Let's talk lunch

Last week was all about breakfast here at Urban Remedy. In this next installment of our three-part series on meal preparation, we’re giving you the lowdown on lunch.

For many of us, lunch is the meal that we squeeze into a busy day of work or errands – the on-the-go sandwich or, worse still, the unhealthy snacks that we find in our proximity when lunch has gone out the window!

The trick to lunch is planning ahead and, if you make your own lunches, stocking up on lots of healthy food when you do your weekly shop.

The Sandwich

• The bread: a good quality bread is the solid foundation for a healthy sandwich. Opt for low-gluten grains such as spelt, kamut, and amaranth. If you’re OK with wheat, just go for a nice healthy wholegrain with minimal additives. Sonoma and Bill’s Organic (yeast-free) are great brands for bread. If ordering a sandwich out, go for wholegrain, multigrain, sourdough or gluten-free.
• The filling: we like tinned salmon fillets, poached chicken or tuna (1-2 times per week to avoid mercury overload) with a good quality mayonnaise (check the label for minimal additives) or a bio yoghurt and herb dressing, and most importantly LOTS of salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts, avocado etc). If you like your salt, go for rock over table.

Other healthy options

• Sushi, preferably with brown rice; add your own tamari sauce (wheat-free version of soy!)
• Salad with chicken or fish; add avocado and nuts (almonds, cashews or walnuts) and/or a small can of mixed beans to keep it filling
• Healthy soups for winter (more on this later)

On other occasions, we lunch out for business or pleasure – rich foods, alcohol, bigger portions… all the typical perils that come with ordering à la carte! Choosing your food when eating out can prove tricky if you want to hold onto that waistline… but we could write a whole blog on that, and probably will soon.

In the meanwhile, stay tuned for our dinner tips next week!

Let's talk breakfast

In our next three blogs, we take a look at the dilemma that is meal preparation. It’s all very well deciding to eat healthily but when it comes to actually planning and making the food that we eat, it’s another matter. Healthy snacks aside, it’s the three biggies we’re interested in: breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Let’s talk breakfast first of all. Breakfast is the meal that quite literally breaks our fast – when we wake, it is usually a good 10 hours since our last meal and our bodies are craving quality nourishment to get them going. Breakfast is also the meal that sets the tone for our subsequent food choices. If you start the day eating rubbish, you’ll probably continue in that vein!

Here are some super healthy and delightfully easy breakfast ideas:

• Bio yoghurt (cow’s, goat’s or sheep’s) with a sprinkle of organic untoasted muesli (check the label to make sure there is no added sugar; the dried fruit will be sweet enough), a handful of mixed berries and a heaped tablespoon of LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond mix), chia or my personal favourite – Udo’s Choice Wholesome Fast Food (a pleasant-tasting powder full of super nutrients). Et voilà!
• Two slices of low-gluten bread (spelt, linseed etc) with whole butter and ABC (almond, brazil nut and cashew) spread. Add manuka honey (unlike normal honey it does not feed bad bacteria) if you like it sweet, or rock salt for those who prefer savoury.
• If you feel like something lighter, try a supercharged smoothie. We have some great recipes for you in our DIY Detox post.
• If you’re feeling hungrier than usual, you can always go for poached eggs on two slices of low-gluten bread with wilted spinach and a small can of salmon slices. It has taken a while but I have finally discovered a delicious brand of tinned salmon – John West, in springwater or olive oil, not brine.

Enjoy and stay tuned for our lunch tips!