Sandwiches/paninis/wraps and so on, are the most convenient lunch to eat. They can be eaten at the desk, on the run, whilst doing other things – wonderful. Minimum attention has to be paid to filling our tank. A couple of munches and down the hatch they go. What could possibly be wrong with sandwiches for lunch??
- The most nutritious food comes from the protein we eat and the vegetables. Can’t get much of those into a sandwich.
- Both protein and vegetables are satisfying to eat. The stomach works hard to break protein down and vegetables add bulk to the meal.
- Should eating be a mindless event? Isn’t food a pleasure? Stuffing a sarnie down the cakehole, followed by crisps and chocolate bars is just giving a food high. A temporary burst of morphine and excess sugar, followed by a dreadful low and a small slump in a gentle doze in the toilets.
Yesterday, I finally got round to making my Christmas pudding – oops. Been rather busy of late. A Christmas pudding does need some breadcrumbs in it to lighten it. I did make one one year without them, and the pud was rather a heavy and gluey affair. So each year, I have to buy a gluten free loaf of bread. More like white cake, really. And I only use a bit for the pud. So I decided to have a blast from the past and made a couple of BLT sarnies from it. Lovely streaky bacon, a tasty tomato and some colourful leaves. I scraped a bit of goose fat over the slices of bread in lieu of butter. Well, it tasted nice in a cakey sort of way – but I could only get about 3 rashers, a little tomato and a tiny bit of leaves. Still, the ‘bread’ would fill me. After I’d eaten the sarnies, it was hopeless. I had to make a large salad with more of the leaves and add some cold roast lamb I had kicking about. Then my tum felt a bit better.
However, today, I rushed out to do some Christmas shopping and got back at about 2pm – so a very late lunch. Now if a meal is late and we’re hungry, we will eat more than normal. So I decided to reheat the last of the lamb and make another tomato and leaf sandwich with the loaf. Followed by more greens with the dregs of the lamb. This time it worked rather better. Should a meal be late, I do find myself scrabbling about for more food at the end of it, and frequently end up sucking on a bit of dark chocolate to stop the noshing monster from being unleashed. The GF bread bumped up my blood sugar very quickly, so I was satisfied sooner.
The moral of the tale is that for those who are feeling rather flabbernated, do not avoid a meal. The best meal to eat during the day involves plenty of protein with plenty of vegetables or soup. If life leaps out of control and a meal is very late, then adding some starch in will help prevent post prandial gobbling. After all, the only way to prevent unwanted bulges is to always be in control of what we eat and making good choices. Will that cupcake really assist in getting the svelte abs of our dreams? How often do we have to say, ‘Oh, go on. Just this once,’ before we finally learn that ‘this once’ is a lie. ((When out shopping, I often see women lunching on coffee and a cake. I have done this myself in the past. Oops. Another way of checking out the seam strength of the trousers. Cake bungs up the blood sugar, as does the coffee, so the fat in the cake gets shuttled into our fat stores for future use. Naughty, but nice is rubbish. Truer is, ‘Naughty, and ‘normous.’ ))
In summary, sandwiches for lunch can have their place along with more protein and vegetables if lunch is late and we are very hungry. Otherwise they are an awful lunch. Low in vital nutrients and high in addiction. They encourage eating for necessity. Yes, eating protein and veg for lunch means it will take longer to eat lunch. And we may have to use a knife and fork ((Re using knife and fork for eating lunch: it is quite possible to make a wrap by using a lettuce leaf and filling the wrap with protein and some salad veg. It will probably be more chewy than a sarnie, but contain much more goodness.)) Ultimately, aren’t we worth a bit of care? Never mind all the weight loss stuff, what about giving ourselves a bit of proper TLC. One small step on the route to feeling fabulous.