I used to think feeling like a train hit me right around 2 pm was an inevitable part of each day. By 3 pm I’d be slumping in my chair, eyes drooping, and spirits sagging. I’d count the minutes until dinner, irritably race home, and eat as much as possible. I might even preface dinner with a *few* handfuls of tortilla chips. Then I’d feel sluggish again after a huge dinner and sit on the couch the rest of the night. Sound familiar?
Since changing the way I eat several years ago, I have not had this happen even once. I have energy all day long and feel healthier and easily maintain my weight.
You may know you need to make a change to your eating habits but feel thwarted - you aren’t sure how to do it or don’t have time to prepare food ahead. When I find people in the lunchroom heating up frozen dinners, they usually say lack of time is the reason for not bringing food from home. If you’re overwhelmed by the idea of having to prepare lunch or squeeze in breakfast before work, you may be surprised at how easy eating healthy and clean really is.
Lunch is a manageable place to start when you’ve decided to eat healthier. Even after several years of healthier eating, I don’t eat natural foods 100% of the time. I do still enjoy small amounts of some processed foods (premade salad dressings, garden burgers, low-sodium canned soups, etc.). I started out with just lunch, then I added in snacks, then breakfast, then dinners. Even though I don’t eat clean 100%, there’s been a huge difference in my health and the way I feel. I consider this approach also part of the 80/20 rule – eat clean 80 percent of the time and the other 20 percent you can be more lenient.
How to Get Started
As you may know (and maybe fear!), the key to eating unprocessed foods is a little advance preparation. But I promise you it is not difficult. Here’s your plan:
- Once every couple of weeks, cook big batches of things like whole-wheat pasta, brown rice or quinoa, chicken breasts, turkey burgers, salmon steaks, and sweet potatoes. You’ll be freezing these foods in individual-sized portions so that on weekdays (or evenings) you can pull them out for quick, nutritious lunches (and dinners!).
- On the weekend, go to the grocery store and buy a few key ingredients (suggestions below under Grocery Lists).
- Also on the weekend, spend a little time preparing foods you’ll eat during the week. For example: boil eggs and cut up cherry tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, and red bell pepper for salads. Obviously, if you don’t like these veggies then you can buy different ones.
In the morning (or evening) you can throw these ingredients together in endless ways to create yummy salads, sandwiches, wraps, and more (see recipe below). With clean eating, you rely on seasonings and natural flavors instead of fat, sugar, and salt.
You should plan on bringing a lunch bag or small cooler with you to work or school – you don’t want to end up hungry away from home with nothing to eat but junk. Besides lunch, my lunch bag includes snacks such as roasted almonds, fruit, and string cheese.
If you’re trying to lose weight, try smaller portions. You’ll find the weight comes off more easily when you’re mostly consuming fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and complex carbs instead of calorie-dense pre-packaged and fast food.
Your Starter Grocery List
Here is a list of specific items you can start out with – it’s just a starter list to give you ideas. As I mentioned in my first clean eating post, you should get your hands on Tosca Reno’s book, The Eat Clean Diet for more ideas.
Pick three or more items from this list and you’ll be set for your lunch (and breakfast) week. On your weekend grocery trip, in addition to the ingredients you choose to make from the weekend prep list above, pick up the following as you like:
Whole-grain pita, waffles, or bread; marinated artichokes; avocado; non-fat Greek yogurt; frozen edamame beans (or another legume of your choice); steel-cut oatmeal (or unsweetened instant); a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables; frozen blueberries; low-sodium hummus; dark-leafy greens; sweet potatoes; free-range eggs; grass-fed beef; lean ground turkey; chicken breasts; white fish; canned light tuna in water or salmon
I love to eat avocado sandwiches with a hardboiled egg, tuna sandwiches with fruit, pasta/rice/chicken/veggie salads, and turkey burgers and meatballs with fruit, to name a few. You’ll notice that all these meals include both carbs and protein so that your energy level remains high until your next meal or snack. Remember, you can choose to eat smaller, more frequent “mini-meals” or add small snacks between three main meals.
Here’s a salad I love to make for lunch. When you can pull out cooked pasta and chicken from the freezer, this takes about 10 minutes to make. Do it before bed and you’re all set with a delicious, healthy lunch!
Whole-wheat Pasta Salad with Chicken
From the Summer 2009 issue of Oxygen Magazine
- 2 chicken breasts
- 8 oz whole wheat past, cooked and cooled
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cucumber, chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 4 oz artichoke hearts (reserve marinade for dressing)
DRESSING:
I just added a little artichoke marinade but you can try the following.
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 7-oz container Greek yogurt, reduced fat (2%)
- 2 Tbsp reserved marinade
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, pasta, tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, and artichokes. Mix well.
- In a small bowl, combine dressing ingredients and stir well. Pour over salad.
Enjoy your new-found energy and better health with this small change to your eating lifestyle!
You may be interested in these clean eating posts too!
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Suzanne, this is one of my favorite posts you’ve written! So many people want to eat better, but they do get overwhelmed with the time/prep involved in actually making it happen. Frozen lunches aren’t the solution; planning in advance is!
Shira recently posted..The Bad Boy of Calories
Thanks Shira! I think if people knew how easy it was, they’d be on board. I’ve seen amazing changes in my energy & health since beginning clean eating, including the disappearance of a longstanding digestive problem (IBS). It’s just so worth it to make the switch.
