CHAPTER 35

Lunch

“Clean eating means eating every two or three hours. Skipping a meal will cause your body to catabolize its hard-earned muscle.”

– Editorial in MuscleMag International

As your second primary meal of the day you should put some effort into making your lunches both tasty and nutritious. To make your life as simple as possible, try preparing your lunch the night before. Store it in the refrigerator and then bring it with you the next day. Don’t forget to add variety to your lunches. A sandwich is fine sometimes, but why not add a piece of fruit? How about a variety of raw vegetables such as carrots, tomato and celery? And why limit yourself to sandwiches? Bring soups, stews, stir-fried chicken with rice and vegetables. Most workplaces have refrigerators and microwaves available for employee use. Since when does lunch have to be cold and bland? Use the staff lunchroom to reheat or to even cook your lunches. Try to make meals that store conveniently, do not spoil quickly, and that can retain their flavor when sealed in plastic bags or containers.

Try these tips:

• Cold meats are quick and great sources of protein for sandwiches. Try to eat meat you cook yourself rather than cold cuts, which normally contain tons of sugar and preservatives.
• Use fat-free dressings or salsas on tuna and other tinned seafood to give it some much-needed substance and flavoring. Tuna may taste like cardboard on its own, but with the right ingredients, its less than stellar taste can be masked.
• Be creative with your spreads. Mayo and butter will do nothing for your physique. Try spreading your breads with hummus, bean dip or tzatziki sauce made with yogurt. These choices not only lower your sandwich’s fat content, they also give your nutrition a boost.
• Use whole grain pita, tortilla and breads rather than white.
• Dried fruit is good in moderation. Yes it’s high in concentrated sugar, but it contains lots of vitamins, minerals and fiber. Mix it with some raw almonds for a nutrition boost – but watch the portion sizes. If you’re trying to gain weight you can eat up to a half cup throughout the day, but if you’re trying to lose you probably want to skip it altogether.
• Bring a portable cooler. There are tons of choices these days, and if you don’t have access to a fridge, a cooler will allow you far more options.
• When bringing salads, keep the dressing in a separate container and don’t add it until you’re ready to eat. Veggies soaked in dressing for too long lose their structure and taste.
• Pick up some sandwich-sized containers if you bring sandwiches to work. This prevents unnecessary litter and helps prevent your lunch from falling apart.
• Think outside the lunch box. Be creative. Your lunch options are limited only by your own imagination. There’s no reason not to have jerk chicken with rice and peas. Or baked potato with pepper steak left over from the night before. Sandwiches are convenient but often short on nutrition, and when you’re trying to build muscle, you need your food to be as nutrition packed as you can get it.

Your lunch is only as good as you make it. Break away from the sandwich trend and be creative, choosing a variety of nutrient-packed foods.
Photo of Sean Glassman by Alex Ardenti