Adopt these healthy office habits

You spend approximately 6 to 8 waking hours in your office. But are you aware of the fact that for most of us, the office is a hub of bad diet decisions accompanied with a sedentary lifestyle. Bid farewell to these unhealthy office foods with these healthy office habits from Ms. Divya Choudhary, Senior Nutritionist at Fortis Hospital, New Delhi.

Eat breakfast to keep hunger pangs at bay.Office life can wreck your diet decisions if you are are not careful. One of the most common reasons behind our urge to overeat at work is the lack of an adequate breakfast. Skipping breakfast leads to an erratic lifestyle pattern. It's the most important meal of the day, and we end up neglecting it. Come lunch, and we are so hungry that we hog on almost anything and everything. Click here for a few healthy breakfast ideas.

Be friendly with your coffee machine. Caffeine stimulates the heart and respiratory systems. But don't be too friendly. Limit your coffee consumption to just two cups a day. Make sure that for every coffee you drink, you drink two full glasses of water, to help your system replenish what the caffeine takes out.

Try and replace normal water intake with lukewarm water. Warm water has many health advantages, such as:
- It flushes out toxins from our system, which if accumulated can lead to aches, pains and headaches.
- Warm water helps our digestive system work more efficiently, while keeping gastro and colon related - diseases at bay.
- Warm water keeps our skin hydrated. Drinking enough water can combat skin problems like eczema, psoriasis, dry skin, wrinkles etc.

Carry healthy meals from home. If possible, one should always carry home food because it has all the advantages of being infection free, and hygienic. Canteen or restauran food, when eaten too often, can also lead to all sorts of problems that arise from lack of essential nutrients since most cooking methods in fast food kill the nutrient value of food.

If you must exist in a cubicle, at least make it a healthy one . Eat your meals on time and preferably in a relaxed environment. Drink lots of water through the day. Always carry fruits (excellent snack without making you gain weight). Look at other snacks like roasted chana and 100% whole grain crackers instead of biscuits. Keep them in your desk drawer. You can also try unsalted almonds, walnuts or unsweetened figs.

Health Me Up's Tip for eating healthy in the office: Maintain a well-stocked office box or bag that contains healthy snacks and foods like yogurt, low fat cottage cheese, low fat string cheese, your favourite fruits, hummus, and raw veggies and put them in your office refrigerator. Don't forget to seal and mark it with your name. This will give you a great excuse to get off that chair every couple of hours, and will also serve your need to eat healthy at work. And yes, don't be too food-friendly when it comes to enjoying colleagues' birthdays, baby showers and receiving high calorie gifts from clients. Respect your limits!

8 Yoga asanas for the office

Are you chained to your office desk for long hours at a stretch with little to no daily exercise? Does your life circle around your laptop? Is typing while hunched over a tiny desk how you spend each day? If the answer is yes, then you need to get proactive about your mental and physical state of being. To help you achieve just that, here are eight yoga asanas for the office that will help you combat mental and physical stress by increasing your concentration levels and relaxing any muscle tensions. Read and practise right away!

Office Yoga Asana 1: Wrist Stretches- Perform these simple stretches as a warm up exercise before starting your work and you'll never complain of wrist pain. (1) Extend and stretch both wrist and fingers acutely as if they are in a hand stand position and hold them up for a count of 5. (2) Make a tight fist with both hands and then bend wrist down while keeping the fist and hold it for a count of 5.

Office Yoga Asana 2: Neck Asana- Breathe in as you bend your head in the right direction. Try and aim at a point where your shoulder touches the ear. Exhale as you bring your back to the normal position. Make sure you keep your neck and spine long. Now do the asana on the left side. Perform fivebreathing cycles on each side.

Office Yoga Asana 3: Reversed Shoulder Rotation and Thoracic Wave- Inhale as you move your shoulders in an upward and backward direction. Exhale as you move them in a downward and frontward direction. Pay key attention to the breathing cycle and keep your neck and spine comfortably straight. Perform eight to ten rotations on each side.

Office Yoga Asana 4: Cow Face Pose for your upper back- Take both your hands and clasp your hands behind your back. If you are unable to clasp, don't try too hard, comfortably stretch your fingers towards one another. Release with an exhalation. Now shake your arms for about 30 seconds and repeat.

Office Yoga Asana 5: Cat Asana for the lower back- While exhaling, bend your back in a backward direction creating a sharp curve in your spine. Now bend in a forward direction with the point between the shoulder blades and inhale. Do it for 5 breathing cycles to relieve your body of long hours at the desk.

Office Yoga Asana 6: Konasana for toned arms- Stand straight with legs wide apart. Now bend forward from your waist. Try and touch the ground with the tips of your fingers, if possible place both your hands on the ground while standing. Your upper body should be in a straight line. Look ahead by about 3 inches. Perform konasana for 10 to 30 seconds and breathe normally throughout the asana.

Office Yoga Asana 7: Bhastrika for your abdomen- Sit in a comfortable position with your back straight. Close your eyes and start exhaling and inhaling via nose by focusing on the abdominal muscles. As soon as you release your abdominal muscles you'll realize that your diaphragm contracts before you start to inhale. Hear the sound of your breath and perform this asana 5 times at a stretch. Give it a pause. Breathe normally. And start again. Complete one to two rounds on a daily basis and increase the number of your breaths by 5, each week.

Office Yoga Asana 8: Leg Extension Asana- Sit in a comfortable position with one leg bent and placed on a chair or desk in front of you. Place both your hands on your feet. Keeping your spine straight, inhale and extend your leg outward while holding it with your hands. Stay in this position for 3 to 5 breaths. Exhale as you come back to the normal position, while moving your hands and placing them on your waist. Stay in this position for 3 to 5 breaths. Relax. Perform 5 to 10 rounds like this.