Robert Mitchell Jr.

This is my lunch for today. Grilled chicken breast, soy sauce, radishes, carrots, raisins, and a sesame bar.  What’s it packed in?  I bought one of those bistro boxes from Starbucks and I’ve been re-using the container for months.

A while back I posted a little mindfulness exercise that, for reasons unfathomable, hasn’t been all that popular.  Maybe if I rapped it, people would grasp it?  Momma didn’t raise to quitter, so here it is again, finger on the transmitter…

Mindfulness Lunch Exercise

Devote a full ten minutes to making your lunch.  Take your time.  Relax and focus.  Make your lunch as beautiful, nutritious and delicious as you can.  Really put some thought and effort into it.  If you work outside the home, do your prep the night before or in the morning before you leave, and take your meal to work with you.

When it comes time to eat, give your lunch your undivided attention. Do not eat while reading, surfing the web, or anything like that.  Just sit and eat the food. Think only about the food — about how pretty it is, how nice it tastes, how good for you it is, how wonderfully it is going to fuel your activities, what a blessing it is, and so forth.  Fully chew and taste every bite.

It just may be the best meal you’ve had in six months.

Listen guys!

Food is more than nutrients, and nutrition is a holistic and mystical experience that is still not fully understood. As Michael Pollan famously noted, we have identified 15 carotenes in the carrot, but carotene pills do not replicate the health benefits of munching on actual carrots.  “We still don’t know what is going on in the soul of a carrot,” he said.  “It’s a wilderness in that carrot!”

Choose healthy foods, then experience them fully when you eat them.

Lunch Ideas

• Sesame bars — These little devils are the business.  Just under 60 calories per tiny bar, and with tons of fiber, these are a great addition to your lunch in the off-season.*  I got mine at the Asian market — 16 little thumb-sized bars for $2.49.  Sure, they have a tiny bit of sugar.  But they are minimally processed and make a perfect little healthy, mini-dessert to your lunch.

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• Buy single-serving bags of nuts and dried fruit.  I know, they cost more by volume and packaging hurts the environment.  But wasted food is also bad for my budget and for the environment, and over-eating is bad for my waistline.
• Save those sauce packets.  I rarely eat fast food, but when I do I save the extra stuff that isn’t objectionable — taco sauce, soy sauce, salad dressing, mayo, etc. as long as it’s low in sugar.  Watch out for stuff like honey mustard that’s straight sugar and soybean oil.  Save extra fortune cookies and use them to zip up lunches on workout days when you can easily burn off the extra sugar.
• Cook once, eat five times.  Make a main dish and pick off it for the rest of the week.  Make a few chicken breasts or cook a big steak.  Slice it on a diagonal and you’re good to go.
• Veggie trays.  They’re not just for parties you know.  Get one from the grocery store, put it in the fridge, and you won’t have any excuse for not eating your daily vegetables.
• Check out my recipes.  I’ve posted a fair number of them on this blog.

And now for your Cabal Fang WOD.

• Calisthenics.  As many sets as you can in 10 mins of 10 each Diamond Push-ups, Steam Engines, Hop/Clap Push-ups, Split Squats.
• Kicks.  5 x 2:00/1:00.  Kick combos for 2:00.  For the 1:00, full power kicks vs. heavy bag.  Count number of full power shots during the first round and try to exceed that count in your final round.

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* I generally eat a paleolithic diet.  During Fall and Winter I’m a little more relaxed and I let myself have a daily serving of whole grains and relax a little about trace sugars and such.  During Spring and Summer, when I’m trying to get cut, I get super strict.  I remove all grains and all fruit along with as many carbs as possible.