There are people who are not too picky about dinner. A few quick sandwiches, a glass of tea or coffee are enough for them – they are full of strength and energy. But not everyone does this. Some people spend several hours preparing dinner, because for them it is a whole art.
Most often, lunch includes some kind of first course. If you have the first dish, then you can not cook the second, but combine everything in one. Conversely, you can easily do without soup at lunchtime. The main thing is that this meal is balanced – it includes complex carbohydrates, proteins, fats and fiber.
Most people’s traditional lunch
Classic lunch dishes can be borscht or pea soup with pork ribs. Meat doesn’t cook that fast, so if you want to cook something faster and you’re running out of time, you can rarely think of saury soup or crab sticks. For such a dish, only half an hour is enough. But it is better not to get carried away with them.
It doesn’t take much precious time to make mushroom soup either. You need to use fresh or frozen mushrooms. Delicious, fast and healthy.
In order not to puzzle for a long time over what to please your family for lunch, cook and freeze minced meat yourself. Divide it into several bags so that you can easily defrost it and prepare it, such as meatball soup or pasta.
No matter what we say, one first course is not enough for a large family. In addition to soup or borscht, you can cook herring under a fur coat or chicken aspic. Moreover, this can be done in the evening. To make the salad more useful, instead of mayonnaise, use sour cream, yogurt or sauces based on them (calorizer). A great option would be a vegetable salad, just season it just before serving, so it retains the maximum amount of vitamins.
As for the cooking method, stews or boiled dishes will be the most useful. In a family with children, it is also impossible to do without dessert. The fastest and simplest are pancakes or manniks, fruit jelly.
Weight loss lunch
If you want to lose weight, then you will have to partially abandon traditions. You can leave soups in it, but keep in mind that it is liquid, and liquids are quickly absorbed and less satisfying. Therefore, add more vegetables and herbs to the soup or borscht, but less potatoes – during the cooking process, it loses all the beneficial properties, but increases the calorie content of the dish. In the past, our grandmothers and mothers added as much potatoes as possible, and the meat was replaced with soup sets or ribs. This was done so that the volume of the dish seemed larger, turned out to be cheaper, lasted longer and so that everyone was full. Few thought about nutritional value. Still, some survived famine and war, while others – the dashing 90s. Now it makes no sense to go to such tricks, especially if you are losing weight.
What should a losing weight lunch include? First of all, these should be complex carbohydrates (cereals, legumes, whole grain bread or durum wheat pasta), complete proteins (lean meat, poultry, fish), fiber and fats (vegetable salad seasoned with vegetable oil). A balanced lunch is at least 20 g of protein, about 10 g of fat and 30 g of carbohydrates. It can be eaten both solid and liquid.
Lunch options for losing weight:
- Buckwheat porridge with chicken and vegetable salad, seasoned with a spoonful of vegetable oil;
- A plate of borscht with lean beef and a slice of whole grain bread;
- Pasta with chicken fillet and vegetables with sour cream sauce;
- Whole grain bread sandwich with minced sirloin cutlet and vegetables.
If you want to make your lunch even more dietary, remove the skin and visible fat from the meat and achieve volume with non-starchy vegetables.
Exercise people lunch
It is important for exercising people to get calories and nutrients from whole foods, especially if lunch is the last meal before a workout. It is important here to reduce the amount of fat as much as possible. Proteins and carbohydrates should be supplied in the amount of 0,4-0,5 g per kg of body weight. If you weigh 70 kg, then you need to eat in the range of 25-35 g of protein and the same amount of carbohydrates.
Pre-workout lunch options:
- Brown rice with chicken breast and vegetables;
- Buckwheat porridge with chicken liver and mushrooms;
- Lavash with any lean meat and vegetables;
- Pasta with vegetables and low-fat baked fish.
If your lunch is not in any way tied to training, then it can be anything, the main thing is that it is balanced and fits into your calorie content and BJU.
Lunch at work
Working people do not always have the opportunity to have a full lunch. Not everyone has the opportunity to carry porridge with them in a plastic container and warm it up at work (calorizator). If you dine in the dining room, then follow basic dietary guidelines when choosing your meals, and if you are taking food from home, then consider options for cold meals that do not need to be reheated.
Quick and cold lunch options:
- A sandwich with any lean meat, vegetables and cheese;
- Lavash stuffed with chicken and fresh vegetables;
- Salted egg and sweet oat muffins;
- Cottage cheese casserole with whole grain flour.
As you can see, there are a lot of options for a healthy balanced lunch. It doesn’t matter if you work, lose weight or exercise. In any conditions, you can take care of yourself and your diet.