Maintaining a healthy diet at the workplace

The alarm goes off at six in the morning, there's barely enough time for a coffee and already the train is heading towards the university. At the station you can quickly grab a croissants to bridge the hunger until the second breakfast in the form of a salami sandwich at nine in the cafeteria. For lunch, there's Spaghetti Carbonara at the cafeteria and for dinner Pizza Quattro Formaggio with friends. Sound familiar?

Without even consciously realising it, you consume a myriad of (empty) calories throughout the day. Instead of supporting your body with vitamins, fibre, proteins as well as valuable carbohydrates and fats, our body is forced to digest all kinds of junk food. Not to mention the devastating carbon footprint that comes with these unsustainable products imported from remote countries. About 30% of global greenhouse gases are generated by food production.

¡°I don-t have time to cook" or "It's simply not possible to maintain a healthy diet at work," are common excuses. Anyone thinking they're off the hook, should visit the Swiss Society for Nutrition (sge) website. Their online platform provides the Quick meals as part of a healthy diet fact sheet as a free download as well as an iexternal page nteractive test on the food pyramid (in German, French, and Italian), which allows users to analyse their personal eating habits.

Snack bars, restaurants and cafeterias have long recognised the trend towards sustainable food. Vegetarian dishes or even organic menus with regional produce are now no longer a rarity. National and international labels as well as the Bio label help consumers to find the most environmentally friendly food in supermarkets.

A healthy breakfast to-go can easily be prepared in the evening. All you need is a Tupperware container and a little imagination. How about, for example, a fresh muesli with natural yogurt, fresh fruit, oatmeal and a few nuts? This provides the body with everything it needs in the morning, keeps your hunger in check and lays the foundation for a balanced calorie count. Having had this breakfast, a fresh salad with a slice of wholemeal bread will be enough for lunch, and for dinner a couple of clicks on the internet to get inspired for a delicious, healthy and easy-to cook dish.

Why not make a trip to a regional market in your vicinity and delight your team with a home-cooked vegetarian dinner during the Energy Efficiency Challenge.