Healthy Eating at Work

By Molly McEvoy

Eating at your desk may seem convenient but it is not the healthiest lifestyle habit. A misleading benefit of eating at your desk is the thought of multitasking with simultaneously working and eating. Creating a pattern of eating at your desk everyday can lead to a sedentary lifestyle. Eating lunch should be viewed as the working professional’s version of recess. A strategy to taking advantage of lunch time is to make an effort to eat with a friend or a group of people. Setting plans with others will encourage you to get up and away from the desk. Buying lunches everyday can eat up a lot of your paycheck. Packing lunches and snacks will help monitor what you are eating and help with planning your day. Meal prepping is a great lifestyle habit to start incorporating in your weekly routine. A strategy to help with meal prepping is to prepare foods on either Sunday or Monday evening, depending on your work schedule. Plan to prepare foods for 3 to 5 days and schedule in one day to eat out during your work week. Preparing grab-and-go types of snacks can help with scheduling your day. Try to incorporate eating snacks in your daily schedule. For example, if you eat breakfast at 7:00 a.m. and have a meeting at 10:00 a.m., plan to have a snack right before your meeting to keep your energy up and to help stay focus during your meeting.

Meal prepping is a great lifestyle habit to have in order to help maintain a healthy diet. Bringing your own lunch to work does not mean you have to sit at your desk and eat it. There are several strategies to help motivate you to walk away from your desk during lunch:

  1. Place lunch in a refrigerator or other designated areas that is furthest away from your desk.
  2. Eat your packed lunch outside
  3. Make plans to eat in a different area at your work place with others who have packed their lunch

If you must eat at your desk, take a walk before and after your meal. Only eat your meal, do not work at the same time. Studies have shown that pushing through the work day without taking a break has less productivity. Let your brain rest and refresh while you fuel your body. Put all work to the side, sanitize the area and have a place mat. This helps limit the possibilities of germs or getting anything on your desk contaminated.

References:

Tips on how to create everyday habits that will help you balance work and your health. Rampton, J. (2015, May 5).
12 Ways to Eat Healthy No Matter How Busy You Are. Retrieved February 6, 2018, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245770
How to make eating at work more efficient. Hatfield, H. (2008, December 12)
7 Tips for Eating While You Work. Retrieved February 6, 2018, from https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/7-tips-eating-while-you-work#1​
Statistics showing the reasons why eating at your desk is not great for your body and mind.Bratskeir, K. (2016, February 26).
Eat At Your Desk is Terrible for You and Your Work. Retrieved February
08, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/eating-lunch-at-your-desk_us_56d0847fe4b0bf0dab31debd

Molly McEvoy bio: Molly graduated from CSU Monterey Bay with a degree in Kinesiology and an emphasis in Exercise Science. She has been an athlete her entire life and loves the active lifestyle. Molly got started in the Fitness Industry as a swim coach and instructor. From there, she obtained her Aquatic Therapeutic Exercise Certification from ATRI. Molly is kept motivated to stay in the industry by her love of helping people set and achieve goals they never thought possible. In her spare time, Molly enjoys trying new activities like paddle boarding or rock climbing.

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