I am 100% a creature of habit. I am one of those people who run the same lunch, dinner and snacks during the day for as long as I can…… and then when I get over it… I change it up. This also means that I spend some time perfecting those meals so that they are a perfect mixture of tasty, healthy, filling and tailored to my macros (and goals).

I also have a certain ‘flavour’ (pardon the pun) or ‘theme’ to these meals as well.

At the moment, my focus is very much on gut health…..

To me this means:

Having predominantly plant-based meals (I love greens such a silver beet and kale)
Keeping my meals high fibre (not only is this great for your large intestine by adding bulk to stools (sorry, Dietitian talk) and also keeps the gut bacteria happy (which we knows plays a HUGE role in your overall health)
Keeping my meals Gluten-free and Dairy-Free. This is a personal preference for me. I don’t particularly talk about it much (not on purpose, it just does not come up) but I have had an autoimmune disease for around 3-4 years. I have using trial and error with my personal diet to see what helps this the best. For me this is keeping it Gluten-free and dairy-free when I can. I believe this has helped my gut (via supporting the mucosal layer in my gut) to heal. This will probably be a topic of another blog (or few) and it has been a HUGE and LONG journey but I am nearly out the other side with healing my autoimmune conditions using lifestyle and diet (with this being said, if you do have an autoimmune condition, please listen your specialist / doctor / health practitioner before doing anything that I do, this is purely for information purposes and my personal experience).
Trying to keep costs down. It is not financially possible to be having a host of expensive meals daily (such as fresh, atlantic salmon (as much as I love it and it is good for you)). Being a previous University student for ~6 years and supporting myself financially since I left high-school, I always keep these things in mind when making meals for myself (or recommending them to my clients). To combat this, I include plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables (as they are super filling and can be less expensive than buying all packaged products (and we keep packaging / plastic / wastage down, so, WINNING).
Trying to include fermented foods in my day. I LOVE Sauerkraut (not sure why, but I could easily eat it raw). I am also obsessed with MISO paste at the moment and adding it to EVERYTHING. I am loving this brand at the moment for most of my fermented products.
Keeping my starchy carbs low. Starchy carbohydrates include things like sweet potato and potato. While it is definitely healthy to be eating these foods as part of your diet because they are firstly, vegetable, but also great source of vitamins and fibre. For me, they don’t do well with my gut for my autoimmune condition. I stick to a nice Gluten-free bread for my carbohydrate source and other vegetables and fruit (which is why you won’t see much sweet potato in my meals). That’s why it is always good to listen to your body. I was forcing my body to eat sweet potato because it’s delicious and so good for you but once I started listening to my body I noticed I was bloating and getting some stomach aches after large amounts of starchy carbs.
Adding in some bone broth to have prior to my dinner meal. I have some of this broth mixed in with some miso paste and SuperFeast Jing Tonic with boiling water while I am cooking my dinner.
Cooking my gut bowls with ghee instead of olive oil (can check out my gut bowl here)
Adding in some gut-loving adaptogenic compounds. I have been trialling the SuperFeast Beauty Blend (used it in my Low carb fudge and also adding SuperFeast Jing Tonic into my pre dinner bone broth.
Taking ATP Science Gut Right product. I have been using this product at a ‘maintenance’ dose to help keeping my gut symptoms at bay. I did a whole video on these products (including Multi-food, Gut Right and Cort. Rx here).
Adding in some My Hemple Products. I recently started adding My Hemple Hemp seeds to my meals (hot meals mainly, however I will start making some sweet treats with them once I feel like I’ve got a good recipe ready). The lovely team at MyHemple have given me a discount code for my followers. So, if you are interested in trying their products, use the discount code CLAUDIA20 for 20% of any purchase.
And putting it all together, here is what my current Lunch Box looks like …….

Flay Lay Lunch Box — Healthy Lunch Box

1. Hot Lunch. I have been making my Gut Bowl *most* days as my main meal. Doing that and adding a protein source (pictured is falafel), some gut lovin’ products (here is My Hemple Hemp Seeds) and a fat source (I have carrot hummus in the bottom right hand of the container).
2. Far left is my little snack box. Here I have some raw unsalted cashews, date and coconut rolls (health food store) and a slice of homemade Low Carb Choc Fudge).
3. Far right is my stewed apple combo. I stew an apple in boiling water until soft. Then I cut away the core, add some ground cinnamon and top with Coconut Yoghurt.
4. A few things that are missing.
-I pack some protein powder (Prana Coconut Milk) to have with water during the day.
-I make a coffee with me from Pod and Parcel and add some Bonsoy soy milk. When I get to work I’ll warm this up and add some hot water.
-My breakfast, dinner and pre-dinner snack are not pictured.

Meal Delivery Services

For many cooking, can is considered relaxing or therapeutic, but we can probably all agree on the fact that not everyone has the time, energy, or kitchen skills to plan ahead and create a delicious home-cooked meal every single day, nonetheless for a special occasion, like holiday dinners. If you’ve been taking into consideration meal prep for yourself or possibly surprising your friends or family with a nice intimate dinner but have no idea where to start or how to go about it, meal delivery services could be an easy and quick alternative for you.

ConsumersAdvocate.org recently published a comprehensive review of numerous meal delivery services that could be convenient for you. Their team analyzed the companies based on the convenience, shipping and delivery, cost, quality of ingredients, and variety of the menus when evaluating the best options. Enjoy your meals!

I hope this has helped you with some inspiration for meals for you. It is 100% worth the effort to have everything with you during the day to fight off the ‘hangries’.

Talk soon friends,

CC.

My Healthy Lunch Box

And putting it all together, here is what my current Lunch Box looks like …….