Sustaining a healthy lifestyle at work

With Christmas fast approaching (4 weeks and counting!), it gets harder to maintain a healthy lifestyle during the working day. The darker nights can make you feel sluggish and there are temptations all around — biscuits, chocolates, mince pies!

We are a very active team here at Red Door Recruitment, and we want to share some small, easy changes we have made to create a happy, healthier working environment.

Swap biscuits for fresh fruit and drink lots of water

It’s easy to get into the habit of reaching for the biscuits or chocolates with your cup of tea!

Instead, create a team fruit station with satsumas, apples and bananas to give you an energy boost to beat that 3 o’clock slump.

It's likely you are just dehydrated instead of hungry, ensure you have a water bottle on your desk nearby and try to drink at least 2L a day, your skin will thank you for it in this cold, dry weather — also the colder your water is, the more calories you’ll burn!

Save some money and bring a healthy lunch

My go to winter lunch to take to work is my butternut squash soup. It’s so simple to make and this soup costs me just over £1 per day! I cook a batch on a Sunday night and store it in the fridge, you can even freeze it.

Ingredients you’ll need to make a batch of 5 soups:

Oil or ‘frylight’
2 x pre chopped 600g butternut squash soup mix packs
1 onion — finely chopped
Onion, chilli and garlic powder — a good sprinkle of each
Salt and pepper to taste
1.2L vegetable stock

The method:

In a large saucepan fry the butternut squash and onion in fry light for a few minutes
Add the onion, chilli and garlic powder — it can be just a sprinkle or a few tsp (I am quite heavy handed with these!)
A sprinkle of salt and pepper to season
Add your vegetable stock, bring to the boil and then simmer for 30 minutes
Once it's cooked, blend with a hand blender and pour into soup containers and chill
Or, if you are very fancy, you could invest in a soup maker to do this for you!
I serve it with some Ryvita crackers, and it’s delicious with some low fat crème fraiche or a sprinkle of parmesan.

Have a treat on Fridays!