lunch and snack ideasd

[jm19355]

I am starting this as soon as I can get food prepped. Can I have some EASY lunch meal ideas, please!!! I am one of those people who is always hungry (but, not too overweight). So, I need a substantial lunch and a snack to get me through a workout and up to dinner time without munching on the wrong things. Hummus is out, right?

[ShannonM816]

Hummus is definitely out, as it's made from chickpeas which are legumes.

 

Make your meals meet the meal template, and follow the rules, and you'll be great. You shouldn't need a snack, as you ideally, your meals will be enough to keep you satisfied for 4-5 hours at a time. If you are truly hungry between meals, and not just eating because you're in the habit of having a snack at certain times of day, have a mini meal of protein, fat, and vegetables.

 

You may need a pre-workout and post-workout meal, which are discussed in the meal template I linked above. Pre-workout should be protein and fat -- a hardboiled egg, maybe with a bit of mayo or some olives, would be good. Or whatever protein you have left over, with some kind of fat. Doesn't have to be a lot, and if your workout is within a couple of hours of your last meal and you're not hungry, you may not need the pre-workout. Post-workout should be lean protein and starchy vegetable -- like grilled chicken breast and mashed sweet potato. It should be eaten within 15-20 minutes after a workout, as that's the window of time when muscles are most receptive to the protein to help them rebuild and repair from your workout, and the starchy vegetable is to help replenish glycogen stores. Not everyone needs a post-workout meal -- if you just do some gentle yoga, or just go for a leisurely walk, you don't need it, but if you do any kind of weight training or anything very demanding, you should have one.

 

Leftovers are easy for lunch. You can do a whole weekly cookup so that you have a bunch of stuff ready to go in the fridge, and you can mix and match what you use for any meal so you don't get bored. (That site also has W30 meal plans that you could use if you want, with shopping lists and recipes and how-to instructions -- the first week is here, the others are linked at the end of that post.)