Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, January 30th, 2014 with
Comments Off on 5 Ways to Feature the Mediterranean Diet in Your Corporate Catering Routine Comments
The Mediterranean diet is in the news all the time — only, unlike some of the other recent diet fads, it’s not due to celebrity endorsements or splashy self-help books. Rather, the Mediterranean diet tends to crop up in news articles and NPR broadcasts because scientists and researchers are continually finding new health benefits to its core tenets: eating plenty of vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and olive oil, along with less meat, butter, and processed foods.
The Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes plant-based meals, is proving to be a powerful health strategy.
Image source: flickr user AndyRobertsPhotos
For instance, last November, we learned that women who generally followed a Mediterranean diet in their fifties were 40 percent less likely to develop chronic diseases, like Parkinson’s and cancer, later in life, and had better memory and physical function than women who didn’t eat as healthfully. So far this month, two different reports show that following the Mediterranean diet can lead to reduced risk of plaque buildup in our arteries and even reduce our risk for Type 2 diabetes.
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Sara on
Wednesday, January 29th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Think Outside the Pizza Box: 5 Easy Ways to Up the Office Lunch Ante Comments
From Google’s famous cafeterias to startups’ weekly office happy hours, smart employers know that providing free food is a easy and highly welcomed perk in the workplace – and makes you look like a better boss. But when your employees come to expect a few boxes of pizza or the same Chinese takeout boxes every Friday, your staff lunches may be selling your message of appreciation short.
If this is your office, you may be stuck in a lunch rut.
Image source: flickr user NathanHuth
Surveys show that “unexpected treats and rewards” like office meals or snacks are the second most popular form of employer appreciation (monetary bonuses ranked highest); however, don’t neglect the importance of the “unexpected” element. After all, treating your staff to a catered or delivered lunch isn’t just about sustenance; it’s about creating excitement and building social connections without ever leaving the office. There should be a buzz around the building when a surprise meal delivery shows up, and a feeling that something special is happening. When a few boxes of pizza show up every Friday, that excitement easily becomes muddled into part of the daily routine.
With the goal of creating a special occasion in mind, here are a few ways to think outside the pizza box during your next office lunch!
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, January 28th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Admin Assistance: How to Cater to Gluten-Free Diets in the Office Comments
If you’re an administrative assistant in charge of ordering workplace meals, then you are probably more familiar with your coworkers’ diet habits than anyone else in the office! You’re the first one to know when a colleague decides to try out a low-carb diet, you can name every vegetarian, and you even know which middle manager is just a plain, old picky eater. It’s your job to ensure that every member of the staff can benefit from the motivation, personal relationship growth, and employee appreciation that’s served up alongside the actual food on the lunch table!
In recent years, however, one dietary “trend” has presented a unique opportunity for admin assistants: gluten-free diets. If you have gluten-free coworkers in your office, you may be asking how, exactly, you can create a gluten-free meal plan for the entire office?
Plan gluten-free options so coworkers with sensitivities can still join in the fun.
Image source: flickr user JuditK
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, January 27th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Eating for Immunity: How to Plan Office Lunches to Fight Cold & Flu Season Comments
Some of us keep a bottle of hand sanitizer on our desks. Others refuse to touch doorknobs with bare hands. And still more will swallow dubiously effective vitamin supplements every day until Easter. That’s right – it’s cold and flu season in the office.
Everyone has their own favorite method of warding off illness, but there’s one way to improve the entire office’s odds of getting sick: make sure office lunches are full of immune-boosting superfoods! All the benefits of those vitamin C packets and zinc inhalers can be stealthily administered to every employee who attends a lunch meeting, orders in group delivery, or enjoys a catered meal at the office.
Everyone at the office has their own coping strategy for flu season. Image source: flickr user Blaine Pearson
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, January 24th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Mindless Eating at Work: Put Down the Bag of Pretzels & Step Away From Your Desk Comments
If portion control is key to weight loss success – as much of the current research on American diet suggests – then what determines how much we eat?
It’s not always hunger, which won’t come as groundbreaking news to anyone who’s sat at their desk with an open bag of pretzels, only to look down ten minutes later and discover with surprise that half the package has vanished. Environmental eating cues, from the size of our plates to the background music we hear, can have a substantial impact on what we eat. Unfortunately, this is especially true when it comes to eating at the office, when we might have less control over our environment than we do at home. There are a few things to keep in mind, however, that will help you make better choices while you’re eating at work.
