Working 9 to 5

Last month I started a full-time job, and I've got into the habit of canteen lunches every day. Overall, my diet is very unclean, and I'm suffering the consequences in various ways - my IB is playing up more than ever, for example. Starting from tomorrow, I want to turn this around, and that will mean bringing in my own lunches to work.

I'm just looking for some good suggestions for nutritious and somewhat filling foods I could bring with me. I've got so used to eating bread that I struggle to conceive of anything truly satisfying that doesn't involve this problematic staple. What do you guys eat on your lunch break?

Related to this, I am also curious about what you have for breakfast. I have extremely little appetite in the morning, and crave only some fruit, but perhaps I ought to find a way to incorporate a bit of fat and protein into the morning too, without making me feel sick.

Thank you!

I make some gelatin puddings from either green leafy broth or milk, and add sugar to both.
Satisfying and help a lot on most workdays days.
Hommade cheese (you can search the recipe) is good snack to take along to work, too.
I take the milk and juice to work.
I make my own coffee there and add little gelatin to it. Same thing with the juice.

Thanks for your suggestions! How do you make the gelatine puddings? I like the sound of them.

I would suggest definitely skipping breakfast if you're not hungry.
I also suggest to cook some starches in bulk, enough for 2-3 days. They usually take longer to cook, so it's best to have them already prepared. Then separate daily portions of vegetables according to your liking, and freeze them to be ready to cook early in the following days. This works also for the animal protein of your choice: clean, pre-prepare and store; or even store already cooked for the next day. Separate a small container to bring with you some fats of your choice and flavourings, spices, etc. Leave your fruits ready to go for snacks.
If you drink milk, bring with you. There are many recipes here that you can use.

Many body builders have efficient methods that you can look after regarding pre-preparation and meal planning..

I buy a bunch of fruit every morning on the way in: clementines, grapes, dates, etc. I also get cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or low fat hard cheese, and drink coffee with milk and sugar throughout the day. I have eggs and juice (and coffee with heaps of milk and gelatin) for breakfast, then good meals for dinner, so overall it's been okay.

Not ideal, but the only thing I'd found in the area that I could buy for lunch was Pho (even then, they couldn't tell me what oil they added to it -which usually means it's the cheapest vegetable oil, in my experience), but it cost £9! Ridiculous. I'm considering taking my bone and leaf broth in some days.

Here's a greens broth recipe that is dense in micro nutrients:
Water
A bunch of greens (e.g. kale, parsley)
Gelatin powder
Table sugar or fructose powder (good quality)

Place greens in a pot, fill water so that it covers the greens and simmer for 45 mins.
Remove greens from water and discard.
Turn off heat and wait for it to cool down a bit.
Dissolve at least 1tbsp gelatin to every 500ml of water (more depending on your texture preference)
Add fructose powder to taste.

Place mixture in the fridge for few hours until it settles.


Similar process with the milk, except you only need to warm it a little and no need for the water. I actually add a little bit of powdered milk sometimes to make it denser.
A dash of vanilla and orange juice add a nice kick to it.
Some melted milk chocolate or honey on top just before eating and you have 5star dessert.

Be cautious if you suspect any irritation from the ingredients.

