by R. Renee Bembry

Created on: September 27, 2008   Last Updated: April 19, 2009

Early morning hours pass like frustrating minutes during daily rushes to leave home for work or class. Yet five days a week, as if driving the Indy 500, we scurry through our crack-of-dawn routines racing to freeways knowing we'll be stifled by traffic jams of drivers creeping across onramps ahead of us. Doesn't matter that we get up at six - though we should've have been able to sleep till seven, or that we snooze the alarm clock only once - when we could've used an additional five minutes, we crawl from bed, lumber to the shower, and force adrenaline to awake us.

After all this, the last thing many of us want - or have time for - is to endure the time consuming task of stopping to pack lunches. I mean, geese, we're lucky if we can grab sips of coffee or slices of toast for breakfast! But... What's a girl to do at arrival of lunch and break times when she's eager to put aside her duties and relax for nourishing meals and snacks if she hasn't prepared for them?

Thank goodness - sometimes challenging questions have simple solutions. In this case, the solution is act like a Marine and "be prepared" by figuring out a few healthy lunch strategies.

For those of us who are fortunate enough to have refrigerators available at work, we won't even have to concern ourselves with brown bagging when setting healthy lunch strategies. On the job refrigerators can be used for storing cold cuts, fruits, veggies, cottage cheese, and yogurt, to name a few. Depending upon what we store, items in our stock may be consumed during mid morning to keep us from becoming too hungry before lunchtime - in case we missed breakfast - and may be enjoyed during mid afternoons to help us through the remainder of our workdays.

Including bread with the other health items we refrigerate would be strategic because bread provides a means for making cold cut sandwiches. Choosing whole grain breads rather than bleached flour breads will add to the healthiness of each work meal. Likewise, storing lettuce gives us an option for preparing veggie wraps in lieu of bread-based sandwiches. A favorite salad dressing could add flavor to veggie wraps; and if used sparingly, will keep our fat and calorie counts down.

A healthy lunch strategy used by many workers is containing dinner leftovers in lunch-sized bowls. Since leftovers must be put away, packing them for lunch readily prepares workers for the next day's noon meal and allows them to finish leftovers at the same time. Come morning, all one has to do is grab the bowl from the fridge and be on their way. Besides, many employers provide microwave ovens that reheat leftovers in about two minutes; and by preparing meals ourselves, we position ourselves to determine their nutritional values.

In cases where employers don't provide refrigerators, or microwaves, or for whatever reason, we decide to grab quick bites from fast food joints, we can still relax and enjoy nutritional lunches because the influx of hoopla concerning obesity throughout the United States, Great Britain and Canada, for examples, has prompted fast food restaurants to join the fat fight. Now a days, many of these fast food drive-ins and walk-ins offer healthier food choices on their menus. Thus, instead of ordering bulky burgers, greasy fries, and high calorie fountain drinks, dieters can opt for items like grilled chicken, fruit, salad, sugarless smoothies, and flavored water. Some establishments offer baked potatoes for those who simply must have potatoes with their meals; and others, including a well known fish joint, serve wraps that include, fish, shrimp, chicken, beef, and just plain veggies.

As you can see, figuring out healthy lunch strategies isn't all that difficult. What it is - is a whole lot healthier!

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