Plan Ahead
You’ve heard it a thousand times: failing to plan is planning to fail. Don’t wait until your at your worksite cafeteria to decide what you are having for lunch. At that point, you will either be too hungry to make a healthy choice or there won’t even be a healthy choice available. Take an hour of your day (or even less) to plan out an entire weeks worth of lunches and stick to them.
Find Balance
Protein + carbohydrate + fat. Yes, you need all three even at lunch. Pick a protein whether it be animal based or plant-based, such as grilled chicken, turkey, beans, yogurt, quinoa, light tuna, etc. Add a carbohydrate such as veggies, fruit, whole grains, etcs. And add a healthy fat like peanut butter, nuts, olive oil, avocado. This combination will help keep you full throughout your afternoon. Your body needs all three to power through your day!
Portion control
And by this I mean, pack yourself enough. So often I used to never pack myself enough for lunch. I would think, oh, this small salad will be plenty.Maybe for a bird. Lunch is supposed to fuel the remainder of your afternoon, not leave you starving an hour after you eat. You may think that you are doing yourself a favor and packing a tiny, healthy lunch, but when the vending machine won’t stop calling your name at 3pm, you didn’t do yourself a favor after all. Think about the amount that you would eat if you were at home, and then pack it to-go too. Give yourself choices, but not too many!