When working for eight or more hours a day, your body would obviously require some fuel to work. But, more than half of the workers in the United States reported of gaining weight after they started working their 9 to 5 job. Most of the employees gained weight due to stress, inactivity, workplace celebrations, and most importantly unhealthy eating habits.
Why are unhealthy eating habits more prevalent in the workplace?
It is highly impossible to be fit and fine when you are habituated of consuming unhealthy food. A healthy diet not only makes you look and feel better, it also immunes you from illness and aging. People are more likely to adopt unhealthy diet when they are away from home, it can be while hanging out with friends or while you are at work. Bad eating habits at work are more common due to several different reasons.
Which is your reason or excuse for consuming unhealthy food?
- You are not hungry due to the stress that the pending work or the deadline Is causing you and thus instead of having your meal, you are snacking on junk food.
- You rely on energy drinks and coffee to maintain your energy, as you are too busy to eat something.
- Obviously, you don’t have time to cook and bring your lunch from home, so you have your lunch at the office cafeteria or nearby restaurant.
You have given all of the above-mentioned excuses at some point in time in order to consume food that is definitely not good for your health. Haven’t you?
Here are some suggestions on how you can bring an end to your bad eating habits at work:
Case 1: You are a serious snacker
You almost always end up overeating. Having a healthy snack once or twice between meals is fine but you may have portion control. As the study says, people often lose track of how much snacks they are consuming when they eat it at the place of having real meals. So, if you are habituated of desk lunching, your mind will eventually consider your desk as the place to eat and thus when you have some snacks, you may end up overeating. To avoid this, you better stop having your lunch at your desk and have healthier snacks handy such as nuts and fruits.
Case 2: You are a mindless muncher
When you are focused on something other than you food while eating, the chances are you will eat 20% to 60% more than what you usually would. You keep on eating when you are not focused on your food. You can stop mindless eating by deciding to eat only when you are fully engaged and mindful. If you think that you will lose track of what you eat while finishing that presentation, limit your intake to smaller portions of snacks.
Case 3: You are tempted to eat because everyone else is snacking
You are developing unhealthy eating habits as you get tempted to start munching as soon as you see someone is else is doing it too. You need to know that, behaviors, may it be social, physical or mental are contagious and workplace is no exception. Mimicking someone else just to gain social security, especially when we talk about bad eating habits will only cause unintentional weight gain and emotional eating.
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