The perfect lunch

The perfect lunch / Day 1

Introduction

Gotten into the habit of having a balanced breakfast? Make sure to stick to this positive change in your diet!

Plenty of energy for the afternoon

Now on to having a balanced lunch! For people who work, lunch is the most important meal of the day. Ever felt tired at the office after having a heavy meal? The afternoon slump leaves us feeling slow and sluggish. It doesn’t have to be like that, though. A balanced lunch can give you plenty of energy for the afternoon.

We’ll show you how to have a balanced lunch and go into the afternoon feeling fresh and light.

How to put together your lunch

Keep the balance right!

It’s not hard to put together a balanced lunch. Just use your plate as a guide like at breakfast. This will help you stay flexible. What you choose to eat is completely up to you, it’s more about getting the proportions of the different foods right.

4 components for a balanced lunch

You don’t need to count calories or weigh any ingredients.

Pay attention to how you put together your lunch. Fill a quarter of your plate with fruit, another quarter with veg, another with starchy foods and the last with high-protein foods.

Use high-quality vegetable oils, a tablespoon of rapeseed oil for example, for your salad dressings.

Everything you need

This lunch should give you all the nutrients you need: high-energy nutrients, essential fatty acids, fibre, vitamins and minerals. Try to have fresh, unprocessed meals. Ready meals, deep fried or breaded foods should be the exception. Have fruit for dessert.

Recap

Which foods are which?

Need to jog your memory?

Your lunch should include 4 components: fruit and vegetables, starchy foods and high-protein foods. Fruit and vegetables should be either fresh or frozen. You can also replace one portion of fruit or vegetables a day with a glass of juice. Starchy products include potatoes, wholewheat bread, wholewheat pasta, brown rice, oats, couscous, amaranth, lentils, beans etc. The remaining quarter of your plate should be filled with high-protein foods like eggs, fish, meat, tofu, cheese or quark. Fruit is a great dessert. Make sure to use unprocessed ingredients as much as possible.

What should I have for lunch? / Day 2

Lunch ideas

Everything’s possible – it just depends on what you like

It’s always hard to get started, especially when it comes to putting together your lunch. If you’re unsure about what to have, it’ll be tempting just to go for your usual choices in the canteen or the pizzeria. Avoid this by preparing your lunch at home and taking it to work. It’ll make it a lot easier to monitor your eating habits and make better decisions when you’re hungry.

A lunchbox can really help, especially at the beginning.

Some examples

Get creative when preparing your meal. There’s plenty of choice out there.

How about rice, chicken fillets, cooked carrots and a handful of grapes for dessert? Or a potato salad with vegetables, eggs, vinegar and oil and an apple? Vegetable stew with chicken and potatoes with an orange for dessert is also easy to prepare. Another good option is a mixed salad with cotDaye cheese and a wholewheat roll or a vegetable bake with tofu and fruit compote as the desert. Be creative and you’ll soon find the right balance. Check out our recipes for more inspiration.

Use a maximum of 1 tablespoon of olive oil if you’re frying anything and 1 tablespoon rapeseed oil for salad dressings.

Better choices / Day 3

Make healthier choices!

You always have a choice when it comes to what you eat. Even in the canteen, there should be a couple of meals – or menus if you’re lucky – that you can choose from. You also have the option of your homemade lunchbox or the supermarket around the corner. Whatever you choose, we’ll help you get a feel for how to put together the perfect meal.

Boiled potatoes (70 kcal/100 g) versus french fries (300 kcal/100 g)

That shouldn’t come as a surprise! And yet we often go for chips instead of boiled potatoes. We also end up consuming large amounts of fat since these calorie bombs are about 15% fat! No wonder that chips – 300 kcal per 100 g – have a lot more calories than potatoes at 70 kcal.

Chips are about 15% of fat – that’s a lot!

Yogurt dressing vs French dressing

Salad can be lighter than it is!

Salad may be low in calories, but what matters is the dressing you put on it. Try to use a yogurt dressing instead of French dressing now and again.

Oil and vinegar are even better!

Light and delicious alternatives

Spaghetti carbonara vs. spaghetti with tomato sauce

It’s okay to have pasta, but your choice of sauce determines how much energy you get from it. Spaghetti carbonara is delicious – no doubt about it. But it also delivers a lot more energy than a portion of pasta with tomato sauce!

