Good evening!
The Farmer’s Market bread returns for its’ last hoorah! It was a bit stale today, so I made sure to warm it in the micro for 15 seconds and put extra Earth balance on it! Perfecto.
As for the whole wheat loaf I purchased, I tried freezing it. I have doubts it will taste fresh when I take it out though…I guess my eyes were bigger than my belly at the market on Saturday!!!! Another reason why grocery shopping when hungry is trouble. :tongue:
For dinner tonight, I made garlic scape infused quinoa…
First I boiled the water with a vegetable bouillon cube until it had fully dissolved (this is crucial for not having bland quinoa!). Then I added the quinoa and a few processed garlic scapes, along with sea salt, 1 tbsp cold-pressed sunflower oil, and black pepper. I cooked the quinoa in this heavenly mixture for about 15 minutes or so.
The kitchen smelled glorious! It was so tasty and fresh. Simple food is good food.
Because dinner was lacking some colour, I decided a juice would be made for an energizing dessert…
It was 1 beet, 2 carrots, 1/2 lemon, 1 tiny CSA apple.
Last night, I had a hankering for my GF + Vegan chewy crackers, however this time I wanted to turn them into Glo Dough and also try my hand at dehydrating them in the food dehydrator.
I took the original recipe that I created a while back and I changed it around. I was out of brown rice so I used all quinoa. Second, I added a ton of garlic scapes which gave it great pop of flavour. I also added a few other seasonings and seeds and I dehydrated them for about 3 hours.
Despite not having brown rice, they were deelish. However, because I used only quinoa they didn’t hold together very well and were extremely crumbly! It was missing the brown rice. When brown rice is cooked and processed it acts like a paste, holding everything together. Next time = brown rice!
The balls held together much better than the flatbreads and crackers did…
They are sooo addicting though. They were awesome slathered in hummus…I made a huge plate for lunch that I promptly inhaled and could not peel myself away to get the camera. Blogger fail, I know.
I suspect the crackers will be great sprinkled over salads too. I am going to work on the recipe a bit before I post it because I want to iron out the kinks first!
Check out day 4 of the amazing sprouting Green Onion! Note the smaller lil guys popping up! I added those yesterday. What shall we name it?
As for the trans-planted basil, it does not seem to be growing. I have even been talking to it when I eat my breakfast al fresco!
Is Your Desk Job Harming Your Health?
This morning, I read an interesting article on Health.com about desk jobs and the toll they can take on our health. I find this topic particularly interesting because I suffered from a lot of health problems when I was sitting for 12-14 hours a day while a grad student and researcher. I would often have a ton of back, neck, and shoulder pain, headaches, lethargy, not to mention feeling stir-crazy all day long!
Health.com reports that sitting for extended periods of time can cause ‘back pain, repetitive stress injuries, obesity and even an increased risk of diabetes and heart disease.’ Also, it can flatten out the curve of the lower back and put strain on the upper body, shoulders, and arms.
However, there are simple things that one can do to help reduce the negative impact that sitting for extended periods of time can have.
Health.com suggests…
1) Get moving! For 5 minutes every hour, get up and move around.
2) You need more than your daily gym workout. Just because you workout once a day does not mean you are ‘covered’ in terms of exercise if you are still sitting for 8-12 hours a day. Take several breaks throughout the day for 10-15 minutes to stretch and walk.
3) Practice good posture while sitting at your desk. An exercise ball or taking Pilates classes might help with this.
4) Have your desk assessed for proper ergonomic balance. Many workplaces now offer a physical therapist to come look at your workstation.
OSGMOM has always told me that I was a super active baby, toddler, and child always on the go. I could never sit still for long periods of time and was always moving around much to her chagrin. I have always had a love for physical work, especially working with my hands and I get this from my mom who is very artistic and loves to draw and paint. It is no wonder that a desk job + 3-4 hours of driving each day did not jive well with my personality!
