Our digestion is intimately linked to the daily rhythms of the sun. When the celestial fire is at its zenith, our digestive fire also is at its strongest. Therefore Ayurveda advises having the biggest meal of the day at lunchtime. You can also include ingredients that are harder to digest, and your digestion is much better able to handle some “naughty food”. 

• Do not fall into the trap of having a quick snack ”al desko” to see you through until dinner. 
• As your digestion is the strongest, you can include heavier to digest food into your meals, like animal protein, or even a pasta dish (use whole-grain pasta, or pasta made from other grains than wheat like spelt, buckwheat, teff, rice).
• In summer, your body can also handle a well-marinated salad. However, during the colder seasons, raw food can cause bloating and discomfort, especially during pregnancy. 
• Invest in a food thermos, so you can freshly cook something in the morning and enjoy it warm at work.

Here are a few suggestions for your lunchbox. 

Using a food thermos comes into its own with this top tip. 

To shorten the required cooking time, make sure to use red lentils or split mung beans. Soak them overnight or at least a couple of hours in the morning. Now, you can start cooking your Kitchari the usual way, by frying spices, adding rice, maybe some vegetables and water to your saucepan. After cooking everything for about 10 – 15 minutes, add the Kitchari to your food thermos as hot as possible. It will finish cooking itself in the thermos by lunchtime! 

Oven-cooking your food is another top tip for making the most out of your time in the morning. Preheat the oven to 180C, chop some vegetables (e.g. beetroot, carrot, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel bulbs, parsnips, or sweet potato) and put them in the oven with some ghee, pepper and other spices. Now you have about 30 minutes to get ready for work, have breakfast or start work. If you need more time, you can set the oven to a lower temperature.  

We have found that limiting the vegetable selection to 2- 4 types works better because you can create different flavour profiles and make this meal a couple of times a week. 

Once cooked, pop the roasted vegetables in a tiffin or food container, pack your wrap and sauce (think hummus, tahini, raita, pickles, chutneys) and some fresh herbs and assemble your wrap during your lunch break. 

Garnish with roasted nuts or seeds, add a few fresh green leaves or herbs (rocket leaves add bitter and sharp tastes), avocado, a little lime juice or lemon zest). 

Finely chop spring onion, garlic, leafy greens, finely grate some carrots, add some rice noodles, some vegetable stock, soja sauce and or miso paste, salt pepper and freshly grated ginger. You can either heat in water and take in a thermos, or take the dry ingredients in a jar and add hot boiling water from the office kettle 20 minutes before you want to eat. 

Adding some algae like kelp supports your digestion and boost your iodine levels during pregnancy. To make sure you cover protein requirements, you can pack a boiled egg or some roasted nuts and seeds to sprinkle on top for garnishing your soup. 

We highly recommend making fresh pickles and condiments every week. Check out the fresh turmeric and pepper pickle recipe here. Fresh herbs and spices bring extra micronutrients to your meal and support your digestion at the same time as being delicious! 

In the final winter months, we can indulge in some sweetness to see us through until spring, when it is time again to shed excess Kapha. Sesame crackers are an excellent warming winter treat. With only three ingredients, they are super easy to make and last for a month in an airtight container. Otherwise, pack some dates or soaked figs and enjoy them with Tahini.

Sesame Seed Crisps

You need 1 cup sesame seed, 1 cup jaggery and 1 tsp ghee. First, dry-roast the sesame seeds until mildly aromatic and set aside. Then, heat the ghee and jaggery until you get a jaggery syrup. To test whether you have the right consistency, you can drop a little syrup into some cold water. It should go hard instantly. Now, mix in the sesame seeds, spread the mass on baking parchment (up to 5 mm thick) and let it go hard. You have to work quite quickly to avoid the mass hardening before you have spread it to the desired thickness. 

Bon Appetit!