6 Tips for a Healthy Office Life

Working in an office space tends to make people feel restless, which often leads to frequent trips to the cafe or kitchen, looking for an excuse to take a break.

It’s also a space where lots of treats tend to be lurking around in the form of birthday cake, donuts, homemade treats you ‘just have to try’ or maybe the cafe near by has these to-die-for chocolate croissants.

So today, I want to share my top 6 healthy tips for work, so you can up your office game 😉 This will give you the mental focus and physical energy to not only get through your day, but get you kicking your days’ @$$!

1. Eat Breakfast – It may sound cliché but this is the most important meal of the day. It also sets the tone for your digestion, metabolism, mood and food choices that you will make for the rest of the day. Some good ideas are: Oatmeal with ¼ cup fresh berries, chia and raw almonds, Nature’s Path Mesa Sunrise cereal with 2 tbsp mixed raw nuts & seeds, topped with unsweetened almond milk. A fresh green based juice or a smoothie.

Simplicity Smoothie Recipe (makes 2 small smoothies, or one large):

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 cup of filtered water
• 1/2 banana
• ½ cup pineapple
• 4 ice cubes
• 2 handfuls of mixed kale
• 2 handfuls of raw cashews
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• Genuine Health Coconut Protein Powder (optional)

…blend and enjoy 

2. Graze Throughout the Day – The single most important thing that you should focus on daily with regards to food is eating often enough and making the right combinations. You should be going no longer than 3-4 hours without something. Your meals and snacks need to be a balance of complex carb, lean protein and healthy fat.

Lunch Idea: Quinoa Salad with chopped vegetables, organic hard-boiled eggs, avocado and seeds for a meal

Snack idea: Apple with 2 tbsp raw cashews for a snack.

3. Don’t drink Calories – Sweetened beverages such as pop, juice drinks, coffee drinks and tea may satisfy your thirst, but give you lots of empty calories. What’s worse is that, unlike eating solid food, drinking liquid calories doesn’t make you feel full so you won’t eat less food afterwards. Simply cutting a can of pop a day can help you lose 15 pounds in a year!

Diet or zero-calorie pop offers no nutritional value – it’s just water added with artificial sweeteners and caffeine. Drink water instead. Carrying a bottle of water with you infused with either chlorophyll, frozen berries, or fresh lemon juice. Aim to drink 2-3 litres of water daily

4. Snack Between 1-3pm – This is the classic, “I need chocolate, coffee, a doughnut or muffin time of day followed by “I could also use a nap”.

To help diminish these feelings and cravings work on your first 3 goals diligently, and…keep an extra smoothie or green juice in your lunch bag or a bin in your office of “healthy treats” like The Kind bar, Genuine Health Fermented Protein Bar, homemade balls and bites, peanut free trail mix.

These snacks taste great, like you are having something you shouldn’t be, but they are in fact quite healthy. More importantly they are all well-balanced and will help towards stabilizing your blood sugar so that you don’t hit a slump and crave the junk

5. Prepare, Prepare, Prepare – Look at your week ahead of time, before you grocery shop, so that you can meal plan and base your grocery list off of this. Be honest, be realistic and be consistent. Not only will having a plan make you choose healthier options it will also save you money on take-out and fast food.

6. Get Up & Move! – Set a timer in your office and every hour stand up and do a few stretches, take a few deep breaths or squat to tap your chair 25 times. This little bit of movement requires little effort, no change of clothes or major sweating, but it will give you that second wind or little boost of energy you are looking for. Plus…performing 25 squats each hour would average you somewhere around 360 squats daily!!! That’s is one tight, firm tushy you could have…

Here is a 5-min Office Friendly Workout for you to try…