Importance Of Eating Right When Working from Home

When working from home, lunch plans often take a back seat, meaning it can become all too tempting to eat unhealthy food. This is bad news because eating healthy – particularly when working from home – is very important.

Why is it so important to eat right when working from home? The unique circumstances of working from home mean that it can be particularly difficult to enjoy a healthy diet. Studies suggest that an unhealthy diet plays a part in 678,000 deaths each year in the U.S. alone. Work from home workers must make a concerted effort to eat healthily, exercise, and socialize regularly to stay healthy and productive.

If you’re working from home, eating healthy can help you to stay fit and reduce the chances of suffering from serious diseases. And it’s not as difficult as it seems. By following some simple rules and accessing the right information you can set yourself up for success.

The Risks of a Poor Diet

Modern nutrition continues to shine a light on just how devastating an unhealthy diet can be. The World Health Organization understands, however, that dietary habits aren’t just an individual problem, but are shaped on a societal level according to things like class, location, age, and occupation.

Thanks to improvements to digital technology, working from home has become a viable option for many workers across the world. While there are lots of benefits to this in terms of freedom, flexibility, and autonomy, there are health risks.

Without trips to cafés and restaurants – and without the pressure to prepare food – many remote workers fail to eat a balanced diet. Paired with extended periods of inactivity, this can be very hazardous to a person’s health.

In the short term, a poor diet can lead to tiredness, susceptibility to stress, and lower work productivity. This is not why you started working remotely.

Over the long-term, however, the prognosis gets far worse. An unhealthy diet can lead to:

high cholesterol
eating disorders
heart disease and stroke
type-2 diabetes
some cancers
depression
being overweight or obese
osteoporosis
tooth decay
high blood pressure

The World Health Organization Definition of a Healthy Diet

In its guidance on diets, the World Health Organization notes that a healthy diet includes:

“eating more fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts and grains; cutting down on salt, sugar and fats. It is also advisable to choose unsaturated fats, instead of saturated fats and towards the elimination of trans-fatty acids.”

The overall rules are simple but to improve your chances of having a healthy diet, you may want professional advice.

Finding Dietary Advice

There are a number of sources remote workers can learn about nutrition. Of course, the internet offers a wealth of information with studies and research from nutritionists being published regularly.

This information is condensed and interpreted by a range of blogs and podcasts which can educate and inform remote workers in a casual way. These sources are also complemented by a wealth of websites which host recipes and cooking tips.

If you’re seriously concerned about how your diet will be affected by working from home, you could even consider enlisting the help of a nutritionist. Nutritionists can help develop a meal plan designed for what works for you.

Danger Foods to Avoid

Working from home means that cookies, sweets, and other tasty treats can be just a few steps away. The fruit bowl from the office is no longer there, and our sweet tooth can tempt us to make the wrong decisions.

As a rule of thumb, it’s important for remote workers to avoid meals which contain too many calories as well as excess fats, saturated fats, and trans fats. Too much sodium and sugar can also wreak havoc on a person’s health, so they should be avoided too.

Taking the Right Breaks

Many remote workers explain that work can tend to dominate their day and take over. Given that there’s no physical distinction between work and home, it can be easy for the hours to blend together.

This is why it’s important for remote workers to take proper breaks at lunch (and dinner). This can be time to unwind, prepare some nutritious food, or even meet with a friend or colleague to eat together.

This leads to healthier eating habits while also helping remote workers to get some light exercise and avoid the social pitfalls of working from home.

Leveraging New Technology

In recent years a variety of health applications have rocketed to prominence. These apps include calorie counters, meal planners, and activity monitors. When it’s so easy to get lost in work and make a healthy diet an afterthought, these apps can give remote workers important reminders.

Wearable technology can also be a powerful tool in the fight back against unhealthy lifestyles among remote workers. Devices like the Apple Watch can prompt their wearers to take regular breaks and short walks to ensure they are achieving regular activity. These devices also monitor a person’s activity and are becoming more sophisticated with each passing year.

Complementing Diet with Exercise

While a person’s diet is incredibly important, the essential role of exercise cannot be understated. The World Health Organization again has a range of guidance when it comes to the amount of exercise an adult should enjoy.

As a general rule of thumb, adults between the ages of 18-64 should,

“do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity activity.”

Tip: try walking while taking phone calls