Bringing your own lunch to work or school is the best way to ensure that you get a nutritious and healthy meal to fuel you for the second part of the day. Convenience foods, such as frozen entrees, pre-prepared meals or foods at restaurants, are usually heavily processed and contain a lot of refined ingredients. Be prepared and take the time to pack your own foods. If you have healthy ingredients on hand, it will take you only a few minutes to assemble your healthy unprocessed lunch.
Chicken and Avocado Salad
Buy bags of pre-washed lettuce and salad mixes to save on time. Assemble a generous amount of leafy greens with a sliced chicken breast and slices from half of an avocado. Be creative and add a few almonds and raspberries if you like. For the salad dressings, instead of buying processed ones, make your own. Mix extra-virgin olive oil with equal parts of vinegar. Balsamic vinegar, raspberry vinegar or apple cider vinegar are good options. Pack your vinaigrette separately from your salad to keep it fresh. Complete your lunch with a piece of fruit, a serving of plain yogurt or both mixed together.
Sushi
Make your own sushi if you have the time and ability, but even store-bought or restaurant-prepared sushi are very minimally processed and make a healthy unprocessed lunch option for you. Avoid sushi with tempura and lots of sauces, which are more processed. Prioritize sushi made with fresh vegetables, fresh raw fish or shrimp. Ask to have brown rice instead of white rice if possible and request that no sugar or monosodium glutamate -- or MSG -- be used in your sushi. Bring your own soy or tamari sauce to dip your sushi in because the sauce provided at a sushi shop usually contain added sugar. Complete your meal with a miso soup if you like.
Omelet and Salad
Eggs are a good source of satisfying protein. You can prepare a large omelet in advance to have a few healthy lunches ready for you. Use any combination of your favorite vegetables and cook them in heart-healthy olive oil. For example, you can have a spinach and mushroom omelet or a red bell pepper and kale omelet. Top your omelet with sharp Cheddar, Parmesan or goat cheese. You can either eat your omelet cold or reheat it in the microwave if you have one at work or at school. Accompany your healthy unprocessed lunch with a few slices of cucumber, carrots and celery dipped in hummus, and complete your meal with a simple berry fruit salad.
Leftovers
A simple way to have a healthy unprocessed lunch ready for you is to double the quantities your prepare for dinner. If you prepare a healthy pork and broccoli stir-fry, homemade lasagna or a steak with asparagus, make extras and pack them in individual containers. You can freeze them for later use or bring it the next day to enjoy at lunchtime. Simply reheat a few minutes in the microwave. Pack your lunch in a glass container if possible because it is not recommended to heat food in a plastic container because some of the chemicals found in plastic can leach into your foods. Treat yourself to a couple of squares of dark chocolate if you like.
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