This summer the lunchbox has consisted of a lot of salads. Not because they are “healthy” or because they’re what I “should” eat…but because they’re quick, involve zero cooking and in the middle of a busy workday when I’m seeing back to back patients, they make me feel damn good both physically and mentally.
Lunch isn’t my most mindful meal. Sometimes I can get out to Central Park and sit down for 20-30 minutes, but I often use my 45-60 minute lunch break to do blog work and hammer through a ton of email. All I ever want to do is work on the blog so I look forward to lunch where I can disconnect from talking to people (although I do love patients, woman needs a break) and be behind the screen. So all that to say, I typically eat lunch in about 15 minutes or I eat as I do work (not ideal, but such is life sometimes…)
I loathe spending my Sunday grocery shopping and meal prepping. There isn’t a lot of margin for rest in this season, which is okay because it won’t last forever, but the moments I do have….I’m not spending them cooking. I order our groceries online through Instacart and then Nick and I usually tag team the meal prep + laundry for the week. I cook most often and rarely touch the laundry. I hate laundry. He does laundry. If I’m cooking for the week, it has to happen in under an hour, 90 minutes tops.
That is where the beauty of the salad comes in. No cooking, simple ingredients, totally customizable, and most days…satisfying. Since lunch isn’t always eaten mindfully and it also isn’t my favorite meal (hi, breakfast.) I don’t need to have a highly pleasurable food experience. I just want lunch to taste relatively good, fill me up, and leave me feeling good. That’s part of intuitive eating — I’m no longer living with a diet-y/deprivation mindset so if I have one meh kind of meal, I know there are a zillion others that can involve ANY food I want. And food isn’t the most exciting part of my day, so it doesn’t have to be perfect every meal.
I mix and match the ingredients up to give some variety from week to week, but usually I eat the same salad four or five days in a row because it’s easy and simple and lunch then becomes one less thing I have to worry about. If you’re newer to intuitive eating, you might need to have more variety and be able to explore your taste buds and cravings in a broader sense in order to neutralize all foods and learn to satisfy your cravings. When I first began intuitive eating I made a lot of new recipes and ate out a lot because I needed that discovery phase.
But if your time or budget doesn’t allow for that degree of exploration or life gets in the way and simplicity and convenience are more important in that moment, that’s okay too. Pack a wide variety of snacks (crunchy, sweet, chewy, salty) so you can be more intuitive with snacking. It’s okay for every meal not to be the most pleasurable and intuitive experience ever. Because as you move along in this journey you know that you can eat ANY food at ANY time. And you are discovering so many other things in your life that bring you joy and satisfaction that don’t involve food or your body.
This salad recipe is my go to when my brain isn’t creative. Tomatoes and cucumbers and bell pepper are always available (and in season and awesome right now) and I sprinkle on hemp seeds and almonds for satiating and satisfying fats + protein along with a pour of olive oil and lemon juice….because I have zero time to make homemade salad dressing. The avocado is essential. Salads without avocado plummet on the satisfaction scale like 7000 points. If I have pasta or quinoa on hand I add a big scoop of that or sometimes I sprinkle on goat cheese and cranberries. Or sometimes I add rotisserie chicken or some chickpeas or beans. The possibilities are endless!
And I always include a baggie full of crackers or popcorn or some sort of carb along with a piece of fruit and something sweet to end lunch with — usually some form of chocolate. Crushing on Green and Black’s new sea salt chocolate bars. Lunch might not be the most exciting meal I eat in a day, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. Because food is just food.
Customizable 5 Minute Lunchtime Salad
Print recipe| Serves | 1 |
| Prep time | 10 minutes |
Ingredients
- ~4 cup spinach or romaine lettuce
- 1/4 cup bell pepper (chopped)
- 1/4 cup carrots (chopped)
- 1/4 cup tomatoes (cherry or grape, sliced in half)
- 1/4 cucumber (sliced)
- 1 tablespoon hemp seeds
- 2ish tablespoons slivered or chopped almonds
- 1/2ish avocado (diced)
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar
- sea salt (to taste)
- add beans, cheese, chicken, etc to your liking (mix it up!)
Note
These are rough portion guidelines - add the amount that will satisfy and satiate YOU!
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Throw all ingredients into a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle with sea salt. | |
Love how refreshing this is! And super easy to make. I would definitely add some cheese to that baby!
goat cheese is KING
so good! thinking of buying a rotisserie chicken for my salads how do you feel about rotisserie chicken?
we love it!
I love this idea because it’s so easy AND I’m like you too when it comes to meal prepping on Sunday’s!
I need easy all the time 🙂
Loveee this! I do the same thing, if I’m working 3-4 12s in a row, I find salads are super easy to prep ahead of time and a good way to pack in the vegg! I love adding eggs, roasted chic peas, and even roasted veggies on top! I just ordered nutritional yeast to try out too. Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
oh roasted chickpeas is a great idea!
