5 Ways to Level Up Your Lunch Bag
When making sustainable changes, it’s best to focus on one aspect of your day at a time. Today, I picked lunch, because typically this meal is consumed outside of the home, as opposed to breakfast and dinner. A part from “going natural” with your food, this article sheds light on other areas you can go more natural when it comes to a packed lunch.
The list below will assume that you do already pack your own lunch. If you don’t, that is step ONE! Packing your own lunch, allows you to control so much more of what goes in your body, and decreases other toxic burdens (see below for details). Easy ways to implement this is to batch cook (aka meal prep) or take leftovers. Start with one day a week where you are consistent with bringing your own lunch. Aside from the obvious health benefits, I am most motivated by the time I gain by bringing my own lunch. This statement might seem counter-intuitive but hear me out. The amount of time you get for a lunch is usually limited to half an hour. During that time, would you rather walk over to the fridge, sit down and eat, OR run to a restaurant, wait in line, run back to your desk, and scarf it down. I find the first scenario much less anxiety provoking and allows time to switch into rest and digest mode, actually giving your body a BREAK! If you are guilty of the second scenario I wouldn’t be surprised if you have post-lunch bloat.
If you do already bring a lunch, here are some tips where you can level up.
1. Bring Food in Glass Containers
Plastic, even if BPA free, contains endocrine disrupting chemicals that wreck havoc on your hormones. The chemicals leach into our food when in contact with plastic, especially when heating it up.
2. Pack the Clean Fifteen
Always washing fruits and vegetables, but buying organic when it comes to the dirty dozen. The pesticides on produce can disrupt hormones just as the chemicals in plastic do.
3. Travel with a Travel Mug
If you are picking up a coffee to help you make it through the afternoon, fill up your own cup. Not only are coffee cups filling our wastelands, but the insides are typically coated in plastic to keep them from disintegrating while we’re sipping from them. Further exposing you to endocrine disrupting chemicals. I love these glass travel mugs from Keep Cup.
4. Avoid Canned Foods
Lunch time is largely about convenience, which may have you reaching for quick lunch options like canned food. The inside of tin cans has contents of BPA and the food in them tends to be highly preserved. One consumed canned food item can increase BPA exposure by 24% over someone who has not in just 24 hours. An alternative option is to find brands that package food into glass jars instead.
5. Drink of Choice Filtered Water
Health Canada just changed the food guide to recommend water as your drink of choice. Best option is to choose a filtered water (not a plastic water bottle), in order to decrease your exposure to heavy metals.
There you have it! In the next week, try implementing just one of the tips listed above and know you’ve just become one step closer to regulating your hormones!