Diet plan for the desk bound

Are you cringing every time you look in the mirror? For a large section of working women, weight gain has become a battle fought practically every day and every minute.

High stress jobs along with unhealthy eating habits and lack of any physical activity has lead to many women being diagnosed with lifestyle diseases or a bulging waistline. According to various studies, reasons like boring work, discouraging colleagues, high stress and plain laziness prompts working women with desk jobs to eat unhealthy food.

But there are simple and easy ways to stop and bring about a change in your lifestyle. Chetna Rajyaguru, senior dietician at Shalby Hospital, Ahmedabad says, “Women with desk jobs are affected worst as they don’t get any physical exercise and tend to eat whatever they can get to curb hunger. One can’t change bad habits immediately but you can learn to recognise your problem areas and then make small changes to deal with it. This way you would stick longer to your plan of losing weight healthily.”

Chetna lists out some easy ways for working women to counter the urge to eat unhealthy:

• Carry small healthy snacks with you like nuts or a fruit.


• Never stay hungry for long. Eat some small snack every three hours


• Don’t miss meals like breakfast or lunch.


• Cut down on your sugar intake as that also prompts one to eat more.

Here’s how to replace your bad food choices with healthier ones:

• Carry two servings of fruits with you.


• Keep nuts (like walnuts and almonds) handy to munch on in case you feel hungry.


• Stay away from aerated drinks as they are high in calorie and make you hungrier. Instead opt for nimbu paani and coconut water.


• Carry a portion of salad with sprouts or boiled peas.


• Don’t skip meals


• Replace your food choices with more protein rich food.