Thanks for admitting that you eat lunch fast and that it’s not the most mindful. Sometimes I feel guilty for not eating mindfully at lunch, but as you pointed out, food is food, and sometimes I just need to eat my lunch food so I have energy to get through the work day and sit down at home and be more mindful in the evening.
Totally. We are all human and in today’s world not every meal can be this utopia of mindful calmness. That’s okay! The goal is to be mindful most of the time and other times, life gets in the way
It’s GORGEOUS Robyn, and I totally agree that salads are such an easy meal especially when you don’t want to meal prep. I almost never meal prep, so I love a quick salad especially for lunch.
I hateeee meal prepping, at least in this season so I hear you Emily 🙂
Confession: I’ve been known to look back on your WIAW to get inspiration for lunches because your salads always look totally delicious and yet super simple. Totally relate to your thought process about lunch; as long as it doesn’t make me gag and doesn’t require too much thought, I’m happy. Also, your PHOTOS ARE BOMB!
I love that those posts are helpful! I need simple and easy lunches – I’ll make breakfast and dinner more thoughtful, I hear you! And thank you 🙂
Looks delicious!
Hi Hun! I love your brown cloth fabric. May I ask where you got it from?
it’s just a roll of burlap from hobby lobby!
Your lunchtime always look so simple and yummy! As a college student, I definitely appreciate easy + healthy meals. Gotta’ try this one!
So many things to say about this post!! 1) I love this simple salad recipe, but I think what I love more is how you talk about the fact that it is okay to not have THE BEST MEAL EVER for every meal. I would like to work towards getting to a place where an unsatisfactory/semi-satisfactory meal doesn’t ruin my day… what I mean by that is, since starting IE, I find that if I have a meh lunch then I might over eat later on. It would be nice to get to a place where, as you said “food is not the most exciting part of my day.” This had me reflecting a lot on the last few weeks because i just moved to a new city and started working at a new school in a totally new position. I’ve been lonely and a bit overwhelmed and I can see how I have been turning to food to provide excitement and comfort… but I’ve started journaling, reading “Present Over Perfect” (which I’m pretty sure you mentioned on the blog) and just trying to remember that I have so many opportunities to feel joy and satisfaction throughout the day and I don’t need to limit myself to just feeling that way when I eat. I get free lunch in the dining hall at this school and part of me knows that I could save a lot of money by taking advantage of that but another part of me is so afraid of not having control over the menu and what if I don’t like what’s for lunch one day… realistically, I know that one bad lunch won’t actually kill me, but I can see that this situation presents a new challenge to me in my IE journey… can I start to trust myself and my body enough to eat in the dining hall and save money? Or will I continue to hold onto my fears and bring my own lunch each day. We shall see… I might just start slow and aim to eat in the DH a couple of times a week.
That was a bit of a ramble, but the last thing I wanted to say was that I love how you talk about the “seasons” of life… it’s such a subtle reminder to me that we are always going through seasons and nothing is permanent. Thank you!
So many things to say about this post!! 1) I love this simple salad recipe, but I think what I love more is how you talk about the fact that it is okay to not have THE BEST MEAL EVER for every meal. I would like to work towards getting to a place where an unsatisfactory/semi-satisfactory meal doesn’t ruin my day… what I mean by that is, since starting IE, I find that if I have a meh lunch then I might over eat later on. It would be nice to get to a place where, as you said “food is not the most exciting part of my day.” This had me reflecting a lot on the last few weeks because i just moved to a new city and started working at a new school in a totally new position. I’ve been lonely and a bit overwhelmed and I can see how I have been turning to food to provide excitement and comfort… but I’ve started journaling, reading “Present Over Perfect” (which I’m pretty sure you mentioned on the blog) and just trying to remember that I have so many opportunities to feel joy and satisfaction throughout the day and I don’t need to limit myself to just feeling that way when I eat. I get free lunch in the dining hall at this school and part of me knows that I could save a lot of money by taking advantage of that but another part of me is so afraid of not having control over the menu and what if I don’t like what’s for lunch one day… realistically, I know that one bad lunch won’t actually kill me, but I can see that this situation presents a new challenge to me in my IE journey… can I start to trust myself and my body enough to eat in the dining hall and save money? Or will I continue to hold onto my fears and bring my own lunch each day. We shall see… I might just start slow and aim to eat in the DH a couple of times a week.
That was a bit of a ramble, but the last thing I wanted to say was that I love how you talk about the “seasons” of life… it’s such a subtle reminder to me that we are always going through seasons and nothing is permanent. Thank you!
I can totally see how this transition would be overwhelming Trista! I’m a huge fan of Present Over Perfect 🙂 Thank you for sharing your thoughts – I know other readers can relate and this will resonate with them too. Nothing is ever permanent and it is a learning journey. An ebb and flow. Hang in there. <3