Shapeinmind

Today you can easily walk out the door without packing a snack for the road, and you wouldn’t have to drive too far without grabbing yourself a bite to eat or drink.  If you’re one of the serendipitous ones, who arrives at a nice office and gives you all the best nutritious food without having to move a muscle, good for you!  But for the rest of us pleb’s who work /study/parent and just feel like they don’t have the time of day, here are easy to follow lunchbox guidelines that will save you money, time spent cooking, and more importantly, enhanced energy both mentally and physically:

Before we get stuck into the good stuff, I need to state how important it is to check in with your nutritionist/dietician/GP about what your body specifically needs to be nutritious.  All of us are different (lactose intolerant, weak livers, diabetic, candida, anaemic etc.) and it’s vital to eliminate any of these symptoms before undertaking a new diet.  Now that we’ve got that out of the way, you need to understand what the body needs.  There are five essential nutrients that the human body needs, which is: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals.  Let’s see how we can incorporate these in the following five lunch box ideas:

1. Banana: 

Have you heard about the “Morning Banana Diet”?  A famous practitioner called Hitoshi Watanabe theorised that if you started every day with a banana, that would be sufficient nutrition for the day.  I don’t think a banana or any one food can give you all the body needs, but it does have a vast array of benefits like Vitamin B (for energy), feeling fuller for longer, anti-oxidants, Vitamin C and more.

2. Nuts:

Nuts are rich in nutrition and are a great source of healthy fats. Once again, here is a food that not only keeps your filler for longer, but they are rich in protein, fibre and anti-oxidants. 

3. Salad and side:

Anyone can make a salad! And the best the best part is it’s cheap and easy to assemble.  Depending on how big your lunchbox is, chuck in some lettuce, cucumber and tomato with a boiled egg or chicken breasts.  Quite merely, boil yourself an egg the day before or cook some chicken breast pieces which should be able to stay in the fridge for 3-4 days.  As for salad dressing, make sure there’s no sugar in it!! Alternatively, there are many recipes for salad dressing which are non-fattening.

4. Blueberries:

This fruit is known to a “superfood” due to its low calories and is incredibly good for you.  Blueberries are recognised as the queen of antioxidants along with its fully-packed vitamins.  The best part is that they can only be popped into your lunchbox and devoured, making it the perfect lunchboxsnack 🙂

5. Water, Water, WATER:

It can be argued that water is easily an essential part of a humans diet. Our bodies are made up to 70% of it, and yet most of us neglect having the recommended dose per day.  I cannot stress enough how important this last lunchbox item is.  From hydration to cellular repair, water performs so many functions for the human body, and if not getting the right amount, can result in many consequences. Water may taste bland, but it’s so needed! Make sure you’re getting the right amount every day.

I hope you’ve found these lunchbox ideas useful! One last thing to understand before you set off planning and prepping:  your metabolism starts when you eat your first meal in the morning, and on average, slows down from drastically from about 8 pm.  Taking this in mind then, remember to try to eat soon after waking up, have your biggest meal at lunchtime (as this is when your body will metabolise best) and to finish eating before 8 pm every evening. And last but not least: DRINK WATER!