What foods are best to eat for lunch? What to eat for lunch that is healthy and tasty? What can you eat for lunch

There is a very accurate saying: “We eat to live, not live to eat.” There is a stereotype in modern society: healthy food is tasteless. However, this is not the case. Eating healthy foods can be both beneficial and enjoyable.

A balanced person is not only a slim figure. The condition of the skin, the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract, the function of the heart muscle and the cleanliness of the blood vessels depend on the quality and quantity of food consumed.

The main problem with the nutrition of modern people is lack of time. Due to the constant rush to work and school, the daily menu is filled with semi-finished products, baked goods, and fast food products. The result of regular eating at fast food eateries is obesity, disruptions in the functioning of the stomach and intestines.

The main mistakes in nutrition according to the latest research by nutritionists:

• exceeding the daily calorie intake - for people whose profession is not associated with heavy physical labor, the daily calorie intake should be within 2000
• uncontrolled fat consumption - about 50% of the population is overweight because it does not regulate the intake of fat into the body (eggs, potatoes, fish, meat, lard fried in refined oil, dressing salads with mayonnaise or ready-made sauces)
• liquid calories - doctors have long sounded the alarm about excessive consumption of sweet carbonated drinks, which contain prohibitive amounts of sugar; High-calorie drinks also include alcohol, which additionally whets the appetite, forcing you to consume more food.
• three meals a day - the stomach is not designed for large portions of food, and long intervals between meals lead to stagnation of bile
• excess confectionery
• improper processing of food - deep frying destroys the beneficial properties of food, adding excess fat and carcinogens

People forget that meals should decrease with age, since metabolism slows down and it is much more difficult to spend the calories received.

The daily menu should have the correct ratio of proteins, fats and. This is the basic rule of healthy eating. To determine the balance, there is a “plate rule”: it is mentally divided into three parts, of which half of the diet is taken up by vegetables and herbs, 25% is given to complex carbohydrates (porridge, legumes), 25% remains for protein products.

Basic rules of healthy eating:

1. There should be 3-4 main meals and 2 afternoon snacks per day.
2. 75% of food should be consumed for breakfast and lunch, leaving 25% for dinner.
3. It is advisable to distribute meals at the same time.
4. Food should not be too hot or cold; the recommended temperature range is from 50 to 10°, otherwise you may get heartburn.
5. There is no need to swallow food in chunks: the more thoroughly the food is chewed, the better it is saturated with saliva, so the food is more easily absorbed by the stomach and upper intestines.
6. You can't skip breakfast. It is advisable to eat no later than an hour after waking up. , weakness, fatigue - all this is the result of skipped breakfasts.
7. Adequate water intake. 1.5 liters of water, including liquid in fruits and soups, is the minimum requirement per day.
8. The last meal should be 3 hours before bedtime. Ideal option: vegetables + fish, vegetables + lean meat.
9. Restriction on salt and sugar. By reducing salt consumption, the body gets rid of excess fluid, swelling goes away, and heart function improves. The amount of salt is 1 tsp, sugar - 6 tsp. (including salt and sugars already contained in foods).
10. It is worth giving preference to vegetable fats rather than animal fats.
11. Do not forget about the benefits of seasonal products: strawberries in December are unlikely to saturate the body.

Boiled, baked, stewed dishes will bring maximum benefit to the body.

Healthy Breakfast: Options

The notorious sandwiches and coffee cannot be called a healthy breakfast. Fast carbohydrates are instantly digested by the body and after half an hour the person will want to eat again.

The leader among all possible breakfast options is porridge:

• oatmeal with milk and fruit
• buckwheat porridge with boiled or baked meat and vegetables
• corn porridge with dried fruits
• rice with stewed vegetables
• millet milk porridge with honey and pumpkin

Another popular and healthy breakfast product: . An ideal low-calorie source of protein comes with wholemeal bread and baked or steamed vegetables. Options:

• Omelet with cheese
• scrambled eggs with tomatoes
• omelette with mushrooms
• fried egg
• hard boiled eggs with toast
• egg baked in potato or tomato

The latest culinary invention that combines the benefits of oatmeal and eggs: oatmeal pancake. is very popular among those who want to lose weight: 2 eggs mixed with 2 tbsp. l. oatmeal, add 30 ml of milk, salt and pepper to taste. The well-beaten mixture is fried in a non-stick frying pan or a regular one with minimal addition of oil. For filling use: cottage cheese, cheese, banana, vegetables, dried fruits, lean meat (chicken, turkey, beef).

The following are considered healthy breakfasts:

• syrniki
• dumplings with cottage cheese
• vegetable fritters (zucchini, carrots, pumpkin)
• cottage cheese casserole
• sandwiches made from whole grain bread with boiled meat and herbs
• with cottage cheese and raisins in the oven

For drinks, it is preferable to drink green tea, fruit and berry compote, and freshly squeezed juices. It is advisable not to overdo it with coffee: no more than 3 cups per day with the addition of milk (to avoid leaching of calcium).

