Adults often have a difficult time fitting lunch into busy schedules. Many find themselves torn between a few unattractive options. First, you can choke down fast food while driving back to the office. Not only does the “drive and scarf” lunch sort of defeat the purpose of a lunch break, it also often comes with a post-meal guilt trip. Second, you can try to fill up with a protein bar and fight off hunger until dinner.
Healthy lunch ideas can make lunch fun again. Avoid the guilt trip and fast food dash. Also, don’t starve yourself. Healthy meatless lunches can be filling and fun. Listed below are the top ten ways to eat healthy and make lunch at the office fun again:
1.Get Others Involved
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, over 60% of Americans are currently overweight. Introduce others in your office to different types of healthy lunch alternatives, such as crispy vegetarian chicken. Have a weekly meatless office potluck, or start a friendly competition.
2.A Little Competition Never Hurt
Start an unofficial healthy lunch club with several other coworkers. Elect one person to share his or her latest meatless creation with the rest of the group every week. Elect a quarterly winner, and find a goofy prize for the master of meatless cuisine.
3.Find Your Philanthropic Side
It might not be practical to donate your lunch to your coworkers every day. Instead, make homemade sample-sized dishes for everyone in the office. Everyone loves snacks and free food. Help everyone else endure a marathon meeting by bringing tasty meatless snacks, and feel good about yourself instead of feeling guilty.
4.Learn to Love Cooking Again
It is not uncommon for great cooks to get stuck in a rut. Spice up your routine by trying new ingredients, such as vegetarian burgers, into your repertoire of go-to recipes. Make lunch for the week on Sunday, and stick it in the freezer. Love lunch by rekindling your love of cooking.
5.Go Meatless for Lunch
Going vegetarian for breakfast and lunch can have multiple benefits in addition to making lunch more fun. You can politely decline to attend a gathering with a clique at work that you would prefer to keep a safe distance from. Keep your office social status secure by playing the vegetarian card. Enjoying meatless mandarin chicken salad in the park on a sunny day can also help you save money and cut calories.
6.Show Off How Cool You Are
Do you remember when you ate at the cafeteria as a kid? There was always that one kid who had the good fortune of enjoying a really stellar lunch from home. Now, it’s your chance to be token office pro se chef. Enjoy a delicious vegetarian Thai beef salad with the works, and let the comments roll in. You can choose to snicker or share the recipe.
7.Think About How Much You Love Animals
Eating a slice of pepperoni pizza after seeing how animals were brought for the slaughter can be more than a downer. It can make lunch not fun. Thinking about the nutritional value of said pepperoni pizza can also detract from the fun factor. Enjoy meatless products that taste like the real thing. Remember, one cute picture of a piglet could ruin your entire lunch.
8.Watch Your Waistline Get Slimmer
Stay full for longer by eating healthy food during your lunch hour, and wait for the results. Unless you are a contestant on a reality television show, you probably will not drop over ten pounds in a week. Make lunch more fun by sporting the clothing you bought at your last trip to the mall. Look and feel great by going meatless.
9.Fun Doesn’t Have to Mean Commitment
Many people that are not strict vegans or vegetarians can benefit from incorporating meatless products into their diets. Carnivores can enjoy healthy lunches while having fun. It is often comforting to recognize that you don’t have to swear off steaks and ribs forever. You can choose to only go vegetarian for breakfast and lunch.
10.The More, the Merrier
Probably the most effective way to make lunch fun again is to include others. Instead of scarfing down a shake in an office all by yourself, get lunch back. Include coworkers and acquaintances.
Share healthy lunch ideas, and go meatless for one or two meals every day. Healthy doesn’t have to mean boring. To the contrary, healthy lunches could be the thing you need to make lunch fun again at the office.