a big thing man is...days you work, don't eat late the night before...give yourself 11-12 hours if you can from last time you ate til next time you're gonna eat in the morning. If not, you'll be carrying around ***t from yesterday at work the next day, which basically at least 50% ruins mood at work. Its very annoying I know, the 9 - 5 thing is literally almost impossible to stay healthy on, circadian rythmn wise and intestinally speaking. If you cant do that, whatever you eat at night make it something light with fiber, so it hopefully will have fast transit time. I feel bad for a lot of people, but its kind of their own making...or the last generations' making for setting up such a health demoting system. Like bosses ive had will work all the time, barely eat, come in early, and its obvious they are running on stress hormones, constipated, and like...their vision is just off, but they have to just keep pushing and pushing to make their career. If a job is just totally non condusive to health...try to gear your routine around it, but if even that fails in your best effort...look for something else, or speak to the people that decide the schedule and try to work something out for your benefit. Best thing for lunch breaks is however you can get in the most pure calories in the short amount of time allotted that wont weigh you down. I used to do ...not canteen, but 'thermous' meals. In the morning id mix like rice that id turn into flour, with molasses and some other stuff like cocoa powder, like 1800 calories worth, eat like half in the morning and put rest in a thermous to stay warm then eat it on break. Bake them into lil balls so you can fit in in there. Then id bring brewed drinks with a lot of sugar and herbs for nutrients and drink it also on break. It kinda worked out, I mean...it was the bes ti could do at that particular job. Then ive had other jobs where I lived so close to home I could drive home real quick and take a ***t if I needed to or eat something that id made earlier from the fridge, heat it up. Its really about your situation. Make your internal rythmn priority and tailor it around your job. Obviously you can just eat a high fat meal, to get in a lot of calories in short time on a break, but it doesn't pan out to energy really...carbs really are the main source of electric energy. The fat prevents hunger but doesn't amp focus and productivity that much

you could always bring a cooler with milk, yogurt, or something like that and just eat like something dense with it and drink a bunch of milk

pboy's comment, priceless as always hahaha!
But I guess that the time you go to the bathroom adapts according to your routine..
I would also suggest that your meals with supplemental foods, like liver, oysters, etc that you do them at home at weekends or in days that you are not working. This way you don't have to worry that much during the week about your micronutrients intake and your meals become more pleasurable.

In Spain it is common to eat a substantial meal at 10 p.m (or between 9 p.m. and midnight) on weekdays, yet the country has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Given the strong relationship between GDP/capita and life expectancy, and given Spain´s somewhat lower GDP/capita than most of the richer countries, one may argue it has the highest longevity in the world after Japan adjusted for this. What happens is that they just eat much less in the beginning of the next day, maybe just a toast and a coffee then maybe some small tapas several hours later and lunch at 2-3 p.m. I know Paul Jaminet talk about these circadian rhythms all the time, yet most spaniards I see of his age, looks much healthier than him. The body just adapts itself over time to different routines. Not saying there´s nothing to this theory, only that its imporance is likely exaggerated.

I only eat breakfast if I'm hungry. Sometimes my coffee concoction fills me up enough: strong coffee with lots of sugar, half n half, gelatin, coconut oil, and butter.

When I work away from home, I bring a small cooler with a few drinks (redbull, mineral water, milk, etc.) and some high-protein foods, usually a few boiled eggs. Gotta remember the salt with the boiled eggs. I like to bring salt in a little baggie, that way I can dip and roll the egg in the salt, as opposed to sprinkling salt on the egg, which is messy and doesn't really stick to the egg well. Yeah, I've got it down to an art!

Also in my cooler: cheese sticks, a carrot, a chocolate bar or chocolate chips, an orange, and something crunchy like pork rinds or Bugles. I have plenty to eat throughout the day. I usually break every 2-3 hours to eat something, and eat whatever's left on the drive home.

Tom said:

In Spain it is common to eat a substantial meal at 10 p.m (or between 9 p.m. and midnight) on weekdays, yet the country has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Given the strong relationship between GDP/capita and life expectancy, and given Spain´s somewhat lower GDP/capita than most of the richer countries, one may argue it has the highest longevity in the world after Japan adjusted for this. What happens is that they just eat much less in the beginning of the next day, maybe just a toast and a coffee then maybe some small tapas several hours later and lunch at 2-3 p.m. I know Paul Jaminet talk about these circadian rhythms all the time, yet most spaniards I see of his age, looks much healthier than him. The body just adapts itself over time to different routines. Not saying there´s nothing to this theory, only that its imporance is likely exaggerated.

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Ok since I'm from Spain I think the "Spanish puzzle" is much complicated than what you think. I'm gonna shoot some facts and you make the hypothesis. I'm gonna be sarcastic in some and use humor in others. Take it as it is.