Fried chicken breast vs. pork schnitzel

Chicken today please!

Chicken makes you feel full and is a great alternative to breaded pork schnitzel.

When in doubt avoid breaded foods.

Salami vs. cooked ham

Keep an eye out for hidden fats in your food. Salami is definitely one of those calorie bombs! Instead of high-fat sausage, choose lean cooked ham which has half as many calories.

Chicken breast is another good option.

Tips and tricks / Day 4

Small tips for balanced and tasty meals

Tips for the canteen and restaurants

There are lots of ways to make your meals healthier, but what can you eat where? Check out our tips for canteens and restaurants.

Tips for the canteen

Having a canteen at work makes it easy to have a hot meal at lunch. If possible, put together the components of your meal yourself and make sure to keep the proportions of fruit and vegetables, starchy products and high-protein foods in balance. You could also add a salad to set meals. Try to avoid breaded or deep-fried foods and have a glass of water instead of soft drinks or juice.

Tips for restaurants

Order smaller portions at restaurants and don’t get tempted to overindulge at all-you-can-eat buffets. Also, don’t feel you have to finish your food. Have the rest wrapped up as a doggy bag. If you’re full after the main course, you probably don’t need dessert – just have a piece of fruit in the afternoon instead.

Have water or unsweetened herbal or fruit tea.

Tips for a lighter lunch

Food from the supermarket

Don’t have a canteen or restaurant near your work? No problem. Grab lunch at the supermarket.

Tips for shopping at the supermarket

Do you have a supermarket nearby?

Great! There are lots of foods here that you can use to put together a balanced lunch. Head to the fruit and vegetable section – radishes and cherry tomatoes only need to be washed and don’t require cutting. This makes them a great choice if you don’t have a kitchen at your office. There’s usually a good selection of salads too – mixed leaves, carrot salad, beetroot salad and many more. Now you just need some protein: the refrigerated section will have cotDaye cheese, quark, cooked chicken breast, tuna, feta, trout fillets, tofu and so on. Starchy foods like wholewheat rolls, pre-cooked lentils and chickpeas are great options, especially to complement your salad. Get some fresh fruit for a delicious and healthy dessert.

Check the sugar and fat content of ready made salads.

Team up!

Find like-minded people at the office

The more the merrier

Ask around at the office if anyone else wants to improve their diet. You can motivate each other and remind each other of the foundations of a balanced diet. Help each other choose your lunch or alternate bringing homecooked meals to work.

There’s strength in numbers!

What our food is made of / Day 5

Main nutrients: carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are chains of sugar molecules that vary in length. They are divided into 4 different groups: monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, and can be found in starchy foods. They influence the metabolism in different ways and also differ in quality.

Monosaccharides and disaccharides

Cut down on them

Simple carbohydrates

Monosaccharides include glucose (starch sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar). They consist of a single sugar molecule. As the name suggests, disaccharides consist of 2 sugar molecules. These include sucrose (cane sugar) and lactose (milk sugar). The body absorbs monosaccharides and disaccharides quickly. This causes the blood sugar level to rise rapidly. The body then releases large quantities of the hormone insulin. Insulin causes sugar in the blood to be absorbed by the cells. Your blood sugar level will then fall again quickly, which leaves you craving more food!

Oligosaccharides and polysaccharides

The good carbohydrates

Oligosaccharides consist of 3-10 sugar molecules. Polysaccharides consist of over 11 molecules. Polysaccharides are found in starchy foods and fibre. They can be stored in the muscles and liver as glycogen. It takes longer for the body to break down and digest oligosaccharides and polysaccharides and, therefore, they keep you feeling full for longer. What’s more is your blood sugar level rises more slowly than after consuming monosaccharides or disaccharides. Fibre is a special type of polysaccharide. The body can’t digest it. It passes through the large intestine and leaves the body unchanged or only partially broken down by the gut bacteria. Fibre brings volume to your food and keeps you feeling fuller for longer. It also has lots of other health benefits. That’s why wholewheat bread and other wholegrain products with a high fibre content are better for you than white bread or products made from white flour.

