Research shows that consistent, small snacking is more effective than staggered meals. Maintaining a harmonious level of blood sugar is vital for energy, leading to improved cognition. An employee’s attention span, productivity, and comprehension are all impacted by what they eat and when.

With the provision of healthy snacks, workers can be enabled to perform at higher levels. Fresh produce and ingredients delivered to your workplace by Ripe will be the best starting point to full stomachs and empty workloads.

Smoothies and Drinks

If your office has a kitchen, it’s a good idea to make sure that there’s a usable blender — because smoothies are a healthy way to control what you’re eating at work. Keeping a supply of fresh fruit, milk, and other select ingredients in your fridge or canteen can open the door to countless recipes.

With just a few handful of mixed berries, such as blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, and a splash of your chosen milk, fruit juice, or just plain water, you’ll be whipping up a nice serving of nutrients to get you through the afternoon. Add a spoonful of turmeric, an anti-inflammatory known to prevent headaches, for an Indian twist to your healthy office snack.

In small quantities, peanut butter’s high potassium and protein content can lessen feelings of weakness, confusion, and muscle cramps. Keep a low-sugar brand in your kitchenette, so that blending a spoonful with a chopped banana and a splash of milk can make a tasty quick drink to re-energise you after that meeting.

To read more about the kinds of healthy smoothies you can make at the office, read our blog post here.

Energy Bites

A simple to make and simple to eat snack, energy bites (also called energy balls) have high levels of personalisation. With a base of rolled oats, anything from ground pecans and desiccated coconut to raisins and maple syrup can be added to these small balls of compact energy.

Using a food processor or blender (or a bowl and spoon), mix your ingredients until they have the consistency to be rolled into golf balls. Allow them to firm in the fridge for 20 minutes, then pack them up and head to work.

Ensure that your ingredients are healthy — avoid large amounts of chocolate or other processed sugary products. Oats, nuts, fresh and/or dried fruits, and other simple flavourings or syrups are some of the healthiest options for your pick-me-up energy bites.

Cheese, Crackers, and Fruit

A cheese board with crackers and fruit may sound extravagant for a workplace snack. However, these three foods will be able to perk you up when that mid-afternoon slump drags your productivity down. The high levels of calcium in dairy products, such as cheese, lower blood pressure and protect blood vessels, helping ensure that enough oxygen is reaching the brain to enable higher levels of cognition.

Try pairing apple slices, blackberries, and grapes with cheddar cheese on a rice cake. Or, for those with a more elevated palate, snack on figs with a blue cheese like stilton or gorgonzola. You can find plenty of fruits on our storefront.

Eating fruit in moderation contributes to healthy and consistent levels of blood sugar, avoiding peaks and troughs of energy as your body metabolises food. Whole-grain or rice crackers are known to regulate blood sugar, and take very little energy to be digested — check the calorie content before consuming, just to be sure. In short, eating these three together can help avoid sudden crashes in both concentration and cognition.

Healthy Snack Bars

As well as their convenience and taste, many snack bars are designed to be healthy boosts when you’re on-the-go. Containing sugars that are low-fat and low-calorie, you’ll find the concentrated energy a great pick-me-up. With high levels of potassium and low levels of sodium, you’ll also get more blood flowing to the brain to enable concentration and creativity.

At Ripe, we don’t only sell fresh produce. Our shop has a wide array of healthy pre-made snacks and baked goods. Our variety of brands gives you as many options as when you order fruit and vegetables from us. Check out our products page to get a list of snack bars that’ll get your team through that tough meeting.

Final Thoughts

Moving away from processed food and drink means leaving behind all the convenience and easy tastes. It can be daunting to take steps towards eating a more balanced diet, in particular when you note the prevalence and availability of these unhealthy products.

By making the simple change of what you eat at work, you can not only change your diet for the better but also experience the physical and mental benefits that come from a varied and science-backed lifestyle to increase your productivity or the productivity of your employees.

That change is even easier with Ripe, as we’re committed to high standards of produce and delivery. We can take the stress away from incentivising healthier workplace habits by shipping them straight to your door.

For more information, visit our shop page to start eating and working better.