Snack Smart: Boosting Workplace Wellness with Healthy Snacking
First off, what is workplace wellness?
Think about showing up to work, feeling energized, motivated, and ready to take on the day. Then picture yourself feeling supported and encouraged to maintain that feeling throughout the entire work day because of choices you made for yourself. That’s workplace wellness. Taking care of YOU, while putting in the work for your company, business, or family.
Why Healthy Snacking Plays a Crucial Role in Maintaining Wellness at Work
Imagine it’s 10:45 am, you’re 15 minutes into a two hour long meeting, and you’re about to present your slide deck that took you hours to prepare. Your stomach starts to grumble and you’re finding it hard to pay attention to what the speaker before you is saying. Maybe your blood sugar is dropping, you’re feeling a little dizzy or irritable, and all you can think about is your lunch break that’s just around the corner. When your body has run out of easy to use fuel (i.e breakfast), it starts sending you signal after signal to EAT! Without your consent, your thoughts are driven towards food, lunch, something to quell the hunger. Your thoughts are not on your coworker presenting the strategic goals for the upcoming year.
ENTER: SNACKS!
It’s 10:45 am, you just finished your snack, an apple and handful of nuts, and you’re listening to your coworker present on the strategic goals and you’re thinking about different ways you can contribute to the goals for the year. You’re focused, you’re attentive, and you’re actually excited to share your slides that you worked so hard on. The meeting ends and you go off and enjoy your lunch break. By quelling hunger pains, leveling out your blood sugar, and possibly satisfying any cravings, you’re able to make full and productive use of that two hour meeting.
Choosing the Right Snacks
What foods come to mind when you think about the word ‘snack’ or ‘snacking’?
Do you think of something specific? A Snickers bar? A bag of chips? A few Reese’s Cups? Apple and a handful of nuts? Many people associate snacks with treats, but when it comes to maintaining productivity and focus at work, a Snickers bar isn’t going to cut it. Here’s why:
A snack that contains primarily carbohydrate, especially one laden with sugar like a candy bar, will raise your blood sugar, and therefore increase your energy, however without any protein or fiber to keep your energy up, could come crashing back down and leave you feeling more irritable or sleepy than before. An ideal, healthy snack to have at work is one that has at least two of these three components: a carbohydrate, a protein, and/or a vegetable. These have the best chance of keeping you focused, full, and ready to knock out your to-do list.
A Moment to Talk About Portion Control
If you’re having a snack between meals, and not snacking in place of a meal, the portions should be just enough to quell the hunger, but not too large where you won’t be full for your next meal. Let’s use whole grain crackers, cheese, and cherry tomatoes as an example. From a very general standpoint, a reasonable snack might be 6-8 crackers, 1 slice of cheese, and 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes. If you’re a larger, or more active individual, your body may need 10-12 crackers, 2 slices of cheese, and 1 cup of cherry tomatoes to feel satisfied until your next meal. The goal of snacks isn’t to feel as full as you would after having a meal, but enough to help you stay focused and energized until that next meal comes.
Nutrient-Rich Snack Ideas
Here are some ideas to get you started:
Hummus and Veggie Sticks: Dip baby carrots, cucumber slices, and red bell pepper strips into a creamy hummus for a satisfying and nutritious snack.
Greek Yogurt Parfait: Layer Greek yogurt with granola (carbohydrate), mixed berries (vegetable), and a drizzle of honey for added sweetness and protein.
Whole Grain Crackers with Cheese and Cherry Tomatoes: Pair whole grain crackers with slices of cheese and fresh cherry tomatoes. The crackers provide carbs, cheese adds protein, and tomatoes count as the vegetable.
Cottage Cheese with Pineapple: Top cottage cheese with fresh pineapple chunks (carb). The cottage cheese is a good source of protein.
Edamame with Sea Salt and Cucumbers: Steam edamame (young soybeans) and sprinkle them with sea salt for a protein-packed, low-carb snack and include sliced cucumbers on the side for your vegetable.
Avocado Toast: Spread mashed avocado on whole-grain toast (carb) and top it with poached or sliced hard-boiled eggs (protein). You can also add some sliced tomatoes for extra veggies.
Cucumber and Tuna Bites: Slice cucumbers into rounds and top them with a mixture of canned tuna (protein), a touch of mayo or Greek yogurt, and a sprinkle of dill.
Rice Cake with Peanut Butter and Banana Slices: Spread natural peanut butter on a rice cake (carb), and add banana slices (vegetable) on top for a quick and filling snack.
Seedy Crackers and Cheddar Cheese
Preparing Snacks in Advance
Just as you might prepare a few lunches for the week ahead of time, it’s helpful to also plan and prep snacks for the week to toss into your lunchbox on your way out the door. One recommendation is to wash and prep a few fruits and veggies right when you get home from the grocery store to easily pack, along with a bag of nuts, some pretzels, a cup of yogurt, etc… with you for work. To make things even easier, you can buy individual yogurt cups, pre-bagged nuts, pre-sliced and bagged apples, and string cheese so you don’t even have to prep anything. All you need to do is make sure these items come with you to work and you’re set!
Snacking Mindfully
I’ve mentioned a lot about snacking when hungry, or to keep your hunger at bay, but there are many of us who snack more-so to fill time, occupy our mind, or simply because of boredom. If you find yourself snacking mindlessly, here’s a few tips: 1. Portion out your snacks ahead of time. This is so important if you’re working from home. Avoid bringing the bag of pretzels, or an entire bag of nuts with you to your desk. Chances are, you may not recognize how many handful’s you’ve had while you’re trying to check emails or responding to Teams messages. 2. Use your breaks wisely. Have your snacks during your break, without computer distractions, so you can be fully present to enjoy your snack. If eating while distracted, you may not feel quite as full after eating your snack as you would if you payed closer attention to your bites of snack.
Encouraging Workplace Wellness through Snacking
If you’re reading this and wondering what you can do, for your workplace, to encourage productivity through snacking for your employees, look no further! Consider what is offered for staff, if anything, through vending machines, office kitchens, or cafeterias. No, you don’t need to get rid of candy bars and donuts from the break room, but if that’s all that’s offered, your staff have no other options if they’re feeling hungry and they didn’t bring something from home. Consider offering more nutritious items in the vending machines, something as simple as mixed nuts, beef jerky, or a decent protein bar. Ask for yogurt cups, individually wrapped string cheeses, and fruit to be available at the cafeteria during work hours. If your office doesn’t provide food of any kind, provide them with the resources, such as this blog post, about how to choose nutritious snacks and they are beneficial for workplace wellness.
Let’s Summarize!
Snacking often means something different to everyone. Is it a way to bridge the gaps between meals? A time to enjoy a tasty treat? A way to fill in the nutrient gaps for what you’re missing at meals? A way to kill time between meetings? Whatever the reason, snacking can be such a great tool to boost productivity and wellness in the workplace. Sure, some snacks are better than others, but nothing plummets productivity like a growling stomach and a woozy, low blood sugar situation.
If you found this post helpful, but still have a few questions on portion control, mindful snacking, or anything really, navigate over to the contact page and shoot me a message. I’ll create a full blog post on that topic, just for YOU! Make sure and subscribe to the Helpful Dietitian so you can be alerted when your questions are answered. Happy Snacking!
Quick Summary
Choose a snack that has at least two of these three nutrients: a carbohydrate, a protein, and/or a vegetable.
Carbohydrate: gives you an energy boost. Your brain LOVES carbohydrates!
Protein: helps to maintain that energy boost
Vegetable: helps fill you up