WFH (WFH = Working From Home) is the acronym of the past two years. The COVID-19 pandemic likely changed the routines of many. With a growing number of people working from home, what can be said of their diet patterns?
An online survey monitored these changes between April 30 and May 8, 2020 and found that working from home was actually associated with an improved diet quality, including increased intake of vegetables and fruits. However, it raised a concern of overconsumption of snacks. 1
What are some tips to make WFH a success from a nutritional point of view? Strategize! Consider the following tips:
1. Make sure your work space or home office is not in or too close to the kitchen or pantry. This makes it all too easy to snack and graze all day long. Plan to visit the kitchen, refrigerator, or pantry only during planned meals or snacks.
2. This next point goes hand in hand with #1. Plan or schedule times for meals and snacks. Don't leave it up in the air, spontaneous, or at random. Make a schedule and stick to it!
3. Try to include at least three food groups in your snack, including a high-fiber carbohydrate, a healthy fat, and a protein. View your snack as a mini-meal. You would never eat just rice or just pasta or just chicken at a meal. Typically, we combine a lean protein, a whole grain or starch, a veggie, and some type of taste-enhancing healthy fat for a balanced, complete meal. Why not view snacks the same way, just smaller since they are simply a bridge until the next meal?
4. Try to avoid distracted eating as much as possible. This includes working while eating. This weakens your ability to focus on fullness cues that signal when it is time to stop eating, thus leading to overeating.
5. Don't forget to drink plenty of water regularly throughout the day. Avoid sugary drinks as much as possible. For more flavor, choose seltzer water, tea, or naturally flavored water.
6. Don't turn your pantry into a vending machine. It's much easier to practice self-control at the grocery store than at home. Make a list of smart snack foods to buy at the store and stick to it. Then you will have less tempting options in your home.
7. Plate or portion out your snacks. Avoid eating straight out of a bag or container. It's too easy to overeat this way.
8. Ask yourself why you are about to eat a snack. If it is for true hunger, carry on. If it is just because you need a break, reconsider. This might get you down the path of emotional eating. Remember, emotional eating is not only about eating for negative emotional reasons, such as sadness or stress. It can also include neutral emotions, such as boredom, or positive emotions, such as joy for accomplishing something. These neutral and positive emotions are tricky to identify as potential traps that lead to overeating for emotional reasons.
9. Try to always have "easy" fruits and veggies on hand. By easy, we mean easy to wash, cut, or prepare. You might not be inclined to go through all the labor of cleaning and chopping a pineapple for a quick snack but if you have it chopped already for the week, you may reach out for it. Other easy fruit and veggie ideas include baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, celery sticks, cucumbers, grapes, bananas, berries, apples, oranges, clementines, and much more.
10. Pack a lunch. Yep, pack a lunch and take it with you on a brief walk to the nearest park to eat outside for a lunch break. Changing the environment might help refresh you for the next half of your workday and make the meal more satisfying. The more satisfying a meal is, the less likely we are to overeat. This may also eliminate the temptation to be distracted by work or to munch on more foods available in the house.
References
1. Koryu Sato, Satomi Kobayashi, Mai Yamaguchi, Ryohei Sakata, Yuki Sasaki, Chiaki Murayama, Naoki Kondo,Working from home and dietary changes during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal study of health app (CALO mama) users,Appetite,Volume 165,2021,105323,ISSN 0195-6663, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105323.