Working from home can be both a blessing and a curse. While you may have the privilege of working in your pajamas, despite having more time to cook healthy food, you might find yourself slacking.
Eating a healthy and balanced diet is crucial in maintaining productivity and work performance. But, if you’re struggling with maintaining one, below, you can find some helpful tips that will help you maintain a healthier diet while working from home.
1) Do Not Work In Or Near The Kitchen
When you are setting up your home office, make sure to set it up in an area away from the kitchen.
Oftentimes, we make ourselves believe that temptation won't get the best of us, but when things get overwhelming you might find yourself wandering over to the kitchen to check the fridge, especially if it is right next to you.
Setting boundaries and deciding that the only time you will be in the kitchen during the day is when you are getting lunch or getting an already prepared snack. And don't cheat by keeping snacks in your desk drawer either as that doesn’t help.
2) Prepare Your Meals For The Week
Just like how you created a schedule and set boundaries for your week, you need to plan and prepare your meals for the week too.
Every Sunday morning, make it a habit to draw up a grocery list and plan your meals for the week ahead. Breakfast, lunch, and even dinner as this will save you from getting distracted during the day.
By doing this, you can buy groceries that are healthy and already have a purpose when going into the fridge. If you are trying to reduce the number of times you go to the grocery store, you may need to plan your meals further in advance.
Treat food as you would when going into the office. Make your meals for the week and decide what time they are going to be eaten, including your snacks.
Creating a food schedule will help you stay on track and prevent you from getting tempted by what is in the fridge at random times during your working hours.
3) Do Not Skip Meals
When working from home, it is easy to get carried away by what you are doing and not take a moment to pause and eat something nutritious.
Ignoring your hunger and not eating may decrease your alertness, allow fatigue to set in, and reduce your productivity.
In addition, eating at scheduled times will prevent you from being hangry when the workday ends - preventing your family or roommate from taking the brunt of it. Plus, the longer you don't eat the more chance of overeating when dinner time rolls around.
If it is necessary, in the beginning of your healthy eating journey, set yourself an alarm to remind yourself to pause and have something to eat.
4) Focus On Eating Nutritious Meals
Ensuring you eat balanced, nutritious whole food when lunchtime rolls around is important in maintaining alertness and productivity. It is fueling your body for the remaining workday, keeping you focused.
Food has a large impact on our energy levels and our mood, so feeding yourself food that will help keep you fuller for longer will help you push through the workday with ease as you’ll experience a boost in energy.
By having a set meal plan, you are preventing the temptation of going to grab a handful of chips or other likely unhealthy snacks from the pantry cupboard.
5) Drink Plenty Of Water
Although it may seem like it has nothing to do with eating well when working from home, drinking plenty of water throughout the day will have a big impact on how you feel as well as how hungry you get.
Dehydration causes headaches and fatigue, and increasingly unnecessary bouts of extreme hunger. It also affects your energy levels and overall productivity.
Oftentimes our bodies allow us to think that we are hungry when in fact we have not had enough water and are dehydrated.
Thus, drinking a minimum of 2 liters of water a day not only helps relieve fatigue and headaches but also keeps you fuller and helps regulate your digestive system.
Keeping a bottle of water at your workstation will get you reaching for water rather than snacks. Also, remember to stay away from sugar-filled sodas and juices, apart from the lack of nutritional value they will also cause you to crash later on in the workday.
Conclusion
Working from home allows workers to have a more flexible schedule. But, while employees can work from the comfort of their own home, oftentimes, that has a negative effect on their diet.
But, by following the tips above, you can slowly but surely start to build the right habits to maintain a healthy diet while working from home.
