23 Mar

Eating at your desk will affect the quality of your work and health

Cesar Gamio

Cesar Gamio

César is a Master Educator with the Chopra Centre for Wellbeing and a highly profiled wellbeing consultant who also serves as Senior Advisor to the Global Centre for Conscious Leadership. Under the personal training and guidance of Dr. Deepak Chopra, the global leading authority on mind-body medicine, César has been helping individuals and organisations for over a decade to effectively manage stress, attain work-life balance and improve their overall physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing. For 15 years, César led a successful career in two Fortune 500 companies in the technology industry, holding executive leadership positions in various regions across the world. Having experienced first-hand the demands of working in a global and fast-paced industry, he managed to effectively deal with the pressure as well the volatile and changing environment of the industry by applying the principles, methods and techniques which he now teaches. Equipped with his own personal experience and the latest scientific research and evidenced-based tools and practices, César has delivered comprehensive lectures, seminars and workshops to thousands of people and hundreds of organisations in every continent helping them to achieve higher levels of wellbeing in all aspects of their lives. Through his work, participants have been able to acquire the practical knowledge required to be more productive and creative at work and raise their energy and engagement levels. César’s contributions have been influential in helping clients in Fortune 500 companies to find their source of inspiration, enabling deeper, more meaningful and substantial collaboration in multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams. César’s corporate clientele extends across many industries, including IT, financial, media, pharmaceutical, oil & gas and consumer products to name a few. He also serves as a personal wellbeing consultant to government, sports, arts and entertainment personalities.
Cesar Gamio

Do you find yourself regularly eating at your desk? If you are part of the 67% of office workers that do so, then you need to be aware of the consequences of this unhealthy habit.

Some people see food, as just a functional aspect of their lives. Mindless eating extends beyond the office desk, I see it all the time….people in the morning gulping down a piece of dry toast or pastry and a cup of coffee on the way to work, or eating a quick bite on the way to a meeting. It appears that for quite a few us, eating just gets “on the way” of seemingly more important things.

Although eating is necessary for the correct functioning of our body, food plays a significant role in our physical and professional wellbeing and how we perform throughout the day, way beyond the concept of weight.

Eating at your desk will affect the quality of your work and health - César GamioEating at your desk will most likely lead you to overeating since your brain is unable to properly process the amount of food you are consuming.  Also, according to some studies, most people make poor food choices when eating at their desk since they are more prone to consume fattening foods throughout the day. The heavier you are, the duller you will feel, and this dullness will be reflected in your interactions with people and the work that you do.

Furthermore, research conducted at Stanford University indicates that when you eat at your desk, you miss the opportunity of giving your brain the chance to briefly disconnect from work.  Detaching yourself from whatever you are trying to create, resolve or get done is an intrinsic part of the creative process. Taking a walk to get some lunch or dinner will trigger your creative juices, so leaving your desk will actuality contribute to the quality of your work.

No evidence has contradicted a simple guideline: If you want to feel sharp, alert, vibrant, light and energised at work, when the time comes to have a meal, leave your desk and walk to a place where you can eat fresh, whole foods, that tend strongly toward a vegetarian diet, whilst eliminating excessive intake of, fat, red meat, salt, and sugar.

The food we eat, and how we eat it, has a profound effect on our health, on our daily experiences, our productivity, creativity and how long we will live. Eating healthy foods away from your desk can help you be more productive, creative, will make you feel better throughout the day and will do wonders for your physical and mental wellbeing as well as your performance at work.

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