Let's talk about the lunch vibe. There is so much going on in the middle of the day that is, how shall we say, the stuff that dare not be mentioned?
In other words, we are much more likely to have our family members or at least one other person with us at dinner than we are at lunch. It's often a solo affair and sometimes we're actually not even eating but stuffing things into the front of our faces as we juggle babies, children, computers, reports, phone calls, smartphones, commutes, etc.
We often don't even think about lunch let alone mention it to anyone. We come home sweaty and exhausted and 20 percent of the time we want to give vent to the happenings of the day but 8 percent of the time we just want to keep it where it happened -- after breakfast and before dinner, back when we were totally stressed out which we're now, at dinner, trying not to be.
So we talk less at lunch, we talk less about lunch, and we just don't even always feel great about lunch in general.
But if we continue to discard our need for personal attention and care during the middle of the day, we may just forget about ourselves and our own needs for most of the hours of most of the days of our lives. (You know this is vaguely familiar, don't you?)
Assuming we need to eat a healthy breakfast and a healthy dinner to stay on track with finances, calories and blood pressure, not to mention heart disease, skin conditions and energy levels, why wouldn't the same hold true in the middle of the day when we're simultaneously exhausted, overstimulated and bored out of our minds?
Okay, maybe I'm only speaking for myself but it's the lonely, tiring, loveless periods of the day when I'm supposed to eat lunch and have little or no company or money or time, and have or have not packed something for myself that I either resort or want to resort to a loaf of bread and a bar of chocolate and call it a day.
You can show yourself a lot of mental, emotional and physical health and love by taking care of yourself with a healthy lunch. Packing snacks to enjoy throughout the day will take care of the crunchy munchies. Making sure they are wholesome and crunchy -- crackers are fine but they must be whole grain or multigrain. The usual suspects, carrots, celery, raw veggies -- these keep well and are wonderfully nutritious and crunchy... Dip these in humus or salsa and just keep a bunch in the staff refrigerator or a cooler bag.
Wraps and hearty, whole-grain sandwiches stuffed with veggies are great.
Finally, I cannot overestimate the beauty of having enough water on hand throughout the day. If your place of work has a water bubbler thing, use it with abandon. Being dehydrated can cause you to feel sluggish and actually hungrier than you really are.
Taking care of yourself with a healthy lunch every day and wholesome snacks will lead to a healthier you all around ... you deserve it!
Sources:
Make Working Lunches Work For You by Chris Iliades MD
Medically Reviewed by Pat F. Bass III MD, MPH. Healthy Living
Retrieved from the internet on January 11, 2012
http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-report/healthy-living-resource/making-work-lunches.aspx
How Does Healthy Eating Make You Feel Better About Yourself? by Charlotte Johnson. eHow Health. Retrieved from the internet on January 11, 2012
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5475550_eating-make-feel-better-yourself.html
Aimee Boyle is a regular contributor to EmpowHER
Reviewed January 11, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith