“I hate it when I go to the kitchen looking for food, and all I find are ingredients.”
Anonymous
Are you coming to work every day with crampings in your stomach?
The very thought of being locked in the office for at least 8 hours throws you into depression?
Maybe it’s not just a matter of a boss, a co-worker, or an insignificant job; maybe it just doesn’t suit you spending your time in one of the hundreds of offices and imaging how aboundingly you will eat as soon as you come home?
In the world of new technologies, we work much more than 40 hours a week. This number has remained alive only as the legacy of the past. But the growing number of hours spent at work can be harmful to your health and your work.
If your job truly requires you to sit in the office in one place and watch the screen for a whole day and having just a short break not enough to eat at peace, maybe it’s time for you to think about a different approach in your diet from 9-5h.
Even 50% of employees do not have any catering organized by the employer during working hours. The absence of an organized working-day meal arrangement is a bigger problem in small and medium-sized enterprises since the largest companies (in both sectors: private and public) often have a solution for an organized form of nutrition for employees.
Even then, it’s evident that you are forced to eat what may not be your favorite choice or a healthy one for that matter.
Nutritionally, good food in the workplace can help you not only to look and feel better, but also to overcome all business tasks more efficiently.
Many of us have unhealthy snacks, such as chips or salted sticks or fast foods that provide a sense of satiety, but are nutritionally unhealthy and unacceptable.
And don’t let me forget gallons of coffee or energy drinks.
You will agree that a large proportion of the population (about 85 percent) is insufficiently active. Therefore, a large number of these people can be considered sedentary (“sitting” lifestyle). Among them are people who sit in front of the computer for more than 8 hours a day – IT, programmers, economists, officials …
Previously mentioned persons have insufficient or no physical activity and are eating too many high-calorie foods saturated with fats and free sugars. The number of obese people has grown extensively, and coronary diseases (heart and blood vessels) are the most common cause of death.
I wouldn’t go as far as that but let’s resume for a brief second here. At least 5 days a week we are sitting (total 40+ hours). During that time we hardly ever move, eat junk food and breathing office air.
Can you imagine what years of this can do to our gastrointestinal tract? Or to our skin or overall health?
The unwanted consequences of these conditions can be successfully reduced by having a proper and healthy meal or just a snack and that is if you are well organized.
When I say snack I mean some of the healthiest and nutrient most abundant food.
Think about your meals at home
Prepare your meals in advance – The key to healthy eating is planning ahead, but preparing meals every night for the next day can take a whole lot of time. Choose one or two nights a week and cook several dishes that will last you all week. So you will always have something healthy when you’re in a mess with time.
Breakfast:
We all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that you shouldn’t skip it. I wholly agree with that old claim. But many of us including my whole family have a low appetite in the morning. For some time we are like zombies without appetite. We don’t think about anything than how to bestir ourselves. Do you have the same feeling in the morning?
And when you finally start eating there’s an old question that pops in your head while chewing: “Who is eating whom?
Aside from that, there are some misconceptions about our first meal. Should you have a big fatty meal, some cereals, fruit or going to work and having a breakfast there which turns more into lunch.
So what can you do?
In the morning when you get up and finish toilet business, try to drink 1 glass of water. After 10 minutes drink one more.
Water will enable you to feel more energised and “lighter” because your body will start detoxing its self. Changes in hydration status throughout the day may affect cognitive performance with implications for learning success and focusing.
Then take:
One big spoon of honey :
Honey is high-calorie food because it contains more than 80 percent of carbohydrates. It is rich in water and vitamins B, C, E and A. Other than that the discomfort that you experience from your breath despite oral hygiene will be reduced or avoided if you consume honey.
Later for breakfast, you can have this sweet meal consisting of a piece of bread with coated honey and sprinkled cinnamon. Tasteful, and useful!
A tablespoon of ground linseed :
When we name antioxidants, most people think of the magical powers of blueberries, lemons and other lemonish fruit rich in vitamin C. Most people do not think of finding these properties in linseed. It’s full of antioxidants that are brilliantly fighting against various inflammatory processes, viscera, bacteria, fungi and maintains the health of our cells.
One other thing: Have you noticed that when you sit at one place for too long, let say 8 hrs. your legs begin to ache. Magnesium in linseed may contribute to that and to prevent and treat the loss of muscle mass, muscle strength, physical performance, and restless legs syndrome.
A tablespoon of ground hazelnut :
The core of the hazel is rich in protein and vitamins from the B group, especially vitamins B6 and B1, A, E, and K.
They are essential for muscle mass, energy, concentration, and the overall nervous system. Hazelnut is rich in unsaturated fats that are beneficial to the cardiovascular system.
High oleic acid concentration in these fats lowers bad cholesterol. The wealth of calcium and magnesium regulates the contraction of the heart muscle and simultaneously reduces the possibility of improper cardiac function.
A tablespoon of raw virgin coconut oil:
Coconut oil will kill those nasty mouth bacteria even after brushing your teeth in the morning and “bless” your breath.
Also, coconut oil is good for boosting the energy level, which helps you to burn more fat. The best thing about using coconut oil is that it not only helps you lose weight but also reduces dangerous and persistent fats in the stomach area.
