Poor lunch conditions are a very important factor causing poor health among white-collar workers. So, how do white-collar workers solve their lunch problem? Recently, reporters conducted an investigation and found four major problems with white-collar lunches. Problem 1: Dining out in groups
Health issue: Unreasonable nutritional structure
Eating lunch alone during the lunch break is a bit lonely. Many white-collar workers go to restaurants and cafes near the office building in groups to treat themselves. Reporters visited several office buildings in Beijing's Jianwai SOHO and found that there are indeed many restaurants in the community. Hot pot restaurants, Japanese restaurants, American-style kitchens, Hong Kong-style tea restaurants—whatever delicious food you want, you can find it. "We just like to find a few colleagues to have a meal together at noon, changing the menu every day. It also brings us closer to each other," said Mr. Zhong, who works in a public relations company in an interview with a reporter. "The girls in our company who love to eat and are picky will always be keen to find out what delicious food is near the company, where new small restaurants have opened, which restaurants have new dishes, and what dishes are nourishing and delicious. They know it all. Even the people handing out promotional flyers from restaurants will first hand them to them."
Health analysis
Some distinctive hot pot shops, snack bars, noodle shops, and dumpling houses have become fixed lunch spots for white-collar workers. Sometimes, at noon, every shop is bustling with customers, and the boss has a brilliant smile of a full wallet. The most popular dishes right now are Sichuan and Hunan cuisine. Spicy and fragrant, they always hit the spot. Even if you are reduced to tears and a runny nose from the spiciness, there is a group of people who are willing to risk their lives for good food. Spiciness naturally离不开 chili peppers. For chili peppers, experts say they have dual sides, good and bad. The good side is that chili peppers are rich in vitamin C, contain plenty of fiber, have low calories, and also contain carotene that the human body can easily absorb, which is good for the eyesight of white-collar workers who often face computer screens. Eating chili peppers in moderation can whet the appetite and aid digestion and absorption, but you should not eat too much.
In addition, nutritionists say that office workers belong to extremely light manual laborers with small activity levels and low basal metabolism. Their daily calorie requirement is 25-30 kcal/kg. That is to say, an office worker weighing 60 kg needs about 1500-1800 kcal per day. The main problem with white-collar lunches at present is the unreasonable nutritional structure. When several people dine out together, the dishes they order often focus only on taste, with a high proportion of meat and being too greasy. The calorie content is basically sufficient, but the nutritional structure is very unreasonable.
Experts suggest eating only until 80% full at lunch. After eating, blood in the body needs to concentrate in the stomach to help with digestion and absorption. During this time, the brain is in a state of ischemia and hypoxia. If you eat too much, it will prolong the time the brain is in this state, thus affecting work efficiency in the afternoon. You can eat more foods high in protein, such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and soy products, because this type of food can keep the mind sharp and plays an important role in comprehension and memory functions. Problem 2: Fruits and snacks as lunch
Health issue: Long-term stomach function degradation
"There are always endless cookies, preserved plums, and beef jerky in my drawer. I eat some when I'm hungry and not when I'm not, so my figure is the best in my department." Ms. Dong, who works in an office building in Dongzhimen, proudly told reporters. In fact, there are not a few white-collar workers like her. Some women eat fruit for lunch to maintain their figure or lose weight. Others have fruits and snacks in their mouths all day long, relying on these things for three meals a day. Snacks are only a supplement to the three meals. If lunch cannot be too enjoyable, such as eating noodles, then bring some delicious snacks, such as milk chocolate, cashews, small pastries, fruits, etc. Of course, this is not recommended to be done every day. I don't know when it started, men and women all started to lose weight, but there are no dedicated nutritionists to provide diet methods. In the long run, this causes the stomach to be inactive for a long time, leading to functional degradation.
Health analysis
Currently, young people in their 20s and 30s, born around the 1980s, have relatively high pressure in their lives and work, but their health awareness is not good enough. Many female white-collar workers, because they are unwilling to eat fattening fast food, just eat some snacks for lunch, and suffer from hypoglycemia, anemia and other diseases. Men, on the other hand, eat too much fast food to feel full, leading to high triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein deficiency. Another obvious phenomenon is that some degenerative diseases of old age, such as hypertension and diabetes, have been seen in patients at a much younger age. In the white-collar population around the age of 30, such diseases are already quite common.
Regarding the situation of eating fruit for lunch, experts say that fruits and vegetables have their own nutritional characteristics and cannot replace each other. All kinds of vegetables are rich in dietary fiber, which can promote intestinal peristalsis, keep gastrointestinal metabolism normal, and at the same time, prevent some harmful substances (including carcinogens) from staying and being absorbed in the intestines. This is also an effective way to prevent constipation. In addition, eating at the right time is most important. Generally, the normal meal time is between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM every day. However, you must eat lunch at the same time every day to adapt to the normal function and regulation of the gastrointestinal tract. Problem 3: Bringing your own lunch is clean and hygienic
Health issue: Food is easy to spoil in hot weather
When taking the subway in the morning, you always see some fashionably dressed and exquisite white-collar workers also carrying a delicate bento box. These people belong to the group of office workers who bring their own meals. They pack the food they made the night before into the bento box, bring it to the office the next day, and heat it in the company's microwave oven at noon. They can eat a delicious and considerate "home-cooked meal" without going home.
