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Achieving the Optimum Lunchtime Balance

Thu, 10 November 2016

Achieving the Optimum Lunchtime Balance

Cooking or part cooking your own meals is a good way of ensuring you are getting enough fibre and nutrients in your lunch time meal as well as preventing unwanted weight gain, extra expenses and irritating hunger pangs in the afternoon. Preparing food in advance is often seen as a chore but there are several ways you can make it more enjoyable and your lunch time meal more balanced.. Checkout our healthy lunch recipes @ http://www.john-west.ie/our-recipes

Prepare food well in advance

To save time during the week, try making up a batch of food on a Sunday evening to then refrigerate or freeze. Cooking up a quick pasta bake, a healthy salad or a simple curry will not take much time and can then be separated into individual portions for extra convenience. Try to make up at least two different dishes to keep things interesting, or make extra of your evening meal to have for lunch the following day.

Alternate your choices

Having the same sandwich every day will soon lose its novelty. Whether you buy food out, make it that morning or create large batches on the weekend, it's important to keep your meals varied so you are getting enough of the right nutrients as well as preventing certain foods from becoming boring. If you find your lunches are dull and uninspiring, you'll be more likely to snack, purchase unhealthy junk food or simply skip lunch altogether. We've created a number of products to help liven up lunchtimes, from our spreadables to our light lunch options and of course, our John West Infused Salmon & Tuna range – delicious straight from the pot!

Avoid Too Much Fat and Carbs

While it's important to choose food that we like for lunch, we must also consider their health benefits too. Certain types of food such as dairy, sugar or white carbs can be more difficult for our bodies to digest and can contribute to the post-lunch dip of tiredness1. This isn't great for our afternoon productivity so to feel more energised, try to incorporate food containing protein like fish, meat and beans, good carbohydrates like brown rice, sweet potato or multi-grain bread, and plenty of green vegetables as part of a balanced diet.

By John West