Examples of healthy lunches

There should be at least 3 hours between meals. Lunch is the most problematic meal of the day because most people don't have time for it. Buns, cookies and pies for a sedentary worker will result in problems with the gastrointestinal tract and obesity. Lunch options at work:

• muesli with milk or yogurt. There is a pitfall here: ready-made muesli usually has a high content of sugar and preservatives, so before purchasing you need to study the composition of the product
• seasonal vegetable salad
• fermented milk products: kefir, fermented baked milk, yogurt
• jacket potatoes
• lavash rolls with chicken and herbs

Proper nutrition: what you can and cannot include in your diet to prevent health problems

For a complete, proper lunch, muesli alone will, of course, not be enough. For lunch, it is advisable to prepare a hot dish (soup, borscht), vegetable salad and meat. However, soups are not useful for everyone: they are not recommended for patients with peptic ulcers or duodenal ulcers, as they increase acidity.

On weekends, lunches that are familiar to our mentality are perfectly combined with: recipes for the week

• buckwheat, pearl barley, rice soup with chicken broth
• borscht with lean pork or beef broth
• pickle
• mushroom soup or beans
• mashed potatoes, chicken pilaf
• stewed potatoes with meat
• baked fish with cheese crust
• vegetable casseroles
• durum wheat pasta
• chicken fillet with grilled vegetables in the oven
• beans with tomatoes in soy sauce

For dessert, you can allow healthy sweets: marmalade, marshmallows, marshmallows, dark chocolate (of course, within reason).

Healthy dinner: options

A healthy dinner should have maximum benefits and minimum calories. It is not recommended to eat porridge (except buckwheat) at night: it takes a long time to break down and can create heaviness in the stomach. But you shouldn’t dine on kefir alone either: fasting provokes excessive production of gastric juice and bile, which negatively affects the digestive system, even leading to the formation of ulcers or gastritis.

The following dishes will bring the greatest benefit at dinner:

• vegetable or potato puree
• vegetable casserole with cheese
• pasta with baked lean poultry
• brown rice with seafood
• vegetable stew made from seasonal vegetables (cabbage, zucchini, onions, carrots)
• pike perch, cod, pollock, tuna, carp baked in foil
• rabbit meat in the oven with vegetable salad dressed with vegetable oil
• pumpkin casserole with cottage cheese
• omelette with herbs and tomatoes
• spaghetti and Caesar salad
• lasagna made from vegetables or with minced chicken or turkey

It is useful to add hot spices to dishes prepared for dinner: they stimulate, speed up metabolism and the breakdown of food. Salads are perfect for an evening meal: in summer from tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, in winter - from boiled beets with prunes, carrots with nuts, fresh and sauerkraut.

For healthy salad dressings, it is better to use olive oil, low-fat sour cream or unflavored yogurt. For dessert, you can make a smoothie with berries, cottage cheese cakes with fruits or berries.

Before going to bed, you are allowed to drink green tea with honey or a glass of kefir: such drinks will only benefit the body.

The ideal time for a small afternoon snack: 1.5 hours after breakfast and a couple of hours before dinner. It is advisable to eat a nutritious product, but a small portion. Options for proper snacks:

1. . When eating nuts, the main thing is not to overdo it with their quantity. This is a high-calorie product with saturated fatty acids; the list of useful ones includes: walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, pistachios. Preference is given to unsalted nuts.
2. . An alternative to candy and a great mental booster. In addition, dried fruits solve problems with the gastrointestinal tract: dried apricots and prunes help with constipation. Dried bananas and apples, raisins and figs are suitable as a snack.
3. Fruits and berries. Apples and grapes are not the best option to satisfy your hunger. They whet the appetite, causing intense production of gastric juice. Bananas, raspberries, pears, peaches, oranges, and grapefruit will bring more benefits.
4. Cheese. An excellent option for a snack, especially varieties of cheese up to 15% fat: feta cheese or Adygei cheese.

Prohibited products include instant food products: mashed potatoes and noodles in bags. Surrogate food is stuffed with preservatives, flavor enhancers, sugars, transgenic fats and other chemicals. Among the foods that need to be eliminated from the diet are:

• Chips. This also includes French fries. There are absolutely no vitamins in these products, only carbohydrates, fat, a flavor substitute, coloring and a huge amount of salt.
• Carbonated drinks. Constant consumption of water with dye causes allergies, carbon dioxide contributes to the development of gastritis. The amount of sugar in one bottle exceeds the daily requirement.
• Mayonnaise. As well as sauces and ketchups that are sold in stores. In addition to fat, they can contain genetically modified components, sweeteners, and dyes. The abundance of mayonnaise on the table ensures clogging in a short time.
• Lollipops and chewing candies. Same chemical composition and excess sugar. It is strictly forbidden to give such food to children, so as not to develop caries, obesity and diabetes.
• Fast food. Addiction to fast food products results in sad consequences: disturbances in the functioning of the digestive organs, problems with blood vessels.
• Bouillon cubes. A useless product, stuffed with monosodium glutamate, which, according to recent studies, provokes the growth of cancer cells.

