else that I love and am passionate about. I do promise, it's all coming. Once we get the food basics down, then we can move on to the FITNESS part~my favorite~as I say, it starts in the kitchen, ladies. 80 percent diet....20 percent working out. We don't want all of our hard work in the gym to be wasted if we aren't eating CLEAN!!

Take care, find your motivation & Stay tuned~

Love~

Jess