Eating well isn’t the easiest thing in the world – especially when you’re a full-time employee! The office can be one of the most difficult places to eat healthily. Between helping your family get ready for the day, your commute, and the long day at the office, it seems impossible to prepare a full day’s worth of healthy meals. 

While it might be difficult, it’s vital to eat nutritious meals throughout the workday so that your body and mind can feel and perform their best. Healthy meals will give you more energy, boost your mood, and increase productivity throughout the workday. They can even help prevent those dreaded afternoon slumps! 

The key to eating well at work is to come prepared. Planning and preparing breakfast, lunch, and snacks will make them much easier. Meal prepping is one of the best ways to ensure that you have nutritious meals ready to go. Along with meal prepping, making some changes to your daily habits will also help you steer clear of any unhealthy temptations at work and keep your diet in check.

Keep on reading to learn some foolproof tips and ideas for eating well at work:

The cool breezes of fall bring more than pumpkin spiced treats – they bring the dreaded cold and flu season, too! There’s a reason why you hear more sneezing around the office once the temperature drops. Research shows that you are more likely to get sick during the colder seasons, and illnesses tend to last longer and have more severe symptoms as well.

One main reason for the spike in illnesses during the fall and winter is weaker immune systems. Researchers from Yale University found that immune systems slow down during the colder seasons – decreasing your body’s ability to attack and fight off harmful germs, viruses, and bacteria.

The good news is there are many ways to promote a healthy, powerful immune system. So, if you don’t feel like sniffling and coughing all season, here are nine easy, natural ways to boost your immune system:

The workplace is one of the most important places to address mental health. Sadly, however, the topic is usually avoided. It might even seem like mental illness doesn’t exist inside the office – which couldn’t be more inaccurate. In fact, mental illness affects many U.S. adults and is continuing to affect more and more people worldwide.

According to Center for Discovery: 

• One in four adults in the United States will be diagnosed with a mental health disorder in a given year.
• An average of six to eight years pass before an individual seeks professional help for their mental health disorder.
• Fear and shame associated with the stigma surrounding mental health disorders are the number one reason why individuals do not seek professional help.

Considering how common mental health issues are, it’s shocking that stigmas still exist and prevent individuals from receiving the treatment that they need. An article published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) notes that stigma remains a major obstacle for employees coping with mental illness. Some employees with mental illnesses hesitate in fear that their supervisors or co-workers will treat them differently, and less than a third of them receive treatment.

Many people forego the flu shot because they think they’ve waited too long. It’s mid-season, and they believe they might as well wait it out and risk their chances of coming down with the flu.

For employers, the same thing can happen. Maybe you’re calling around to different vendors, and you keep being told it’ll be a four to six-week wait. You’re wondering if it’s too late to bring in corporate flu shots this year. 

The answer? It’s not too late! 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that the flu vaccine should continue to be offered to unvaccinated people as long as influenza viruses are circulating. While flu outbreaks can happen as early as October, influenza activity usually peaks between December and February. The CDC also notes that as long as flu viruses are spreading, it’s not too late to get a vaccine to protect yourself and your loved ones.

It’s time to start loving yourself again. Many of us forget about the importance of self-care and its impact on our health. Self-care can help prevent burnout from work, help you manage stress, and boost your feelings of self-worth and confidence.

Practicing self-care is more than just “pampering” yourself. According to Kelsey Patel, self-care is part of the answer to how we can all better cope with daily stressors.

If you want to start prioritizing your wellbeing, you can easily add in some simple behaviors to your busy schedule to enjoy the mental, emotional, and physical benefits of self-care. Along with eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep, you can try out some of the simple suggestions below to practice better self-care: 

With the help of a great flu shot vendor, hosting an onsite flu shot clinic is easy. But when it comes to employee participation, things get a bit more challenging. Employee participation is crucial to the success of an onsite flu shot clinic. Without enough employees getting vaccinated, a flu outbreak will still occur.

As a wellness leader at your workplace, you have the opportunity to promote onsite flu shots and encourage employees to get vaccinated. If this is your first year hosting a flu shot clinic, or if you haven’t achieved desired participation rates in the past, try out some of these ideas for promoting this year’s flu shot clinic: 

Jake Schroeder is one of TotalWellness’ newest employees and one of our most inspiring wellness champions. In just a short period, Jake has contributed a lot to our team in both a professional and personal manner. Besides being an IT all-star,  Jake has made an impact on his colleagues through his positive attitude, healthy habits, and insightful conversations.

Since we’ve all learned a thing or two since Jake joined our team, we thought we would share his wellness story to help inspire you too:

It’s officially fall! The transition period from summer into winter can make it easy to cozy up, stay inside, and lose track of your health progress. Less sunlight, more rain, and cooler temperatures don’t have to affect your wellbeing. 

In fact, autumn is actually a great time to kick your wellness goals up a notch! Your schedule might be a bit less crazy, and there aren’t any summer BBQs that tempt you to splurge. Being proactive about your physical and mental health during the fall will also help prevent the winter blues from hitting hard.

So, from now until December 21^st (the first day of winter), we challenge you to boost your health and happiness this fall with these mini wellness challenges:

Flu season is coming!

Hopefully, this means that your company has an onsite flu clinic coming up. If you are having doubts about participating in this year’s flu clinic, we want to help you realize just how important receiving your annual flu shot is.

We know that the flu shot has gotten a bad rap in the past years. Common misconceptions have caused many Americans to shy away from getting vaccinated. Many also underestimate the health risks from the flu. Regardless of some of the things you’ve heard about the vaccine, it’s important to know that getting a flu shot is your #1 defense against the flu.

So, if you have any doubts about participating in this year’s flu shot clinic, read this first:

This week is Mental Illness Awareness Week. From October 1^st – 7^th, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) is working to raise awareness on mental illness throughout the country. Their goal is to fight stigma, provide support, educate the public, and advocate for equal care for those living with a mental illness.

While mental health should be a priority year-round, we think this week is a great opportunity for employers and employees alike to focus on their mental health and wellbeing. Work can be stressful and make it difficult to find time for yourself and prioritize your mental health.

An excellent way for full-time workers to take care of their mental welling is by taking a mental health day. Whether you’re dealing with a breakup or major life crisis, the stress, anxiety and depression that comes with challenging life experiences can impact your daily work productivity.