{"id":188415,"date":"2025-10-09T16:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/188415\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T16:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T16:15:14","slug":"nutrition-researcher-a-simple-lunch-routine-for-healthy-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/188415\/","title":{"rendered":"Nutrition Researcher: a Simple Lunch Routine for Healthy Eating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kevin Hall made a career out of figuring out what’s wrong with the way we eat. So, you may be surprised to discover that he isn’t one of those “clean” eating<\/a> types who shun all packaged foods. <\/p>\n

In fact, Hall feeds his kids some ultra-processed<\/a> lunch foods every day. And he doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with that.<\/p>\n

For 21 years, the nutrition researcher studied diet and metabolism at the National Institutes of Health, and he made the groundbreaking discovery that people eat 500 extra calories<\/a> every day on ultra-processed diets.<\/p>\n

“There are plenty of ultra-processed foods that are available to folks that are still reasonable in terms of their nutritional profile,” he told Business Insider.<\/p>\n

As Hall and his coauthor Julia Belluz wrote in their new book, “Food Intelligence<\/a>,” having a set lunch routine helps curb food waste and minimizes daily decision-making. <\/p>\n

And Hall selects foods he knows his kids actually like. That means lunch is slightly different for each child, but it works.<\/p>\n

“The evidence on optimal nutrition<\/a> has been clear and consistent over decades,” Hall and Belluz write in the book. “It’s boring by this point. Eat more vegetables<\/a> \u2014 along with fiber<\/a>, legumes, whole grains, and fruits.”<\/p>\n

Lunch is usually a mix of complex carbs, healthy fats, protein, and some homemade popcornLunchbox No. 1 includes a sandwich on ultra-processed bread<\/p>\n

\"peanut<\/p>\n

A peanut butter and jelly sandwich.<\/p>\n

Mykhailo Repuzhynskyi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hall said it’s a basic PB&J on “one of those very expensive” whole-grain sandwich breads.<\/p>\n

Related stories<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Business Insider tells the innovative stories you want to know<\/p>\n

“For the vast majority of people, it’s really the processed and refined carbohydrates<\/a> that they should avoid,” Hall said. (Think: Wonder Bread and doughnuts).<\/p>\n

He buys Dave’s Killer Bread and adds “a pretty good quality” peanut butter plus some jelly, which he knows is a sugary item, but he ensures the jar he picks out doesn’t have “crazy amounts of sugar.”<\/p>\n

Lunchbox No. 2 skips the sandwich and includes beans and rice instead<\/p>\n

\"beans<\/p>\n

A rice bowl.<\/p>\n

haoliang\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Both of these main courses consist of a balanced mix of satiating protein (nut butter or beans<\/a>) plus some carbohydrates (rice, whole-grain bread, and jelly) for quick energy.<\/p>\n

\"fresh<\/p>\n

A bowl of popcorn.<\/p>\n

vasiliybudarin\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Then he adds a few sides to the lunch, which are all unprocessed, nutrient-rich foods. Usually, it’s:<\/p>\n

Almonds: A great source of plant-based protein and healthy fats;Whole-grain popcorn<\/a> prepared at home,And some carrots, which are rich in vitamins.<\/p>\n

These are all filling, high-fiber foods that will help keep the kids satisfied until the end of their school day. None is super calorie-dense<\/a>, either.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kevin Hall made a career out of figuring out what’s wrong with the way we eat. So, you…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-188415","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}