The Lunch Bunch~

Lunch; the Western idea of a mid-day meal.  While lunch should be the largest, most substantial meal of the day, lunch is typically glanced over, purchased at fast food restaurants and taken from vending machines.  Lunch should be more than take-out and frozen cuisine for it has to replace energy and nutrients used during active morning hours, and has to provide fuel and nutrients needed for a productive, positive afternoon.  Is lunch the most important meal of the day?  Just incase the answer is yes, let's bring this lunch bunch to the table to ensure good nutrition.

Let's start with rice.  Brown rice; a whole grain providing fiber, manganese, tryptophan, B vitamins, magnesium, selenium and it's versatile.  One cup of brown rice in your lunch box works well with berries and dried fruit, plant and animal protein, roast root vegetables, sprouts, shrooms, condiments, or all by itself.  On Sunday afternoon prepare eight or 10 cups of brown rice; warm gently on the stove top to reheat.  Before you run to work, grab a mason jar (a thermos works well, too), fill with warm rice and preferred accompaniments, wrap in a towel for insulation and lunch is served.

Next, real fruit salad.  On Sunday, while your rice is cooking, call the family to the table to cut up apples, a cantaloupe and a pineapple.  Add a bunch of grapes, raspberries or blackberries, and blueberries to the bowl.  Peel and separate three tangerines to finish.  Vitamins, phytonutrients, antioxidants, water, enzymes, fiber, and healthy sugars are all present and accounted for.  Fruit salad is an essential lunch staple; select as a side, use as a main dish over cottage cheese on a hot day, blend into a protein smoothie for 'no time for lunch' days, or simply nibble on it at your desk (wherever that may be).

Now, add a bowl of vegetable things!  Spinach, carrots, celery, lil' tomatoes, broccoli, red onion, any cabbage, asparagus, cauliflower, peas, peppers, cucumbers, herbs and garlic play nicely in a large bowl in your refrigerator.  When the fruit salad is finished, take seven more minutes to get these guys together.  Salads mean very little waste, very good, whole food nutrition, and, again, they are versatile.  Even better, line a 13x9 (or larger) tray with your cuts of choice and use them for soups, green smoothies, even dinner prep throughout the week.  It'll start like this:

Because health is as individual as its beholder, coming up with universal nutrition suggestions is no easy task.  I do hours of reading and research and always arrive back at my simple yet holistic motto:  Eat real food, drink plenty of clean water, give your vitamins their vitamins, and, as always, remember to wash your hands.  This lunch bunch satisfies the body's need for whole foods and vitamins, all you have to do is add water and wash...  health may actually be just that simple!

Anna~