What is a healthy lunch? What do you have?

[SpringSunshineandTulips]

I’m not keen on soup. Was about to have a ham and salad sandwich but watching the calories at the moment - although the bread is the 50 50 bread so could be worse.

I really get stuck with lunches and then want crisps too. I need something low cal but filling.

2 egg omelette cheese and shredded beetroot - delish

I've just had a WW ready meal, I don't do WW and haven't for years but I really like this one, chicken and lemon risotto 329 Kcal. Easy and don't have to think about it.

Otherwise boring bagel or sandwich thins, salad and a packet of quavers.

Currently eating a wardorf salad (chopped Celery, apple and walnuts with some mayo on a bed of lettuce and baby spinach)

Tomorrow I will probably have homemade houmous with baby spinach in with some carrot

I made a lush salad the other day, with lettuce, Cucumber, hot smoked salmon and boiled eggs.

I would much rather be having a sandwich, but have realised that carbs don't agree with me, and are giving me blood sugar crashes 😞

Folded flatbread instead of normal bread only 100 cals

I had a tin of weight watchers soup and will have either that or a slim fast going forward to make a fast dent (hopefully) in this lockdown weight gain.

I actually really like the size of the weight watchers soups, they taste nice and it saves me meticulous counting calories for my evening meal as I know what I have to play with. Sort of like a Fast800.

It is asparagus season where I live, so yesterday was asparagus, home-cured salmon and new potatoes.
Today was asparagus, egg mayonnaise (home-made) and new potatoes.
Lunch is the main meal of the day here.
Not sure about tomorrow yet, but I strongly suspect that asparagus and new potatoes will feature.

I've just had a greens bowl - big bowl of mixed lettuce and spring greens, topped with roast sweet potato (no oil) and asparagus, with a cider vinegar / mustard / tahini dressing. Entered it into MFP and it is nutrient dense and 299 cals, and the volume of greens will keep me going until dinner time.

I'm currently calorie counting and finding bulking out my lunches with veg such as cucumber and carrot sticks and nice cherry tomatoes really helps. I usually have a pitta with around 40g hummus, some olives and vegetables. Or sometimes swap out the hummus for cottage cheese (but only the good Longley farm stuff! I can't stomach any of the supermarket ones.)

I’ve just had 85g Aldi Piri Piri chicken, 62g of Tilda sweet chilli rice and salad (lettuce, spinach, grated carrot, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, pepper, red onion and beetroot soaked in balsamic vinegar) plus 15ml Aldi house dressing.

Dessert was an apple.

I vary this with the lemon and herb or honeyed fire cracker chicken and firecracker or lemon rice. Sometimes swap house dressing for honey mustard or mango and chilli dressing.

Occasionally I swap the rice for melba toast or cracker bread.

I like a veggie curry with one of the rices and salad (no dressing) or jambalaya. But that’s if I can be bothered making a batch the night before.

Ultimate quick lunch is a small tin of Heinz ravioli, melba toast and a sprinkle of cheese, plus an apple. Fits for me occasionally, but not healthy

The Fast 800 book by Michael Mosley and his wife (sorry I’ve forgotten her name) has loads of great ideas for low-cal lunches. I love the egg wraps with ham/ cheese/ roasted red pepper and also the halloumi ratatouille- both great to take to work for lunch

Carrot sticks, ryvita and hummus

Ryvita or a whole meal wrap with a variety of toppings / fillings:

Egg and light Mayo
prawns rosemary sauce
chicken satay with diced spring onions and coriander
Tuna and light Mayo, diced peppers
Ham, little grated cheese and pickle

With a handful of salad on the side

hummus and veg is a snack for me not a lunch unless I add pitta bread or similar to it.
I had 2 wraps with feta salad and a pack of hula hoops which is quite high in calories but I am quite full!
I often have scrambled egg and smoked salmon on a toasted bagel - have 2 or 3 eggs and a bagel thin if you're trying to loose weight.
Think high lean protein (white meat, fish, beans & pulses), lower carb. Quorn sausages, scrambled eggs and baked beans with mushrooms and tomatoes as a mid-day "cooked breakfast" is really filling.
If you can get over not liking soup it is filling for very few calories.

NRFT so sorry if I’m repeating PPs.

