Fast and Healthy Lunches + tips

Ok. So I already gave some fast and healthy breakfast ideas. Now next up is healthy lunches! I LOVE lunch! My most common lunch ingredients are avocado (hi, super food!), zucchini, cottage cheese, and salad. I don't have any pictures of zucchini but some days I just sautee an entire zucchini and that's my lunch! Or i'll eat it with some fruit or a piece of toast. So, without further ado, here are some of my regular lunches!

1. Turkey, cheese, avocado quesadilla.

I use whole wheat tortillas and have found some low carb, low calorie ones that I really like. All tortillas kinda taste the same to me. I do try to only eat tortillas, even if they are whole wheat, a couple times a week, though. I cook these on my George Foreman Grill without butter/oil. To. Die. For.

2. Guacamole on corn tortilla, nuts, and a fruit smoothie.
Hopefully pretty self explanatory. For my fruit smoothies i usually do strawberries, banana, blueberries, and plain greek yogurt. it's kinda like dessert....

3. Chicken Salad on a piece of whole wheat bread.
For Chicken Salad: mix shredded chicken with greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and whatever else you want. I frequently mix in celery, broccoli, craisins, etc. Do with it what you want- it is so versatile!

 4. Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Black Beans
Ok. Confession. I hate sweet potatoes. It's awfully sad. But I made this the other day for me and my husband. My husband loves it and its a great idea if you like sweet potato (another super food). I mixed the beans and potatoes with garlic salt, chili powder, and a bit of parmesan cheese.

ALSO can i just say that it's really weird that everyone calls these sweet potatoes, but they are actually yams. Maybe I'll just start calling apples oranges and see if people go along with it. But really, it makes no sense to me.

5. Broccoli and Cheese Quinoa.
I AM OBSESSED WITH QUINOA. It is just like a heaven-sent food. We have some sort of quinoa bowls at least once a week. But when it's lunch time I usually cook the quinoa, mix it with mozzarella, and garlic, and then eat broccoli (or another veggie) with it. It is SO filling and delicious. And it is a COMPLETE protein. Quinoa is my best food friend. mmmmm. If you haven't tried it yet- get on it! (oh and it only takes like 10 minutes to cook. LOVE)

6. Spinach Romaine Salad
I love salads- my favorite leaf mixture is romaine and spinach. I really need to hop onto the kale bandwagon as well, but the stuff is gross! Maybe one day...Anyways, I top my salads with sliced avocados, craisins, carrots, and croutons. MMM. I also use a small amount of ranch dressing. (not the store bought kind- it has all sorts of weird ingredients.)

7. Turkey Taco Soup
I love making a big batch of soup at the beginning of the week so I can eat it for lunches. Turkey taco soup is my favorite. It's just lean ground turkey, black beans, kidney beans, green lentils, and diced tomatoes. Seasoned with ranch dressing powder and taco seasoning. I may need to do a separate recipe post for this stuff. (let me know if you want it) It is heavenly. We often mix in greek yogurt and shredded cheese when we eat it. It would also be very easy to sneak in some more veggies like zucchini (cuz I'm obsessed...)

8. Guacamole Quesadilla & green Smoothie.

Cheese quesadilla on whole wheat tortilla- smothered in guacamole and tomatoes.

(I know, i know- cheese is my weakness!)

Green Smoothie- 1 C spinach, 1/2 Banana, strawberries, blueberries, greek yogurt, and a splash of unsweetened almond milk. 

9. Veggie Plate. I call it "Power Plate"uhhh self explanatory. I steam and sautee broccoli and zucchini (or whatever veggies i have on hand) with a bit of garlic salt....or whatever other seasonings I'm in the mood for. And then I add a raw veggie- usually carrots or cucumber. But seriously, i love this. I crave it. (except for that one burnt zucchini piece- don't crave that.)

Well- there you have it. I hope this gives you all some ideas of yummy, fast, and healthy lunches to make for yourself and/or your family! I'm just amazed at what clean eating can do for your body and energy levels! 

One major tip I have if you are trying to transition into a healthy lifestyle: do NOT try to do it all at once. Start small by eliminating certain things from your diet. (ie. soda, sugary drinks, chips, fast food etc). After you feel like you have eliminated some things from your diet, start replacing certain foods. (i.e. wheat tortillas for white tortillas, quinoa or brown rice for white rice, lean turkey for ground beef, sweet potatoes (YAMS) for white potatoes, etc.) That is how I've gone about this whole process and it is a lot less overwhelming that way. I went from eating basically fruit and candy my entire pregnancy to how i eat now. Just make small little goals for yourself and eventually you will find yourself munching on vegetables and enjoying it! :) 

Recently I've set a goal to eat 6 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. (1 cup of vegetables = 1 serving. 1/2 C fruit = 1 serving. 2 cups of leafy greens = 1 serving) It's been amazing that i've been full all the time and no longer had the desire to reach for a cookie or whatever else it might be. I've changed my mindset to "I can't eat that (cookie)" to "I need to eat that (broccoli)". It doesn't sound like it s a big difference, but it is.  And it has been amazing because I don't even feel like I'm restricting myself really since i love a lot of fruits and vegetables. Now I will say that I don't love ALL fruits or all vegetables, but work with what you got! Anyways, I think that is a long enough rant for today. Hopefully it was somewhat helpful to someone.

(If you are interested in what my normal eating day looks like and/or want some ideas to incorporate all these fruits and vegetables into your diet, I'd be happy to let you know- just ask.) Also let me know if you have any good healthy and easy meal ideas! :)