Eating healthy - pme Familienservice Blog
Healthy eating in the office: 5 practical tips
If you want to stay fit and focused throughout the day, you need one thing above all: plenty of fluids and sufficient vital nutrients. If your body only gets fast food or greasy canteen food, it will quickly wear out and you will feel tired. Our pme employee and nutritionist Linda Paech shows you how you can eat healthily in the office without too much effort and with a little good will.
Fill up on carbohydrates in the morning!
Our energy reserves are depleted while we sleep. With a balanced breakfast, we recharge our batteries and start the day in a lively mood. Carbohydrates, which provide energy for the brain, are particularly important in the morning. After a carbohydrate-rich breakfast, blood sugar levels rise more slowly, which is why we don't get tired so quickly.
Wholemeal breads, muesli and pulses, for example, provide us with lots of high-quality carbohydrates. But be careful! Many mueslis are high in sugar. So take a look at the list of ingredients. The ingredients are listed in descending order of the amount added. So if sugar is in first place - or at the top of the list of ingredients - then the product also consists mainly of it.
My tip for breakfast grouches: If you don't like eating breakfast in the morning, don't force yourself to do so. Instead, drink a glass of vegetable juice, for example, or pack yourself a banana to eat on the way to the office. Or mix yourself a smoothie from oatmeal, fruit, milk, chia seeds and nuts.
Drink yourself fit!
It's nothing new: the body needs plenty of fluids to stay fit throughout the day. Otherwise your circulation quickly plummets. This results in listlessness, tiredness and headaches. Of course, water and unsweetened tea are the healthiest. Sugary drinks such as juices or cola only increase thirst. The energy level rises at first, but then falls again just as quickly. The result: we are even more thirsty. It's best to reach for a glass of water as soon as you wake up: we often find it so difficult to get going because we've been dehydrated overnight.
My tip for those who don't drink much: put a liter jug of water on your desk first thing in the morning and resolve to have drunk it by the end of the day. Or use a drinking app that reminds you to drink a glass of water regularly throughout the day (e.g. Daily Water or Aqua Plan). If water is too boring for you in the long run, try new types of tea.
Snacks to get you going!
Snacks between meals ensure that our energy levels remain constant and therefore also our concentration and mood. It's best to have a small snack between meals before we get really hungry and eat a lot during our lunch break. Eating too much usually leads to the well-known "soup coma", as the body needs a lot of energy for digestion. In addition to a sandwich, small pieces of fruit or vegetables are ideal for in-between meals.
My tip for main course eaters: pack a bag of nuts or muesli bars in your desk drawer and grab them whenever you feel a little hungry. However, pay attention to the sugar content of the products.
Watch out: sugar traps are lurking!
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that an adult should consume 25 grams of sugar per day. This corresponds to around eight sugar cubes - and is actually hardly feasible. This is because most products contain a lot of sweetness. A cup of fruit yoghurt, for example, looks harmless. But just one 150 gram cup already contains seven to eight sugar cubes!
So it's worth taking a look at the list of ingredients. But manufacturers are not asleep and have a few tricks up their sleeves to "hide" sugar in food. For example, they use alternative sweeteners such as invert sugar. So if you want to find hidden sugars, you need to know their alternative names, such as glucose, dextrose, fructose or maltose. This Utopia article describes very well where the sugar traps are hidden everywhere: "Hidden sugars in food"
My tip for sugar lovers: Instead of buying large packs of 5 or 10 chocolates or cookies, buy small portions. This will prevent you from devouring a whole bar of chocolate when you have a craving.
There are seven to eight sugar cubes in just one fruit yogurt (photo: Linda Paech).
Hidden fats make you tired and listless!
Kebab on the go, tasty schnitzel with chips from the canteen: of course, fast food in particular contains a lot of unhealthy fats. Although sweets and fats provide us with quick energy, they ultimately lead to a sharp drop in energy levels. Blood sugar levels rise for a short time - and then fall again just as quickly. The result: we are more exhausted than before. Various apps can help to track down the nasty fat traps. The AOK Fat Trap Finder app, for example, shows you alternatives to fatty foods.
My tip for gourmets: Choose lean meat such as fish or chicken for lunch. Sausage also contains a lot of fat. You can easily see the fat in sausages made from whole pieces such as pork loin and turkey breast. The finer the sausage and salami, the fattier it is.
Linda's recipes for granola bars – simple and delicious:
NUT CEREAL RIBBLE (without baking)
Ingredients:
- 7 dates, pitted and dried
- 5 tsp hot water
- 130 g peanut butter, unsweetened
- 3 tbsp rice syrup, brown
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 300 g wholemeal oat flakes, hearty
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 2 tbsp linseed
Preparation:
- Place the dates in a small bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Leave them to soak for about 10 minutes.
- Then place the soaked dates in the blender with 5 tablespoons of water and blend until smooth.
- Heat the date butter together with the peanut butter, rice syrup and vanilla in a small pan and stir everything together well.
- Mix the oats, chia seeds and linseed in a large bowl and add the date and peanut mixture.
- Place the mixture in a baking dish lined with parchment paper and press down gently. Then cover with a second sheet of parchment paper and place in the freezer for at least 2 hours. Finally, cut into approx. 12 bars and store in the refrigerator.
BANANEN-DATTEL CEREAL RIBBON (with cheeks)
Ingredients:
- 250 g wholegrain rolled oats
- 130 g dates, pitted
- 3 ripe bananas
- 70 g coconut oil, melted
- 50 g chocolate, chopped (optional)
- 30 g almonds or other nuts, chopped
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 170 degrees (fan oven).
- Place the dates in a food processor and blend for 30 seconds until a date puree is formed.
- Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork.
- Now put all the ingredients together in a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or food processor until everything is evenly combined.
- Line a baking tray with baking paper and pour the oat mixture onto it. Using your hands, shape into a square about 1.5 cm high.
- Now place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting the square into approximately 12 equal-sized granola bars. Store the granola bars in the refrigerator.
About our tipster Linda Paech:
Linda Paech studied ecotrophology with a focus on service management. She has been working for the pme Familienservice since 2011 and has taken over the management of central event management and built up this area.
In her free time, Linda is usually out in the fresh air with her sons or buying little treasures at flea markets, which she creatively transforms. Linda is not only good at baking, she is also incredibly good at sewing.
You may also be interested in these articles:
Get the day off to a flying start: 3 refreshing morning rituals
You snooze, you lose? How to use the snooze button correctly