Why you Should STOP for Lunch

Just like some people will skip breakfast, some people will skip lunch! Too busy, not enough time, forgot! Too much to do and many more excuses why you have skipped lunch. I get a lot of resistance from clients when I mention they should be, eating breakfast, snacking and also ensuring they stop for lunch, and yes that means eating lunch.

I’ve named this tip ‘STOP for Lunch’ for good reason because I don’t want you only to have lunch, I want you to STOP for lunch! That means, no eating lunch at your desk, no grabbing a wrap and eating it on the way back to the office and certainly no skipping lunch altogether. You must stop and eat lunch. If you eat lunch at your desk, stop it, stop it now! Your boss will thank me, you’ll produce much better work, and you’ll avoid getting crumbs all over your keyboard. Seriously, this is an awful habit, and this guide is all about helping you break those nasty habits so let’s stop this one.

Depending on which industry you are in you, might have very strict breaks, I’ll take the construction industry in the UK as an example. Growing up, I often helped my dad out, he was a Carpenter, mainly putting roofs on houses. Now, the construction industry in the UK have a religious break at 10 am and lunch at 1 pm, you can set your watch by it. 1 pm comes along, and you can hear the tools drop. All the tradesman are in their vans, That’s good, right? Yes, these guys are doing one thing right, they are stopping, it’s what they are eating that’s the issue. Processed foods! A cup of Tea with tablespoons of sugar, Red Bull and perhaps a cheeky KFC drive-thru. So it’s clear we have to get into good habits, AND we need to think about what we are going to eat at our meals. No need to pre-prepare all your food like an Instagram gym prep junkie, just be sensible!

What can you have for lunch? Apply the CRAP list, and you’ll be fine, again that’s, NO Carbonated Drinks! (Yes! That includes Diet Coke), No Refined Sugar, No Alcohol (well it is lunchtime, shouldn’t be too hard) and No Processed Food (this, pretty much includes everything in the sandwich chiller at Tesco’s).

I know you are thinking, eat less, weigh less! But no. Let’s rewind, a long way.

As a species

We are designed to survive!  

We are bloody good at it! Look where we are.

Your mind and physiological self-has no idea!

It still wants to survive!

Most of the world is uniquely wealthy in that we don’t need to forage for food.

We can have it when we want.

Thus we have to exercise control and routine because your body doesn’t care!

If caveman came across a fig tree, do you think he would;

1. Eat one, leave the rest for someone else
2. Eat a few and take some for later
3. Eat the whole damn tree

That’s right, it’s C. he would eat the entire goddamn tree, he doesn’t know when he is going to eat again, the caveman’s body other than being on a bit of a high will be storing that food as FAT. Yes, this would be desirable in caveman days.

The point is, we need to convince our body we are not in danger of not getting food! Thus we have to continuously keep it topped up if it always has food and always gets food, your physical self will burn up those calories, no need for starvation mode! High metabolism and weight control are achieved. Voila.