How To Eat Healthily At The Office

Be productive and feel better at work with these handy tips, from the best office snacks to stay hydrated while you work. 

Snack Sensibly
A lot of people try to cut out snacking, but the right snacks can help to maintain energy levels throughout the day and tide you through after breakfast. Hunger can be a distraction at work and many people fall victim to the vending machine with all those salty, sugary, fatty snacks. There are healthy ways to snack that will also boost your mood and productivity. 

Good snacks for work include nuts, seeds, fruits, and vegetables. For example, apple slices, carrots, peppers, celery, and green beans all make great snacks. If hunger is distracting you, try a high-protein snack, such as hardboiled eggs, beef jerky, greek yogurt, or cheese. 

The key to this is preparation. Prepare a bag or box of snacks at home so you can stay away from the vending machines. 

Stay Hydrated

Dehydration can lead to poor productivity, reduced cognitive abilities, slower reaction times, and even morale. It’s important to stay hydrated but you should try to hydrate by drinking water and not sugary or caffeinated drinks as these can have negative side effects, like dehydration, hyperglycemia, and sleep disruption. 

Alcohol or too much caffeine dehydrates the body and energy drinks, including those that contain taurine, have even been banned in some workplaces due to their high-caffeine content, lack of nutritional value, and negative health effects. 

Drinking after work with your colleagues can aid team building and boost morale, but drinking too much can impact the following day by disrupting sleep and dehydrating you, and nobody ever did their best work with a hangover. 

Eat Lunch

A healthy lunch can be hard to manage during a busy day, but it is important to try. An ideal lunch should have the right balance of protein, sugars, fat, fiber, carbohydrates, and other nutrients. 

A high-carb meal, like pasta, bread, and cereals, release glucose quickly, which will give you a burst of energy, which is unfortunately then followed by a slump, draining your attention and energy. A high-fat meal will give you more sustained energy, but require your digestive system to work harder, reducing oxygen levels in your brain, and making you feel sluggish. 

A study found that the more fruits and vegetables that people consumed, the more happy, engaged, and creative they tended to be. This is because fruits and vegetables contain a lot of very important nutrients that encourage the production of dopamine which plays a role in the experience of curiosity, motivation, and engagement. They also contain lots of useful antioxidants that improve memory and improve your mood. 

A good way to make sure you get a healthy lunch is to plan ahead and shop with potential lunches for work in mind. For example, you could shop for the ingredients for a big salad that will really fill you up, not just cucumber and lettuce. Get cabbage, peppers, and carrots too.