In addition, unhealthy foods include sausages, margarine, and white bread.

I would like to debunk the myth that proper nutrition costs a lot of money. Porridge and fermented milk products do not cost a lot of money, but they are beneficial to the body.

Aug 17, 2016 Violetta Doctor

It’s no secret how important it is to eat right, even in the cartoon “Dunno on the Moon”, Donut says: “You can’t break your diet.” In this article we will tell you what to eat for lunch. Some people do not separate meals at all, they eat what they want and when they want, however, this is not entirely correct, and in order to maintain good health it is necessary to follow some norms.

Rules: what to eat for lunch

• Have lunch at approximately the same time.
• When dining, be sure to eat warm food, at least one dish, but it must be warm. This contributes to a more smooth functioning of digestion.
• During the lunch meal, you can eat several dishes at once, or just one, it all depends on how much you have already eaten during the day.
• It is better to consume fruits and foods containing fiber 20-30 minutes before lunch; this will force your stomach to work and prepare it for the main meal.
• Soup is not necessary, but desirable, as it makes you feel full. However, most soups are quickly digested, so take this into account when planning your diet.
• You can drink during lunch if you want, however, experts recommend drinking water during meals, and drinking tea, coffee, compote, juices and other drinks after lunch (after 20-30 minutes).
• It is better not to eat desserts and sweets during lunch, but to eat them with tea after lunch.
• You can drink alcohol at dinner, but you should get by with a glass of good wine; in this matter, the main thing is not to overdo it. And you shouldn’t think that alcohol improves appetite, it doesn’t.
• There should be no rush when eating. Chew your food thoroughly and take your time, and especially don’t eat lunch on the go.
• You must leave the table satisfied, but not overeated; this is the rule for any meal. You can determine the norm for yourself experimentally, because satiety comes only 10-15 minutes after eating. If you don’t stop in time, as soon as the food begins to digest, it will be difficult for you, and you will realize that you have overeaten and have lost all ability to work.

What to eat for lunch

The main thing is to balance all meals per day so that the body receives a variety of foods, and with them, all the necessary substances for normal functioning. As for what is best to eat for lunch, read the following list of foods:

• Vegetables are more useful when eaten fresh (salad or sliced), but stewed, pickled, and salted vegetables are also suitable. However, pickled and canned vegetables should not be consumed in large quantities.
• Fruits and dried fruits.
• Meat should definitely be included in the daily diet, but give preference to non-fatty meat. In this case, it is better to choose steamed or boiled meat, but it is better to refuse fried meat.
• Fish and seafood are much easier to digest than meat, and they are even more beneficial than meat. Seafood is rich in various microelements, such as iodine, copper, zinc, potassium, which are beneficial for both a growing body and an already formed one. If we talk about the method of preparing fish, then boiled fish is much healthier than fried fish.
• Cereals. Cereals are good for the body; a fairly common side dish is buckwheat and rice. Of the varieties of rice, it is better to replace white rice with other varieties, since it is quickly absorbed by the body, and in an hour and a half you will be hungry again.
• Pasta, exclusively from durum wheat, or rice noodles.
• Potato. In addition to the fact that it goes well with both fish and meat, it is also rich in microelements and vitamins beneficial for the body.
• Bread (with cereals and bran). In general, bread is a fairly high-calorie product, so if you are watching your weight, it is better to exclude it during lunch and dinner, because you will already get carbohydrates with the side dish.

From the article you learned what is best to eat for lunch. Eat right and save yourself from many problems not only with the digestive tract, but also with health in general.

Obesity, problems with digestion and metabolism, gastritis - all this is a consequence of a neglectful approach to food consumption. To maintain health, you need to eat according to a schedule and pay special attention to your daily diet, in particular what to eat for lunch with proper nutrition. Here it would be useful to study all aspects of the dietary menu: cooking methods, selection of products so that the dishes are as valuable as possible for the body.

However, before you start directly working in the kitchen, you should make a reservation about the rules of healthy eating and what are the main mistakes we make in our daily eating regimen.

Proper nutrition

First of all, proper nutrition should be well balanced. With a low calorie content, lunch simply must be nutritious enough so that an hour after eating you don’t become so hungry that you want to cook and eat a whole wild boar, but at the same time you don’t gain weight on hearty grub.

