Clean Eating Highlight: Summer Lunches
During the winter, we can’t help but reach for comfort foods. It’s cold and dreary outside and not only is your body working harder to keep warm, but your mood is probably down, making you more likely to reach for snacks in an attempt to raise your spirits. But summertime is another story. The sunny months of summer inspire fresh fruits and vegetables, garden salads, and light, clean meals. What a relief!
Your binder is stocked with dinner recipes suitable for a warm evening on the terrace, but what about lunch? Leftovers in a Tupperware container? Not so fun. There are plenty of clean eating lunch recipes that you can enjoy at home or at work over the summer.
Summer Salads
Celebrate summer with a fresh tossed salad topped with yummy summer fruits like watermelon, peaches, and cherries. Add some nuts, meat, and/or egg for protein and you’re golden! Here are some delicious-looking summer salad recipes:
This list of 17 salads is packed with fresh summer options, like the Spinach, Strawberry, and Peach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing, the Tropical Pineapple Salad, and the Summer Chicken Taco Salad. So many options!
Not only is quinoa good for you, but it’s ridiculously easy to prepare, so you can throw any of these 10 quinoa-based salads together in no time. The Quinoa Salad with Roasted Corn and Mango sounds particularly appetizing.
Power Bowls are basically super salads. They’re untraditional in that there isn’t usually a leafy base. Instead, the bowl is just packed with veggies, some kind of protein, a type of grain (optional,) and a flavorful dressing. This one looks like a simple tuna fish salad upgrade that we would definitely be game for.
Wraps
Wraps are an obvious go-to for lunches. Step it up a notch with some delicious summer twists on the ol’ classic.
Is it obvious that we love Thai food yet? Ditch the flour tortillas and try these lettuce wraps instead. They’re packed with veggies and healthy ingredients, and they’re easy to make!
The great thing about a recipe like this is that you can customize it however you’d like, and change it up every week. All you need is a whole wheat tortilla, hummus, your veggies of choice, and maybe a little homemade balsamic dressing or a sprinkle or feta cheese to jazz things up a bit.
It’s all in the name. These summer rolls are a perfect, healthy way to eat lunch when you have a little more time on your hands. Just slice up some veggies and follow the recipe for the dressing and how to wrap the rolls, and you’ve got yourself a fresh meal.
Eating healthy over the summer is important, and so is staying active! Check out Athlete Beyond for athletic apparel to compliment your healthy lifestyle.