One of the most crucial steps towards a healthy lifestyle is a consistently lean and nutritious diet—even at work. Unfortunately, when you’re trying to make a meal that’s convenient, fast, and delicious, it’s hard to stick to organic, simple ingredients. So what are the most common kinds of mistakes otherwise healthy people make when packing their lunches?
Granola
According to a recent survey by the NY Times, nutritionists and regular folks don’t agree much on which foods are healthy, case in point: granola. The survey mentioned that while 80% of Americans thought granola was a healthy food, only 47% of nutritionists agreed. Granola bars are even worse, with only 28% of nutritionists considering it healthy and a good 80% of the American public considering it nutritious. Why the huge disparity?
For one thing, granola came into popularity as a health food and was very popular with the “hippie” movement. Nowadays, modern nutritionists consider it to be about as healthy as a sugary cereal.
Although granola has important nutrients like fiber, it also has an incredibly high fat and sugar content; many granolas, either homemade or store-bought, are sweetened by lots of brown sugar or honey.
It’s convenient, delicious, and seemingly healthy, but granola and granola bars are foods best not eaten everyday.
Snacks
Endlessly snacking on chips or cookies at work can add up, even if you only bring a small amount at a time. Snacking can become an activity in itself, and sometimes we munch on snacks when we’re bored and have nothing to do. Constant snacking can also result from bad habits like eating non-substantial meals or skipping breakfast.
If you can, only keep healthy snacks in your drawer, like almonds.
Single-Serve Yogurts
All yogurt has to be good for you, right? Unfortunately, many single serve or container yogurts have extra sugar, artificial sugar and processed chemical additives that make them an unhealthy lunchtime snack.
Even worse: once hailed as a healthy alternative to ice cream, frozen yogurt is now considered a high-calorie, high sugar snack.
Try to stick to yogurts with only a few, simple ingredients.
Of course, these are small things you can do to make your lunches a little healthier. But if you’re thinking of seriously improving your diet and lifestyle, then consider scheduling an appointment with Total Body for personalized diet, exercise, and weight loss advice from our medical weight loss experts.
