5 Foods To Avoid While At Work
Working in a busy office often leaves us with very less or often no time to think about healthy food habits. One tends to be careless about eating the right kind of food, ending up in gorging unhealthy snacks and beverages. It is very essential to know about certain hidden facts that make common office foods unhealthy to consume. If you want to keep yourself healthy and fit in the long run, it is better to avoid these 5 foods during work:
1. Ready To Eat Packs
Photo by Muttley, CC BY-SA 3.0
Most of us often lose on time in the morning rush hour. As a result, packing lunch from home does not remain a priority. Instead, we are happier to buy a ready-to-eat pack of noodles during lunch time that just needs hot water to be added. Such simple and easy foods might seem a good choice but secretly they are doing more harm to our body than we can ever imagine. If you read the ingredients carefully, you will find that there are harmful chemicals like MSG (Mono Sodium Glutamate) which has been linked to various deficiencies and cancers in research. Such ‘convenience foods’ may seem to make life easier. But consuming them regularly and skipping a healthier meal compromises with the body’s health and makes it vulnerable to a variety of diseases.
2. Market Baked Birthday Cakes And Creamy Truffles
Every now and then, there is a reason to celebrate in the corporate culture. Employees’ birthdays, achieving targets, Boss’s birthday and other such celebrations usually call for tempting cakes that are offered to all. Such cakes with thick creamy toppings may be mouth melting and extremely tasty, but they are loaded with artificial colors and partially hydrogenated oils. The sweetener used in most market bought cakes is not the real sugar, but high fructose corn syrup which is a growing health hazard and is present in all packaged foods and artificially sweetened drinks. So, the next time, if you wish to celebrate a birthday in your office, try a homemade freshly baked cake decorated with nuts and fresh fruits which will definitely be appreciated by one and all.
3. Foods That Get Smelly When Heated In The Office
If you have a small office and microwaving food leaves the smell lingering from one desk to the other, avoid bringing such foods that your colleagues don’t like smelling or those that emit a strong odor when re-heated. For instance, microwave popcorn has a characteristic smell which hangs around in the room for quite some time when prepared in the microwave. Similarly, some fish and egg dishes also exude a pungent smell when re-heated which might not be very pleasant for most people.
4. Frozen Meals
Photo by banditob, CC BY-ND 2.0
These days, many offices offer free frozen meal packets for their employees to save time. The dining areas are equipped with more than a dozen varieties of such frozen foods and you can choose to eat delicious vegetarian or non-vegetarian to be re-heated and just eaten. The major problem with these frozen burgers, pizzas and sausages is they contain hydrogenated palm oil, which is a source for dangerous trans-fats. Also, the ingredients used to make such products are not the same as in fresh counterparts. So, if you are a working couple or a busy professional, think twice before reaching out for a frozen meal the next time.
5. Smoothies
If you are buying a smoothie from your canteen or nearby store, you might be thinking about is as a healthy and low-fat filling option for your lunch time. But as is the case with most of the foods labeled ‘fat free’ or ‘low fat’ in the stores, these are usually more harmful than they look. They are loaded with inorganic preservatives and additives which are flavor enhancing but put our bodies at a higher risk to ailments such as hypertension, diabetes and cancer. A smoothie has ice-cream, fruity sugar syrups and high fat milk or yoghurt which is not very healthy to consume every day. Try out a fresh fruit homemade smoothie instead, which is equally refreshing and healthier.
Eating healthy and making the right food choices during work can not only reward you with a better performance but will also ensure that you are taking care of your body. So, make a conscious effort to say ‘No’ to unhealthy and processed foods and try to go ‘natural’ with fresh and healthy stuff. That will really make a difference!