Summary

While it can be a hassle, working from home can be a great money-saving tool. Before you start your work-at-home business, read this post to make sure it doesn’t come at a cost.

Maybe before most of us started working from home, we had a grand idea of how each meal would play out. A delectable spread of fruits, yogurt, granola, and nuts each morning, a kale and quinoa salad with cranberries and homemade dressing for lunch, and as many healthy snacks as one should eat in a day, all healthy choices gracefully and tastefully kept inside of your pantry. 

What many of us didn’t actually consider was the time and effort it takes to feed yourself while trying to work from home.

If you’ve been struggling to get the proper nutrition with meal prepping to secure a balanced diet, all while maintaining that your home is also your work environment, we want to offer you some guidance and resources.

Use these seven tips to help stay focused at work and improve your mood by fueling up with healthy snacks, new easy recipes, and of course—leftovers. 

1. Learn About Nutrition!

In order to begin eating healthy, it is extremely helpful to do some research on nutrition and how certain foods affect your body. There are many not so healthy food options that are obvious to stay away from like chips high in saturated fats and candy high in sugar, but knowing about what makes up the food you're taking in is not black and white. 

Just because something has fruit bits in it, like some granola bars or instant oats, does not automatically make what you are eating a healthy food choice. Making sure that you understand how nutrition works and what your specific nutritional needs are can help when it comes to eating while working from home. 

Focus, work performance, and energy levels can be impacted if you aren’t eating as best as you can, especially when hunger strikes in the middle of a productivity groove. Knowing which foods provide more lean protein and less sugars can greatly affect how you feel and perform each and every day, so don’t forget to give that nutrition information a glance as you plan your lunch break.

2. Routine is Essential

When it comes to healthy eating habits, nailing down a routine can help to ensure you are getting enough nutrition throughout the day. Too often do we skip out on an often encouraged healthy breakfast, which can derail some people from eating properly for the rest of the day. 

When you build a healthy routine where you plan out what you are going to eat, you are eliminating the time and stress that comes with trying to figure out what to make for lunch and dinner. 

When you eat breakfast and lunch during your work day and pair that with healthy snacks, you give your body enough energy to focus and perform your best while you work. 

Finding healthy food choices and meals that you enjoy that don’t require too much preparation as you finally get a break from meetings and reports helps to build a routine that is easier to follow and uses up less of the mental energy reserved for work!

3. Don’t Skip Lunch

Sometimes finding the right meal for a healthy lunch can be really difficult. While salad and soup are always a great way to get a boost of energy and fulfill your hunger, sometimes we just crave that leftover carbohydrates-heavy pasta with the extra cheese because it’s easily accessible and doesn’t require a lot of effort to fill you up. 

You should carve out an actual time each day to have your lunch, just the same as you would if you were in your workplace. 

There are plenty of fresh options for lunches, whether it be picking up something from the restaurant down the road, trying a home delivery service, or meal prepping! Lunch is often where many people should aim to pack in their protein intake to give them the energy needed to complete their day.

4. Meal Prepping

The next time that you go to the grocery store, think ahead for the week and you’ll find it easier to incorporate healthy foods into your everyday routine. Meal prepping is a great way to ensure that you are eating throughout the work day and allows for more control over healthy eating habits.  

When you meal prep, you are considering what foods you’ll be eating for the next three to seven days or so. You should choose healthy options that will keep well in the fridge or pantry for at least a few days. Staples like rice, dried beans, chickpeas, and quinoa can be kept for over a year in the pantry and will stay good in the fridge after being prepared so you can use them for different dishes for a few days. 

You can buy your favorite vegetables in larger quantities and prepare them all at once, adding them to your meals and keeping the rest in airtight packaging in the fridge. 

If you are someone who enjoys chicken with their meals, you can buy and then freeze what you don’t use to keep it for later. 

When you lay out what you’re eating, it helps you to stick to a routine so you can avoid skipping meals. 

Sticking to a routine is all about make it easy to follow — let Thistle make meals the easiest part of your work week. Thistle delivers nutritious, gluten-free and dairy-free meals, snacks, juices, and even wellness shots right to your door. Learn more about how Thistle works here

5. Have Healthy Snacks Available

It’s important that you are eating when you are hungry. It can become distracting when you feel hungry and are trying to complete a task. Because of this, you should stock up on some healthy, energy-packed snacks to fuel you throughout the work day. If you are actively thinking about ways to replace some of your normal junk food snacks, you will notice a difference in how you feel!

There are plenty of foods you can snack on that won’t break the bank and can also be incorporated into other meals. Nuts are a great source of protein and fiber and can be added to many meals or enjoyed by themselves as a snack. Carrots and celery can be snacked on throughout the day with peanut butter or hummus, and then later used to cook for dinner or to put into a salad! 

