whats a healthy lunch? low cal and sodium

If you're trying to watch your sodium, I would kill the pizza and the chips as much as possible. I love them both myself and struggle with this, as I'm also watching my sodium intake, due to high numbers on those store BP machines and a fear of doctors (well, their bills ).

These are a couple of my favs lately. The chicken meal takes some time to prepare, but I'm finding out that eating healthy takes time.

Chicken breast, baked, then with chopped tomatoes, peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Side of spinach & hearts of romaine salad with honey mustard dressing. Total calories=352, total sodium=659.

Tuna sandwich on white bread is only 255 calories/395 sodium. Add a side of applesauce (1/2 cup) for only 90 calories/15 sodium.

Omelette with veggies (kill the cheese) and a slice or two of wheat toast would be good.

Homemade soup, made from stock with veggies and chicken.

Salad with dark greens. Add shrimp or chicken, maybe some chick peas or something as filler. Just watch the portion of dressing that you take in.

Avoid canned or boxed prepared foods as much as possible; be careful on the frozen dinners. That's all the help I've got right now; it's getting WAY past my bedtime and my brain is starting to futz out. :laugh:

Good luck!

A big salad with a light low sodium dressing or make your own so you know what's in it.

left over pizza and potato chips or I eat a sandwich and potato chips

Yeah, if you've ever looked at a diet plan, they never suggest eating those foods. They are high in carbs, too. Cheese, mushrooms, veggies, olives, tuna, and chicken are some good starters.

If you want to lose weight pizza and chips are of course not the right way.
I like a chicken kebab with lots of salad in it, fills and is not too bad.
Also as mentioned before salad, soup, fish, omelette and loads of veggies. Protein instead of carbs.

you can make your own pizza if you have access to cook it where you are or re-heat it. good things to use for a "pizza" crust are bagel thins or high fiber low carb tortillas (just check the sodium count in the breads, some can be crazy high!). then add a reduced sugar pasta sauce, some cheese and veg and other toppings you like. you can even microwave it for a quick lunch.
i don't eat a lot of "lunchy" foods, but here are some things i eat at home (access to an oven, stove, microwave, crockpot) or at work (access to a microwave).

i made a vegetable soup in my slow cooker, it made like 8 to 10 servings so i have been bringing it to work and having it for dinner. very easy to make since all you do is maybe cut some veggies, throw in veg or chicken broth and some diced tomatos with the juice.
a serving of the veg soup a made (a bowl full) 102 calories, 214 sodium per serving (way less than canned soup sodium!) even if i had 2 servings it's still lower in sodium.

i know it isn't very lunchy, but i bring oatmeal a lot to work bc it is easy and filling. a lot of things you can add to plain oats as well to spice things up. a half cup serving of quick oats plain is 0 sodium. from there, i add chocolate protein powder (half scoop 30 cals, 35 sodium), or unsweetened apple sauce with cinnamon added (1/4 cup is 25 cals and 0 sodium). you can always have something with this too, like a salad or veggie slices or something.

i don't eat meat, but another thing i have is a veg burger on a sandwich thin and add some lettuce (273 cals, 451 sodium). this will vary based on the bread you use

a salad with lettuce, onion, avocado, cucumber, mushrooms and if you want other veggies or a protein source. i used a light ranch dressing. and some watermelon on the side. mine was 141 cals, 153 sodium. add some no salted sunflower seeds for extra cals and healthy fats, with no extra sodium.

a pb banana sandwich on sandwich thins and using pb2 (216 cals, 249 sodium)

snacks i have with my lunch are apples with cinnamon (slice the apple, sprinkle cinnamon and stevia or another sweetner and nike it for 30 secs, so good!), other different fruits (bananas, grapes, watermelon, avocado slices with cumin sprinkled on), cottage cheese or greek yogurt.

Sodium can be cut, its just takes some reading of labels. The only days when I give myself a pass is on the weekends because I burn anywhere from 1400-2400 calories each day to even try to cut sodium and fuel my body properly. I just drink a lot of water on those days and it works itself out.

We decided to not buy any more pizza's when we go shopping, and I guess I nee to find a substitute for chips, cause I enjoy chips with all sorts of meals

I have an AWESOME (well at least, myyy tastebuds think it's awesome :P) substitute for chips or french fries.

Spray a tray with some spray oil
Get any of the below (or be creative with other veggies) and lay them out on the tray
- Carrot sticks
- Baby broccoli
- Asparagus
- Green beans
- Snow peas
- Sugar snap peas
Sprinkle with herbs to your taste (I like basil and oregano personally)
Spritz with more spray oil on top. If you have any sodium left in your daily allowance, sprinkle A LITTLE salt (it'll still end up wayyy less than french fries or chips or anything pre-packaged).
Put in the oven and bake for 10ish mins (depending on the size/type of veggies)
Enjoy! You can dip in ketchup (watch the sugar/sodium though) or vinegar or whatever else to your taste. And I preferrrr this to french fries or chips!

I'm just one of those crazy nuts that exercises extremely intense every day. Running up snow hills like Rambo for an hour and stupid stuff like that. I usually run 3-5 miles before work and again after work when time allows. Weekends I start out with a minimum 7 mile run before I even eat and get more in later in the day Hit the weights on my lunch hour if the job site is close.

I only log exercise I plan for the purpose of losing weight. My job requires me to be constantly moving and is very physically demanding. If your not in shape, your toast.

Wow I will have to keep some these things in mind to try. Unlike Chris I like tuna so tuna does come in this but he dont eat it... That one thing I can buy and know that I will have it a month later if I want lol..... Yea sodium is going to be hard to not go over but with determination I know I can do this!!!

I will google and see what low cal/sodium foods I can fix... I like boxed/canned foods better cause they last a lot longer but I heard that if you prepare your meals and freeze them that they last longer. So I am going to give it a try.