Don’t be a victim of mindless eating at work.
Image source: flickr user Victor1558
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Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, January 23rd, 2014 with
Comments Off on Admin Assistance: How to Organize a Last-Minute Office Lunch Comments
Here’s a scenario many administrative assistants will instantly recognize: it’s ten o’clock, and you’re in the middle of a project when you get an email from your boss. “Having the marketing department get together for an office lunch meeting at noon today in the conference room. Can you take care of it?”
“Sure, I have time to plan a lunch meeting right now!” Image source: flickr user Steve Guttman NYC
One simple question and your morning has taken a totally new direction. Two hours and counting, and you have an office lunch to organize. Here are a few simple steps to streamline your new schedule:
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Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014 with
Comments Off on Catered Lunches to Surprise Sundaes: How to Feed an Accounting Team During Busy Season Comments
It’s busy season. If you work for an accounting firm, or are married to an accountant, or are friends with an accountant, you know what “busy season” means. It means working early in the morning, through the lunch hour, into the evening, and on Saturdays (and possibly Sundays). Busy season, which begins in January and runs up to the April 15 federal deadline for tax filings, means work. Lots of work.
Of course, a tax firm office full of employees working long hours (and potentially spending more time with their colleagues than their spouses) can also mean stress and burnout. As John Shank of Birmingham-based accounting firm Barfield, Murphy, Shank, & Smith tells Business Alabama, “So much work is compressed into such a short amount of time, and stress with employees is inevitable.”
Busy season can take its toll on tax firms. Image source: flickr user carltondramaticsociety
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, January 21st, 2014 with
Comments Off on Identifying the Three-Ounce Filet: Practicing Portion Control at Office Meals Comments
Anyone who has tried to read up on healthy eating and weight loss is probably very familiar with the term “portion control”. But what, exactly, does portion control mean? And how can we put portion control to practice in our daily lives — especially in the office, when takeout lunches and catering tables are in ample supply?
The truth is, we all encounter two portions or serving sizes in our daily lives: the portions we’re actually served (or serve ourselves) and the portions that are recommended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Portion control at a catered event can be a challenge.
Image source: flickr user Univeristy of Michigan’s Ford School
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, January 20th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Use the Latest News About Multivitamins to Recharge the Company Catering Plan! Comments
It seems as though the experts have (mostly) agreed: multivitamins aren’t doing us any favors. An editorial in the latest Annals of Internal Medicine, efficiently titled “Enough is Enough: Stop Wasting Money on Vitamin and Mineral Supplements”, argues that evidence is clear enough to conclude vitamin supplements have no benefit on our health.
“The message is simple: Most supplements do not prevent chronic disease or death, their use is not justified, and they should be avoided,” the editorial states. Its closing line is even more clear-cut: “[W]e believe that the case is closed— supplementing the diet of well-nourished adults with (most) mineral or vitamin supplements has no clear benefit and might even be harmful. These vitamins should not be used for chronic disease prevention. Enough is enough.” Written by Dr. Eliseo Guallar and his colleagues, the editorial was prompted by three independent studies published in the journal that month. All of them pointed to insufficient evidence that multivitamins and other supplements led to any positive impact on health or prevention of disease.
Vitamin supplements are a “waste”, according to a new editorial.
Image source: flickr user bradley j
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, January 17th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Hosting a Hackathon: Whatever You Do, Don’t Forget the Office Snacks! Comments
A “hackathon” may sound like an illicit activity, but these all day (and occasionally all night) work sessions for computer programmers are soaring in popularity among tech companies. Hackathons put a premium on creativity and collaboration, allowing colleagues who might typically spend their time isolated before a computer screen to work together on projects. As Faceboook programmer and hackathon organizer Pedram Keyani shared with Fast Company, “[The] thing about hackathons is that the most critical rule is you can’t work on the same thing as your day job. It’s a way to experiment with ideas in a low-cost way.”
Hackathons are intense, often all-night sessions of creative problem-solving.
Image source: flickr user LachlanHardy
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