Working from home means greater control over what you eat, when you eat, and how much time you put into making your meals. While there’s no vending machine in reach, eating can still spiral into endless snacking when you have access to your own cupboards. Planning your meals, both on a weekly and a daily basis, and preparing healthy choices to munch on throughout your work day will make a big difference.
Meal Planning and Portions
When Sunday night rolls around, the last thing you want to be doing is prepping food for your week. Doing your food prep on a Sunday morning can free up the rest of your day and diminish would-be Sunday stress. Food prep is useful partly because it will save you time throughout the week, but also because if you have a set of containers with things you know you like to eat that are healthy, you’re much less likely to eat chips directly from the bag or have bowl after bowl of cereal. Instead, you’ll be eating a set amount of roasted vegetables or baked potatoes. Here are some great {and inspiring} meal prep recipes to start you off.
Put Lunch on Your Calendar
It may sound a little ridiculous, but whether you use a wall calendar or your smartphone, writing lunch into your calendar will remind you to take time away from your desk. By separating out your lunch from your work, you will find yourself rejuvenated for the second half of the day, and you will enjoy your time eating more thoroughly which will squash cravings later on in the day. Health professionals even recommend setting three alarms: one for a morning snack, one for lunch, and one for an afternoon snack. This way, you won’t be eating willy-nilly throughout the day, and instead will satisfy your hunger at set times in controlled and healthy time blocks.
Lunch When You’re on A Deadline
On the days where your schedule is too tight for a luxurious lunch, make a smoothie and add in some peanut butter to give you an extra boost. For smoothie days, keep some cut up celery and hummus in the fridge to snack on, because you’ll likely want something to chomp on after a drinkable lunch.
Schedule Lunch with Friends
Working from home can be a solitary process. Meeting up with a friend or relative to eat and talk can restore your energy, especially if you take a short walk sometime in the process. Outdoor time and social time are both healthy additions to a workday and can improve your mood throughout.
Meal Planning Is A Balancing Act
So as not to burn out, don’t be too strict with your meal planning. It’s about balancing your cravings and healthy options. If you eat a quinoa/veggie lunch every day, you might feel good, but you also might feel a bit bored. So, break it up, and help yourself to some fun snacks, like licorice or chocolate covered almonds. You can always order in every once in a while as a treat!
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