Working from Home

As working from home is on the rise, the classic structure of the work day where you have a scheduled lunch hour and maybe one or two shorter breaks in which to grab nourishing snacks is not available to many of us. If you work from home, you know the drill: the changed expectations around your work habits and the lack of definition between work time and non-work time often lead to eye-dizzying computer marathons that make you feel that you can’t walk away from your email long enough to eat a real meal or put more than thirty seconds of thought into what to snack on.

This work structure can have genuine problems for your dietary choices. One of the core concepts of mindful eating, which has been high on our radar during National Nutrition Month, is that your brain, body and stomach need time and attention to communicate about what you’ve eaten. To feel full, to feel satisfied by your food choices, you need to carve out a little space and time to really see, smell and understand whether what you’ve eaten has met your needs.

After a workout, Strawberry Mint Spritzer is a refreshing way to rehydrate.
Keeping low-calorie beverages at your desk can help minimize unnecessary snacking. Try this Strawberry Mint Spritzer recipe for something fun and a little special once in awhile.

Fortunately for those of us with very little time on our hands, adopting mindful eating requires some pretty minimal changes that can help establish powerful habits for making nourishing choices. Your mind and body alike will thank you for adopting some of these rituals that will make it easier to take better care of you.

Listen to the Pros

Kit Broihier  and Allison Stowell chat about some of their favorite strategies for avoiding those frequent trips to the kitchen that serve as a distraction when you need a break from focusing. From what to keep at hand to keeping track of what passes from hand to mouth throughout the day, they’ve got practical, easy to implement suggestions for making your work-from-home day better for you.

This audio clip is part of a series on mindful eating captured as part of our preparation for our Mindful Meals webinar. For more tips on mindfulness, watch the free webinar or listen to more clips from this audio series.