Bringing your own lunch is hygienic, convenient, and money-saving. This method is often chosen by white-collar workers who live with their parents, especially girls. Song Ting has a capable and kind mother at home who can always cook amazing dishes and constantly learns from food shows on TV to bring new flavors to the family. Song Ting's bento is very rich, with a different meat and vegetable dish every day, plus a delicious fruit salad. Another important reason for choosing a bento is that the food and tableware at home are very clean, so there is no need to worry about hygiene issues.
The tight lunch schedule is another reason white-collar workers choose to bring their own lunch. "Of course, you can also order takeout to avoid queuing, but in areas with dense office buildings, there are many white-collar workers who need to order lunch, but only a few takeout shops. There are too many monks and too little porridge. During peak hours, it takes at least an hour for the lunch to be delivered," said Ms. Ren, who works in a commercial building in Financial Street.
Several other white-collar workers interviewed also told reporters that the surroundings are all office buildings, with few convenience stores or small roadside restaurants. It takes at least 20 minutes to walk to the nearest restaurant; a round trip is almost an hour. "The company has strict time limits for lunch, and work requires every second to be fought for. Who wants to waste time waiting for the elevator and walking back and forth?"
Health analysis
Food is easy to spoil in hot weather. Office buildings with good conditions will have dedicated refrigerators for employees. If you encounter an emergency such as no refrigerator or a power outage, the lunch will have to be thrown away as garbage. Moreover, some white-collar workers say that they ate these things the night before, and the next day they still have to bring the leftovers to heat and eat again, with no appetite at all. Some people even cook specifically for the next day's lunch at night. Many people say that after a busy day, they just want to rest well at home and have no energy to cook again.
It seems that bringing your own lunch is only suitable for white-collar workers whose objective conditions permit. Problem 4: Ordering takeout for speed and convenience
Health issue: Too much nutritional loss
Speed and convenience are what the fast-food group pursues most. Their requirements for lunch are not high. White-collar workers who usually choose this method are more pragmatic. They eat their lunch like they are in a battle and are meticulous in their work. It's also the lunch break, but white-collar workers who haven't finished their work have resorted to their "killer move"—ordering food by phone. But noon is often the busiest and most chaotic time for various restaurants. It's a blessing if you can have a hot lunch in your hands within half an hour. "I called a nearby restaurant and ordered a stir-fried beef noodle. The other party said it could be delivered in half an hour, but I've been waiting for almost an hour now. How can eating lunch be so difficult?" complained Ms. Mao, who works in the COFCO Plaza office building. "The restaurant is only a 5-minute walk from my building, but when I got my beef noodle, it was already an hour and 15 minutes past the delivery time."
When reporters randomly surveyed some white-collar workers in the building, they found that it is inconvenient to eat out. Some white-collar workers also dislike the "crowds" wherever they eat, so many people simply choose to sit in the office and order takeout. However, during the lunch peak period, due to the busy nature of the shops, those who order often wait anxiously.
Health analysis
Eating lunch quickly is not a good thing either, because eating too fast is not conducive to the body's digestion and absorption of food nutrients, and it will also affect the "processing" burden on the gastrointestinal tract. If you eat too fast, it will also slow down the gastrointestinal tract's digestion and absorption process of food nutrients, thereby affecting the normal performance of afternoon mental or physical work ability.
And most fast food is not prepared in a scientific way. Many fast food restaurants, in order to save costs, do not provide the freshest and seasonal meat and vegetable dishes.
Because white-collar workers find it difficult to eat a satisfying lunch, many people pin all their hopes for a good meal on dinner, which is also a reason for their poor health. Irregular eating can cause metabolic disorders in the body and poor appetite. Some people find that they feel full after eating a little when they are very hungry, or their stomach feels uncomfortable after eating, which is the reason for this. Some office workers go to the hospital for check-ups and always have abdominal pain, but the cause cannot be found. The abdominal pain will disappear on its own without treatment. This is actually a type of neurosis caused by irregular diet and life. The advantage of boxed meals is that they are cheap and have a variety of dishes. However, from the time the boxed meal is made to when it is delivered or brought, the time is relatively long. Some need to be heated again, so the loss of nutrients is obvious, especially vitamin C will be destroyed. Therefore, the boxed meal group should supplement with fruit after the meal, drink a glass of juice or eat some fresh fruit, and eat it an hour after the meal, not during the meal, as that affects digestion.