herbed tofu

I’ve been thinking a lot about office jobs and how they can affect your health. Think about the normal circumstances for most individuals that work in an office based 9-5. They sit at a desk for 8 hours a day staring at a computer, more than likely eat snacks and lunch at their desk, and email, IM, or tweet co-workers rather than walking to the other person’s office (even if it’s a measly 10 feet away). And I’m not judging because I do all these things as well. But this is only part of it- there’s also the office kitchen with homemade baked goods, donuts and snacks. After that description the office is looking like a healthy living trap. But, it doesn’t necessarily have to be…

Women’s Health magazine had some interesting stats about healthy eating at work in their November issue.

• 47% of employees say office snack options keep them from eating healthy
• 63% of people think eating healthy at work is a challenge
• 36% say their company provides access to fruit and vegetables
• 35% say their company provides access to candy
• 28% are satisfied with the healthy snack options at work.

They particularly struck a cord with me because my office does provide snacks and drinks and I am actually in charge of purchasing the fruit. Typically I buy apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes each week and occasionally I switch it up and bring something seasonal. For instance, this past week I brought in the normal fruits along with some pears. I’m definitely not able to complain about the healthy options at my job because we do have things like nuts, fruit, oatmeal and pretzels. Plus if there is any snack you want the office manager (Hi Molly!) to buy you can simply put it on her list. She even started getting La Croix for us. I think there are only 3 people who actually like it, and a couple of my co-workers have picked it up thinking it was off-brand soda and were in for a real surprise.

This doesn’t mean I don’t have the usual office suspects like birthday cakes and donuts to tempt me, but it’s good to know there are healthy options if I want a snack. After reading the survey results above, I’m assuming my office isn’t the norm and that the average workplace probably doesn’t provide healthy snack options or any snack options for that matter. But either way you can still eat healthy at work. Coming from a lady that works about 15 feet from the office kitchen, here are some of my favorite tips-

• Pack your own ready to eat snacks -veggies (carrots, peppers, cucumbers), easy to eat fruit (apples, bananas, grapes, pears, kiwis, oranges), single servings of nuts or trail mix, and healthy snack bars for emergencies. If you have access to a fridge you can bring in yogurt or cheese.
• Gum can help some people from snacking too often, but I try to stay away from gum because I’ll chew one piece after another of the sugar free variety and the sugar alcohols cause bloating, gas, and discomfort- I’ll stop there!
• Drink sparkling water (like La Croix, Sparking Essence) or  Kombucha (Synergy or Katalyst Kombucha) Both are carbonated and keep me feeling full.
• VERY IMPORTANT- Always have water on hand so that you stay hydrated and can make certain your not feeling hungry but in reality just thirsty.
• Another good trick- especially in the fall and winter is to drink warm beverages like tea or hot water to keep you feeling full and warm. I do this all day!
• As for the sweet treats, if you really want to have a bite of something- don’t deprive yourself. Get a reasonable sized portion, enjoy the treat and don’t fret about it. I usually pass on donuts because I don’t really like them, but with cake and other goodies I usually keep the homemade rule in mind. If it’s store bought it’s probably not that great and not worth it, but if it’s homemade and looks delicious it’s probably worth it.

So that’s that. My eats today were good. To start, a bowl of quinoa flakes with raisins and two blobs- one of better n pb and one of homemade pumpkin butter.

For lunch I ate the Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad with Tahini again. This time I added a little protein- local, soy sauce marinated, herbed tofu.

Twas pure deliciousness yet again. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have this for dinner as well. I actually baked the marinated tofu and had a slice of that along with more butternut salad. It’s all gone now so you won’t have to deal with any more repeat dinner and lunches- at least not until I make it again (which probably will be soon!) muahhahaha

And last but not least, here’s a bad photo of something you’d probably never expect to see on my blog, but as proof that healthy living/eating bloggers aren’t always perfect. My snack tonight was a mug of Cookie Crisp!! Granted I didn’t buy the cereal, (it’s Isaac’s) I had a hankering for it that I couldn’t deny.

This mug is actually a cereal mixture (something I used to do all the time when I was a kid) of Cookie Crisp, Crispix, and Ezekiel Golden Flax cereal- what a combo! My favorite cereals growing up were Cookie Crisp, Cinnamon Life and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I hadn’t had any of these in ages but tonight brought back some good memories.

So with all that said, let me ask your perspective, do you work in an office? Does said office sabotage your healthy eating goals? If you don’t work in an office, do you think your healthier because of it? And lastly, what were some of your favorite cereals as a child?

- Brittany

PS. For the last 45 minutes of work today, I moved my laptop from my desk to a counter and stood instead of sitting. It was actually quite hard and I kept wanting to go sit down, but I think I am going to try to incorporate at least 30-45 minutes of each day of standing time at work. I don’t want to get the sitting disease so I’m trying to increase my NEAT.

PPS. I saw a guy at the gym running on the treadmill with barefoot running socks. I’m still not sure what I think of these yet.

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