Workplace and Eating habits: Are they related?
How many times have you ditched your packed lunch to eat something from your favorite stall outside your workplace? It happens to the best of us, even more when we have company! Social gatherings like parties and celebrations can make it even harder to stick to healthy eating habits and diet practices. Aren’t the food choices we make somehow influenced by our food buddies?
(For quick list of key takeaways, check towards the end of the article)
The same goes at work, too! For instance, imagine going to the cafeteria at your workplace, how likely are you to make the same choice over a snack as your co- worker? If you are already blaming your colleague for this, here are 4 factors which can affect your eating habits.
1 — Working hours and duration
Have an early morning shift? Waking up to the last snooze of the alarm and having to make it to work in no time, leaves you short of time to make a healthy breakfast. Resorting to either a cup of coffee, ready-to-eat meals or skipping meals entirely becomes a part of your routine. Can eating a wholesome meal at lunch help to compensate for this poor habit you have built over a long time?
With a hectic schedule at work, making time for a relaxed lunch break can also be a task. Kudos to you, if you managed to pack your lunch! If not, you’re most likely to grab an easy not-so-healthy lunch option or choose to just order-in or go out instead.
Pre-planning your day, meals and snacks and getting them from home can leave you out of all the hassle while still allowing you to stick to your eating patterns. Prepping for meals the night before or preparing large batches of food and storing them for later can help you to eat clean and healthy even while working. Using pre-cut or frozen veggies and stocking up on instant foods like oats or poha as occasional meal fixes can save your time on a busy day.
2 — Work buddies
Believe it or not, we are constantly trying to mimic the people that we are close to or those that we associate ourselves with. They can influence what and how much we eat. It is more of a social norm that affects our subconscious mind and the choices we make.
An article published by WebMD¹ talks about how social pressure influences food choices, and that, “people who were told that other people were making low-calorie or high-calorie food choices were much more likely to make the same choices themselves. Accordingly, people who were told that others are eating large quantities of food are more likely to eat more”.
Every time your colleague is on a break, do you silently think about joining him/ her for a cup of coffee or a snack? While snacking is good and necessary to keep you energized the whole day, it all comes down to what kind of food you choose to snack on. So, carrying foods that you can munch on like fruits and nuts or stacking your desk with some healthy options can also come in handy. This also gives you an opportunity to share your healthy snack with your colleagues that can motivate them to eat healthy as well. It is possible to eat right while eating out by making right food choices, splitting the meal with a friend or getting a to-go box for the leftovers can help you to maintain portion control.
3 — The hitch with working night shifts
Working night shifts will have an impact on sleeping patterns, hunger and satiety. Increased number of meals or snacks might be necessary to provide required energy to work through the shift. Lack of access to fresh and healthy options at night at the cafeteria and increased consumption of other packed or stored foods can greatly affect eating habits & shoot up overall calorie intake. Eating small frequent meals are necessary and one can achieve that by either carrying their own meals, choosing healthier options like fruit bowls, soups and sandwiches at the cafeteria, or corporate setups can make provisions to supply healthy food options to their employees.
4 — Team meetings or a lunching opportunity?
It’s evident that all meetings do end with sweet treats or with treating oneself at the snack bar. While it is a great way to interact and socialize with team members, it is necessary to inculcate right eating habits by providing healthier and nutritious options as a part of the meeting rituals. This can help to acknowledge the need for eating right and eating healthy while at work.
Since most part of the day is spent at work, it is a great opportunity to include healthy food interventions to help create awareness and promote right eating habits among the employees. Promoting healthy eating habits and patterns at work through health and nutrition interventions, lunch and learns or by becoming a part of a corporate wellness program can help to improve the employees’ knowledge, awareness and motivation to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Apart from these, the organization can also take measures to inculcate right eating habits by providing healthy alternatives at the cafeteria and during team meetings. Swapping refined sugar and high fat laden processed foods with healthy vegetable juices, smoothies and fruit bowls can promote healthy eating among employees.
Eating habits can be contagious and can help to get more individuals involved in the cycle of eating healthy. While it is okay to let loose sometimes, you can still be on a healthy track by choosing better options for meals and snacks or control your portion sizes while eating out. Therefore, it is important for both corporates and individuals to encourage one another to eat healthy and stay fit to improve everyone’s overall well being.
Key takeaways:
- While considering the eating habits of an individual, they are found to be greatly affected by their social environment and the people they closely associate and interact with.
- A workplace can greatly influence an employees eating habits through factors like their working hours, co-workers and work shifts.
- Efforts should be made to provide healthier options for employees whenever possible like team meetings, cafeterias or any other source that is accessible by them.
References:
- https://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20131230/peer-pressure-may-influence-your-food-choices
- https://sportmedbc.com/article/how-workplace-can-impact-your-eating-habits
- https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00346650410560398/full/html
- https://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/pdf/Healthy_Worksite_food.pdf