Okay, I guess if I’m going to give this whole clean eating a shot, then lunch is a good place to start!
I’m really do well with cutting back on carbs, so I’ll probably keep that up. Could do with some nice salads with boiled eggs and veggies, though. That actually sounds yummy.
I really do HAVE to stop getting in my own way and make better choices.
ragemichelle recently posted..Walking The Line Between Kindness and Cruelty
You are on your way – you’ve got major awareness going on and the will! Be sure to eat enough protein with every meal and you’ll be full longer – then you won’t need all those carbs
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I never thought of freezing pasta or rice, thanks for the ideas.
Thanks for visiting my blog Suzanne
And I love this post. A lot of time taken to prep foods and people are sometimes turned off to home cooking. This tips would come in handy for sure
Kiran recently posted..Almond Cookies
love that pasta dish. So flavorful. I will have to try it with my gluten free pasta!
LC
lindsay recently posted..22 days
These are some great tips! I’ve been doing this the hard way. This is going to help a lot. Great post. Thank you!!!!
What a fantastic post! It’s so vital to stress the “mini-meal”. It’s a tough concept to get used to, but it works oh so well!
I always tell people that if they can’t get the hang of it right away, simply cook 3 regular meals and cut them in half. Eat a half of a meal every 2-3 hours and you’re set!
Oh, and avocado sandwiches one of my favorite lunches! Y.U.M.!!!
Tiffany @ The Gracious Pantry recently posted..Clean Eating Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti
Great tip Tiffany!
Agreed — 1,000%!
The best investment of time in a fitness agenda isn’t always in the gym or on the road. In fact, I often suggest to clients that they skip their weekend workouts, and use that time to grill chicken breasts, steam volumes of broccoli, make brown rice to put in 7 little baggies — one for each day of th week, and so-on.
I genuinely believe they will be better of cooking than walking or lifting on the weekends. Makes those busy Monday-Fridays much more useful when the good food ready, accessible, and the drive through and vending machines need not be entertained.
That’s great advice you’re giving your clients Roy. Trainers should definitely get into the nutrition aspect since it is MOST of the equation. I do the same thing with my brown rice in baggies – love the idea of steaming broccoli ahead too!
Great post Suzanne! I love how you started small & focus on your pantry foods – those are so key for me too. And uh, quinoa? Are we twins separated at birth by chance?
Lunch is a big deal – cuz I get BUSY & if I don’t have something handy, I tend to become FAMISHED & then make crappy choices. It’s just that simple.
One of my best fitness investments (next to my shoes & HR monitor) are my pyrex dishes with lids – I just love them! And I just have healthy stuff handy & take a few seconds to assemble & voila!
Thanks again ~
Kris @Krazy_Kris recently posted..Lifting Weights – My Workout Swap Recap
Great idea to bring a dish with a lid to work that you can pop right into the microwave! I’ve become rather attached to Correlle dishes, so convenient. I throw together pasta, chicken, edamame beans, and broccoli from the freezer, then add a little low-fat Italian dressing. Yum! About the string cheese and almonds (long lost sister??), so cool that you know also it’s only a small amount of fat and a good filling snack with protein. I always keep it to a 1/4 cup almonds and that keeps the fat down. I’d love to hear more about your clean eating… perhaps a post from you on the subject!
PS – Guess what snacks I take to work? String cheese & almonds
Twins I say….
Kris @Krazy_Kris recently posted..Lifting Weights – My Workout Swap Recap
I really like the idea of clean eating. With your tips, it’s a great way to plan ahead and transition to eating unprocessed food, but at the same time, really we need to do some extent be willing to and consciously choose to make the time to prepare! A lot is in the mentality….
The psychological component is huge. You have to be motivated. If we want chiseled, healthy bodies, eating clean is the first step!
Hi
I just found your website. I’m just starting to eat clean. Love your chicken pasta recipe. How many servings is it?
Love it! This recipe makes about two servings. Any chance to eat cherry tomatoes, I’m in
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I really loved this recipe. The only thing I would do differently next time is add a splash of balsamic vinegar and more artichoke.
Nice suggestion!
Why is eating meat seen as clean food?
“Clean,” from my perspective, means healthy. There are many interpretations; I don’t think there’s any right one. I’m not a vegetarian so my diet is both healthy and includes meat.
Hi,
You said that you freeze your cooked chicken, pasta, and veggies for weeknight suppers. Do you put them in the microwave to defrost, or do you put it in the refrigerator in the morning to defrost?
Thanks!
If I think of it I’ll put in the fridge to defrost, but if otherwise the microwave works great – fast and easy!
Do you precook chicken breasts and freeze those for dinner? After they defrost in the fridge, would I warm them in the oven?? I wouldn’t want them to cook again, but I would want them warm. Thanks for your response!
Yep, we grill a big batch (though you could cook them any which way) and then freeze them together in a gallon bag or those Food Saver bags. I microwave the chicken breasts on 50% power. I don’t have time to wait on an oven!
I just signed up for your newsletter too and you linked to this post. Thanks so much. Reading the comments is good too. I am going to take some of your suggestions and get started by prepping this weekend. I love your blog, Suzanne!
Bethany Lee recently posted..Neuroplasticity Exercises to Stretch Your Mind!
Thanks Bethany! Love it that we’ve connected
How do you make an avocado sandwich?
I just toast some bread and spread avocado on top. With a dash of salt, of course
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