“Eat Breakfast Like a King, Lunch Like a Prince, and Dinner Like a Pauper”
We can eat as much as a prince at lunch! That is – little less than breakfast and little more than dinner.
The quantity is defined here but quality also plays an important role, especially when lunch is eaten outside home/ at work. Some of us end up carrying packed lunches from home, which let us admit are often boring!
What is eaten at lunch is vital because it should be something that gives you the needed energy to carry on work and at the same time not be too heavy to cause lethargy both for adults as well as children.
According to the metabolic clock, 10am to 2am is the time when our body is in the state of metabolism. Eating a fruit around mid-morning helps to speed up metabolism and fill our body with life-giving enzymes. A nourishing meal close to midday when the metabolism is most active will provide the fuel body needs for an energetic afternoon.
Skipping Lunch
It’s common to want to skip lunch if you are trying to lose weight or cut calories, but that strategy rarely works. Skipping meals often leads to weight gain and eating small frequent meals rather keeps the metabolism active and weight under control . Skipping any meal increases food intake at subsequent meal and often lead to overeating of the wrong kind of foods.
What constitutes a good lunch?
There is a standard guideline to follow while choosing foods at each mealtime. This includes filling half the plate with fruits and vegetables, one quarter with cereals and the rest with protein rich foods such as pulses, lean meat, eggs, etc
So , no matter how unrealistic it may seem, we need to ensure that majority of our meal comprises of veggies and fruits as oppose to cereals (like chapatti, rice, bread, etc)
- Eating a good salad at lunch can increase alertness and make us feel energetic.
- Always carry a fruit for lunch time (cut/uncut) . it helps to overcome the craving for sweets post lunch as well
- Other than vegetables, always carry a source of protein rich food. This will not only give you satiety i.e. ward off hunger for longer time, but also improve productivity at work. for vegetarians, it means carrying a pulse preparation such as dal, sprouts, etc and for non vegetarians it can eggs, lean meat, grilled fish , etc
- The carbohydrate content of lunch need not be too large. So it’s better to stick to either 1-2 medium chapattis or just a bowl of vegetable pulao (avoid eating plain rice, adding vegetables to it increases its fiber content)
- Also , it is essential to carry a dairy product with lunch. your best bet is to carry a bowl of curds or a glass of buttermilk
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