Sugar in food / Day 6

Hidden sugar I

A lot of foods have hidden sugar.

Avoid sugar and other sweeteners where possible. They increase the risk of tooth decay and obesity. We’ve gotten so used to eating sweet things that we find naturally sweet foods taste less sweet. But it’s not only obvious sugar that’s not ideal – it’s also the hidden sugar.

Hidden sugar II

Sugar and sweeteners

…aren’t always easy to spot.

Sugar and sweetness come in many guises and chemical terms. If you think it’s enough to avoid sweet foods to reduce your sugar intake – think again! Products that you least expect can contain surprising amounts of sugar. For example, ready-made carrot salad or coleslaw can contain up to 1.5 sugar cubes per 100 g, and ketchup about 5.5 sugar cubes. That’s because sugar is cheap and good at enhancing flavour. That’s why sweets taste so good.

Sugar and sweeteners come in many guises and chemical descriptions.

Light products

How light products lure you in

Fat and sugar work well together. Light products with reduced fat content often take advanDaye of this and compensate for the lack of taste with added sugar and sweeteners. But how can you spot added sugars?

Light products are not always low in calories.

Expose sugar traps!

Look at the product information

The ingredients list shows all the ingredients including sweeteners in the product in descending order. The more of the ingredient there is in a product, the closer to the top it will be. A commonly used trick is to use the chemical names of ingredients. There’s a way around this, though – you can recognise sweeteners by the ending -ose or -syrup. So glucose syrup, fructose, dextrose, maltose, lactose… It’s always worth looking at the list of ingredients!

It’s always worth looking at the list of ingredients.

Maintaining a balanced lunch in the long run / Day 7

Make your lunch healthy long-term

These simple tips will help!

You’ve already learnt a lot, but we have a couple more tricks up our sleeve for you. They’ll help you have balanced, varied lunches in the future.

Pay attention to the proportions in your meal

You’re used to these proportions now

Prepare your lunches with 4 components. A quarter high-protein foods (meat, fish, tofu, eggs…), a quarter starchy foods (potatoes, rice, wholegrain products), a quarter vegetables and salad and a quarter fruit. Your lunch can be homemade, from the canteen or the supermarket.

Choose the ingredients you like. You’re completely free here. Just stick to the proportions!

Natural foods always come out on top!

The less processed the ingredient, the better.

Make sure the foods you choose are as natural as possible. The more natural the food, the lower in calories it usually is. Choose boiled potatoes over chips, steak over schnitzel and oil and vinegar over ready-made dressing. Avoid deep-fried and breaded foods.

The more processed the food is, the higher it usually is in calories.

Small steps to success

Water, water, water!

Your secret weapon

Drink a large glass of water 20 minutes before eating. You’ll get fuller faster because your stomach is already full! That way you’ll avoid eating more than necessary.

Drink water before eating so you don’t mistake being thirsty for being hungry.

Wholegrain instead of white flour

Wholegrain products fill you up for longer

Go for wholegrain products when you have the choice. They’ll keep you full for longer and give you more vitamins and minerals. You’ll hardly notice the difference in taste. You’ll also avoid cravings because your blood sugar levels will fluctuate less.

At the restaurant

Balanced meals at the restaurant

Try to avoid large portions and all-you-can-eat buffets because they’ll lead you to eat more than you actually need. Ask if dishes can be adapted, for example rice instead of fried potatoes. Don’t feel obliged to finish your food Just have the rest boxed up. If you’re full after the main course, you don’t need a dessert. Have some fruit in the afternoon instead.

Go for the lighter option if you have the choice.

Small changes have a big impact

Swap dessert!

The best advice

It’s never the menu that’s the problem – it’s that we still want dessert even though we’re full! Just leave it out if you’re not hungry anymore or have an apple instead of pudding. You’ll get used to it soon enough!

Add a starter

Choose a light soup or salad with vinegar and oil in the restaurant or canteen. This will fill you up and you’ll have less of your main course.

Fill up on soup or salad.

Don’t eat ready-made products

If you buy lunch at the supermarket, try to put it together yourself instead of buying something ready-made. Ready-made products often contain a lot of sugar and/or fat as well as salt. They also are low in vitamins, dietary fibre or minerals.