The workplace is typically full of people who are TRYING to eat healthier. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard, “All of us in X department are doing a cleanse”. However, the workplace is very rarely set up to help any employee succeed. Pressing deadlines, overbooked schedules, and the pressure to always work harder can make eating a healthy lunch at work extremely difficult. You may be so busy you skip lunch and just push through to dinner. Or maybe you count a bag of chips from the vending machine or a piece of cake from the break room as lunch. Either way you are not setting yourself up for success.
Eating healthier and maintaining better nutrition can help you stay focused and perform better. It can also help you ignore all the food that you think is calling your name in the break room. Lunch will not only help you at work, but it will also help you during dinner. Eating lunch can prevent you from overeating at dinner. If you skip lunch by the time you come home from work you are so hungry you don’t care if your food choices are benefiting you, you eat a lot quicker, and you end up over eating.
With that being said, here are 9 tips to help you fix this issue…
1. Make a list of lunches
On the weekend pick a few lunch options you would like to eat. Be sure you cover all the proper nutritional bases.
2. Pack lunch the night before
Pack your lunch right when you walk in the door or while you are cooking dinner. If you wait until you have relaxed, we all know you won’t be getting back up to pack that lunch.
3. Pack leftovers
Making extra dinner for lunch the next day will help keep your time in the kitchen to a minimum.
4. Bring in lunch for the week
Take everything for the week in on Monday and keep it in the fridge at work. Rotisserie chicken is a great example, as long as you remove the skin. Bring ingredients for salad is another idea.
5. Include protein, healthy fat, and fruit/veggies
Great picture to describe an “ideal plate” of food from Precision Nutrition, one of our favorite sites for nutritional information.
6. Place a sign on your front door
You may have put in effort the night before to pack you lunch, but unless you remember to bring it, your efforts were pointless. Giving yourself a nice reminder on the way to your car can really help you to never forget your lunch again.
7. Place a reminder on your phone or computer
If forgetting to eat is an issue, set an alarm to remind you to eat. Be sure to look at your schedule and pick a time that works.
8. Tell a co-worker
Tell a friend at work about your goal to bring lunch. He/she could be a good accountability buddy and help with support.
9. Eat the lunch you brought
So many times people will put forth the effort to pack a lunch and remember it only to eat something else when lunch comes around. Whether you were invited out to lunch with employees or a rep brought in other food, stick to your plans. (Your accountability buddy could be a great supporter during these days.)
Set yourself up for success and make lunch a priority!
Leave us a comment below and tell us which one of these tips helped you the most.
By: Suzanne Doerries