1. Therefore, it is better to immediately abandon overcooked and smoked foods, and introduce boiled, stewed, raw, baked and steamed foods into the diet.
2. The presence of fats, carbohydrates, proteins, as well as vitamins and minerals is the basis for a healthy diet.
3. You should not resort to excessively long heat treatment of foods, since prolonged cooking, such as soup, mercilessly destroys the vitamins we need.
4. It is also worth emphasizing the importance of cooking “under the lid”. If a dish is stewed or boiled in an open container, then the most precious vitamins (up to 20%) evaporate along with the steam, whereas in a closed container only 3% of useful inclusions can disappear into the abyss.
5. It is recommended to eat about four times during the day and preferably at the same time, so that the body adjusts to its bioclock and can easily process all the food. Some people mistakenly believe that if you eat less often, you certainly won’t gain weight. As a result, a person can eat so much in 2 meals that the body simply cannot digest everything and, with a clear conscience, sends excess food in the form of fatty tissue to the sides and other problem areas.

Healthy, proper nutrition includes, first of all, those recipes that will meet the requirements: what you can eat so as not to gain weight and what dishes you need to prepare so that lunch is truly healthy and wholesome.

To prepare this simple, light, vegetarian, but at the same time satisfying dish, we will need:

• white cabbage (0.5 kg),
• onions and carrots (1 pc.),
• pearl barley (80 g).

Let's start preparing cabbage soup from cereals: after washing the grains, pour boiling water over them and cook for about 20 minutes, after which we drain the liquid and transfer the porridge into boiling water (1.5-2 l), where we also add shredded cabbage, grated carrots and finely chopped onions. .

Salt everything and season with spices, and after 15 minutes, if desired, add herbs and crushed garlic. Our first course is ready to be served along with rye bread.

Okroshka has always occupied a leading position in terms of usefulness and ease. However, in our “healthy” recipe for a national dish we will need to give up:

• plenty of potatoes, we'll get by with 1 boiled tuber;
• sausages, replace it with boiled chicken breast (100 g);
• mayonnaise or full-fat sour cream, choosing whey or low-fat kefir for dressing, salted to taste.

Also, the dietary okroshka should definitely include sliced ​​boiled eggs (2 pieces) for satiety, 4 fresh cucumbers for freshness, 10 radishes and a bunch of green onions for spiciness.

At the same time, you can add boiled beets (1 piece), grated on a coarse grater, to this composition of okroshka, but then you will have to season the vegetable “salad” with chilled boiled water, and also season everything with a small amount of lemon juice or vinegar.

In addition, okroshka without liquid dressing can easily play the role of a salad if you season the slices with low-fat sour cream.

To activate digestive processes and reduce fat deposits, our selection of the right recipes contains an “onion trump card” - a soup for the preparation of which you will need very few ingredients:

• 6 onions, chopped
• a couple of bell peppers,
• 3 tomatoes
• 500 g shredded white cabbage,
• 1 bunch of celery.

Pour 1.5 liters of water over the prepared products and cook until tender. By salting and seasoning the soup with spices, we get an excellent, quick and healthy lunch.

Celery, being an excellent source of ascorbic acid, B vitamin and potassium, has excellent anti-aging properties. And thanks to its diuretic properties, soup from this root vegetable helps remove excess fluid from the body and normalize metabolism.

Cut into strips 1 small fork of cabbage, 1 celery root, carrots (4 pcs.), onions (4 heads), a couple of bell peppers, 5 medium tomatoes, 0.4 kg of green beans, pour 1.5 liters of tomato juice and simmer under cover after boiling for 15 minutes.

This flavorful and satisfying lunch is perfect for both fasting and a healthy diet.

1. Boil beans (250 g) until tender.
2. At this time, fry in oil 1 finely chopped onion, 1 grated carrot and 250 g of fresh chopped champignons.
3. After the beans are cooked, transfer them to the roaster, add a couple of cloves of garlic pressed through a press and simmer under the lid for 15 minutes.
4. Then put the resulting mass into boiling water (1.5 l), add salt, season with spices and turn it off after 15 minutes.

A full meal, as a rule, consists of three main components: first, second and dessert, and proper nutrition in no way infringes on the rights of the daily food intake, offering excellent dietary recipes for the hot menu. And so we prepare a vegetable casserole for the second course.

Broccoli and cauliflower, along with their low calorie content, are the richest vegetables in vitamin C and a number of essential chemical elements, and these products will come in handy for a healthy diet.

For those who are not particularly fond of boiled vegetables from the garden, the cabbage casserole recipe will be a real discovery.

1. Boil cauliflower (0.4 kg) and broccoli (0.4 kg) inflorescences in salted water. If we chose fresh vegetables for cooking, then 3 minutes will be enough to cook; in the case of frozen products, it will take 10 minutes;
2. Meanwhile, let's make the sauce. In a frying pan, fry wheat flour (1 tbsp) in butter (1 tbsp) and then pour in 0.5 liters of 10% cream. Mix everything and bring to a boil, but do not allow it to boil, otherwise the cream will curdle.
3. Place the cabbage in a baking dish, add salt and pepper to taste, pour in creamy sauce, grate hard cheese (150 g) on ​​top and put in the oven for half an hour at 180 o C.