When you have food that will clear that midday fog up, your body and mind will be thanking you. Many common snack foods give you a rush of energy before leading to a crash, so finding nutritious snacks you like can ease your transition into a healthier lifestyle. 

There are plenty of delicious gluten-free, dairy-free, sweet-without-sugar, protein-packed snacks out there. You don’t have to sacrifice enjoying what you’re eating in order to be healthy — they can coexist together!

6. Water, Water, and More Water

Staying hydrated is key when it comes to eating healthy and working from home. The effects of dehydration can lead to a loss of focus, exhaustion, and a foggy mind. 

When you have better focus and more energy, you’re more likely to eat a nutritious meal because you’ll have more motivation to make yourself something fulfilling and thoughtful. Improving your mood with nutrition and eating healthy will transfer over to your productivity and mood in the workplace.

7. Don’t Be Afraid of Leftovers

Leftovers can be a lifesaver! Sometimes you get hungry and what you’ve meal-prepped for lunch isn’t enough. The most important thing to do during the work day is to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients and sustenance to help you stay focused at work. Leftovers help to make this easy.

Another benefit of leftovers is that you’re still in control of what you’re eating because it’s something you’ve already chosen. You’ve already made it for yourself, so this will save you time during your work day! If you’ve got a hectic schedule, you can count on delicious leftovers, and by prepping healthy meals in the first place, it’s easy to grab those leftovers out of the fridge, guilt-free.

Things To Consider When Working From Home

For some, working from home made it harder to maintain a routine where healthy eating habits stayed in place. The transition from a set schedule of going into work, to simply waking up and grabbing your laptop was somewhat jolting! There is less of a time pressure to eat when you’re at home, but this doesn’t make it easier. Instead the work hours become more flexible, and so do your eating habits. 

You have many options to improve your healthy eating habits at home, whether that be through your own meal prepping or with a meal service like Thistle — we deliver healthy, prepared meals straight to your door. 

You should enjoy the luxury of having all of your cabinets available to you while you work from home and unlimited refrigerator space. 

Using these tips and tricks can help to support a healthier lifestyle and encourage better eating habits! 

Sources:

Healthy Diet | World Health Organization

The Science of Snacking | The Nutrition Source | Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

Water and Healthier Drinks | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity | CDC

Get meals delivered to your door
We believe eating delicious is crucial to a healthy diet. Each week, our team of chefs design a new menu for what's in season, fresh and flavorful.
Try Thistle
Posted 
 in 
Lifestyle
 category.
Summary

While it can be a hassle, working from home can be a great money-saving tool. Before you start your work-at-home business, read this post to make sure it doesn’t come at a cost.

Maybe before most of us started working from home, we had a grand idea of how each meal would play out. A delectable spread of fruits, yogurt, granola, and nuts each morning, a kale and quinoa salad with cranberries and homemade dressing for lunch, and as many healthy snacks as one should eat in a day, all healthy choices gracefully and tastefully kept inside of your pantry. 

What many of us didn’t actually consider was the time and effort it takes to feed yourself while trying to work from home.

If you’ve been struggling to get the proper nutrition with meal prepping to secure a balanced diet, all while maintaining that your home is also your work environment, we want to offer you some guidance and resources.

Use these seven tips to help stay focused at work and improve your mood by fueling up with healthy snacks, new easy recipes, and of course—leftovers. 

1. Learn About Nutrition!

In order to begin eating healthy, it is extremely helpful to do some research on nutrition and how certain foods affect your body. There are many not so healthy food options that are obvious to stay away from like chips high in saturated fats and candy high in sugar, but knowing about what makes up the food you're taking in is not black and white. 

Just because something has fruit bits in it, like some granola bars or instant oats, does not automatically make what you are eating a healthy food choice. Making sure that you understand how nutrition works and what your specific nutritional needs are can help when it comes to eating while working from home. 

Focus, work performance, and energy levels can be impacted if you aren’t eating as best as you can, especially when hunger strikes in the middle of a productivity groove. Knowing which foods provide more lean protein and less sugars can greatly affect how you feel and perform each and every day, so don’t forget to give that nutrition information a glance as you plan your lunch break.

2. Routine is Essential

When it comes to healthy eating habits, nailing down a routine can help to ensure you are getting enough nutrition throughout the day. Too often do we skip out on an often encouraged healthy breakfast, which can derail some people from eating properly for the rest of the day. 

When you build a healthy routine where you plan out what you are going to eat, you are eliminating the time and stress that comes with trying to figure out what to make for lunch and dinner. 

When you eat breakfast and lunch during your work day and pair that with healthy snacks, you give your body enough energy to focus and perform your best while you work. 

Finding healthy food choices and meals that you enjoy that don’t require too much preparation as you finally get a break from meetings and reports helps to build a routine that is easier to follow and uses up less of the mental energy reserved for work!

