Healthy eating while on the job can be a challenge. To make it easier, plan ahead and bring healthy meals or snacks to work. You’ll benefit from having food that is good for you (and you could save some money too!)

A well-balanced diet helps to:

• Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
• Maintain your energy to get through your busy day.
• Prevent chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

Healthy Eating Tips:

• Start your day with a balanced breakfast by following Canada's Food Guide . For example:
  • whole grain/high fibre cereal with low-fat milk and fruit
  • whole grain bagel with peanut butter and orange juice.
  • whole grain toast, a boiled egg, and tomato
• Bring a healthy lunch from home such as:
  • a sandwich on whole grain bread with veggies and low-fat dip
  • whole grain crackers, low fat cheese and fruit
• Prepare a healthy meal for dinner and make extra for your lunch. See recipes for ideas.
• Keep a supply of healthy snacks (e.g. nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, yogurt) at your desk to reduce trips to the vending machines or cafeteria.
• Turn a coffee break into a juice or water break.
• Pay attention to portion size. Use Understanding Portion Sizes , a resource from EatRight Ontario , to improve your understanding of portion sizes.
• Read labels and select foods low in fat and high in fibre. E.g. more than 2g fibre and less than 3g of fat per serving. Learning how to read labels  will make this easier.
• Follow the Healthy Food Guidelines for the Workplace (1.1MB), and share with your colleagues who organize meetings and order food.

Resources to Help You Eat Well

• Eat Well, Live Well 
  Discover healthy eating and time saving meal tips for you and your family. Rank your food and activity choices, and explore the many interactive nutrition activities.
• My Food Guide 
  Use this interactive tool to create your own personal food guide!
• EATracker 
  EATracker lets you track your day's food and activity choices and compares them to Health Canada’s guidelines.
• Yourhealthyweight.ca 
  This website assesses your current eating and physical activity habits and generates an individualized action plan to help you achieve a healthy weight.
• Interactive Food Label 
  Learn how to read and use nutrition labels.
• Recipe Analyzer 
  Use this tool to find out the nutrients in your favourite recipes, and see how many Food Guide Servings your recipe provides.
• A Guided Tour of Halton Farms
  This handy guide provides information about Halton farms and all that they have to offer.

For more information

• Consult with a Registered Dietitian

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Links to Healthy Recipes

• 5 to 10 a day: for better health 
• Foodland Ontario 
• Heart and Stoke Foundation of Canada 
• Eat Right Ontario recipes
• Canadian Diabetes Association recipes