Things I think contribute to bad health :

- It's true as you said about the almost unexistant breakfast and very late dinner. This is supposedly unhealthy. I think it too but that's how it is.
- Spanish circadian rythms are totally ****88 UP. Nobody in this country goes to bed before 12am or 1am. Neither young or old.
- The other day I saw on TV a very reputated Psychyatrist claiming Spain is the second world wide consumer of psychopharmacological drugs (ratio x capita) in the world just behind USA.
- We tend to smoke and drink A LOT. It's true that the bulk of the alcohol consumed is not high graduation, it's more beer and wine but STILL a lot of alcohol and tobacco all around.
- If you adopt something like a alcohol free and gluten free diet, or for the matter, a RP diet, you can easily die from depression and social isolation in a few weeks. Don't even try.
- Putting gelatin in the coffee or molasses in rice sounds so WEIRD and upalatable that nobody would want to do that even with the worst health problems. Ingesting massive ammounts of milk, ice cream, or anyother food, just feels so UNBALANCED for the common Spaniard that nobody would do that, no matter how healthy could that be.
- Collective morale is very low and very depressing : financial crisis, unemployment rates, nepotism, corruption, hopelessness sense for young people, etc.

Things I think contribute to Spanish good health :

- Olive oil all around. We get some (or a lot) of olive oil every day on every single meal from the very childhood years.To the point it disgustes us to even see bottles of other vegetable oils. Only exception is sunflower oil for frying massive things. Even when you eat outside in canteens or restaurants most of the oil used is olive. Only vegetable oils are for frying.
- People tend to view food as enjoyment. It's very strange to eat alone or quickly. I think "mediterranian diet" is more about eating slow, sitting down in a table, with family, colleagues and friends, rather than the food itself. This creates strong bonds and enjoyment. Eating a bowl of PUFA-free food alone in front of the computer could be much worse than eating a PUFA-rich food in good companion and in meaningful and real social interaction.
- There's easy and relatively cheap access to very high quality fresh food. Vegetables, Fruit, Sea food (we consume lots of sea food), meat, everything. All this food is fresh and rich in micronutrients.
- Lots of sun, lots of good weather, lots of socialization and family bounds and traditions and cultural roots. During August month, the whole country stops for the whole month. Everything is closed and almost everyone is getting lots of sun exposure wether in the beach or in the countryside.
- Social Security and Social Services like unemployment insurance, of course. This relieves a tremendous ammount of stress that in countries like US individuals have to cope with by themselves.
- High ammount of Holiday days per year. When I was told that in US you get something like 15 days off TOTAL (excluding weekends) per year I was horrified.
- 90% of the people don't give a **** about PUFAS, calories, macronutrients, micronutrients, toxins, amalgams, parasites, oxidation, endotoxins, sugar, etc. They just tend to eat and do common sense things.

The Single most important positive factor to Spanish Health I think is this :
- People just don't aim for perfection. Don't aim to have a perfect health. To have great careers. To look like a top model. To chase the corporate ladder. To get rid of themselves of every single toxin,pufa,heavymetal,parasite. Etc. I see american people are so ******* stressed by everything : Terrorists, enemies, killer bees, PUFAs, CREDIT, parasites, I could go on. THis is just not healthy. We tend to not take things so seriously. You lose your job ? You'll get another. You have a low salary ? You still can do lots of things on the cheap and eat well. And so on. The levels of stress for everything of US people is just crazy. Insane. I love pboy posts because he gets this right every time.

To get an idea, there's a famous psychologist in Spain these days that appears on TV and has some best seller books. He claims on public TV, and he does it seriously, that people should go to the office with a T-Shirt saying : "I'm the worst worker here. So what ? Someone has to be". So they can just relieve some self impossed pressure. You can imagine something like that in US ? Unthinkable. Only stand up comedians and people like that would say that in the US.

PS : All my respects for US people. I think it's a great country and I love the culture and have american friends myself.

pboy,

Why do you think the 9-5 schedule is bad for health?

