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When I got married to my husband a few years ago, I knew I was devoting my life to loving and accepting him for who he was. I knew we’d both change as we got older, and I was okay with that. But within one year into the marriage, he went through the biggest change I could ever imagine, and it threw our relationship into a tailspin. My husband decided he wanted to become…

A nutritionist!

Cue me frantically searching for divorce lawyers.  

Why such a big and dramatic response from me? I’m glad you asked!

Having grown up in a very European/South American family, Food = Love. And so, my typical meals at home consisted of abundant meats and deli-goods, cheeses, buttery-dishes, and my personal favourite, carbs…Oh so many carbs! Pastas, breads, cakes…you name it!

And so finding out that my husband wanted to replace my meat with legumes, my dairy with soy, and my white carbs with wholemeal, let’s just say I needed a good refresher on what I actually committed to in my wedding vows.*

But all jokes aside, since my husband started his journey towards becoming a nutritionist, our household has been much healthier (and happier) because of it. I soon learned through him that nutrition plays a huge role in not only my wellbeing, but my mood, my productivity and my ability to form other healthy habits.  

You can’t hide from it! Studies and guidelines frequently demonstrate the impact of a good diet on aiding quality of life, reducing the risk of chronic disease and maintaining a healthy weight. Yet, why does keeping up strong nutrition habits always seem so difficult, particularly in fast-paced office environments like PR agencies?

At Agent99, we have started a new blog series entitle ‘Wellness at Work’ which will take a deep dive into life at a PR Agency, and how we can best set-up our wellness habits to ensure our workplaces remain healthy and thriving.  

POOR NUTRITION IN THE WORKPLACE

I think it’s safe to say we all know the importance of a good diet. We know about the food pyramid, the 3&5, and the impact of too much alcohol, yet when it comes to our work life, it’s as though all that information leaves our brain. Instead, due to either feeling like we don’t have enough time to eat properly, or we’re simply just lazy, we instead opt for buying take-out more consistently, over-snacking on bad foods, or skipping meals altogether!

A large US study found that more than half of office workers struggle eat a healthy meal for lunch, and sadly one in three Aussies don’t even take a lunch break at all, according to SEEK.

To supplement these behaviours, there is also another range of factors that contribute to poor nutrition in the workplace, including over-caffeination, unhealthy snacking, free-alcohol and office birthday cakes. And while there’s nothing inherently wrong with #FridayDrinks, ultimately all these factors together create an environment where your diet will continue to worsen.

That is, unless you take back the control.

GOOD NUTRITION IN THE WORKPLACE

If teams are able to implement healthy habits in the workplace and reinforce positive diet behaviours, this can have an astronomical effect on productivity and revenue (yes, revenue!).

According to a recent Healthy Workplace Guide, there are several real life benefits to workplaces becoming more nutrition-minded, including: higher morale and innovation, reduced absenteeism, improved employment and retention, and reduced workers comp claims.

On an individual level, employees who put a focus into maintaining healthy diets at work notice they have more energy each day, greater creativity and better quality of life.  

IMPLEMENTING HEALTHY NUTRITIONAL PRACTICES IN THE WORKPLACE

So, even with all this knowledge, why do most of us still struggle to being health-conscious in the workplace?

A couple excuses I’ve made over the years have included: Too busy, no time to meal prep, buying lunch is just easier, I just need a sugar hit to get me through to the end of the day, one more coffee won’t hurt..

Any sound familiar?

Well, if so, don’t beat yourself up. We’re all human, we all can’t be perfect all the time.

But, working with my (now, nutritionist) husband, he has helped me create simple habits that any workplace or employee can introduce to ensure you have more healthy nutritional practices in your office…and if the girl who ate KFC weekly can do it, so can you!

• TIP 1: MEAL PREP!

Meal-prepping is one of the simplest ways you can avoid poor nutrition in the office. It will help you avoid buying take-away food, ensure you eat properly throughout the day, and get all the nutrients you need.

The key for me has been to write a list of the foods that are easy to pack for lunch and that I genuinely enjoy eating, as this has made the process of meal-prepping more fun and accessible.

If you’re not a chef, don’t worry, I’m not one either! There are awesome meal kits and on-the-go lunches that are just as good for you and can easily be delivered to your door, or collected at a local Woolies. Just make sure to read the labels carefully, as sometimes things marketed as a ‘healthy lunch’ actually are packed full of preservatives and nasties.  

One handy hint my husband taught me was on the back of every packet of food – instead of looking at the confusing table of sugars, fats, salts etc – look at the ‘ingredients.’ By law, companies have to list ingredients in order of volume, meaning that the first ingredient you read is what makes up most of the packet, and so on and so on.

This fact blew my mind. Did you know only 18% of Guacamole dips are made up of avocado? The majority is actually cream cheese. Or that ironically “whole egg” mayonnaise is only 4% eggs and majority sugar and oil?  Or that “healthy” brownies that market themselves as “low-cal” still have sugar as their first ingredient?

Okay, you get the picture.

• TIP 2. CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT

This is something that you can implement as both as individual or as a company. James Clear, the author of best-selling book Atomic Habits, calls it ‘Environment Design’ and this essentially means that you take agency as an individual to align your environment to the habits you want to create.

So, in the workplace, if your goal is to avoid snacking on junk food, then don’t keep snacks around. Simple. If you want to encourage healthy eating, buy yourself some fruit and leave it in a place where you can see it easily, so it gives you a cue/reminder to eat it.

As a boss / employer, think about how you can control your work environment to best facilitate the health of your team. For example, you might not want to remove Friday drinks altogether, but why not offer some non-alcoholic options as well? Or you might want to encourage the team to snack on healthier foods, so maybe stop ordering the chocolates and replace it with nuts and fruit?

• TIP 3: DON’T DENY YOURSELF THINGS

I quickly learned that complete eradication of foods/alcohol from my diet, wasn’t an effective strategy for me. The minute I’m told I can’t have something, it’s like my body and mind need to do the exact opposite.

So, the trick I’ve found is not to fully deny yourself things – buy yourself a double-shot iced latte, enjoy the office birthday cake, cheers with your team with a drink on a Friday – but I hate to say it, do it in moderation. Don’t deny yourself but instead, set limits. For example, this could be:

• I will have 1x piece of cake to celebrate Meriha’s birthday (yep, Meriha is next and April can’t come fast enough), but I will also eat it with some fruit
• I will stop after I’ve had one drink with the team
• I will buy myself a coffee, but then after that, it’s green tea all the way!
  

Now look, those tips may or may not work for you, but they are very simple things anyone can introduce tomorrow to ensure they are working towards better nutritional goals.

And don’t expect to get there right away. Habit building is all about making small changes consistently. So if you don’t get it right tomorrow, try again or experiment with new methods until you find a system that works for you.

For more information about Agent99’s services and how you can kick-start your best plans for 2023, get in touch with us today.

Agent Emilie

*No husbands were divorced in this process of self-discovery.

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney

PR Agency Sydney