Eating ‘well’ has long been linked to overall employee happiness in the workplace and yet whilst managing our busy schedules and demanding workloads we often fall foul of just grabbing something quick and easy during our lunch breaks. This is actually the time when we need to be making smart choices and eating well to help fuel our brains and ensure optimum function and productivity for the rest of the working day. Mark Bittman, The New York Times lead food columnist, wrote an encouraging article about how to make eating well a little easier. It reminds us that despite potentially conflicting research and hard-to-read food labels the “keep it simple” principle can be applied here too to help us eat well.
Step 1: Avoid “junk” or hyper-processed foods
A lot of our food is processed before it’s in the form we eat, i.e. butter comes from separating fat from milk and churning it. It’s “hyperprocessed food” which is made solely from refined ingredients and artificial substances. Authority Nutrition’s 9 Ways Processed Foods Are Slowly Killing People suggests that big food companies take advantage of our taste buds by engineering foods that are “hyper rewarding” to our brains. “Evolution provided us with taste buds that are supposed to help us navigate the natural food environment. Our appetite gravitates towards foods that are sweet, salty and fatty, because such foods contain energy and nutrients that we need for survival.” But when these tastes are fabricated versus natural our brains are being duped into eating more and more “fake” food that doesn’t provide us nutrients.
Step 2: Eat more plants than you did yesterday, or last year
Harvard School of Public Health says that a diet rich in fruits and veggies can lower blood pressure, reduce risk of heart disease and stroke, prevent some types of cancer and lower the risk of eye and digestive problems. Variety matters too–try to branch out from your favorite or readily available choices like carrots or apples and see how many different colors you can eat in a day. HSPH also suggests:
- Keeping fruit and veggies out in the office where people can see them: put a fruit bowl on the counter or ready-to-eat veggies on the top shelf of the refrigerator.
- Exploring the produce aisle or local farmers market during your lunch break and choose something new.
- Skipping potatoes and corn and choosing other veggies that have more nutrients and are more slowly digested to keep you fuelled until the end of your working day
- Making it a meal: try cooking new recipes that include more vegetables. Salads and stir fries are especially good at getting tasty veggies on your plate. Plus you can pack up the leftovers intoTupperwares for lunch the next day!
Just shoot to do a little more than you did yesterday. This is an achievable goal for anyone and allows a daily ‘win’ which is helpful to creating new, healthy habits.
Step 3: Cook your own food
Mr. Bittman says doing step 1 and 2 will “reduce the amount of antibiotics you’re consuming, pretty much eliminate GMO’s from your diet, lighten your carbon footprint, reduce your chances of becoming ill as a result of your diet, save money, cut way back on sugar and soon.” And, he says, doing step 3 makes the impact even more powerful. Cooking and taking your own packed lunch into work allows you to connect with the ingredients and appreciate what goes into making a delicious meal. And it will turn out cheaper! Maya Adam, a Grokker cooking expert and a lecturer at Stanford University School of Medicine, has a mission to help people return to simple, economical home cooking that she believes can promote an improved quality of work life and home life for all. In her recent TED Talk “Why We Fight With Our Food”, she says we come in to this world “hardwired to love food not just because food helps us to survive but because food brings us pleasure.” And, in fact when we enjoy our food, we often eat less.
See? Eating well can be as easy as 1, 2, 3 and can have an enormous impact on the happiness and productivity of your employees.
This article was first published and written by Grokker for Perkbox.
Founded by mother & yogini, Lorna Borenstein, Grokker is a community and resource for busy people who want to make time for wellness. Grokker offers a community of wellness experts and enthusiasts, a personalised wellness experience and a source of motivation and inspiration, whenever or wherever you may need it! Don’t take our word for it though, check us out for yourself! Visit Grokker today to start your journey towards becoming a better you: http://www.grokker.com/
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