Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, June 19th, 2014 with
4 Comments
Fiber may be the least exciting, least sexy component of a healthy diet — it’s strongly associated with Grandma’s bathroom routine, and its nickname is “roughage,” for crying out loud! But fiber is actually a dietary powerhouse: it helps keep you energetic and focused throughout the day, can help you lose weight, and can even help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. That’s why we’re sharing the lowdown on fiber today, along with some very easy, very tasty ways to make fiber a regular (no pun intended) in your everyday office meals.
Start your morning off right with oatmeal: one of the most fiber-rich breakfasts available!
Image source: Flickr user Phil Hollenback
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, June 18th, 2014 with
5 Comments
Pizza. Chinese. Thai. If this takeout trifecta is wearing itself out in your office, it’s time to spice up the food delivery routine… literally! When it comes to flavor, there’s no cuisine quite so qualified as Vietnamese to inject a little excitement into the workday. Bright, bold ingredients like chiles, citrus, and savory spices, combined with influence from both French and Chinese cooking, make Vietnamese a unique yet incredibly approachable option for group takeout and pleasing a wide range of palates. Many dishes are customized right at your table, so adventurous eaters can pile on the chiles while pickier eaters can stick to the familiar — yet flavorful — array of soups and sandwiches available on many Vietnamese menus.
Want to get started — or introduce your officemates — to the wonders of Vietnamese food delivery? Try one of these dishes to get off on the right foot with this colorful cuisine:
Pho is popular, delicious, and customizable – perfect for office lunches!
Image source: Flickr user Gary Stevens
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, June 17th, 2014 with
2 Comments
Managing your energy levels is a tricky business — there are a whole lot of factors that affect how bright-eyed and bushy-tailed you feel on any given day. How much sleep did you get last night? How many drinks did you have at happy hour? What did you eat for dinner? What did you eat for breakfast? Did you eat breakfast? Do you exercise? How many hours are you working? What kind of tasks are you working on? Are you taking regular breaks? Staring at a computer screen all day?
Just trying to answer those questions is exhausting… so it’s no wonder that when most of us hit that 2 pm wall and start to feel drowsy, we just hit up the coffee pot and power through. Of course, feeling tired and unproductive will eventually take its toll, leading to increased stress and — you guessed — even more fatigue.
Afternoon energy levels got you down? Read on for tips on making the most of your workday.
Image source: Flickr user Dylan
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Monday, June 16th, 2014 with
Comments Off on 10 Sneaky Ways to Eat More Vegetables During Office Meals – and Get Closer to 9 Servings Per Day! Comments
How many fruits and vegetables do you eat every day? How many do you think you should be eating? Maybe an apple at breakfast, a side salad at lunch, and an ear of corn off the grill at dinner?
Think again. The latest recommendations from the USDA suggest that the average American adult should be eating nine servings of fruits and veggies daily, with an emphasis on the vegetables. Approximately, that means two cups of fruit, and two and a half cups of vegetables.
Five servings of a veggies a day? You’re not alone if this is a struggle – but it doesn’t have to be!
Image source: flickr user Rick Ligthelm
If your current routine leaves you falling short (especially if you don’t count white potatoes, which many nutrition experts say you shouldn’t), you aren’t alone. Research suggests that many Americans are only eating three servings of fruits & vegetables every day — a third of the recommendation. And this means that most of us are actively saying “no thanks” to a healthy habit that would almost certainly reduce our risk for weight gain, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and cancer.
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Friday, June 13th, 2014 with
6 Comments
Airport concourses full of fast food, and executive lounges with free-flowing cocktails. Meeting tables stocked with snacks, and post-conference happy hours on the company card. Lavish business lunches. Little sleep. Red-eye flights. Stressful schedules.
It’s an understatement to say that business travel and healthy living do not go hand in hand. With long lines, long meetings, and long days, it’s easy for even the most health-conscious traveler to justify indulging in an extra cocktail or drool-worthy dessert — after all, you deserve a little comfort when you’re working nonstop and far away from home.
It can be hard to find time for healthy living when traveling for work.
