Restarting your healthy work day

Start your day with breakfast

Catching up with colleagues, meeting with clients, writing reports. Your schedule probably takes a lot of stamina and brain power. A healthy breakfast can fuel up your mind and body for the busy day ahead. Try to balance your morning intake with different nutrients, like whole-grains, proteins and vegetables. We’re often in a hurry in the morning, and end up grabbing a quick bite at a fast food restaurant or even skipping breakfast altogether. That’s why it’s a good idea to prepare the next morning’s breakfast before bedtime, such as yogurt, fruits, whole-grain cereals or boiled eggs.

Stay hydrated

So you think you don’t need to drink water as long as you’re not thirsty in the office? In fact, by the time you want a drink of water, your body is already dehydrated. That’s why you can’t tell whether you’re drinking enough water just by how thirsty you feel. Generally speaking, each kilogram of body weight needs 30ml of water. That means a person who weighs 50kg, for example, needs 1,500ml of water each day. That’s at least 6 glasses of water just to replenish your body’s water content¹.

Don’t like drinking water because it’s tasteless? Just add a few slices of lemon to give it a flavour to savour.

On your feet

A lack of physical activity or sitting most of the time could lead to excess weight, obesity as well as high blood pressure, blood sugar and blood lipids. Try giving your body “standing breaks”. Use your phone’s alarm clock or your sports watch to remind yourself to get on your feet once in a while and walk around a little. It will help stimulate circulation, freshen your mind and reduce the chances of having back and neck pains.

Tips for increasing your activity level:

• Suggest stand-up meetings to your colleagues
• Do presentations on your feet
• Add a height-adjustable laptop stand to your office desk, so you can alternate between chair and feet
• Exit the elevator at a lower floor and walk up to your office to give your body more of a workout

Homemade lunches – more savings, better nutrition

If you want to maintain a low-carbohydrate, low-carbon diet, or even go vegetarian, bringing homemade lunches to the office is the best way to control what and how much you eat, and keep excess sugar, salt and oil out of it too. Your lunch, your call!

A healthy diet encompasses the food’s sustainability. Try cutting down on meat and have more varieties of vegetables. Getting different vitamins and nutrients from different vegetables is not only good for the body but eco-friendly. Need some inspiration in the kitchen? There are many easy recipes available on the internet. Practice makes perfect, so start cooking and bring out the master chef in you.

Bring your own snacks

There are different ways to deal with pressure at work. You and your colleagues might be in the habit of contributing to a “snacks fund” to maintain a veritable buffet of potato chips, chocolates, beef jerky and candies in the office. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with snacking as long as you know what to satisfy your munchies with. Foods that contains “good fats”, such as nuts, vegetable chips, yogurt, fresh fruits, etc., are perfectly fine. According to a Harvard University survey, eating more than three meals a day can actually help you maintain a healthy lifestyle and even lose weight². Just remember, don’t over-indulge and watch the sugar.

Make time for exercise

Whenever there’s time left after lunch, go to a nearby park or shopping mall for a walk. And if your office keeps flexible lunch hours, consider going to yoga class or doing some machine exercises after a light lunch to stay in shape.