Pack your lunches, Ladies !

Madeleine Shaw

Madeleine Shaw is a qualified Nutritional Health Coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. On her blog she shares wonderful recipes that will help you « get the glow », as she promises. She is a great supporter of lunch-packing, and she proposes it to all the ladies that want to stay in shape, despite their demanding work schedule.

Her sweet potato and carrot soup is unbelievably simple to make, coming from someone who considers boiling an egg time consuming. Also, it’s as tasty and colorful as it sounds, and will brighten up your dull lunchtime at the office. Make it the night before, pack it in a thermos or a glass-jar and you’re good to go !

A purpose of having lunch at the office is to boost yourself up with energy. The ingredients of this specific soup serve this purpose to the highest point, according to the blogger. ‘Fresh chicken stock is rich in amino acids, carrots are loaded with vitamin A and sweet potato - lots of beta carotene,’ she explains. 

A creative chef, blogger, writer, presenter and self-professed yoga enthusiast, Madeleine is committed to helping her clients enliven the hottest, healthiest, happiest versions of themselves. As a young girl, she kept a low/no fat, very boring and highly restricted diet; which resulted in very serious health issues.  This triggered her to finally seek out a healthier way of life. Her journey led her to work in an organic café in Sydney, a life-changing experience that gave her the primary idea to start blogging. She now resides in London, she shares magnificent recipes through her blog but you can consult her privately.

Her sweet potato and carrot soup is unbelievably simple to make

‘For me a packed lunch is essential whenever I leave my home and especially if I'm traveling. I tend to grab leftovers from my dinner or make a salad in a jar, whisk up and bottle up a smoothie or take a carton of coconut water, a piece of fruit and grab a snack like a raw chocolate bar for a treat," seems to agree Amelia from Freer Nutrition. At private Chelsea gym SP&Co, Freer Nutrition works with all clients to support their health and well-being goals.

Another purpose of packing your lunch is to save calories. Madeleine consider wiser for the working-ladies to have a rich in calories lunch, rather than a dinner. Madeleine explained to us that our digestive fire is lower in the evening, so it’s better to load it when our belly is fiery and ready to digest. In her opinion, lunch should be a mix of protein (eggs, fish, meat or quinoa) cooked starchy (sweet potato, pumpkin or cauliflower) and raw green veggies.

Additionally, you save a bunch of money, by packing your lunch, although healthy food tends to be overpriced nowadays. Madeleine usually buys her groceries from local farmers markets. ‘They are amazing’, she says, ‘I also love Cycle Veg and Avocado’. 

She shared with us her other favorite lunch idea recipe, the so called ‘Lunchbox Stack: Quinoa, Avocado, Carrot and Chia Seeds’. The recipe can be found on her page, take a look to get inspired and get the glow!