Are you one of the 7 out of 10 people in America who eat at their desks? We are! Not always, but sometimes desking and dining just can't be avoided. So when deadlines conflict with a nice lunch out, let's do the best we can to make desk dining as healthy and delicious as possible! There are two key things to keep your health in mind when you desk and dine.

How We Eat

Surprisingly, how we eat is actually more important than what we eat. When we are stressed, annoyed, angry or frustrated, your fight-or-flight response takes over and your sympathetic nervous system shuts down digestion. Have you ever had a meal sit like a brick in your stomach? That's pretty much what happens, because you're literally not able to digest unless your parasympathetic nervous system is activated. In other words, you have to relax. Easier said than done at work, right? Not entirely. All you need to do is take a minute or two before you eat and take five deep breaths. Deep, like into your belly. The body will have no choice but to switch off the stress system, and switch on the relaxation system. Voila!

What We Eat

Okay, now that you're relaxed, what do you eat? Bringing food from home is often a healthier choice, as you get to control the quality and type of food. Dinner leftovers are a great choice, as is a sprouted wrap from our recipe here. You can also keep a stash of high quality foods in your desk or your office frig, like almond butter, flax crackers, dried fruits, trail mix, fresh fruits, organic string cheese, high-quality food bars, hard boiled eggs, organic free-range turkey slices, sprouted wraps, and pre-cut veggies.

There's nothing wrong with one or two four ounce cups of caffeine a day, especially if you eat well but if you’re using coffee as your main source of energy, it won’t work. It has no nutrients to support metabolism, which is where energy really comes from.

Sweets and carbs raise your blood sugar temporarily, but when your levels drop, you’re left with less physical energy and mental alertness, and in some cases, cravings for more sugar. Worse than that, you could be doing yourself some long-term damage. The pancreas secretes insulin to remove excess sugar from your blood to maintain glycemic balance. Insulin is a master hormone, meaning that an excess of it can throw off other hormones like estrogen and progesterone. Years and years of excess insulin production leads to major problems: diabetes, higher cholesterol and high blood pressure.

• Incorporate short bursts of exercise and physical activity in your day.

• Take a stress management class at work or through your health plan.

• Incorporate deep breathing exercises throughout the day. Breathe in through the nose; breathe out through the moutn.  Make each breath last as long as possible.

• While at work - get up and walk around frequently; stand while talking on the telephone, stretch your neck, arms, back for a couple of minutes.
  
  
• Incorporate stretching exercises throughout the day. Stretch muscles that are tight, or just stretch because it feels good
  
  
• Relax your shoulders, a common place that people (especially computer users) hold tension. To release your shoulders, hunch them up by your ears and quickly release them as far down as they go. You may need to do these 2 or 3 times to really relax them.
  
  
• Use your commute to and from work to read a book, listen to a CD, or listen to relaxation tapes with sounds of the ocean.

Ten Habits of Effective Stress Managers

1. You know how to relax.
2. You eat well and exercise often.
3. You get enough sleep.
4. You don’t worry about the unimportant stuff.
5. You don’t get angry often.
6. You are organized and your life is not cluttered.
7. You manage your time efficiently.
8. You have and make use of a strong social support system.
9. You live according to your values – your goals are aligned with what’s important to you.
10. You have a good sense of humor.

A workplace wellness program can have many benefits for both employers and workers.  The most important benefit is healthier, happier lives for workers who in turn achieve greater results and are more productive on many levels.  This is something that improves our community and society as a whole as they benefit from this also.  Healthy employees experience increased job satisfaction, fewer absences and increased productivity, all of which affects your bottom line.

By providing wellness programs employers can help employees to understand their current health status and how to reduce health risks.  Workplace wellness programs provide access, opportunity and the encouragement workers need to actively participate in improving their own health.

Companies in various industries nationwide report saving millions of dollars due to corporate wellness programs and for well over a decade, research has been showing the consistent effectiveness and tangible benefits of workplace Wellness Programs.

“Just seven diet-related health conditions cost the United States $80 billion annually in medical costs and productivity losses.”

--ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE

Employers are becoming more aware that overweight and obesity, lack of physical activity, and tobacco use are adversely affecting the health and productivity of their employees and ultimately, the business’s bottom line.  For many companies, medical costs can consume half of corporate profits or more.  It is common now for employers to utilize cost sharing, cost shifting, managed care plans, risk rating, and cash-based rebates or incentives.  However, these methods only shift costs.  Workplace wellness promotion stands out as the long-term answer for keeping employees healthy and at less risk of disease.

Benefits of a Workplace Wellness Program

For the Employer:

For over a decade, research has been showing the effectiveness of Wellness Programs.  For every dollar spent on a Wellness Program, the returns have been cost savings of between $2.30 and $10.10 in the areas of decreased absenteeism, fewer sick days, reduced WSIB claims, lowered health and insurance costs, and improvements to employee performance productivity.

"A healthy employee is a productive employee."

Today, more than 81 percent of American businesses with 50 or more employees have some form of health promotion program – the most popular being exercise, smoking cessation classes, stress management, and healthy eating and nutrition programs.  Most employers offer wellness programs simply because they think the benefit is worth the cost.

Helping employees trim down can actually expand a company’s productivity and cut down on medical costs.  Policies and programs aimed at giving employees more opportunities to be physically active and eat well in the workplace can enhance a company’s bottom line by improving productivity, recruitment and retention, and by boosting worksite morale.

Health promotion is an investment in human capital.  Employees are more likely to be on the job and performing well when they are in optimal physical and psychological health.  They are also more likely to be attracted to, remain with, and value a company that obviously values them.

Offering healthy snack food alternatives is an easy start to showing your commitment to workplace wellness. Keep records to see that they are actually being used. Make sure the supply is fresh, clean, and attractively presented. If necessary, charge a fair price, but remember that the continued wellness of your employees impacts morale and your bottom line.

Here are some helpful tips and things to keep in mind:

• Read the label!  If you can’t pronounce the names of the ingredients inside, chances are it contains chemicals and additives and its best not to eat it.
• Choose snacks that are nutritious and unsweetened.   Sugar lowers immune system function for several hours after being eaten.
• Keep pure water dispensers in convenient locations around the office (preferably in 5 gallon dispensers rather than individual bottles – more cost effective and environmentally sound).
• Drink at least 8-10 glasses of purified water a day.  This often stops us from snacking out of boredom too.
• Make available a blender or juice extractor on-site which encourages healthy smoothies and fruit drinks to be made and cuts down on the urge to run out and grab something unhealthy, as does a fridge and a water cooler.