Healthy lunches are not an impossibility. Nor are they so rare. In fact, healthy lunch ideas can be found all over the place. Whether it is a cooking magazine, a television show, or any number of sites online, you can find recipes and ideas at your finger tips, any hour of the day, whenever your lunch may be.

The key to a healthy lunch is not being afraid to try something new and different, and not to confine yourself to what is considered a standard lunch. Lunch does not have to be a sandwich, chips and soda. It does not need courses, including dessert. As long as it is well rounded, your lunch can consist of any number of things. And the same can be applied to any meal.

What should a balanced meal have in it to make it healthy? For starters, look up the Healthy Plate diagram (what used to be the Food Pyramid. Remember that one old timers?). The Healthy Plate is a great frame of reference. A quarter of your plate should consist of whole grains. WHOLE grains. Wheat. The brown stuff. None of the bleached white crap. In fact, you should never eat white bread when you have the option for any other grain.

Another quarter of the plate should be your protein. And only a quarter. You should not be eating a steak the size of a plate. Your protein, per meal, should be about the size of a pack of playing cards. And guess what. Protein does not have to be a chunk of meat. It can be tofu or rice and beans, both of which are complete proteins, and a whole heckuva lot better than that steak you are eating. And do not mistake my meaning, I love me a good steak, but I think the general diet is too reliant on meat as the basic staple in order for it to be considered good.

Then, for the other half of the plate, we have our fruits and veggies. And most of that should be veg. A salad, or steamed broccoli, or sauteed carrots in a ginger honey glaze. It does not matter, just make it the bulk of your meal. Some vegetables are healthier than others, obviously, but as long as it is not celery, you are a step ahead. Then have an apple for dessert. Done. Easy, healthy lunch. Cheap and delicious.

This is just one, super simple example. There is so much more that you can be eating, so many other varieties, but as long as you follow the food guidelines, it is so easy to make sure that you are eating a healthy lunch.