A Day In My Lunchbox

So I am super mad that daylight savings is making us 'spring forward' on Sunday. Ugh. That means that 5:30am will now really be 4:30am and the morning light that has been so amazing the last few weeks will be gone.  'Daylight Savings: plunging you back into darkness since the 1970's'. Jerk.

I also hate holiday cookies.  We had some in the office this past week and after everyone had their one cookie, the remaining cooks just sat there.  Staring at me. 'Eat Me' might as well have been written on each one.  These weren't crappy, tasteless sugar cookies, no, these were shamrock shaped shortbread cookies with colored sugar sprinkles.  I caved and had one. My lame-a$$ justification?: it was super-busy and I needed calories (and I forgot part of my snack from home).  All that sugar put my system in overload.  My heart was pounding and my head started hurting almost immediately. I instantly regretted that damn cookie.

Fast forward two days: still some cookies remained.  Staring.  Beckoning. I obsessed over them. Reached for one more than twice. Must. Resist. Sugary deliciousness! I was in Hell. See, I love sweets. LOVE. Mix that love with low self control and it's a recipe for disaster (believe me, that's where the 30 pounds I've worked so hard to lose - and keep off - came from in the first place!).  I was relieved to find that some office saint took the cookies away. Sweet, sweet relief. I can live to hate holiday cookies one more day.

That all being told I wanted to share with the world (or whoever reads these) what I actually do eat on a daily basis at work. Below is a picture of all the food I pack with me for the 8 hour work day.

From left to right: oranges and an egg, grapes, maple candied nuts, banana, morning juice, leftovers.  These containers are from Safeway but are NOT leak-proof.  I have since recycled these and purchased a set of locking containers from Costco.

First, I make myself a juice.  My morning juice consists of grapefruit, strawberries and carrots.  I drink this during my drive in to work (6:30 am) and throughout the morning until my first snack.  

Around 9am I take my first break and crack open my 4 oz container of maple candied nuts and a largish bunch of grapes.  Not pictured is my huge Nalgene bottle of water I tow with me that I crack open once my juice is gone - usually around this time.

I take my lunch break when I am next hungry. I don't think daytime meals should be planned. You should eat when you feel you need it.  I usually make an extra serving of dinner and take that with me for lunch as leftovers, but if I didn't make enough I will take a can of salmon with some Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning sprinkled on top.  Lunch also has a banana. I love bananas.

My last work break is met with a hard-boiled egg and two Cutie's oranges (I get these at Costco and they are by far the easiest to peel).  I am still figuring out how to hard boil eggs.  Mine are never over-cooked, but I can't figure out how to get the inner membrane to separate from the white of the egg!  Makes for messy, hard peeling. Annoying. Tasty, but annoying.

I realize this looks disgusting, but it is actually the highlight of my day. Soooo tasty.

When I get home I have another banana (told you I love bananas) with a few tablespoons of Adam's crunchy peanut butter and organic maple syrup. We eat a ton of peanut butter and I get mine at Costco.  I love that the ingredients of Adam's are peanuts and trace amounts of salt. That's it. Yum.

All this will hold me over until dinner.  I have no idea how many calories it all is nor do I care.  Like I said: I eat when I'm hungry, stop when I'm satisfied (not 'full') and I know I am eating good, whole foods because I made/shopped for them. One thing I try to remember is to eat a protein with each snack whether it be nuts, meat, or egg.  This helps with my energy levels and keeping me satisfied longer.  

I am not a nutritionist and I imagine eating the same foods everyday is not ideal, but I leave it to dinner to mix up my meat and veggie intake and I am a creature of habit (most of the time) and love not having to think about what to take to work for lunch especially when I'm in grog-mode in the mornings!

Take care!
Kel