Desk dining, or eating your lunch on your desk, is ruining your diet plan.
Some 70% of Americans eat lunch at their desks at least 3 times a week. If you’re a desk diner, you are not giving yourself good nutritional choices and you are risking the safety of your food. Your desk is not designed for eating. Eating in front of your computer while you are catching up on the news or when you are sending off emails can cause mindless eating.
The biggest reason why weight loss programs do not recommend desk dining is because you are not focused on your food. You are not allowing your body to send you a signal telling you that it’s full. You are too busy shuffling your files, updating your calendar and answering emails and the phone. You will realize–too late–that you have overeaten.
Multitasking is good when eating lunch is not one of the tasks that you need to accomplish. Doing this while eating is the perfect recipe for putting on the pounds. If you are focused on eating, you can right away feel if you’re full. You can listen to your body better when you don’t have to think of whether or not your email to your client is clear enough. You already know that weight loss will be difficult if you keep on overeating.
Eating lunch at your desk also means that you will not get the exercise you get by walking to the cafeteria. It may be a small thing, but the ten minute walk it takes to get to the cafeteria or that corner restaurant will help with your weight loss goals. Any kind of exercise will work, actually. Aside from that, you also get your blood circulating. Getting up and going out of the office refreshes your mind and gets your heart pumping again. Lunch is important not only to get food into your stomach, but to relax, too.
Besides ruining your diet plan, eating at your desk also means that you are not getting freshly cooked food. Any food that has been sitting in room temperature for more than two hours is a breeding ground for bacteria. Yes, that room-temperature tuna sandwich you bagged from home can easily be a feeding ground for bacteria.
But wait! There’s more!
Your desk contains more bacteria than your toilet. Remember that you rarely ever clean and disinfect your desk. In cafeterias, the tables are cleaned regularly. That means that your desk is a health risk. Unbelievable? Do the dirt test: turn your keyboard over and give it a few shakes. Look at how many crumbs fall out. The more crumbs, the dirtier your desk. When it comes to desk dining, you don’t only put your weight loss goals at risk, but you also risk your own health.
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