Having a healthy lunch routine is so important and can affect your day in many ways.

What you eat for lunch, or don’t eat for lunch, can greatly affect how you eat later in the day.

If you skipped lunch, or your lunch was missing some important nutritious components, or wasn’t a balanced meal, it’s so easy to:

• Find your energy level, attention, and patience decreasing later in the afternoon.
• End up snacking on whatever is handy at work or tempting when you get home.
• Skip something you intended to do right after work – especially if it involves being active, going for a walk, or going to the gym.
• Eating more at dinner than you intended to.
• Fall into the after-dinner snacking routine that can affect your sleep, how your stomach feels, and your weight.

Here’s a fast & easy way to have a healthy lunch routine!

Does that mean extra work or time? No!!!!!

Just make this simple change: When you’re getting out the plate or bowl you’re going to use for your dinner, pull out a container and put a serving of supper into it to have for a future lunch. Do it as if you were serving a guest at supper and before serving yourself.

Making this quick change to your evening routine means that you’ll have a lunch ready to take with you the next day or the day after that. This is a big step towards developing a healthy lunch routine, but it has other benefits too.

5 benefits of packing your lunch as you serve supper

Benefit #1: It helps reduce going back for seconds at dinner.

Since your lunch is already packed away, there’s less temptation for you (or someone else) to go back for seconds during dinner. That’s good for your weight and your household food budget!

Benefit #2: It will save you time in the morning. 

There’s no rushing around making lunch as you’re trying to get out the door or get started on your day. Think about how this one little change in when you prepare your lunch could transform your morning and make it less stressful.

Benefit #3:  It can help you avoid poor choices when you’re ready for lunch.

If you’re rushed for time, having a stressful day, or are hungry, that’s the worst time to decide what you want to eat.   Because of the way your body works, willpower often fails us when we’re in these situations. (Read “Willpower, eating habits and food: Are they causing challenges for you?” to understand why.)

A key to a healthy lunch routine is having your meal prepared ahead of time. This makes it less likely to give in to the temptations of takeout or eating from the vending machine.

Benefit #4:  This healthy lunch routine can save you money!

How much would you spend at the drive-thru, on takeout, or even a frozen meal? Five dollars? Ten dollars? Chances are a serving of your supper will cost less than that. Imagine how much money this simple change could save in a week or a month!

A healthy lunch routine benefits your weight, health, and wallet.

Benefit #5:  You will have more time for lunch…and possibly other things! 

Since you already have lunch, there’s no wasting time going out to pick up lunch, waiting for it to be delivered, or waiting for it to cook or thaw in the microwave. If your lunch does need to be reheated, it’s usually just a minute or two in the microwave.

Adding even five more minutes to the time you have to eat can benefit your digestion. It could even make it possible to go for a quick walk!

Looking for other simple changes that can help you eat healthier, lose weight or have a healthier gut?

Start by making this simple change to your lunch routine. It is an example of just one of the many smart strategies that help people like you make easy, lasting steps on the road to successfully changing how you eat. 

If you’re looking for more ideas, click here and instantly download your free guide, “5 Secrets to Successfully Changing How You Eat”

Then get more personalized help related to your eating habits or health by booking your free discovery call. We can talk about what you want to accomplish and see if working with me would be helpful to you.