4 Healthy Snack Ideas to Bring to Work

One of the most difficult aspects of sticking to a strict, balanced diet is keeping that balance when snacking at work. Long days at work often need to be broken up, and people snack to keep their energy levels up or often just to break up the day. While it can be quite easy to carefully plan the main meals of your day, planning your in between meal snacks can often prove problematic. However, it can be done. With a little preparation and the right mind-set, you can ensure that those mid-morning or late afternoon snacks don’t ruin your diet! Let’s take a look at a number of simple snacks that are easy to prepare and tasty to eat!

Mixed Fruit

 Fruit is an excellent source of vitamins and nutrients, and yet it’s something that most of us don’t eat enough of. Bringing an apple or banana in to work involves no preparation, little cost, and is a tasty way of boosting your energy levels. For those looking for a little more variety, why not prepare a fruit salad. Chop up your favourite fruit or berries and you can have a delicious treat that won’t mess up your daily diet!

Yoghurt

 Yoghurts can be a superb source of probiotics, vital for maintaining a healthy gut. Much like fruit, yoghurts involve little no preparation, and also offer a range of flavours for a varied experience from day to day. Similarly, by choosing healthy yoghurts, you can ensure that your afternoon snack doesn’t ruin your appetite, nor your waist line!

Smoothies

 Smoothies can be a superb way of treating yourself during the working day. By preparing a smoothie to bring to work, you can ensure that you are getting enough fruit and veg in your diet, and give yourself an excellent energy boost when the afternoon lag sets in! Smoothies also allow you to vary your snack from day to day, ensuring that every day feels like a new treat!

Salads

 Salads don’t have to be grand, extravagant affairs. A simple salad can consist of a hard-boiled egg and just a few of your favourite vegetables. The preparation time for a salad snack is minimal, but the benefits are huge. Tasty and healthy, salads are one of the most under-utilised workplace snacks

So why not ditch the chocolate bar and crisps for a healthy, easy to prepare workplace snack!

Do You Eat Enough Fruits and Vegetables Every Day?

Many of us grew up with parents and teachers advocating that we should be eating fruit and vegetables 5 times a day. “One of your 5 a day” has long been an advertising slogan for branded foodstuffs, more often than not slapped on an item that really shouldn’t be considered a fruit or veg helping. Yet, in adulthood, we often forget that which we learned as a child. Few people doubt that fruits and vegetables are a good source of vitamins and nutrients, but does that mean that we are eating enough of them?

Consensus differs amongst academics regarding specific quantities, but the most up to date recommendations on this subject would advocate that an adult eat five servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit every day. That might sound like a lot, but when you break it down it really shouldn’t be considered all that much. In fact, it should be a basic standard.

When considering breakfast, many people will stick to that which they know. This often involves toast, cereal or even nothing more than a cup of coffee. Whether breakfast is or is not the most important meal of the day may be debatable, but there is no doubt that a good breakfast sets your body up for the day ahead. Very few people consider fruit for their breakfast, when it should be a staple. Switching a bowl of cereal full of added sugars for a banana could make a huge difference in your overall diet.

Lunch is a great time to load up on vegetables. Again, all too often people repeat the same mistake that they make at breakfast time. Deli made sandwiches and rolls may taste nice, but they are packed full of carbs and calories, and are often severely lacking in proper servings of vegetables. Swapping the sandwich for a homemade salad can be the perfect way to redress an imbalance you may have in your diet. Vegetables also make for ideal snacks. Ditch the packet of popcorn, the biscuits or the fizzy drink you have to keep you going between lunch and dinner and swap it for a piece of fruit, or even a fruit and veg smoothie.

These are all small changes you can make to your diet, but these small changes can do wonders for your health, and your waistline. Fruit and vegetables should be at the core of our daily dietary intake, and yet they are all too often forgotten about for their more attractive carb-cousins. Ask yourself this; are you eating 5 servings of veg and 2 of fruit every day? If not, you’re probably not eating enough fruit and veg.