Brown bagging: packing a lunch with nutritional punch.

For stay-at-home parents or owners of a home-based business, the question of whether or not to reduce the infrequent number of meals they eat out may seem rather insignificant. With job-site positioned employees or students who are regularly forced to choose between getting up a few minutes early to prepare a fresh salad, or sleeping late and grabbing a grilled cheese sandwich, fries, and a soft drink on the run, however, the question begins to take on a great deal of importance.

The occasional restaurant meal can be an enjoyable and even healthful experience. Depending on the type of establishment frequented, however, it can be difficult to find the building blocks of a healthy, whole-food diet--fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, vegetable source proteins, and for those who choose to eat them, eggs or dairy products. Preparation methods and the type of fats and seasonings used can also have a negative health impact.

Because of our fast-paced lives, the convenience of purchasing meals from restaurants can prove tempting. There are, however, many advantages to preparing lunches at home.

First, when packing your own lunch, you determine early in the day what you are going to be ingesting later, when stress or the aroma of your coworker's red-hot, tempting, but loaded with saturated fat and refined sugar meal could interfere with your ability to make good choices. By virtue of what and how much you pack, you also establish appropriate portion size and food group selections.

Equally important is the fact that you are packing foods you believe are best for improving or maintaining your health. Last is the recognition that bringing rather than buying lunch is a big plus for your pocketbook. A brown-bagged midday meal is almost always significantly less expensive than one purchased in a restaurant.

Once you decide to make your own lunch, the next step is figuring out what to take. As a general foundational principle, pack items prepared as close as possible to their "as grown" state. In real life this translates into a shopping list that includes unrefined grains, fresh produce, raw nuts and seeds, and legumes.

Next, determine a few specifics. Do you have access to a refrigerator? Are you able to heat your lunch? Do you own an insulated container? If you can keep your lunch cool, packing a large vegetable salad is one of the most healthful choices you can make. The fiber, vitamins and minerals, water content, and enzymes present in fresh vegetables contribute much to your body, are simple to prepare, and--key to boredom-fighting--offer an endless array of possibilities.

Salads can be varied by the type of greens used--leaf, romaine, and butter lettuces, spinach, chard, turnip greens, parsley, watercress, sprouts--other vegetable additions, and dressing. Start with lettuce, cucumber, carrot, celery, broccoli, green onion, and parsley, then use your imagination in the produce section to fill the container. Shake up a fresh dressing every day or two and include in it safflower or olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and your favorite herbs. Alternatively you could stir together some unsweetened salsa and nonfat plain yogurt and use it to dress your greens. Add a small portion of protein (chickpeas, sunflower seeds, lentils, tofu) or grains (brown rice, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa, barley) to your salad, and lunch is complete.

Healthy vegetable sandwiches offer almost limitless possibilities, as well. Take a follow-your-nose tour through the nearest bakery and choose a selection of breads and rolls. Then grate, chop, and slice vegetables to your heart's content. A combination enjoyed by many brown baggers is the classic tomato, sprouts, lettuce, cucumber, and avocado on rye. Tortillas rolled around grated cabbage and carrot, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, sprouts, pickle, and lettuce are also great. Pack a salsa topping separately, and to prevent sogginess, add it just before eating.

With heat-up potential or an insulated container in hand, lunch possibilities expand even further. Leftover vegetable soups and stews, stir-fried rice, grain-legume casseroles, or a sample baked potato and steamed vegetables are all appealing lunchtime options. Be sure to include some raw veggie sticks or a side salad as well.

If your lunch is often eaten on the run, consider keeping a small cooler in your vehicle. It can be difficult to drive and neatly eat a juicy tomato sandwich at the same time, but a small handful of raw almonds and a large bag of celery, carrot, rutabaga, jicama, and green pepper sticks can be munched without interfering with important things like keeping your car on the road.

When one realizes that consistently eating poor-quality "take out" can, over time, lead to a host of ailments, including excess weight, sluggish digestion, increased blood pressure, diabetes, and heart problems, setting the alarm a few minutes early to bag your own lunch seems more than a fair trade-off. Now all you need to figure out is how to convince someone else to get your lunch together for you on the days you sleep in!