Fish and seafood can easily replace a good vitamin and mineral supplement, which undoubtedly makes these products simply irreplaceable in the diet. Steamed fish, boiled, baked in foil with vegetables or stewed in a creamy marinade, all these dishes perfectly fit the standards of proper nutrition, just like the most delicate fish cutlets.

For minced meat we need:

• 0.8 kg twisted fish fillet,
• bread crumb soaked in milk (100 g),
• small zucchini cubes (500 g) scalded for 5 minutes,
• chicken eggs (2 pcs.),
• salt and pepper.

Having mixed all the ingredients into a total mass, we form cutlets from it, which need to be baked in the oven for 20 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. To make the cutlets juicier, you can wrap them in foil or line the bottom of a baking sheet with parchment.

As a side dish for our delicacy, green beans, cauliflower or seaweed boiled in salted water for 10 minutes, as well as black or red rice boiled for 30 minutes are ideal.

Steamed meat dishes meet all dietary requirements: an abundance of proteins, low calorie content and the absence of excess fat during overcooking, and juicy steamed meatballs will be the crown of meat cuisine.

To prepare 4 servings of meatballs we will need:

• 600 g minced beef,
• 6-8 tbsp. boiled rice,
• 1 tbsp. butter,
• salt - 3-4 pinches,
• 1 egg.

Mix all the ingredients into a total mass and beat using a blender, after which we form portioned balls and place them in a frying pan with a small amount of water.

Covered over medium heat, the meatballs will be ready in 15 minutes. They can be served as a separate dish or with a side dish, which can be steamed or fresh vegetables, as well as any porridge.

Salad "Brush"

Without salads, lunch is not lunch, because these vegetable mixtures are perfect as a side dish for the main dish, and will also become an excellent vitamin supplement in a healthy diet. But here it should be noted that for healthy salads you should take exclusively fresh vegetables, and choose low-fat sour cream, unrefined olive or sunflower oil or light sauces as a dressing. And no mayonnaise in sight!

With this approach to proper nutrition, you definitely won’t be faced with the age-old question of what would be so delicious to eat for lunch and not gain weight, since the diet menu has quite a lot of recipes for delicious salads for weight loss.

It’s not for nothing that the salad stated in the name was nicknamed the brush, because it copes well with all the accumulated toxins, gently removing them from the body, while simultaneously nourishing them with a heavy dose of microelements and vitamins.

Preparing a masterpiece will only take 10 minutes.

• Three peeled raw beets (1 tuber), 1 large carrot, shred white cabbage into thin strips on a coarse grater, and season everything with olive oil (1-2 tbsp) and a few drops of lemon juice.

This is an incredibly tasty, satisfying and healthy salad for lunch that everyone will enjoy. Yes, yes - proper nutrition has its delicacies.

1. Cut 6-8 cherry tomatoes into ¼ pieces.
2. Cut feta cheese (200 g) into fairly large cubes with a 1 cm edge.
3. Place pitted black olives (½ jar) whole into a salad bowl.
4. Lettuce leaves do not tolerate a knife, so they should be torn into medium pieces by hand.
5. One fresh cucumber, ½ bell pepper and half an onion should be cut into strips.
6. Finely chop a bunch of greens, then mix all the vegetables and cheese, after dressing the salad with olive oil and lemon juice.

This salad couldn't be easier to prepare.

Finely grate fresh carrots (2-3 pieces), add some salt, add grated garlic (2 cloves) and season everything with 15% sour cream. The exact same salad can be made with beets (1 root vegetable), replacing carrots.

Classics of the genre - tomatoes with cucumbers

One of the simplest and most beloved summer salads will always be the guest of honor on our healthy lunch menu.

1. Cut tomatoes (2 pcs.) and fresh cucumbers (3-4 pcs.) into medium slices.
2. Finely chop the greens (1 bunch of onion + ½ bunch each of dill and cilantro), then add some salt and mix the salad with the addition of low-fat sour cream or unrefined sunflower oil.
3. If desired, you can squeeze a couple of cloves of garlic into the general composition and cut the sweet pepper into strips.

With proper nutrition, lunch simply must include fresh fruit, which will be an excellent dessert ending to the meal, even in its nominal form, or as a flavorful fruit salad with yogurt. However, in addition to a fresh dessert, you can also eat something incredibly tasty, without harm to your figure and overall health.

For this dish we will need 3 large pears, 50 grams of cranberries, a pack of vanilla and powdered sugar (2-3 tsp).

1. We cut the pears in half and remove the core, where we then place the sour berries sprinkled with vanilla.
2. Place the resulting still life in the oven for half an hour, and after the allotted time, sprinkle the finished dessert with powdered sugar.

Honey-cinnamon apples

For those who love apples, we offer a similar dessert option.

