If you’re looking to shed weight seriously, chances are you’d be diligently counting calories and forcing yourself to adhere to a strict diet.
But we know how this is going to end: feeling hungry all the time.
If this sounds like something you’ve gone through, we may have found a practical solution to it.
Here’s a list of bento box combinations that’ll not only help you shed the pounds, but also keep you feeling full.
How these bento boxes are designed
For ideal weight loss, you want to keep to the recommended ratio of 3:4:2 for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so you need to keep your dinner light.
You must also reduce your carbohydrate intake and increase your consumption of protein, fruits, and vegetables. This way, you can feel fuller for longer.
These healthy fat-reducing bento boxes aren’t that complicated, as they go by this formula: “staple food” + “protein” + “vegetables and fruits” + “fat”.
Staple food (100g)
It is recommended to use whole grains as they contain more fibre, which can make you feel full.
Consider corn, millet, black rice, brown rice, black bean, mung bean, red bean, potato, purple potato, sweet potato, yam, taro, or pumpkin.
Protein (150g)
Go for low-fat protein such as chicken breast, low-fat ham, beef, fish, shrimp, eggs, soy milk, tofu, bean skin, and skimmed milk. Avoid fatty and cured meat, as well as lamb and duck.
Vegetables (150g)
Any vegetables could be a good choice, but if we were to provide recommendations, you can go for lettuce, celery, spinach, tomato, cucumber, loofah, okra, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, and mushroom.
Fruit (80g)
Fruits are typically high in sugar. So, avoid sweet fruits like raisins, lychee, watermelon, and papaya.
Go for apple, grapefruit, banana, blueberry, strawberry, orange, pear, dragon fruit, kiwi, cherry tomato, or guava.
Also, instead of juicing the fruit, it is recommended to eat it directly.
Fat (10g)
One way to add fat to your meal is to cook it with olive oil or flaxseed oil. But if you are eating mostly boiled food, you can still add nuts or avocado to ensure the fat intake.
The easy-prep bento box combinations
1. Corn, cherry tomatoes, chicken breast, green vegetables
2. Fried egg burger, cherry tomatoes, mango, cucumber, and black ear fungus
3. Sushi, mango, greens, chicken breast
4. Pumpkin, greens, shrimp
5. Stir-fried beef with brown rice, mango, and garlic sprouts
6. Stir-fried chicken breast with sweet potatoes, cherry tomatoes, and assorted vegetables
7. Fried cabbage with fungus, boiled shrimp, brown rice, dragon fruit
8. Assorted fungus, chicken breast, dragon fruit, sweet potato
9. Fried chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, konjac noodles
10. Fried shrimp with minced garlic, fried cabbage with black ear fungus, corn, kiwi
11. Tomato scrambled eggs, green vegetables, bananas, dragon fruit, brown rice
12. Fried chicken breast with garlic sprouts, dragon fruit, whole wheat bun
