7 Lessons Learned: Eating Primal during your lunch hour

Do you have a hard time staying consistent with eating Primal during you lunch hour? Consistency is the key word here. So often my buddies or coworkers talk about how they’ve gone primal but so often fall off of it because grabbing a burger is that much easier (and sometimes tastier) than a salad. Bleh.

Eat Simple Salads

There’s nothing wrong with eating a big salad every day. The key that I’ve learned is to keep the salad simple. Buying a big box of salad and throwing it together with seeds or nuts every morning before work is what works best. Don’t wear yourself out with trying to do some new extravagant salad every single day. Every once in awhile is ok, but we are shooting for consistency.

Use a dressing that’s nutritious and delicious

This probably should be the first tip because it seems to be the one that that trips up all of us. Salads are so boring if they don’t have a good dressing. But the problem is, all salad dressings in the stores are made with soybean oil or canola oil. Not nutritious. Not to mention they are filled with copious amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The key here is that you need a dressing that will fill you up, i.e. good fats, i.e. olive oil. Now, you can go the route of making your own dressing every week. Nothing wrong with that. If you’re not into that however I suggest you check out Tessemaes salad dressings. They will make your daily salads nutritious and delicious. You no longer will have to compromise on nutrition or taste. If you want to keep it even simpler: Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar goes a long way.

Find an easy protein you love

I would go insane if I ate skinless chicken breasts every day. One thing I’ve learned is that having an easy protein option at lunch is key to succeeding at staying consistent with going Primal during your lunch hour. An easy protein for me are cans of tuna, salmon or sardines. These are quick sources of protein, they taste good, they’re very nutritious and they are relatively cheap too. At first sardines sounded so gross to me to eat straight out of the can, but after I tried it a few times I got hooked. You may need to step out of your comfort zone on this one to find an easy protein source you love. But remember the goal is consistency.

Think leftovers

Cook extra food for dinner throughout the week. That way you have an abundance of leftovers to take to work the next day. This especially comes in handy when you’re tired of salads and tired of an easy protein source you love.

Find a park near your work to eat outside

Ever think it’s weird that we (people with desk jobs) drive from one box to another box inside a box just to stare at a box? The reality is we spend too much time inside boxes. Get outside the box during your lunch hour. Sit in the sun. Synthesize some Vitamin D. Eat your salad. Maybe grab a couple buddies to play frisbee or try to see who can climb a tree the fastest. Whatever you do during your lunch hour, make sure you get away from your desk and get your skin in the sun.

Don’t freak out when your coworkers want to go to a restaurant/fast food place

This one is where people put an end to going Primal. Claiming it’s to hard to stay Primal throughout the week at work. But check this out, you have two options when you commit to eating out with your coworkers. Take it as a day where you eat whatever you want or do your best to eat Primal. If you eat one off meal you’re not going to be unhealthy, just as one healthy meal doesn’t make you healthy. If you choose to still stay Primal, that can be an option too. What does that look like exactly? Depending on the restaurant you go to most places have fancy salads, just stay away from the dressings and ask for (olive) oil and vinegar. Or get a lettuce wrapped burger and honey sriracha brussels sprouts.

Don’t let perfection get in the way of good

You may not eat Primal all day everyday. Don’t let that stress you out. Shoot for perfect but just know along the way, throughout the week, things might get complicated. Just accept it and move along and pick it up the next meal or the next day. The very fact that you’re thinking about eating Primal and moving more puts you miles ahead of the rest of the population.