1. After cutting the apple in half, cut a hole in the half, where we put a couple of teaspoons of honey.
2. Sprinkle the prepared apple halves with cinnamon powder and place in the oven to bake at 180°C until cooked.

This delicacy should be served cooled.

This is not even a cupcake, but rather an ice cream that will perfectly complete the entire lunch marathon.

To prepare the treat you need:

• 1 banana
• 130 g almonds,
• 1 carrot,
• 1 tbsp. honey,
• juice of a whole lemon,
• strawberries - ½ cup,
• soy milk.

Mix everything using a blender until smooth, then add oatmeal (220 g), mix, put the mixture into molds and place in the freezer for a couple of hours. Serve the cold dessert with yogurt and garnish with fresh raspberries.

For some reason, we are accustomed to thinking that healthy food is not particularly original, and in general, not many are tempted by the prospect of feasting on something unappetizing. But in reality everything turns out to be completely different.

Taking into account all aspects of the diet with proper nutrition, you can prepare such incredibly tasty dishes that eating “healthy delights” for lunch will become not a painful chore, but a true pleasure.

Each time of day implies a certain rhythm of life - a period of intense work, as well as periods of rest and sleep. This rhythm is laid down by nature itself, and the human body adapts to it. There are also certain nutritional rules for each time of day.

There are products that are most suitable for morning, afternoon or evening consumption. If you take this fact into account and eat right, you can get rid of extra pounds, improve your well-being, increase your performance, and activate your brain activity. Let's find out what products to make up our diet for every day and what is healthy to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner:

What is the right breakfast?

In the morning you need to eat. This is necessary to improve brain activity and enhance concentration. Eating in the morning helps you remember information better. Studies conducted at one time have shown that people who regularly receive a full, high-quality breakfast have a strong immune system, and are less likely than people who do not have breakfast to get into various accidents.

Before a busy day at work, you need to have a good breakfast, and only then get on with your business. Eating in the morning increases performance by a third. In the morning, you don’t have to be afraid to “overdo it” with calories. Calories consumed in the morning are never stored in reserve. They are always consumed by the body without a trace. It is useful to have breakfast no later than 9 am.

According to the advice of nutritionists, it is appropriate to eat boiled eggs, cottage cheese with sour cream or curd cheese in the morning. Yogurt, cheese, nuts and honey are suitable. It is useful to eat fresh fruits and berries.

However, the vast majority of healthy eating experts believe that the best morning food is oatmeal. It is very useful, gently envelops the stomach, promotes digestion. In addition, a portion of morning porridge will leave you feeling full for a long time.

What's the best thing to eat for lunch?

At this time of day, a person eats the largest part of the entire daily diet. Even if you had a good breakfast, you shouldn't skip lunch. Firstly, a lot of time has passed since breakfast and the body needs “reinforcement”. secondly, lunch is needed so that a ravenous appetite does not wake up for dinner.

It's much worse if you rush into dinner and eat much more than you need. Therefore, you better have lunch. In addition, at this time of day you can eat things that are not recommended in the morning and evening.

The following foods are suitable for lunch: mushrooms, potatoes and other vegetables, meat, fish. Vegetables can be eaten in the form of salads. Stewed vegetables go well with meat and fish products. Lunch should consist of hot food: first course, second. It's good to eat a salad or a light snack. You can drink it with compote, hot tea, fruit drink, etc.

Cabbage soup, borscht, fish, meat, mushroom, and vegetable soups should definitely be eaten at lunch. They improve digestion and speed up the digestion of other foods. First courses resist overeating, as they quickly fill the stomach and a person feels full.

As for sweets and all kinds of desserts, the following must be said: Sweet dishes are very high in calories. Therefore, it is better for people who have extra pounds to abstain from desserts. Sugar, being a simple carbohydrate, is quickly absorbed, eliminates hunger and improves mood. But after a short time, blood sugar quickly and actively decreases. This immediately causes a strong desire to have something substantial to eat.

What to have for dinner?

In order for evening meals to bring as much benefit as possible and be well absorbed, you need to sit down to dinner no later than 18-20 hours. Well, the main thing is that you do not eat later than 2 hours before going to bed.

Never eat hot, spicy, smoked, fried or very salty foods in the evening. They only whet your appetite and you may end up eating too much. Fatty, canned foods will also not be beneficial. Ideal for dinner - boiled, stewed fish, boiled or raw vegetables. It’s good to have boiled chicken breast or leg with green peas for dinner. Drinking kefir, tea, compote is beneficial.

The main thing is that the evening meal is not plentiful. Then dinner will not be able to affect your figure. In addition, eating a large meal before bed, and even with the addition of alcohol, is a direct path to the development of gastritis, pancreatitis, cholecystitis and other ailments. I'm not talking about excess weight at all. Late dinner is one of the surest reasons for its appearance.

