Best Healthy Weight Loss Office Snacks

You’ve got this! Try a few of the foods on this list of the best healthy weight loss office snacks tomorrow. It can be as simple as bringing fresh fruit with you to the next meeting so you can easily pass on the donuts. You could bring extra – the whole office might enjoy a healthy office snack makeover. Try switching the box of donuts for a beautiful bowl of brightly coloured fresh fruits, such as apples, clementines and peaches. The sugar and trans fat in the donuts harm the health and productivity of your team. As for the vending machine, look into hiring a local caterer who can deliver freshly prepared dishes packed with fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. Considering you spend more awake hours at work, than you do anywhere else, it is important to eat healthy snacks at work.

But, why stop there? There are more ways to make your work day better. Here are the top 5 ways to eat healthy at work.

Top 5 Ways to Eat Healthier at Work

You’re not alone in your aspirations to eat healthy at work. Most of your coworkers are also trying to make better food choices to lose weight, improve heart health, reduce digestive discomfort, boost energy or control blood sugar levels. Here are the top 5 ways to eat healthy at work.

1. Manage Your Mood

When we get angry, anxious, worried or stressed we may turn to food. Commonly, we eat more than we planned. Manage your mood so these emotions do not propel you towards such negative behaviours. “You do not need to eat to cope… what is going on in the mind effects how we eat,” explains Dr. Coral Avron, Director of Behavioural Health and Wellness at the Pritikin Longevity Centre and Spa. Dr. Avron suggests if you are reaching for food because you are feeling stressed or bored, use an ‘if’ and ‘then’ condition. For example, if I want to eat a donut, I have to go for a 10-minute walk first.

2. Eat when you are hungry.

If your day is super busy, and you are running around the office like a Tazmanian devil, you may unintentionally dismiss your hunger signals. Then, you can find yourself desperately hungry, irritable or suffering from a headache. Eating when your body signals it is hungry can help you stay at your best. Avoid reaching the point where your body feels deprived and you feel depressed. This can make your cravings for unhealthy foods stronger. We all know how hard it is to resist the box of baked goods or the vending machine in a hectic day.

3. Analyze Your Snacking Habits

Are you eating to pass the time? Or, could your sweet cravings be your brain trying to use sugar to lift it out of the depressed feelings caused by work-place stress? According to Kimberly Gomer, Director of Nutrition at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa in Miami, Florida, it is important to recognize when your desire to eat is because you are hungry, not snacking out of habit (boredom or stress).

4. Drink Up

Sometimes hunger can be confused for thirst. If you are feeling hungry despite having just eaten, try drinking a glass of water. Pick a pretty or funny mug or water bottle in your work area. Looking at it frequently will not only bring you joy, but it will remind you of the importance of hydration in your health. As a bonus, when it is empty you will have to walk to fill it again. A great trick to help get you moving more if you work in a sedentary job, such as at a desk. Sitting is the new smoking – sedentary behaviour is linked with low energy, pain, hot flashes and increased risk of heart disease.

5. Eat the Best Healthy Weight Loss Office Snacks

Time to ditch the unhealthy usual suspects at the office meeting. Start a new trend! Use this list of the Best Healthy Weight Loss Office Snacks to help you give your work day a healthy makeover. Imagine if the middle of your work morning included a delightful jar of overnight oats topped with fruit? Those oats would be very satisfying. Or, if you are rushing to meet a deadline, wouldn’t it be great if you had some edamame beans to munch on, or air popped popcorn. As for your next afternoon meeting, it could feature hummus and a rainbow of chopped vegetables. Most people would love to eat healthy at work, they just don’t know how. But, you do! Share these delicious and nutritious foods with your co-workers and listen to them rave about them.

Not convinced yet? Eating healthier foods at work improves productivity! Eating healthy office snacks can increase energy, alertness, improve concentration and mental health. Plus, employees who eat well and exercise often are less likely to be absent from work due to illness. There are many rewards to making a switch to healthy office snacks.

References:

• J Occup Environ Med, 2018 April.
• J Med Pract Manage 2017 Jan;32(4):288-291.