3. Don’t Skip Lunch

Sometimes finding the right meal for a healthy lunch can be really difficult. While salad and soup are always a great way to get a boost of energy and fulfill your hunger, sometimes we just crave that leftover carbohydrates-heavy pasta with the extra cheese because it’s easily accessible and doesn’t require a lot of effort to fill you up. 

You should carve out an actual time each day to have your lunch, just the same as you would if you were in your workplace. 

There are plenty of fresh options for lunches, whether it be picking up something from the restaurant down the road, trying a home delivery service, or meal prepping! Lunch is often where many people should aim to pack in their protein intake to give them the energy needed to complete their day.

4. Meal Prepping

The next time that you go to the grocery store, think ahead for the week and you’ll find it easier to incorporate healthy foods into your everyday routine. Meal prepping is a great way to ensure that you are eating throughout the work day and allows for more control over healthy eating habits.  

When you meal prep, you are considering what foods you’ll be eating for the next three to seven days or so. You should choose healthy options that will keep well in the fridge or pantry for at least a few days. Staples like rice, dried beans, chickpeas, and quinoa can be kept for over a year in the pantry and will stay good in the fridge after being prepared so you can use them for different dishes for a few days. 

You can buy your favorite vegetables in larger quantities and prepare them all at once, adding them to your meals and keeping the rest in airtight packaging in the fridge. 

If you are someone who enjoys chicken with their meals, you can buy and then freeze what you don’t use to keep it for later. 

When you lay out what you’re eating, it helps you to stick to a routine so you can avoid skipping meals. 

Sticking to a routine is all about make it easy to follow — let Thistle make meals the easiest part of your work week. Thistle delivers nutritious, gluten-free and dairy-free meals, snacks, juices, and even wellness shots right to your door. Learn more about how Thistle works here

5. Have Healthy Snacks Available

It’s important that you are eating when you are hungry. It can become distracting when you feel hungry and are trying to complete a task. Because of this, you should stock up on some healthy, energy-packed snacks to fuel you throughout the work day. If you are actively thinking about ways to replace some of your normal junk food snacks, you will notice a difference in how you feel!

There are plenty of foods you can snack on that won’t break the bank and can also be incorporated into other meals. Nuts are a great source of protein and fiber and can be added to many meals or enjoyed by themselves as a snack. Carrots and celery can be snacked on throughout the day with peanut butter or hummus, and then later used to cook for dinner or to put into a salad! 

When you have food that will clear that midday fog up, your body and mind will be thanking you. Many common snack foods give you a rush of energy before leading to a crash, so finding nutritious snacks you like can ease your transition into a healthier lifestyle. 

There are plenty of delicious gluten-free, dairy-free, sweet-without-sugar, protein-packed snacks out there. You don’t have to sacrifice enjoying what you’re eating in order to be healthy — they can coexist together!

6. Water, Water, and More Water

Staying hydrated is key when it comes to eating healthy and working from home. The effects of dehydration can lead to a loss of focus, exhaustion, and a foggy mind. 

When you have better focus and more energy, you’re more likely to eat a nutritious meal because you’ll have more motivation to make yourself something fulfilling and thoughtful. Improving your mood with nutrition and eating healthy will transfer over to your productivity and mood in the workplace.

7. Don’t Be Afraid of Leftovers

Leftovers can be a lifesaver! Sometimes you get hungry and what you’ve meal-prepped for lunch isn’t enough. The most important thing to do during the work day is to make sure you’re getting enough nutrients and sustenance to help you stay focused at work. Leftovers help to make this easy.

Another benefit of leftovers is that you’re still in control of what you’re eating because it’s something you’ve already chosen. You’ve already made it for yourself, so this will save you time during your work day! If you’ve got a hectic schedule, you can count on delicious leftovers, and by prepping healthy meals in the first place, it’s easy to grab those leftovers out of the fridge, guilt-free.

Things To Consider When Working From Home

For some, working from home made it harder to maintain a routine where healthy eating habits stayed in place. The transition from a set schedule of going into work, to simply waking up and grabbing your laptop was somewhat jolting! There is less of a time pressure to eat when you’re at home, but this doesn’t make it easier. Instead the work hours become more flexible, and so do your eating habits. 

You have many options to improve your healthy eating habits at home, whether that be through your own meal prepping or with a meal service like Thistle — we deliver healthy, prepared meals straight to your door. 

You should enjoy the luxury of having all of your cabinets available to you while you work from home and unlimited refrigerator space. 

Using these tips and tricks can help to support a healthier lifestyle and encourage better eating habits! 

Sources:

Healthy Diet | World Health Organization

The Science of Snacking | The Nutrition Source | Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health

Water and Healthier Drinks | Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity | CDC

Get meals delivered to your door
We believe eating delicious is crucial to a healthy diet. Each week, our team of chefs design a new menu for what's in season, fresh and flavorful.
TRY THISTLE
Posted 
 in 
Lifestyle
 category.
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