In the evening it is better to eat foods rich in magnesium and calcium. These substances will ensure normal brain activity without overloading it at night and will help relax the muscles. You will find these beneficial elements in garden greens, grains and cabbage. It's best not to eat raw cabbage for dinner. Boiled or stewed is more suitable.

To have a good, restful sleep and give your body quality rest after a busy day, have boiled turkey for dinner. Eat a banana, a handful of pistachios, figs.

Speaking about the fact that it is useful to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, we cannot help but mention the following: Without excluding the importance of selecting foods for each time of the day, do not forget to follow the breaks between meals recommended by nutritionists. This is very important because it will help you maintain your ideal weight and also help you maintain high performance all day long.

For example, keep a 3-4 hour break between meals. Have dinner no later than 2-3 hours before bedtime. The break for night sleep before breakfast should be no more than 10 hours. Be healthy!

A proper lunch is an important component in the fight against excess weight or maintaining good physical shape. It should be light and healthy, at the same time tasty and energizing. Also, the task of a nutritious lunch is to prevent our nightly overeating. Let's consider what lunch should be like when eating properly for weight loss.

Proper lunch: what is it like?

Experts believe that a healthy lunch for weight loss should include all groups of nutritional components: proteins, fats (only healthy ones) and carbohydrates. Much depends on their proportion. In the afternoon, it is recommended to consume slow carbohydrates with proteins. This combination will help saturate the body with energy and better survive all the restrictions that weight loss involves.

But it is better not to eat foods that include sugar, that is, simple carbohydrates, for lunch. Surely you are familiar with the feeling of drowsiness and weakness after lunch. It is a consequence of a sharp jump in blood glucose. If you really want to add dessert to your lunch, use something healthy - dark chocolate, dried fruits, honey. It’s better to wait a little and then treat yourself to a delicious afternoon snack.

A proper lunch for weight loss should be approx. 350-450 kcal. If you don't plan to accurately count calories, you can determine your serving size using another method. The size of the protein dish should not exceed the size of your palm; add a couple of tablespoons of dry cereal and a large portion of vegetables - this will approximately be the required number of calories. Nutritionists define the ideal lunch for weight loss as a plate filled a quarter with porridge, a quarter with meat and half with vegetables. Lunch may also include a light vegetable soup. Remember that an excessive amount of even the healthiest food can be dangerous for your figure.

So here you go menu, which a lunch for weight loss may consist of:

• Light vegetable soup or broth – 150-200 ml.
• 150-200 grams of meat or fish dish. It is better to stew, bake, boil, or steam meat and fish. If you are losing weight, it is better to avoid fried foods.
• From flour, choose rye or bran bread in quantities of no more than 30 grams.
• As a side dish, use stewed vegetables or salad, without using mayonnaise or sour cream. Quantity – 100-150 grams.
• You can drink a glass of freshly squeezed juice or compote without sugar, green tea or coffee.

When dining, don't rush. Chew your food slowly and thoroughly to help you feel fuller with less food. It is better to drink 30 minutes before lunch and an hour after. Avoid mixing food and liquid as it reduces the concentration of stomach acid, which slows digestion. After finishing lunch, sit quietly for at least ten minutes to allow your body to better absorb the nutrients.

In many ways, the right diet lunch for weight loss will depend on what kind of diet you follow:

• On the Dukan diet you can eat any baked meat, fish and seafood; in the second and third phases you can also eat salad.
• On a diet minus 60 Sushi and rolls without cream cheese are allowed, almost any dish of fish, meat and poultry with the addition of cereals, soup without potatoes are allowed.
• On a Mediterranean diet you can eat a piece of grilled fish (ideally it should be salmon and trout, but cod is also acceptable, just not fried), as well as any salad, plus a side dish of porridge.
• If you stick protein diet, and you don’t have time to have a full lunch, a protein lunch for weight loss can consist of a pack of cottage cheese, kefir or fermented baked milk and tea without sugar.
• If you need to stick calorie counting, what you eat for lunch when losing weight can be anything from the list of healthy foods, it is only important to fit into the required number.

What can you eat for lunch when losing weight: options

We looked at an approximate version of what you can eat for lunch while losing weight. And now we offer several specific menu variations that can be used every day.

