Finding a Healthy Lunch in cubicle-land

During the workday, it's tempting to run out and grab a burger for lunch, or microwave the same frozen meals over and over.

But frozen meals get boring, and fast-food lunches are triple losers because you waste time fetching them, you waste money buying them, and you degrade your fitness by eating them. 

The good news is that there are plenty of tasty, inexpensive, and easy-to-fix foods that will support your fitness program without burning a hole in your wallet. (Believe me when I say "easy-to-fix": being a good cook is not one of my virtues.) 

Here are a few staples that I buy at the grocery store over the weekend. 

Morning snack: 

• Nonfat vanilla yogurt - Buy the quart containers from the grocery, which are a much better deal than the single-serving cups.
• Crunchy whole-grain cereal - I like Grape Nuts, the equivalent Kashi nuggets, and the almond flavor of Ezekiel cereal. Mix these in with the yogurt one serving at a time.
• Dried fruit - If you can, buy this in bulk. It will keep for weeks in your pantry.

 Lunch:

• Tuna fish - If you're lifting weights heavily, you might consider the family-sized cans, but whatever size you get, make sure to buy tuna packed in water.
• Canned chicken *** - look for low-salt versions if you're concerned about sodium in your diet.
• Beans - especially garbanzos, red kidney beans, or black beans, all of which have a great combination of healthy carbs and protein.
• Whole grain mustard - Give up mayonnaise: it's bad for you and it doesn't keep nearly as well. Stone ground mustard gives a great zip to tuna.
• Salad greens - Rather than buying expensive salad-in-a-bag packages, just buy a head of lettuce, a bunch of spinach, and a few carrots, onions, radishes, etc. If your weekend schedule is like mine, you can wash and dice all of it during halftime of a football game on Sunday.
• Vinaigrette dressing - Some of the best dressing you'll ever have, in terms of taste, health, and budget, is your own simple mixture of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sealed in a jar with a tight lid.

 Afternoon snack: 

• Super-whole-grain bread - My favorite is the Ezekiel brand, which is made from several kinds of sprouted whole grains.
• Almond butter - The bodybuilder's friend, almond butter is loaded with nutrients and has a sweet, creamy flavor. (My kids now prefer it to peanut butter.)
• Fresh fruit - Apples, bananas, plums, etc. 

You'll also need two vital pieces of equipment:

• Sealable plastic containers - Glad, Ziploc, and others offer these in a variety of sizes to suit different foods.
• A can opener - Keep one in the drawer of your desk. 

Once you stock up on these foods, it's easy to mix and match them throughout the week. I find that having handy ingredients for a salad (greens + tuna + garbanzos + vinaigrette = delicious!), a sandwich, or a healthy snack encourages me to take several small meals throughout the day, which is a great way to keep my metabolism going and avoid peaks and valleys in my blood sugar. 

Beyond that, I find that I can use my lunch hour for something besides scurrying to a burger joint and back, which spares me frustration and leaves me time to read, write, make phone calls, or to visit with my workmates.

Care to join me for lunch?