Detox your office life

Top nutrionalist and magazine columnist Amanda Ursell tells Direct Watercooler Shop readers how easy it is to detox their office or workplace.

“At a time when office hours have never been longer with most people working well over eight hours a day (and many clocking up twelve plus), the sedentary lifestyle this inevitably imposes can affect the day to day health of office workers which is inevitably reflected in happiness, stress levels and over-all effectiveness at work.

Forget New Year resolutions, if ever there was a time to Detox Your Office Life, it is now. Giving your daily habits a thorough overall and replacing bad habits with good will not only improve the way you feel, it can boost concentration, up productivity and make you feel happier in your job…combine all these and you may even get that promotion you are after.

Detox your office diet

1. Ditch the Danish pastry, blueberry muffin or flapjack grabbed on the way to work with a coffee shop cappuccino. All of these will be digested rapidly leaving you hungry again within an hour or so later and heading for the biscuit tin. Instead make time for a proper breakfast and have a bowl of slowly digested sugar-free muesli at home or your desk, a bowl of porridge or boiled eggs with toast. All will keep you full until lunchtime and the slow release of energy will help keep your mind focused on the task in hand.

2. Replace office snacks like biscuits, cakes and cereal bars with fruit. Do the same in meeting rooms. The quick sugar hit you get from the former send blood sugar levels soaring then falling which leaves you drained and always wanting more. Fruit maintains a steady blood sugar and delivers vital vitamins, minerals and super nutrients. Berries are particularly thought to be good for your brain with their red and blue pigments appearing to help maintain and even improve brain functioning.

3. Drink a glass of water at least once an hour, more in hot weather. Getting up from your desk to fetch it means that you are stretching your legs and improving your circulation which ups oxygen to your brain while the water itself also ensures that you keep well hydrated. Even tiny drops in hydration can disrupt concentration and make you tetchy and stressed.

4. Slash your coffee and tea consumption. You will get caffeine withdrawal headaches to begin with and feel like you are working at half speed. After a week your levels of alertness will be back to normal and you will not be relying on caffeine boosts to keep you going. You will probably sleep better and be less wound up which are added bonuses. Begin by swapping every other coffee or tea for water or herbal tea and continue in this way until you are having no more than 4 caffeine rich drinks each day.

 

5. Stop for lunch. Make time for this vital meal of the day. Even if it just means popping to the canteen or local sandwich shop, give yourself a break. It is impossible to concentrate all day; you need to stop even if just for 30 minutes. If you rely on big baguettes or sandwiches bulging with mayonnaise clad dressing, try to alter your balance of nutrients so that you have more protein (meat, ham, tuna, chicken, turkey, eggs) and less carbohydrate like bread. The extra protein should help to keep your brain alert for the afternoon ahead. A carbohydrate-rich lunch on the other hand can make you feel drowsy and needing a siesta.

6. Think before you drink your calories. Next time you reach for a smoothie, a fizzy drink or yet another latte, consider the calories you are drinking. Research shows liquid calories do not fill us up in the same way as food calories so they do not quell hunger. Insteadconsider a good old fashioned glass of water. Apart from anything else, it will not cost you a dime but it will also not add unwanted pounds.

7. Be a trendsetter. Next time it is yours or a colleagues birthday, instead of the inevitable cakes, bring in a beautiful, fragrant, colourful basket of exotic fruits for everyone to enjoy. Hopefully others will follow suit and your calorie, fat and saturated fat intakes will dramatically fall.

8. Pin point colleagues who want to hamper your attempts to detox your office life. If they take the Mickey or try to coerce you back to your old ways, resist the urge. They are doing it because they feel uncomfortable with your changes. In other words it is their problem, not yours. Wait for them to come round and if they do not, just humour them and keep up your healthy changes.

9. Avoid disastrous P.M munchies on chocolate and cakes by planning ahead. If you know you will be feeling peckish by 3.30pm and starving by 4 o’clock, have a snack to hand that will keep you going until supper time. A 40g bag of mixed nuts and fruit; a nectarine with a yoghurt, a banana with some oatcakes. All are low GI snacks which fill the gap and do not trigger the release of fat storing insulin.

10. If you can not beat them and get your office to change the culture of sweet filled vending machines, fat-packed canteen food and tea trolleys filled with high-sugar junk, then change your own point of view and train yourself not to be tempted. Always having healthy alternatives to hand will help get you through the hard part. It takes around three weeks to change your normal habits. Once you have conquered these first 21-days, the foods that once tempted you will simply lose their appeal".

Amanda Ursell

You can visit Amanda's website at www.amandaursell.co.uk

References:

1. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 72, No. 6, 1451 – 1454, December 2000
2. Department of Health advice on DVT.