Packed lunch is something many people in this modern world cannot live without, but unfortunately, many packed lunch foods do not support healthy weight loss. Whether it is salad, sandwich or wrap, there are many ways you can botch it and ruin your diet with additional calorie, fat or sugar, even if you make it yourself. If you prepare your lunch yourself, make sure to always use healthy options for all its elements.
Sandwich and wrap are popular lunch items, but it is so easy to make your sandwich unhealthy. Ham and cheese sandwich can give you 400 calories from the toppings and condiments. From the sweet category, peanut butter and jelly give you more than 350 calories. Steak and cheese sandwich with ketchup can give you 750 calories. If you want healthy lunch with sandwich, make sure you use healthy replacements in all of its components.
Even a seemingly plain white bride can contain a lot of calorie and fat, because of the refined sugar, butter, egg and refined flour in it. To make your bread healthier, choose healthy options such as whole wheat bread, oat bread, and flax bread. If you enjoy wrap instead of sandwich, choose high fiber, low calorie tortilla or pita bread.
Filling is the heart of a sandwich, and this is usually where you can add so much calorie and fat. Whether you are a vegetarian or meat eater, you can always choose healthier options for your sandwich. For example, you can fill your sandwich with a piece of skinless roast chicken or turkey, lean beef slice, homemade grilled tuna (avoid fish spread since it can be high in sodium and fat), boiled egg, grilled mushrooms, or grilled eggplants.
Sandwich toppings give extra texture, color and flavor. Aside from standard vegetable like cabbage, tomatoes and lettuce, you can add healthy options such as bell pepper, thinly sliced jalapeno pepper, cucumber, alfalfa, or basil.
Sandwich spread makes your bread juicier and more flavored, but mayonnaise or mustard pack a lot of calorie and fat. Replace them with options like avocado, homemade pesto sauce, homemade hummus, or olive oil.
With these sandwich tips, you can make healthy lunch for weight loss program that you can take to work. You can also control your portion better if you make the sandwich yourself than if you buy at the deli.
Salad is usually quite straightforward, but if you want to take salad as part of your healthy lunch, make sure you replace all the unhealthy ingredients too. In case of the dressing, skip mayonnaise or ranch sauce, and use vinaigrette. Making your own vinaigrette is also easy and you can get fresh-tasting dressing, such as with lime, lemon juice, or even soy sauce. Or, you can just mix olive oil or sesame seed oil into your salad with a little bit of vinegar.
Packed lunch can be your friend in healthy weight loss program, as long as you make it healthy and free of excess calorie.