A Healthy Lunch Makes for a Healthy Day

A healthy lunch, by definition, is often more like an all-day dining event. It includes foods that one can nibble on throughout the day - "throughout the day" meaning some time after breakfast and before dinner. To stave off hunger, pack fresh celery and carrot sticks, kept crisp and cool by SaranWrap placed in the freezer over night, along with a smidgeon of bleu cheese or ranch dressing as a snack.

Choose the green Granny Smith apples (two: one before the big sandwich or salad and one after) because they not only taste good, but they have just the right amount of acidity to swiftly clear the system of the sometimes unavoidable saturated fats and high-calorie carbs that are found in the main course.

On a hectic day, one where you might not feel you are able to tear yourself away from your desk for a healthy lunch, pack your corporate lunchbox -- for those of you who still take your lunchboxes to work -- with a homemade sandwich that includes focaccia bread, avocado, a piece of turkey breast, spicy mustard and a pickle. When getting to the salad bar is possible, first pile your tray high with mixed green leafy vegetables, peppers, shredded carrots, cucumber slices and radishes. When you can barely close the lid, then add a few wedges of chicken or turkey to the top.

Although it is good to make it a habit of eating first and then drinking, for a healthy lunch have either warm or chilled fruit teas or spice teas. Because of the natural flavors, you do not need to add sugar, honey or artificial sweetener for enhancement.

The apples and spicy mustard will whet your taste buds enough so that you can forego flavored drinks such as soda and pre-sweetened juices. But at the end of the day, when you are heading home for the evening and contemplating dinner, for the last part of your healthy lunch -- often whimsically referred to as "linner" - treat yourself to a fresh-squeezed cup of carrot or apple juice from the health food store.