From my perspective it is quite good.

Where has this 'wait for breakfast' idea originated from and what the supposed health benefits of eating nothing for breakfast?

So cortisol levels are highest in the morning and by consuming sugar (g/f/s) we can bring them down?

personal anecdote for reference - I used the IF approach for two years, not eating until 12-2pm every day. I can categorically say it ruined my health, mood and energy and did not help transit time. My cortisol surged and i was stressed as hell.

I ate a smaller type breakfast with protein for years and am finding more is better in the morning. I eat a big breakfast now, least 30-50 grams of protein with some carbs/ fat ie, oysters, sardines, cheese, ghee, berries; sometimes figs, juice or dates. Eating several hundred calories first thing will help you to focus mentally.

Also, try to get outside for at least a few minutes in the a.m. or more if you can. This will help shut off melatonin.

I would recommend that you get outside after work as much as you can from 5-7 pm. Take your shoes off to ground yourself. This will lower cortisol if it's high and help it to rise in the morning like it should. You need the red light to counter act the blue light you get in office environments. Go to sleep early if you can or if you stay up shut off the lights and put on orange glasses. Turn cell phone to airplane at night and sleep in a dark room. If you can, shut off much of the electricity in your house.

jay,

What you say is right. I also do much better having breakfast and I also think it's not good to skip breakfast.

However if you aren't feeling hungry your stomach and digestive might be telling you they aren't ready for food yet. It would be wise to listen to them. ("think, percieve, act"). For me the solution has been to eat breakfast an hour after waking up when the digestive fire has rised. Wether that means waking up earlier or bringing the breakfast with me to work. Another thing I've found it works very good to "open up" the stomach for food on the mornings are a hot drink. A glass of warm plain water or a light tea or herbal infusion.

Cold things for breakfast are a big no-no for me. My stomach is still "cold".

gretchen,

Very good advice! Thanks. Washing your face with cold water after work also helps to set in the parasympathetic mode via the vagus nerve.

There are two cool apps I don't know if you're aware of :
- Flux (for the computer)
- Twilight (for the mobile phone)

They help a lot with blue light and circadian rythms, at least some friends of mine say that. I don't feel any benefits from them though. They change your screen settings so your pineal gland is less disturbed.

Makrosky,

In my opinion, the problem with the 9-5 work period is that it compromises the period that you are most active in a day. Not a problem from an employer perspective, but from the employee it can be. Those hours should also include having healthier meals (which often require some cooking and peace), exercise, social engagement, etc; but this is rarely the case. What we often witness is work interfering with all those aspects and prevailing over them..

I forgot to mention milk. It goes good with dates, figs, and pretty much the rest of the list. I put instant coffee in it.

You could also have an egg or two scrambled with some cheese and juice.

I used to be a heavy bread eater too.
Now:
Breakfast 1: OJ + egg.
Breakfast 2: a little fried liver + coke or other sweet drink.
Snacks: AJ with hydrolysed collagen, dates, fresh fruit, sometimes chocolate
Lunch at work: Meat/stew, sometimes with a little potato, heated in microwave, AJ or sometimes sweet milky coffee. I don't suppose you have access to a microwave at work? Lots of people at my work use ours. Or maybe a good cooler bag could keep it warm?

If I didn't have a microwave at work, I'd probably have meat for breakfast and couple of boiled eggs for lunch. Some meats can be OK cold - eg slices of cold roast mutton or beef. If I could handle lots of cheese and cottage cheese, I'd eat that.

I'm also interested in the suggestion of 2 posters here to skip breakfast, something I somehow do intuitively.
It is very new for (some) human beings to have access to food just upon waking up and I guess we're built to cope with this situation.
So I'm wondering if it is more beneficial to prevent a natural stress reaction to occur or to let it happen.
I've read some materials explaining how carb ingestion at the peak of cortisol's secretion could be detrimental insofar cortisol counteracts insulin and so prevents it to normalize blood sugar level; but I don't know how accurate this statement is.