Lately I have received a few requests from some of you via email and on facebook asking about what I eat. So, since we are in the middle of August, I figured I’d give you my favorite Summer Lunch Formula. It’s easy, healthy, delicious and does a great job at keeping your blood sugar in check.

(For those of you who don’t know: I believe that blood sugar balancing is where it’s at.)

Keeping your blood sugar stable basically translates into consistent energy, reduced cravings, solid mental focus, and a happy body and mind that feels light and alert.

Why?

Because your blood sugar is a major influencer when it comes to your hormonal health (think for ex. your metabolism and your fertility). You can read more about Hormone Balancing and Blood Sugar in this post by Dr. Mark Hyman.

Think about it: if you body is constantly going through a blood sugar rollercoaster, you cannot expect your body to produce consistently sound results mentally or physically.

A few years ago, I used to cycle between these ravenous starvation modes and overly full states all the time. No wonder that neither my concentration and focus nor my physical well-being was up to speed.

As a result, I constantly felt a mix of hangry-ness, bloatedness, guilt for over-eating, and intense cravings. It wasn’t fun.

Anyway, back to my magic Summer Lunch Formula. Here is what I combine in different ways for lunch and I honestly never get bored or tired of it.

Step 1: Choose a green base

I like leafy green such as spinach, arugula, or baby kale. Sometimes I just shred up a whole zucchini if I don’t feel like leafy greens (it makes lunch feel more dense in texture).

Step 2: Add some bright colors

My favorites are bell peppers, green onion, tomatoes, cucumber, beets, carrots, and sprouts

*If you want to add some warmer temperatures to your lunch, I would recommend roasted veggies such as brussel sprouts, cauliflower, green beans, butternut squash or asparagus.

Step 3: Add Avocado.

Period. They are simply the best. No negotiations (unless you are allergic or hate them, in which case we might not be able to have each other over for lunch parties … ;)). Avocados are an amazing fat and will help to stabilize your blood sugar.

Step 4: Add a protein

This is a great place for left-over chicken dishes (asian stir-fries or curries for example). I also like omelets and tempeh (which is a fermented soy product. Please note that is you have any hormone imbalances, especially related to too much estrogen, it’s better to stay away from soy products).

Step 4: If you need a little extra oomph

In order to make these Summer bowls more substantial, you can add black beans, chickpeas, wild rice, barley, or sweet potato. Personally I get these organic frozen, so I can easily heat them up if I want to. Alternatively, you can also add some quinoa or buckwheat pasta, which are also great sources of protein.

Step 5: Add some spice

That’s a big part of how I keep these Summer lunches exciting. I love spices, especially curry, coriander, cumin, saffron, chilly flakes, turmeric and of course sea salt and black pepper.

Step 6: Add some nuts or seeds

Nuts and seeds are literally little powerhouses full of energy and Omega-3 fatty acids (think: heart health). My favorites are sunflower seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, or pumpkin seeds as well as walnuts and almonds.

Step 7: Dress it

As most of us know dressings can be hidden sources of crap (excuse my french), so I recommend going with simple dressings like olive oil-lemon, olive oil-balsamic vinegar, tahini-lemon, lemon-mustard-olive oil, or honey-mustard-olive oil.

Here are some examples of my lunches:

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A quick note on organic produce: It’s obviously best to go organic and GMO-free. I know that that can get pricey, so check out the Environmental Group’s list for the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen. It tells you which specific fruits and veggies are most important to buy organic.

Alright, knock yourselves out, send me pics of your lunches and let me know how your body and mind feels!!!

If you want to do something for your soul too, I’d love to invite you to join Soul Journaling. It’s a 10-day Soul Journaling workshop starting next Monday, August 11.

Details:

10 days. 10 profound questions in daily beautiful emails to you. 15-20 minutes of free-style journaling to explore your true self, your desires and hopes, how you hold yourself back etc.

This is going to be a deep, creative and transformational way of seeing yourself and making decisions in this world.

$39 ONLY (that means $3.90/day… just short of a NYC cappuccino ;))