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Many of us have a wide range of lunch options. The challenge is to make wise choices from the selections we have.
In general the key to a sensible lunch is the same as for other meals... reasonable portions, a variety of foods, and limiting foods high in fat, sugar and salt. Good and easy lunch choices are presented below. |
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I remember my dad going off to work each morning with pretty much the same thing in his aluminum lunch box... a ham and cheese sandwich, chips or pretzels, an apple, a couple cookies, and a thermos of coffee. This lunch wasn't a nutrition powerhouse, but the portion sizes were reasonable and it filled him up enough that he wasn't tempted to raid the vending machine on his afternoon break.
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With a little planning bringing your lunch from home can help ensure that you have a satisfying lunch that's good for you. Thanks to microwave ovens it's really easy to enjoy a hot lunch at work. Frozen meals, soups, and leftovers from the night before are usually good choices. If you like sandwiches, lean meats on whole-grain bread are a good choice. Take it easy on the cheese and mayo to limit saturated fat. Try to include some vegetables on your sandwich or as a side salad. Lettuce can get limp by lunch time, but a cucumber and tomato salad holds up nicely. No, I'm not going to suggest that you eat carrot sticks instead of potato or corn chips! If you want some chips, have some chips. Just keep the portion size reasonable. About 15 potato chips is a serving or you can have nearly twice as many reduced fat chips. Pretzels are also a good choice, because they're lower in fat than fried snacks. Most men eat less than half of the recommended servings of fruit per day, so make a special effort to include some fruit in your lunch. An apple, orange, grapes, banana... whatever you'll eat. If your sweet tooth isn't fully satisfied by fruit, go ahead and add a few small cookies for dessert. |
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Drive-thru lunches are fast, convenient and cheap! Unfortunately, most drive-thru lunches have more fat, salt, and calories than you need and not much nutrition.
Fortunately, many fast food chains have added some healthier food items to their menus and with a little effort you can make some good choices. |
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Given that most men should consume between 2000-2500 calories per day, your lunch should be well under 1000 calories. Unfortunately, a few poor fast food choices can easily result in excess calories. For example, a quarter pounder with cheese, large fries, and chocolate shake totals 1340 calories and contains 95% of the total recommended fat calories for your entire day. In general, you want to limit fried food, including french fries, fried chicken, chicken nuggets or tenders, onion rings, and corn tortilla chips. Basically anything that gets dipped in a vat of fat isn't a great choice. You also want to watch out for cheese sauces, sour cream, mayo-based sandwich spreads and salad dressings. Check out the nutrition information on the web site of your favorite fast food chain. Most sites have nutrition calculators that enable you to quickly determine the calories and fat in your typical fast food lunch. If you're surprised at how high the numbers are, play around with the menu choices to see what items would be better choices. For example, Taco Bell's web site shows that a Grilled Stuft Beef Burrito has 720 calories, 33 grams fat, and 11 grams saturated fat, while a Fresco-style (fresh salsa instead of cheese sauce) Fiesta Chicken Burrito has 350 calories, 9 grams of fat, and 2 grams of saturated fat. That's a huge difference! Steer clear of items labeled big, super, or deluxe. I know it's tempting, because you get so much more food for just a little bit more money. However, cheap food is not a good deal when it makes you overweight or unhealthy. |
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At my first real job the cafeteria only served a daily special that consisted of mystery meat in a gooey sauce, starchy side (potato, noodles, or rice), overcooked canned corn or green beans, and jello or pudding with whipped cream. Fortunately, many work site cafeterias now have better selections. |
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| Many work sites have soup, salad, and sandwich bars. Choose broth-based soups, instead of cream based soups. Soups with vegetables and beans are good choices.
Fill up on the salad bar vegetables, but take it easy on salads prepared with mayo (potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw), cheese, salad dressing, and croutons. Beans are a good addition to a salad, because they're filling. If there's fruit or fruit salad, be sure to have some. Make your sandwich on whole-grain bread with lean meats like turkey. Go easy on the cheese, add some lettuce and tomato, and use mustard instead of mayo. If your cafeteria serves hot foods like pizza, pasta and burritos, choose vegetable, bean or lean meat versions over beef and sausage, and ask them to go light on the cheese. If you end up with a huge portion, save some for your afternoon snack. |
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The good thing about delis is that they usually make your sandwich to order, so you have control over what goes into it. Start with whole-grain bread with mustard instead of mayonnaise and choose a lean meat, such as chicken or turkey, instead of ham or pastrami. Skip or limit cheese to one slice and add some tomato, lettuce or onion. |
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Toasted bread is fine, but grilled sandwiches usually have added fat. Avoid croissant sandwiches. There is just too much butter in that croissant. If a sandwich isn't enough to fill you up, add soup or salad, not chips or cookies. Watch out for gooey side salads, like potato and macaroni salads that are made with mayonnaise. If the sandwich is huge, wrap half up for an afternoon snack. |
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Whether you're stopping in by yourself, eating with coworkers, or having an official business lunch, you can make good choices at most restaurants.
A good strategy is to start with a soup or salad, pass the bread basket to the other side of the table, and choose a vegetable, pasta, or lean meat entree. Skip dessert and alcoholic drinks to limit calories and avoid falling asleep on your desk after lunch. |
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| Ethnic restaurants and seafood restaurants can be good choices as long as you stay away from the fried foods.
I'm actually a fan of big lunches, but it only works if you have smaller dinners. On days I eat out for lunch, I usually eat soup and salad or a frozen entree for dinner that night. |
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You missed lunch and there's no time to run out to get something, but you know you can't make it until dinner without eating. If you're lucky, your work site has a fresh food vending machine with sandwiches, yogurt, and fruit. Otherwise you're probably limited to Frito Lay and Coca Cola products. |
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| Pretzels, crackers and baked versions of cheetos, doritos, and potato chips have less fat and calories than fried snacks. Plain cookies or granola bars are better choices than cookies with icing or filling and also better than most candy bars. If there's no juice or milk in the machines, save your quarters and about 200 calories and have water instead. Vow to buy some healthy snacks next time you go grocery shopping and keep these in your desk for your next food emergency. |
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