How to Pack Your Own Lunch, Like a Champ

At 5 am my alarm goes off. Up and at it I go. Goal one: Put in my contacts. Goal two: Grab all of my belongings for the day and head to my 6 am workout. I have definitely forgotten my fair share of essential items for the day (e.g., you can ask a few of Hilton Head Health's employees, ha); but one thing I will never forget is my packed lunch. I always bring my lunch box/cooler filled with breakfast, lunch and a few ice packs. After my workout, I have my breakfast within the hour post-training. I wish I could do a hot breakfast every now and then, but I save those for weekends. My two typical breakfast options:

BREAKFAST ONE	BREAKFAST TWO
¾ cup 1-2% cottage cheese or Greek yogurt ½ cup fresh berries (whatever is on sale) ¼ cup nuts (cashews, pecans, or almonds) 2-3 T. toasted oats or low sugar granola	1 cup cooked cereal (oats or buckwheat) or ½ cup cooked quinoa ½ cup mango + ¼ cup blueberries 2 T. homemade nut butter (almond or cashew)

Meal Planning Tip:  I portion out 3-4 breakfasts on Sunday.  Grab & Go daily.

 



My work day begins and soon enough it is 12 or 12:30 pm and I am ready for some lunch. I typically take a thermal walk after lunch or get in a walk before I eat to clear my head. Chef Karla Williams and Chef Carrie know the drill…I take my cooler to the Healthy Kitchen and I typically sit in one of my favorite H3 rooms while they are prepping for an event.  It is like my own personal demo while I reheat my lunch. I am thankful I prepared most of my lunches on Sunday, just like breakfast. I can’t imagine hitting the 12:00 hour five days a week and not knowing what I was doing for my food.  It is too important for me to forget.  No one “forgets” to eat…it simply isn’t a priority in that person’s life at the moment. Below are a few lunches that are easy to meal prep on Sunday while tasting delicious a few days later. I usually repeat these lunch items a few days in a row for meal prepping purposes and will most likely switch things up once or twice during my Monday through Friday.

WEEK ONE	WEEK TWO	WEEK THREE	WEEK FOUR
½ cup cooked whole grain (rice, farro, etc.) ¾ cup cooked roasted eggplant and onions 4-5 oz. coconut slow cooker pulled chicken	¾ cup roasted sweet potatoes ½ cup balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts 4-5 oz. herb grilled pork tenderloin	½ cooked cilantro brown rice 1 cup stir-fried peppers and onions (seasoned) ¼ cup black beans 3 oz. grilled chicken	3-5 cups spinach ¼ cup blueberries, cherry tomatoes, avocado 2 T. sunflower seeds 4 oz. Salmon (from night before) 2 T. homemade dressing

To some, these lunches may appear more like traditional dinners; however, it is essential to have a balanced and satisfying mid-day meal. These meals carry me through most of my afternoon and I know I have done everything possible to set myself up for success. Put in the effort to create a lunch that you enjoy and I promise everyone will start coming to you for daily lunch inspiration. ;)

Healthy Meal Planning Made Simple

It can be very challenging coming up with some variety in your daily meal plan.  Without trying to research a ton of different recipes to start trying, perhaps there is another approach you can take when planning your meals.  I usually like to start with picking my protein first and going from there.  You could also pick a theme for your protein and build your meal plan based on various themes throughout the week.

Monday- Mexican Night

Tuesday- Tuscan Night

Wednesday- Leftover Night

Thursday- Seafood

Friday- Pizza Night

Saturday- Grilling or BBQ

Sunday- Leftovers or Sandwich night

It doesn’t always have to be a cuisine that you pick; it could just be the type of food you pick.  How many different types of pizza could you make? Well, off the top of my head I can think of BBQ chicken, Mediterranean, Tropical Vegetable, Basil Pesto, Fajita, and many more.  How about sandwiches? I could easily think of burgers, wraps, clubs, tuna melts, BBQ pulled chicken sliders, or a simple egg salad. 

This method should help spice up the creativity you’re looking for in your meals—it doesn’t have to be fancy, just tasty. 

Don’t forget to check out the Mix and Match handout that can aid in getting the juices flowing for ideas.  Remember these key sauces that can help drive the style of the food you’re cooking: Marinara, Alfredo, Teriyaki, Sesame Ginger, BBQ, Savory Gravy, Mango Chutney, Scampi, Salsa and Basil Pesto Cream sauce…need I go on? Use your ‘Unwise, Better, Best’ tool to ensure the ingredients you are picking fall under the ‘better’ or ‘best’ categories.

While cooking, put on some of your favorite tunes to help you get in the mood!

Strategies To Step Back Into Meal Planning

While meal planning is essential to weight loss or weight management, it can be challenging for many.  There is no single right way to meal plan and many factors affect how we do it and how consistent we are.  Our palettes change, life demands more time in other areas, travel, motivation, levels shift… whatever the reason, if we look at meal planning from an “all or nothing” approach, we will not find success.  Be realistic with your planning, even if that means starting with planning 2 meals for the week, because having success in that will only bolster your confidence to take on more the next week.  If you’ve been through our program, you may likely have attended my class where we work as a group to develop a 7-day meal plan.  Here are some steps to consider if a 7-day plan just seems too overwhelming for this coming week:

1.  Break it down.  Start by just planning 3 meals for the upcoming week instead of all 21.  This allows for some flexibility with yourself but still moves you closer to your goal.  You might even surprise yourself and eat healthier for a few more meals as well.


2. Develop a Routine.  Give your week a basic framework that might help guide your thoughts to specific meals.  For example:




• Monday is Chicken Night – whether it’s grilled chicken, chicken parmesan or chicken marsala… it’s going to be chicken.


• Tuesdays/Thursdays are Seafood night – one week might include H3 Shrimp Scampi and Salmon, the next week might be H3 Crab Cakes or Lemon Parmesan Tilapia.


• Wednesday is Salad night – Steak Salad, Grilled Chicken Salad, Spinach Salad with Tempeh… whatever you choose, it’s going on a bed of greens.


• Friday night’s “Where’s the Beef?” – Steak, lean burger, Spaghetti with meatballs… you get my drift.


• Pizza Saturday and Wild Card Sunday – keep it fun on your weekend by making pita pizzas or even homemade whole wheat dough.  Sunday is your wild card to be spontaneous!




3. Play “Go Fish” for meals out. Make a list of restaurants and what meals are “acceptable” to your healthy meal plan.  You could create a card for each meal.  When you choose, or need to dine out, select something from your cards.


4. Remove and Replace. Identify 1-2 food choices that are contributors to an unhealthy plan and replace them with a healthy alternative.  Decide what your alternatives are now and make it something you can look forward to.


5. Portions, Portions, Portions!  Get back into the habit of measuring.  Even if it’s still a “bad” food, know how much you are consuming.


6. Write it down.  If at the beginning of the week you have every intention of eating healthy, and that always seems to fade mid week, you might forget all the healthy planning you did!  Don’t just plan in your head.  Write it down so you can refer back to it.