3 Healthy Office Lunch Ideas

Every working woman is facing this problem – lunch at work. Usually you are surrounded by bakeries and fast food restaurants, your lunch hour is too short for you to eat at a normal restaurant even when you can afford it and you simply want to eat healthy. Well, I know how you feel, so I came up with some ideas for a healthy office lunch and I’m willing to share. Take a look.

1. Salad

Happy pretty businesswoman eating a salad at her desk in her office

Salad is always a great idea for a healthy office lunch. You can make it yourself at home and then the only thing you need is a box to pack it in and a fork to eat it with. Make your salad whichever way you like it; my personal favorite is an iceberg salad with tomatoes, cucumber, carrots and corn.

If a simple salad is not enough for you and you will still be hungry, you can add some chicken breast to the salad. Adding some croutons would be a great idea too. Make a dressing as you wish, but try to avoid mayonnaise, since it is very high in calories and not really good for your health.

I personally love yogurt dressing. I either buy it ready from a store, or make it myself from yogurt, a little mustard and spices. It’s really easy, really tasty and really healthy. You can also add some toasted sesame seeds; they will only make your salad better.

It’s far better to make your own salad than to buy it, because you know that you’ll only use fresh ingredients and add only the things you like. You can also make a fruit salad, either as a standalone meal or as a dessert. It is very healthy, low in calories and the sugar from the fruit will help your brain work better.

2. Tuna or Chicken Sandwich

sandwich with tuna and tomato

If a salad is really not enough for you and you need a stronger lunch, a sandwich could be a good choice for a healthy office lunch. Make yourself a tuna or a chicken sandwich. Again, try to avoid mayonnaise and cheese, and use rye or whole grain bread.

Use more vegetables than meat. For something richer, use avocado. It is called “jungle butter” and there’s a good reason for that. It is very high in fat, but that is good fat, so don’t be too worried about it.

Bear in mind that sandwiches are richer in calories than salads, so salad is a better idea in case you’re on a diet. But if you just can’t live on a salad for lunch, it’s better to have a sandwich and be done with it, than to have a salad and then be hungry again in an hour. There’s a high chance that you’ll reach for some snacks, and that’s certainly not healthy.

3. Pumpkin

Pumpkin is rich in calories, so you can have a relatively small piece of it and cover your lunch. You can make anything you can think of out of a pumpkin and bring that to work. You can just bake a piece in the oven or you can make pumpkin pudding, sweet or salty. For both versions you’ll need baked pumpkin, of course.

For a salty version you can add some onions, carrots and salt. Bake these ingredients together with a pumpkin and then mix everything in a blender. You will get a kind of thick paste. You can also add some croutons into the salty version.

For a sweet version, you need a pumpkin, an apple and some cinnamon. The process is the same – bake in the oven and then mix in a blender to get a thick paste. You can bake both versions of pudding once again after you’ve mixed the ingredients, but just for a short time until it makes a thin crust on the top.

Pumpkin is very good for your health since it is rich in beta carotene, which is a very powerful anti-oxidant that reduces the risk of some types of cancer, protects your heart and slows down the process of aging. Think about all the healthy possibilities and meals you can make with pumpkin, and bring them to work the next time instead of buying fast food.

So, tell me – what is your favorite healthy office lunch?