Image source: Flickr user Francisco L. Franco
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, June 12th, 2014 with
8 Comments
When you order takeout or food delivery for a working lunch, picking a salad off the menu often feels like the easiest way to eat healthy at the office. But many, many restaurants make their salads more mass-appealing by adding less-than-low-cal ingredients… and after a little bacon and a lot of cheese, that “healthy” salad ends up being just as packed with fat, salt, and calories as a triple-decker club or even a burger.
Sadly, several of the most popular restaurant salads often fall right into that category. To help keep your food delivery orders on track, here’s our take on which salads should be skipped, which can be salvaged, and how to make it happen:
A Greek salad can be a fantastic food delivery option.
Image source: Flickr user leigh wolf
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 with
4 Comments
The office is a veritable breeding ground for quirky food trends: your in-the-know coworker wants to go wait in line for ramen-noodle burgers at lunch, while your organic-foods-crazed boss insists on ordering the latest artisan pizza toppings. It can be eye-opening or maybe even a little annoying… but, these kinds of food trends aren’t exactly changing the way we eat or how we live.
The ramen burger may be neat, but it’s not changing the world.
Image source: Flickr user Arnold Gatilao
On a more serious end of the food trend spectrum, though, some potentially revolutionary ideas may do just that. From futuristic technological innovations to a potential shift in how we define the concept of “edible,” these latest innovations just may change the world. Get ahead of the office foodies by learning about these truly important culinary trends (no offense, cronuts): Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 with
2 Comments
When we think about eating healthy at the office, we tend to think about curbing our guilty pleasures: no more potato chips, avoid the birthday cupcakes, stop drinking so much soda. But a new study out of Spain suggests that a much more innocent-sounding culprit in your office lunches may be responsible for drastically increasing your likelihood of obesity… good, old-fashioned white bread.
White bread may lead to higher levels of obesity.
Image source: Flickr user mitchenall
For five years, researchers monitored the eating habits of more than 9,000 college graduates through regular surveys. They found that people who ate three slices of white bread per day (not too outrageous – that would be a sandwich and a piece of toast!) were 40 percent more likely to become obese when compared to those who ate white bread once per week. However, not all bread showed the same effect: people who ate whole grain breads were not more likely to be obese.
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Monday, June 9th, 2014 with
Comments Off on In Favor of Real Lunch Breaks: New Study Suggests “Fast-Food” Thinking Leads to Impatience Comments
A new study out of the University of Toronto is adding more fuel to the fire when it comes to the unhealthy nature of rushing through lunch breaks. Researchers found that fast food — the kind eaten in a rush and while on the go — makes people more impatient and less able to savor life experiences like looking at a beautiful painting or listening to an opera. The implication? Eating fast food can disrupt our attention and ability to focus… which could have huge implications for workplace productivity.
Fast food (and few breaks) can impede attention and focus at work.
Image source: Flickr user Benjamin Linh VU.
In the study, researchers established that even the unconscious suggestion of fast food (like the golden arches of McDonald’s) flashed for a few undetectable milliseconds on a computer screen) led participants to increase their speed on a reading task. In another task, participants who were instructed to spend time thinking about fast food showed tendencies to forgo long-term benefit over a short-term payout — another signal of impatience.
Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Friday, June 6th, 2014 with
6 Comments
Having a box of donuts as an office breakfast is not a groundbreaking idea. But today is National Donut Day, which always falls on the first Friday and June. That means today is the perfect day to serve up the sugary treats to your employees… but not for the gimmicky reason you might think!
This beautiful donut is one way to say “thank you”.
Image source: Flickr user Bryan Ochalla
Unlike many of our other pointless “National Fill-in-the-Blank Days,” National Donut Day actually has a fantastic story behind it, and a rich history of patriotism and charity. The annual celebration of donuts dates back nearly a century to the days of World War I, when Salvation Army officers began serving donuts and coffee to soldiers in the trenches across the battlefields of France.
Relatively simple to make with limited supplies (like sugar, lard, and flour), the donuts weren’t just about keeping soldiers fed: they were a warm reminder of the comforts of home. And the Salvation Army began celebrating National Donut Day as a way to commemorate the service of the “donut lassies” — the female volunteers who fried the donuts (sometimes in soldiers’ helmets!) and distributed them among the soldiers, along with providing more practical assistance like writing letters, mending clothes, and cooking meals.
Read the full article…
