The Lunch Meal

Larry sat down at the table and grabbed the menu. His mouth was watering. It’d been a long morning at the office—three hour long meetings with only a half hour break in between.

“I’ll have a burger, fries, and baked potato soup,” he told the waitress eagerly.

Twenty-five minutes later the food had arrived and had been consumed. Larry felt full. He and his companions drove by Starbucks to get some caffeine to get a jolt of energy for the afternoon.

Larry was in his mid-thirties and was getting quite the gut. It started in college with drinking, but now the fat was deposited elsewhere on his body—his face, legs, chest, and arms. He was getting fat and heading for a world of health problems: diabetes, heart disease, cancer.

Larry is not unlike many men. Bad habits which aren’t analyzed will run amok and take over. (By the way, that meal that “Larry” ate? That used to be a meal I’d have a couple times a week about five years ago. Yep – I was an over-eater.)

The trick is to be aware. Occasionally you need to step back and analyze what you are doing, how you are feeling. Look at yourself in the mirror and tear all your bad habits apart, the things you want to change, and then make a plan to do so. Visualize the end result of what you want to be.

Since we’re talking about lunch now, take a look at the meal you have for lunch. Do you leave it up in the air? Do you pack your lunch? Is it a healthy lunch? Good food combinations? Or to you sabotage yourself every time you eat lunch. To you stifle afternoon productivity by eating too much? Do you unwittingly pack on 5-10 pounds each year because you overeat and under exercise?

Five days a week, nearly a quarter of all your meals are at the office (assuming 3 squares).

Here’s what you should do:

  1. Cook healthy meals
  2. Plan leftovers for work
  3. If no leftovers, have a solid back up plan (e.g. salad and chicken, burger no bun with veggies/salad, rice and beans, etc.) – know where you can get these items in a pinch – that way you avoid temptation.

Do you have all your meals planned our for this week?