• Option 1. Includes 200 ml of vegetable soup without potatoes, immediately or a minced chicken cutlet for the main course (100 grams), a couple of thin slices of rye or cereal bread, a salad with olives and cheese like Greek cheese (100 grams), as well as a glass of citrus juice. The juice should be diluted by half with water. Total volume – 200 ml.
• Option 2. Another low-calorie lunch for weight loss might include 200 ml of chicken broth, 100 grams of chicken meat, a couple of rye toasts, 100 grams of fresh vegetable salad (you can use cucumber, tomato, bell pepper and vegetable oil with lemon juice as a dressing). You can supplement the menu with green or ginger tea.
• Option 3. Includes 200 ml of vegetable soup without meat, 100 grams of boiled poultry without skin and 100 grams of white cabbage salad. You can also eat up to 30 grams of rye bread and dried fruit compote.
• Option 4. Another answer to the question of what to eat for lunch to lose weight is a fish first course, for example, 200 ml of fish soup, a piece of boiled fish from the broth, about 100 grams, 30 grams of bran, rye or cereal bread, 100 grams of beet salad and seaweed. You can also drink a glass of slightly salted tomato juice.
• Option 5. This variation allows you to eat a cold entrée for lunch while on a diet (beetroot soup, green borscht, okroshka without sausage and potatoes) in the amount of 200 ml, one chicken cutlet and 30 grams of rye bread or rye crackers. As a side dish, you can use stewed eggplant or zucchini, or fresh cucumber. You can complement the menu with fresh apple compote.
• Option 6. In this option, you need to eat vegetable soup, for example “Bonn” (it is better to use celery and tomatoes) in an amount of 200 ml. Also include 100 grams of boiled beans or pea porridge in the menu. They can be replaced with stewed mushrooms. You can have some rye bread and tea or coffee.
• Option 7. For the first course - 200 ml of pea soup. On the second course - 100 grams of stuffed river fish. You can eat a couple of slices of rye bread, 100 grams of fresh salad and drink a cup of green tea.

Healthy lunch for weight loss: recipes

When you have already figured out what is best to eat for lunch when losing weight, study several examples of tasty and healthy recipes that can be used for a diet menu and proper nutrition. If you have the opportunity to dine at home, you can pay attention to the following dish options.

Fish in a pot

Meat and fish cooked in pots is a simple method to make dietary food both tasty and nutritious. Cut the fish, place the pieces in a pot and cover with several layers of vegetables, for example, it could be onions, carrots, zucchini and cauliflower. Sprinkle each layer with any seasoning without salt. After this, pour low-fat kefir into the pot so that it does not reach 1-1.5 cm from the edge. You need to bake the dish for an hour at a temperature of 180 degrees.

Cheese soup

Many people love creamy puree soups, but when losing weight they are forced to deny themselves them. But this is not at all necessary, because you can prepare dietary versions of soups. Take any vegetables and stew them in a small amount of oil. Chop the low-fat processed cheese and add it to the vegetable broth, heat until the cheese is completely dissolved. Then place the vegetables in the container.

This soup will ideally complement a light salad of fresh or boiled vegetables.

Lazy dumplings

Stir in a pack of low-fat cottage cheese, one egg, a couple of tablespoons of whole wheat flour and a pinch of salt. Form balls from the resulting mass. Boil it in boiling water. You can serve these dumplings with kefir or natural yogurt. Boiled or stewed vegetables can be an addition.

Cauliflower Casserole

You need to boil 200 grams of cauliflower (this is about half a medium-sized head of cabbage) in slightly salted water. Mix two raw egg whites, a couple of tablespoons of semolina and seasoning to taste. Place the vegetable in a mold and cover with the egg mixture. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

These recipes can be used both for home and work. To save time, you can prepare healthy lunches on the weekend and freeze them, and then heat them up and eat them at work.

But what about those who do not have the opportunity to heat up food or put it in the refrigerator at work or school? Initially, you can pay attention to tasty and healthy salads. You can pay attention to the following combinations for them:

• Pieces of boiled chicken fillet, lettuce, grapes, a small amount of walnuts.
• Boiled beets, shrimp, cucumber and carrots.
• Boiled breast, egg white, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, a little grated Parmesan.
• Boiled lentils, grainy cottage cheese, cucumber and tomato.
• Canned tuna, green beans, egg whites, red pepper.

These salads will not lose their freshness, even if you do not store them in the refrigerator until lunch. As a dressing, you can use soy sauce, lemon juice, natural yogurt or low-fat sour cream, vinegar, and ground pepper. To keep the dish fresh, it is better to season it immediately before eating.

And a few more recipes:

Cottage cheese casserole

Mix a pack of low-fat cottage cheese, one egg, a couple of tablespoons of oatmeal and a tablespoon of milk. Line the pan with parchment. Place the fruits and fill them with cottage cheese. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.

Vegetable pancakes

You can make healthy pancakes from grated carrots, beets or zucchini. To give them shape, use egg and semolina. Fry in a dry frying pan or bake in the oven. Another great source of protein for lunch is canned beans, which you can take with you to work.

Lavash rolls

Thin sheets of pita bread should be stuffed with a mixture of low-fat cottage cheese, lettuce, chopped celery, tomatoes and herbs. Make rolls. You can vary the filling, for example, use canned tuna or boiled chicken.

There are many options for delicious and healthy diet lunches that can be used on a healthy diet. You can safely experiment with dishes, their contents and combinations, creating for yourself the most suitable diet for weight loss. can be found in a separate article.