Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

The Hungry Girl daily newsletter usually seems like a commercial to me, but today’s was really good.

• Ask Hungry Girl – Wednesday Newsletter

She answers a couple of questions from readers (like she does every Wednesday). One question asks about what to bring for vegetarian lunches and the other asks about frozen vegetables. I would like to add a couple of ideas for the lunch question:

I would recommend purchasing an insulated lunch bag. I have one and cold things usually stay cold enough until lunch and I can put a frozen blue thing in it to keep things colder. It works really well to keep my veggies and fruits tasting good and fresh. If you don’t have a refrigerator at work, that really helps.

Not having a microwave at work really puts a crimp on things. My favorite lunch usually consists of a serving of veggies and leftovers from last night’s dinner. When we cook healthy dinners, we always make enough servings for a few lunches for me to take to work. Not having a microwave would cripple me.

I would recommend doing a little detective work. I find it highly unlikely that there is no microwave anywhere. The CFO at our office ate his meals in his office every day, but I never saw him go up to the third floor to microwave his food. One day, I found the secret first floor microwave hidden between the huge industrial machinery and the CT room. There might be a microwave lurking in your office that you didn’t even know about.

That doesn’t answer the reader’s question, though. What would I have for lunch if I was a vegetarian and had no access to a microwave. Just like Hungry Girl said, the lack of microwave doesn’t affect my fruits and veggies. I bring two servings of fruit and three servings of veggies to work every day. I eat a fruit and a veggie for my morning snack and the same for my afternoon snack. That leaves one serving of fresh cut vegetables for my lunch. These have been the basis of my day for years now.

Main dishes are harder to come by, however. The reader has already exhausted the PB&J sandwich and hummus route. One good thing that wasn’t mentioned at all are cold rice dishes. Cardamon Rice with pistachios and milk is one and Rice Pudding is another. They are meant to be eaten cold and if you make them yourself, you can make sure that they are healthy and not loaded with sugar like most of the storebought versions.

I usually have Cardamon Rice for breakfast, but it would work perfectly for a vegetarian for lunch. Here is how I make it:

• 1 Cup of cooked rice (make a little extra next time you make rice for dinner)
• 1 Teaspoon of ground Cardamom
• 1/2 Packet of Stevia (or any other sweetener you prefer)
• 12 Pistachios coarsely ground
• 1/2 Cup of milk

The night before, mix these ingredients and place in a Ziploc bowl. Overnight, the rice will absorb some of the milk, so you might want to bring an additional half cup of milk if you prefer things a little runny. This is a filling meal with protein, calcium and carbohydrates. Brown rice will make it even healthier. You eat it cold, so no microwave required.