Many of us work in an office, which means sitting in front of a computer from 9-to-5. A lack of movement during the day is terrible enough but when combined with an unhealthy diet, things might go sideways.
An intense business tempo and working long hours negatively affects people's diet. Irregular and unhealthy eating habits can cause illnesses, such as obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, musculoskeletal problems, herniated discs, and osteoporosis.
Office workers tend to skip meals, especially breakfast, forget to eat healthy snacks, or worse, eat junk food as they work in front of the computer. Yes, our offices are full of temptation with those vending machines and people offering lovely sweets to us.
Since many of us spend half the day in an office, it is a good idea to keep our diet unde control.
Dietitian Merve Sarptaş Büyükince from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Memorial Kayseri Hospital gave information about five healthy nutrition rules that workers can follow in the office.
Prepare a healthy breakfast for the office
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and effects how we perform at work. If there is no opportunity to have breakfast at home, people can start their day by having breakfast at the office with healthy foods. However, foods that are brought to the office to curbhe appetite, such as bagels and pastries, are high in carbohydrates and can cause fatigue or sleepiness. These foods cause an unbalance in our blood sugar levels since they are fatty and unhealthy. A healthy breakfast plate should be prepared with food items such as eggs, cheese, olives, multigrain bread, tomatoes, cucumber and veggies. If there is no time to have such a breakfast, toast prepared with multigrain bread and white cheese with a side of fruit is a healthy choice.
Don't go through the day without snacks
The most forgotten nutrition rule in an intense working atmosphere is to snack. Snacks have an important place in a healthy diet. In order to boost your metabolism and give you energy, two snacks should be eaten between lunch and dinner. Fresh fruits, dried fruits, such as nuts, peanuts and walnuts, milk, yogurt, ayran or rusks are ideal for snacking. You can keep them in your drawer or in the refrigerator at the office. Instead of consuming them all at once, you should eat them in small amounts. Keeping packs of these snacks in your car, bag or pocket will prevent you from skipping your snack time.
Enrich your lunch with various food groups
It is really important not to skip lunch even if work is really busy. Instead of heavy and fatty, fried foods, you should consume grilled, boiled or oven roasted chicken, meat, fish or vegetarian dishes along with legumes. Lunch should be enriched with a salad, yogurt, ayran or tzatziki. Again, multigrain bread should be preferred instead of white bread and rice, soup and pasta portions should be controlled.
Instead of unlimited coffee or tea, drink water with lemon
Tea and coffee are often consumed so much during the day. When caffeine, which is found in tea and coffee, is frequently consumed, it causes dehydration and prevents the absorption of iron, which can cause an impairment in concentration. Excessive caffeine consumption can also cause kidney stones. Two sugar-free cups of Turkish coffee and five glasses of tea are enough in a day. Water with lemon can be preferred instead of tea or coffee during business visits in order to maintain hydration.
Give importance to water consumption for metabolism
Consuming plenty of water in a day is very important. Daily water consumption should be between 2.5 or 3 liters. If you are finding you are not drinking enough water in a day, you can add a slice of lemon or a few mint leaves to your water to add flavor and boost your consumption. Water consumption helps boost metabolism. Taking short walks or just getting up and walking around the office are other ways to support metabolism while working at a desk job.