Big salad with lots of leaves.
I love coleslaw but shop bought is full of sugar. I made my own. Not difficult. Thinly sliced cabbage and red onion, grated carrot, enough Mayo to coat it but not so it’s sitting in a pool of it. Again you can make enough for days and as long as you cover it.
Grilled chicken (cook a couple of breasts at a time or pick the carcass from your Sunday roast, and it’ll keep in the fridge for a few days worth), tuna, feta cheese, boiled eggs etc.
I always add beetroot and/or pickled onions and a small handful of seeds/nuts sprinkled over which makes you chew and take longer to eat. Make vinegrette dressing to last the week. Oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Eggs are my go to at work. I only get 15 minutes break and they’re fast. I limit myself to one slice of seeded bread (lots of slow release carbs and fibre keep you full for longer) with 2 eggs (protein) usually scrambled which takes 90secs max in the microwave.

Or muesli (I make my own when I have time. Not as poncy as it sounds, just cheaper), with full fat yoghurt (ridiculous amount of sugar in the low fat stuff and fat content not that different ), handful of raspberries or halved grapes.
Soup with chunky veg (fills you up more than blended, smooth soup) and lots of pulses (I like pearl barley so I make a scotch broth type).

Cous cous with roasted veg (bulk cook and freeze in portions) and houmous. Add feta, chicken or fish for more protein if you need it.

Eat slowly if you can. Don’t scroll your phone or watch telly. Use smaller plates and cutlery. I guarantee your portions are out of whack. Drink 2 litres of water a day. And log everything you eat on my fitness pal. When I was properly on it, I did it in the morning so I could see what I was going to have and was much more likely to stick to it. I never felt hungry.
I lost 7 stone in just over a year. 5 of that in the first 6 months. And I maintained for 3 years till I injured my back. Then lockdown kicked in and I added the required 2020 20
I’m trying to get back on it.

I love jacket potatoes but they are quite high in calories and I try and stick to 1200-1300 calories a day so don't have enough for JP + filling for lunch without sacrificing dinner, which I look forward to all day!

Today I had 2 poached eggs on seeded toast, which was 426 calories, other days I will have a wrap with tikka chicken pieces and salad with maybe a lower calorie packet of crisps, or soup (I am fussy with soup so has to be pea and ham or broccoli and stilton as I like the thick ones otherwise it feels like I'm having a drink!), or sushi if I've been shopping.

Crunchy salad leaves, red pepper, baby tomatoes with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Actually very filling.

I’ve just eaten a bowl of coco pops
I don’t really eat lunch as such. Sometimes crackers and cheese or a yoghurt and a piece of fruit. Something like that. Or a bowl of cereal like today!

Egg white omlette with smoked salmon and baby spinach is my go too. Tons of protein and salad so should keep me filled up for a while.

God! I would never have time for half of the suggestions on here!

Also following a low cal diet, today’s lunch was a bagel thin with three slices of pastrami, lightest philly (30g), couple of chopped pickled jalepenos and lettuce with a side of skips prawn cocktail and a can of 7up free. 266 kcal.

Why not have an open sandwich, that way it’s only half the amount of bread?

I don't know if it's healthy but I make a couscous sachet then roast some veg and put that together. The sachet does two meals so on a Sunday I can make 2 days of lunch in advance. In the morning I add salad leaves and sometimes a sprinkling of feta, sometimes hummus depending on what I have

Large portion of chopped veg - tomato, cucumber, sugar snap peas, pepper, carrot, red cabbage - whatever is in the fridge. About a third of a packet of cooked lentils, or third of a tin of eg black beans. Drizzle with a hot sauce (eg Cholula 1 cal per tsp), bit of olive oil and perhaps a strong flavoured cheese cut into small chunks depending on the calories.
Tasty, portable, easy.

I usually have a thin with some form of ham/chicken, loads of salad, cucumber sticks, baked crisps and a piece of fruit
No time to cook as my lunch is only 25 mins

Falafel salad with houmous, tomato, cucumber, lettuce, etc
Chickpea salad with feta, tomato, red onion, cucumber etc
Baked potato with beans or tuna mayo and salad
Baked sweet potato with mackerel and salad
Fish fingers with smashed peas and avocado
Poached eggs, avocado, tomatoes on toast (usually those 'thin' seeded bagels)
Soup!

If crisps are tempting I'm a big fan of Yushoi peasnaps, get them from Morrisons, 88 to 98 cals per bag depending on flavour... they are yummy.