Are you keeping track of your food and fluid intake? Remember the only way you can successfully make lifestyle changes is if you understand your daily patterns. The more we understand about our daily patterns the better we are at changing them. I promise you will be surprised by how many calories you are consuming and how many of them are coming from fat. If you eat out at all it is hard to keep your fat intake at goal. It has always been interesting to me to look up popular meals at different restaurants. You begin to realize the foods that you thought were healthy are actually not and the foods you avoided like the plague are actually not that bad compare to other fast food options.
This week I am going to give you ideal meals for lunch. Last week I gave you a list of foods that were the secret to weight loss. Hold on to that list because the same list of foods is going to appear in the recommendations for your lunch meals. Look at your daily food and fluid log. How many days in the past 2 weeks have you eaten lunch? If you skipped lunch, I want you to write down why? Was it lack of time? Not hungry? Not sure what to eat? Skipping lunch to cut back on calories? What?
Ideally, Lunch should be the second largest meal of the day, behind breakfast of course. In today’s society, lunch is usually the second largest meal; however it is behind dinner not breakfast. Lunch should be consumed 4 to 6 hours after breakfast is eaten. Studies show that lunch is usually the easiest meal to plan for and consume the appropriate amount of calories at.
If you already eat lunch…..perfect! If not, don’t worry. Let me see if I can give you some guidance on what foods to choose. It is recommended for most people to consume the following:
2-3 oz of Lean Protein (14-21 grams Protein)
Size of a deck of cards of red meat/size of the palm of a man’s hand and thickness of his palm of chicken or pork/ size of your entire hand and thickness of your palm of fish/ 1 slice of cheese with 2 slices of lunch meat/ ¾ cup of low fat cottage cheese/ 1 can of tuna/18 medium sized oysters
2 Starch/Bread Servings (30 grams Carbohydrate)
2 slices of high fiber, whole wheat bread/ 2/3rd cup of whole pasta/ 2/3rd cup of brown rice/ 1 cup of beans/ 1 cup of corn/ 1 cup of mashed potatoes/ 1 cup of peas/2 corn tortillas/2 whole wheat tortillas/ 12 whole wheat crackers
1 Fruit serving (15 grams Carbohydrate)
Small apple/Clementine/15 grapes/10 cherries/half of a small banana /half of an orange or grapefruit/1 cup of berries/small peach or plum/any fruit that is the size of a tennis ball or can fit into a tennis ball
1 Fat serving (5 grams of added fat)
2 tsp of peanut butter/6-10 nuts/2 TBS light cream cheese/2 pecans or walnuts/1 wedge of light laughing cow cheese/1 oz or an 1/8th Avocado/ 1 TBS of light margarine/ 2 tsp of regular mayonnaise/ 1TBS of reduce fat mayonnaise/ 1 tsp of any oil/ 2 TBS of reduced fat salad dressing/ 1 TBS of regular salad dressing/ 1 TBS of sunflower seeds/ 1 slice of bacon/ 1 tsp of butter/ 2 TBS of coconut/ 1 TBS of cream cheese
Free Veggies (as many as you want as long as they are not fried or covered in fat)
Artichokes/Carrots/Okra/Tomato/Veggie Juice/ Artichoke Hearts/Celery/Onions/Turnips/Asparagus /Cauliflower/Pea Pods/Water Chestnuts/Green beans/Cucumber/Peppers (all)/Watercress/Bean Sprouts/Eggplant/Salad greens/Zucchini/Beets/Green onions or scallions/Sauerkraut/Kale/Broccoli/ Kohlrabi/Spinach/Greens (all)/Brussels Sprouts/Leeks/Summer Squash/Radishes/Cabbage/Mushrooms Tomatoes (all)/Bok Choy/Bamboo Sprouts/Chayote/Jicama/Daikon/Rutabaga
Enjoy your meal!
XOXO! The Dietnista
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