I guess you are sitting now while reading this!?
Not to mention every day sitting in the office.
After that, make a smoothie from the young barley, there are a variety of recipes, but you can try mine.
- 1 banana
- 2 fist of forest fruit
- 2 little yogurt
- 2 smaller spoons of barley grass powder
When you blend all ingredients, you can chew some rye, oats, integral cornflakes, almonds, hazelnuts, dry grapes or whatever comes to your mind and awaken your senses.
Now you are good to go to work. After keeping this rhythm a month or so, you will start feeling better and more relaxed. Drinking water in the morning won’t be so “heavy” task anymore and eating something else than pizza for breakfast will start looking like a better option.
Now, at work, you can eat something that is also good for you. Remember good breakfast is a must, but you should always be thinking quality over quantity. So try introducing your stomach with black rye bread with peanuts butter, fist of almonds, milk yogurt, Indian walnut, protein bars (a whole healthy meal in one product) They are the richest in fibres, and the poorest in calories, so the “hunger anger” will disappear.
Lunch
If you do not have enough time to prepare your lunch before going to work, choose the option to buy cooked food and avoid frying fast food. But you should always be aiming to improve your overall health status and make lunch at home and then bring food to work.
Several great recipes will help you to stay fit and full. Here is one recipe with turkey breasts and chia seeds.
Chia is a superhero without which a healthy meal has become almost impossible. They are rich in fibres, proteins, and healthy fats and they do wonders for our health. If you have not tried them yet, it’s time…
Here is a recipe that you can try:
- 2 eggs
- 1.5 teaspoons of chia seeds
- 1 onion
- 150 g of turkey fillet
- 50 g of mushroom or some other mushrooms
- 1/2 tablespoon of turmeric
- 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
- Spices: parsley, salt, pepper, red paprika
Break 2 eggs in a bowl; add spices as desired and chia seeds. Mix everything well and leave it to become like gelatin which happens after 15 minutes.
Sprinkle the pan with a coconut oil and stretch the gelatin mix with chia seeds as if you were making pancakes. Bake each side 2-3 minutes. From this mixture, you will get 3 tortillas.
Place turkey breasts, pepper, onions and mushrooms in wishful quantities. Slice everything in suitable chunks. Please yourself.
Boil the meat, mushrooms in 1 dl of water and fry the onions in coconut oil per 2 minutes.
Divide the mixture into the number of tortillas you have. You are ready to go! Enjoy.
Ok, now you had your lunch break, and after some time you are feeling droopy, sleepy and unfocused on your task.
What can you do besides reaching out to energy beverages?
Restrain yourself from drinking water the same moment when you finished your meal. Take just a sip to wash out your mouth and let your stomach juices do their work. This will speed up digestion. After 30 minutes, drink 2 or 3 glasses of water in intervals. This will give your stomach a momentum and your energy an edge that will stop you from feeling sleepy.
Never skip your meals
Again, do not skip meals! During a working day, when you miss a meal, you may think it’s not a terrible thing. In fact, there is evidence that skipping a meal can negatively affect the level of sugar and glucose in the body, and even lead to cultivation.
Hunger can contribute to the imbalance of blood sugar, resulting in a strong sense of hunger, and later on overeating. Your body needs a constant supply of “fuel” to function correctly.
Pay attention to sugar content. Fatigue, heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases are listed in the list of health problems associated with consuming too much sugar. Check the ingredients before you buy a product, eat foods rich in protein for maintenance of satiety, and when you catch a sugar crisis, you prefer to eat fruit.
Wear healthy snacks with you – Instead of choosing unhealthy snacks at the last minute, make a healthy mix and take it with you. Just mix the ingredients you prefer (nuts, dried fruits or seeds) and take them when you feel peckish. Raw nuts and seeds in bulk… Make your own mixture and store somewhere in dry place.
Equip yourself and don’t be ashame of shortcuts
Preparing and storing food is not complicated if you know what you are doing and if you have a couple of very useful items in your kitchen. With the right equipment, eating healthy when you’re busy becomes easy.
Investing in quality food and liquid containers is the key. For storing your prep meals for work, I highly recommend stainless steel containers.
If you don’t have the time for going to the grocery store, you can shop online from some services that will bring fresh food from local farmers directly to your home and office.
Buy different quality snacks and stash them at your work office where they’ll be at the reach of your hand.
In the end. . .
Today’s society is dependent on quick information, therefore the desire for short-term satisfaction is so strong, and because of that we sacrifice long-term goals and neglect our sanity and health.
And even though these instant pleasures of poor quality (fast food or carbonated drinks), their availability and the ability to instantly meet needs significantly influence our strength of will and make us more tempting than something that requires patience and renunciation, we are still reaching out.
Seeing yourself as a healthy individual in the future and feeling progress could boost your will to engage and continue such health driven activities. Having proper nutrition and exercise information is very important. More so if you are struggling every day at work.
The next time you want to drink something fizzy or eat fast food, the thought “I should not do it,” replace with the thoughts about how good looking and healthy you actually want to be.
Or just ask yourself how many more years you have ahead of you?!