Watch above: The workplace can be a difficult place to have healthy snacks. Brooke Bulloch from Food to Fit offers up some healthy alternatives.
SASKATOON – Anyone who works in an office building knows that eating well can be a challenge.
“The workplace can be a really difficult environment, a really difficult food environment,” said Brooke Bulloch, a registered dietitian with Food to Fit.
“There’s lots of food ‘traps’ – lots of birthdays, thank you snacks, meeting snacks. It can be really difficult.”
Still, she said, eating well at work can promote productivity and keep you from slumping during parts of the day – especially later in the afternoon.
“We spend a lot of hours at work. A lot of people find that afternoon slump between 2 and 4 p.m. is really hard,” said Bulloch.
She recommends having some snacks handy, so when you do start to slump they can tide you over – and possibly prevent over eating when you get home at the end of the day.
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She added it’s important to plan ahead – to bring healthy snacks from home. She also recommends storing some snacks at work for those days when you forget.
Bulloch said one of her favorites is very simple – a bag of air popped popcorn. A light spraying with olive oil to keep the salt on, she said, and it makes a nice satisfying snack without a lot of calories.
Other suggestions include mixing oats, coconut and raspberries the night before for a snack – or a mixture of ricotta cheese, with berries and a little maple syrup.
“Tastes like cheesecake,” she said.
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While raw vegetables are healthy, Bulloch said a lot of people are not very fond of them. She recommends mixing some Greek yogurt with garlic powder or a few other spices to make a veggie dip.
Bulloch said there are also some healthy choices that you can store at work, such as whole grain crackers. She said they can be wheat, or corn, or brown rice.
“But looking for that whole grain as the first ingredient,” she said. “Then what you could do is bring your toppings from home,” she said, like cheddar or brie cheese, or hummus or peanut butter.
Other options include dried fruit or chickpeas.
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