Repsol YPF

Whether we eat at the office or in a restaurant. In order to maintain this balanced diet, the body must receive a certain amount of calories, of which 15% are proteins, 55% are carbohydrates and the remaining 30% are lipids. These percentages can vary according to the physical activity that each person performs, although 90% of jobs are sedentary and the body really burns very few calories. 

The concept of eating, understood as sitting down at the table and being able to enjoy several dishes at leisure, appears to be an increasingly forgotten concept in the twenty-first century. Immersed in the whirlwind of work, many people resort to homemade meals and different combinations of foods which they can eat in just a few minutes. Taking lunchboxes to work is now so common that many companies have an area with microwaves and a fridge, where people can heat up their food. 

As most people get up early and often do not eat enough breakfast, the stomach soon demands some attention. It is important to have a good breakfast because then you do not snack between meals or eat too much at lunch time. Nevertheless, you can take some low-fat unripened cheese, yoghurt to which you can add some pieces of fruit or eat a whole piece as a mid-morning snack. 

Avoid sweet foods and cured meat
When lunch time arrives, hamburgers and sandwiches may be a quick option, but they are not recommended on a long-term basis since they contain a lot of calories and are not a balanced food. If you go to a fast food restaurant, it is recommendable that you avoid fizzy drinks which contain a large amount of sugar, upsizing your menu and replace chips with salad. Pre-cooked foods should only be used occasionally and it is advisable to avoid desserts, shop-bought cake and cured meats, even though they are easy to carry. 

If you have more time, you can choose between the numerous restaurants offering daily menus. To make this option as balanced as possible, it is worth avoiding dishes cooked au gratin, battered food and not going overboard with fried food. When you order fish or meat, it is better to have them with vegetables or salads and avoid mixing them with rice and pasta. 

Some dishes can be planned in advance at home and then frozen in small portions so that you just have to take them out of the freezer when you need them. It is important that you defrost the food in the fridge, so as to avoid bacteria and it is also worth remembering that these containers must be stored in a cool place until they are required and avoid leaving them in the car or the office itself. 

Varied menu
In order to make sure that eating out of a tupperware box does not become monotonous, it is important not to repeat dishes. One of the advantages of these recipients is that they can be used to heat up the food and barely affect its flavour, but the disadvantage is that their size is deceiving and since its capacity is significantly more than it seems at first glance, you must avoid eating excessively large portions. 

Where first courses are concerned, you can make a soup, cream of courgette soup, gazpacho, traditional, mixed salads, endives with Roquefort, rice salads (with vegetables, raisins and pine nuts) or pasta salads (with tuna, olives, peppers, tomato… the options are endless), pulses or vegetable stews. The problem with salads is that they oxidise if they are made too far in advance. An alternative may be to take a tomato and dress it at work. 

Nutrition experts mainly recommend pulses, cereals and vegetables, whilst fats remain in the background. You can make dishes which combine carbohydrates with vegetables and proteins. Where desserts are concerned, fruit is the best option. 

Some alternatives are low in fat such as a vegetable salad with cheese, grilled chicken breast with boiled vegetables or a vegetable sandwich. As a main course, chicken, either in a sauce or as a fillet is a very useful resource. Another option is fillets of meat or fish, preferably grilled. You can take the sauce in a separate container and mix everything together when you heat it up in the microwave (that way the food will be more succulent). They can also be served with vegetables (green beans, mushrooms, onion, carrot, peas…)

As a dessert, as well as yoghurts and unripened cheese, crème caramel and particularly fruit (on its own or in fruit salad), are good options since they contain few calories and are a source of vitamins which are fundamental for the body.