Lunchboxes have become a thing of the past, with many students and professionals opting instead for the local fast food joint or office vending machine to obtain their daily sustenance.
Although the first meal of the day is usually considered the most important, registered dietitian Diane Jackshaw said lunch also deserves some credit.
“By having a good, well-balanced lunch, you are able to prevent over-eating later on in the day,” she said. “What I find is that a lot of people skip breakfast and maybe even skip lunch and then they eat from four o’clock on and they don’t choose the good stuff when they’re hungry.”
She said the lack of proper nutrition could be directly attributed to two factors: convenience and cost.
Convenience plays a large factor in people’s eating habits, she said, with many individuals grabbing what’s at their fingertips, even if it is high in fat and sugar.
“We’re more likely to grab something if it’s ready to go and unfortunately, what’s ready to go is fast food,” she said. “It’s not convenient to chop up vegetables and to prepare vegetables and it’s very convenient to go through (the drive-thru).”
The price of healthy options also weighs heavy on the minds of consumers.
“It’s not cheap to buy healthy stuff anymore; fruits and vegetables cost a lot more than a bag of chips,” she said.
Taking these two hurdles into consideration, Jackshaw said it is important not to lose sight of the short- and long-term benefits a balanced diet can have on an individual’s health and performance.
Eating a bag of chips instead of a nutritious meal, which should feature three of the four food groups, will provide no benefits to the individual, she said.
Instead, she cautioned, people will experience tiredness, headache, fatigue, grouchiness and cravings — all symptoms that will affect their job and school performance.
On the health front, a balanced diet and proper nutrition can minimize the risk of heart disease, stroke, heart attack and diabetes, she said.
To avoid these effects, Jackshaw recommends eating every four hours, avoiding high-fat and high-sugar foods and being aware of portion size. She said aside from students having higher calorie-intake requirements, these same rules apply for both students and adults.
An example of a balanced meal would be two whole-wheat slices of bread with lean turkey meat, lots of veggies and a piece of fruit — something she admits isn’t easy for many people to accomplish.
Realizing the task of preparing nutritious meals is daunting for many people, she recommends setting aside a few hours once a week to focus on food preparation, which ensures healthy options are always within reach.
This responsibility isn’t just with individuals. Jackshaw said both the workplace and educational institutions could help curb the problem.
“They can get more educated and when they choose to have vending machines or fridges, stock it with healthy stuff, because again, we’re going to reach for what’s there and ready to go,” she said. “If all that’s around is a bag of chips, then you’re going to reach for a bag of chips.”
Jackshaw recommends following Canada’s Food Guide, which can be found at www.hc-sc.gc.ca.
