Healthy eating at work can be challenging for busy people. Even in today’s situation, where many of us are working from home, there may not be enough time for planning and shopping to always eat healthy. Most employers recognize that eating a wholesome diet is key to optimal health and disease prevention and focus on corporate wellness programs to promote clean eating among employees. Healthy employees lead to improved productivity and reduced absenteeism.
Moreover, today many employees are dealing with weight and obesity issues increasing their risk for diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers. So, it would be ideal to organize corporate wellness programs centred on creating awareness about the benefits of a clean eating program for weight loss.
Let’s look at some simple clean eating tips to lose weight:
1. Limit added sugar
Most of us eat too many added sugars every day. To clean up our diet, we need to limit our intake of mithais, cakes, chocolates, sodas, flavoured yogurts, tomato sauce etc. We can continue to enjoy the naturally occurring sugars in fruit and dairy as these products provide loads of nutrients and are not just empty calorie foods.
2. Start with vegetables
Most of us eat less than the recommended amount of vegetables. Start by adding vegetables into everything – add palak puree to rotis, grated vegetables to parathas, upma and idlis, dudhi, turai and pumpkin to dals, masked peas and vegetables to burger cutlets etc.
3. Ditch processed foods
The chemicals in processed foods can play havoc with your body. Moreover, these foods with very little nutritive value tend to be addictive in nature. A higher intake of refined foods has been linked to an increased risk of developing health issues like obesity and diabetes. Swapping refined grains with whole and fiber rich foods is a good option.
4. Understand food labels
Reading a food label provides information if the product contains sugar, unhealthy fats and artificial additives. Focusing on eating whole foods which don’t need a label is always the best choice, but packaged foods can also be added to your everyday meal plan as long as they contain healthy ingredients.
5. Avoid the white stuff
White bread, white rice, bhatooras, white pasta, maida noodles are not part of the clean eating program as they have undergone lot of processing and most of their natural nutrients have been depleted.
6. Use healthier cooking methods
Sauteing, stir frying, boiling, steaming, grilling, roasting are healthy cooking methods as against deep frying or cooking with loads of butter. Flavour can be added to the food by using herbs and spices.
7. Make healthy food swaps
Don’t be too hard on yourself. If craving for sweet, try eating dried fruits and see if the craving is satisfied. If wanting to munch on something, try eating a bowl of homemade popcorn and not the fried chakli.
8. Drink more water
Every cell in the body uses water. Make sure to hydrate well.
9. Be mobile
Be physically active all through the day. Go for walks, play a sport, dance, workout or just move your body more if you have a desk job by getting up often and stretching.
10. Plan your meals and maintain a food dairy
Plan healthy meals and also maintain a food diary to inculcate the habit of eating at regular intervals.
Arati Shah is an astute nutritionist having expertise in offering all types nutrition to different individuals and corporate. She is one of the top 10 dietitians in Mumbai who can guide one through weight loss centres in Mumbai and corporate wellness programs with same efficacy. She heads the Nutrition team in Mumbai and takes personal interest in every client.