Healthy and non-fattening lunch ideas please ...

[Millie1]

I need to lose a few pounds and need some help with lunches. Whilst at work, I have to have my 'lunch' break at 11am - to me this is more like coffee time and I find it hard to swallow a sandwich so usually end up with a bagel or cheese & crackers with a cup of coffee.

Can anyone give me some ideas for something healthy (must taste good with coffee!) and definitely non-fattening snacks which I could eat. Have bought some oatcakes but only have cheese to pair them with which will put the calorie content up.

TIA

have you tried the snack a jacks with the choc chips in?

do you like fruit?

Hummus and veggies or pitta fingers to dip

Oatcakes with hummus, peanut butter, low fat philadelphia, or pate
Toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds

Dried fruit - apricots, prunes, raisins

Malt loaf, fruit cake.

These ideas have some fat in them, but you need fat to stop you craving stuff, and they are healthy fats.

What are the snack a jacks Sanchpanch? Haven't heard of them!

FoF ... good ideas, thanks. Hadn't thought of dips or even allowing myself some malt loaf or fruit cake.

I WILL lose some lbs!

A muesli bar and a banana would keep you going for a while.

Or maybe veg soup? (probably wouldn't go with the coffee though!).

When do you next have a break/chance to eat?

Millie the main thing about losing weight IMO is not eating too much processed stuff, and making sure you are getting enough calories and nutrients to stop yourself craving and binging. Healthyish snacks like malt loaf etc are useful things to have, even if you are trying to loase weight. It's very processed things such as confectionary, ready meals, processed savoury snacks, fizzy drinks and stuff like fatty dairy produce (cheese, butter, cream etc) that I would be avoiding if I were you.

Pretty much dinnertime Mercy ... by the time I finish work, drive home and collect children and actually get home it's after 3.30, then by the time they're out of uniform etc we do get a quick snack (ie. cup of tea) but it's too late for anything more substantial so I end up with tea and biccie and then next eating at dinner. Not ideal and a routine I've only just fallen into so am therefore still trying to get to grips with.

Franny ... I've never even needed to look at the nutritional info on packets before now (except to check fibre content!) so the world of weight-loss is new to me! Is Hummus not fattening? Good advice about eating some sweet stuff but being careful of what it is.

Well hummus has fat in it, yes, but you do need some fat in your diet. It has a lot of good stuff in it and will satisfy your body's cravings for fat. Eaten with raw veggies to dip in, it is a filling, low calorie and healthy snack or meal.