the forgotten meal

put yourself on the grocery list and follow this simple framework to elevate your midday meal

Happy “Maycember,” Noosers! And Happy Met Gala Monday to all those who celebrate (hey, Anne!). We hope the first few days of May have been treating you well. This time of year is a classic example of life “life-ing.” Just when you hit your stride — or finally decide to carve out time for yourself (It’s getting nice out, I’m going to start <insert new habit>) — the calendar flips upside down. Kids’ activities, school events, work commitments... it adds up fast, and the things that once felt like priorities slide down the list.

Today, we’re zeroing in on the one thing that tends to get ditched first: lunch. It’s the meal our patients and clients are most mystified by. Breakfast feels exciting: fresh start, new day! Dinner is an end-of-day ritual. But lunch… It never gets the hype it deserves. It’s the forgotten meal that we think might be the most underrated energy maker or breaker of your entire day.

In this Noosletter, we’re offering a lunch framework that will keep your energy steady — so you can take on everything this busy season throws your way.

If you like what you’re reading, click the heart at the top or bottom or leave us a comment — we love hearing what you think ❤️ !!

Early last week, the “lunch” theme for a Noosletter was on our mind. It’s a topic we’ve come back to since we wrote about focusing on the meals you eat in isolation, and it felt like the right time to go deeper. And then, a sign: a DM landed in our inbox that confirmed it completely. A reader, home recovering from foot surgery, not wanting to spend too long standing in the kitchen, sent us a photo of her lunch and asked a question a lot of you may be asking/thinking too: “It’s only 11 grams of protein. What can I add?”

Her lunch? Sautéed cannellini beans with parmesan and grated lemon, whole grain Tostitos, and grapes. Yum!

We loved this! Not just because it’s a good lunch (it is!), but because she already knew something was missing and she could name it. That’s the goal. This is the kind of thinking we love to hear at Noos. So we’re going to answer her question and use it to talk about the meal that, in our years of working with patients, comes up more than any other as the hardest one to get right.

If I had to name the one meal that comes up most consistently as a struggle, it’s lunch. I hear versions of the same story over and over: “I do pretty well in the morning, and I try to make a decent dinner, but lunch just gets away from me.” It gets replaced with something grabbed on the way between things. It becomes leaning against the kitchen counter, looking at your phone, with a handful of Wheat Thins, a drive-through Starbucks drink and maybe a bar. Or skipping altogether and white-knuckling it straight through to dinner, right up until the half-eaten kids’ lunches come home and suddenly you're a rabid animal eating soggy Goldfish straight out of the lunchbox!

Lunch tends to get whatever is left, and yet it’s arguably one of the most consequential meals of the day.

What you eat at lunch directly determines how you feel at 3pm, how hungry you are at dinner, and whether you’re raiding the kitchen at 9pm. A lunch that’s mostly carbs and low on protein and fat will spike and then crash your blood sugar, leaving you foggy, wanting a nap, and hungry by mid-afternoon. A lunch that delivers protein, fiber, fat, and tastes good, can carry you all the way to dinner without the 5pm spiral.

And, in theory, lunch is a great opportunity to put yourself first. No one is asking you to make something different. No picky kids (they are at school or napping, fingers crossed), and no partner looking for you to whip up something special. Lunch is yours.

And maybe that’s why we overlook it. When we’re not cooking for anyone else, it’s easy to let it slide, to decide we’re not worth the effort of a real meal. But, as a patient once put it: you need to put yourself on the grocery list. You need to make lunch worth it for yourself. Because the person who benefits most from a good lunch at noon is you at 3pm, you at dinner, you at 9pm when the kitchen is closed and you want it to stay that way.

We're going to give you a simple framework. A way of thinking about your plate that you can use every day.

The framework can fit into any style/type of lunch you like: to-go box, sandwich/wrap, salad, or bowl!

So, what would we have added to our friend’s lunch?

Looking back at our friend’s DM, she had a great base:

• Cannellini beans with parmesan and lemon ✓ fiber base, flavor element, partial protein

• Whole grain Tostitos ✓ carbs, some fiber

• Grapes ✓ fruit, quick energy

What’s missing is a real protein anchor. Cannellini beans have about 8g of protein per half cup, and parmesan adds a gram or two. That gets her to roughly 11g, which is exactly what she reported. Good start, but not enough to carry her through the afternoon. Since she's recovering and not standing long, it needs to be low-effort. Canned tuna or salmon stirred right into the beans, hard boiled eggs, rotisserie chicken pulled and added, cottage cheese on the side! Any one of those options get her to ~20-30g of protein total without adding meaningful time on her feet.

The Lunch Formula in Real Life

Here’s what this looks like for us on a regular week:

Anne’s go-to: Not in office: toast ezekiel bread and top with bean spread and avocado, egg or lox and avocado or a drizzle of EVOO cottage cheese, spinach, and nuts. When I am in the office I usually bring more snacky things, leftover mini potatoes I dip in hummus, MUSH oats I mix with yogurt, nuts, fruit.

Avery’s go-to: I’m home most days for lunch, but there have been many times where these combos get stuffed in a pyrex for the road! My faves include: reheated baked sweet potato (make an extra the night before) with kimchi and cottage cheese, one of my fave yogurt/kefir/fruit bowls, or leftover salad from night before and canned tuna/salmon. I rotate a lot of the same anchor ingredients so I’m not overwhelmed with options or lack of inspiration.

The point isn’t to be impressive. The point is to have a formula you trust so that lunch stops being a decision and becomes a habit. Think about it this way: one intentional lunch a day is 365 better meals a year. That’s not nothing! That’s a completely different relationship with your energy, your hunger, and your body, built one unremarkable Tuesday lunch at a time. So as you look ahead at the week, remember to put yourself on the grocery list, and treat yourself to a Noosworthy lunch, so the only “Mayhem” you experience is your kids’ end of school schedule, not your blood sugar on an afternoon roller coaster ride.

If you want us to fix your lunch, send us a photo. We mean it!

Until Next Time…