Eating a healthy lunch at work can be hard - especially if you aren’t disciplined enough to bring your lunch to work. Too often, many of us get in our cars and rush down to the closest fast food restaurant or go to the cafeteria and grab something quick only to hurry back to eat at our desk. This daily ritual is unhealthy for a number of reasons; i) we get very little, if any, exercise and ii) we don’t give our minds a chance to relax.
To break this vicious cycle a couple of co-workers and I have lunch together a few times a week. But rather than getting in a car and going out to the local fast food restaurant we walk to a small strip mall close to the office (a little over 1/3 of a mile). Generally we choose healthy lunch options from the local sub shop or grocery store rather than the fast food restaurant (I think there’s something about the walk that keeps us from choosing an unhealthy lunch). But equally as important as the exercise we get from the walk, the time out of the office gives us a chance to relax (and even get to know each other a little better).
I’ve found that if I can get out of the office for even 10 or 15 minutes and think about something other than work, I come back more refreshed. Many times with a different perspective on a project that was giving me problems earlier in the day.
Do you do anything to try and make your lunches a little healthier? If so, I'd love to hear about it - just post your comment to this blog. I'm always looking for new ways to be a little healthier.
Jason - a Lumen