When I left my research job and commute and started up the bakery, I went from sitting for 12-14 hours a day to standing for at least 10 hours a day. It was a huge shift for me and I suffered from other health issues such as bad foot pain (especially heel pain), sore shoulders, arms, thumbs, and elbows from doing repeated physical labour with my hands. I started wearing comfortable sneakers and using my cushion mat from Costco (it’s great by the way) and this has helped quite a bit, although it can still be hard to find a balance. Now I find that I look forward to sitting breaks to give my feet a rest, but if I am on the computer doing desk work for longer than 4 hours I really start to feel it in my back. I think with any job, it can be difficult to find that perfect balance for one’s body!
Thinking back to my previous desk job, it would have been extremely hard for me to take mini walking breaks as this article suggests. I barely had enough time to go to the washroom at my old job and I was glued to my desk for hours on end. I think that it can be really hard for some employees to ‘claim’ that break time for their health, especially when their supervisor doesn’t take breaks either and doesn’t seem to encourage them.
At my old job we were supposed to get 1/2 hour for lunch and two 15 minute breaks, but I was lucky to have 10 minutes to inhale my lunch. Obviously, I was part of the problem by not ‘claiming’ my break in a more assertive manner, but sometimes it puts the employee in a precarious position because no one wants to look like a ‘slacker’ even if they are nothing of the sort.
Workplaces have made significant improvements over the past several years, but they have a long way to go before the majority of ‘desk-jockies’ are feeling at their optimum health.
I have lots of food for thought for you tonight…
- Do you have a desk job or a standing/physical type job? Do you like it?
- Do you feel like your workplace would support mini walking breaks during the day?
- Do you implement any of the above suggestions into your day?
- Do you think that you get enough breaks at your current job and does your supervisor support breaks? How long and how frequent at your breaks? Do you take them?
On that note I am going to get up from this desk, stretch, and do some yoga. Have a great night!
I have a desk job, and I do sit a lot when I’m in the office. When I’m not slammed with work, I do feel comfortable enough to take a brief walk down the hall and walk up and down the stairs a few times in the building– but I definitely don’t do it as often as I should!
I’m really lucky in the fact that I often get to work from home, rather in the office, so I’m not stuck at a desk quite as much then. I usually will bounce on my rebounder from time to time, or do some random housework on a break. I definitely am the type that likes to move around during the day, too! I go stir crazy sitting in the office all day long!
A comment on the bread: It looked pretty European – or being German, it looked German – to me and we freeze whole wheat too. I cut it in slices and put 4-6 slices in a freezer bag, take them out an hour before we need it and maybe toast it a little depending on the bread and it tastes totally fresh. I don’t know how “German” yours is, but maybe that helped.
Concerning the desk – I write the abc several times with each of my feet while sitting and found that helped me stretch and prevent running injuries as well. Besides I walk around my office when I am on the phone. :-)
I always have that problem with bread; our family doesn’t really like bread (we’re asian, we eat rice) so a lot of it ends up in the freezer. That bread looks reeeeeally good, though :D And so does your quinoa!
I’m a student, and even when I’m not doing homework I find myself just slouched at the computer almost all of the day. I’m really trying hard to change this sedentary habit of mine, because I want to be active beyond just a 30 minute workout everyday… I mean, what percentage is that of the day? Ugh. Being sedentary is NOT good for my health :(
Wei-Wei
Even though I’m still in college and I don’t have a job, I still think about this sort of dilemma for my future job, whatever it may be. I’m the type of person who can’t sit still all day. I need to get up and move around, so when the time comes for me to go job hunting, I will keep all of these things in mind. My career will come secondary to my health.
~Amanda
I have a desk job, and would say that over all I don’t find it to be a problem, because of a few things. The first is I have a decent chair, the second is a have a huge monitor with a good docking station (monitor is at appropriate eye-level), and the third is good posture — I even have had a few people comment that I’m always sitting straight up (I had to work at this to make it a habit a few years ago). I definitely get up every hour or so, though I’m not sure it’s for more than 5 minutes to walk over to talk with someone. I also move my papers around on my desk so that my head isn’t turned in exactly the same position all day if I’m working on a writing project.
I currently work as a gym receptionist so I’m on my feet all day. At the beginning, my lower back hached like crazy but I’m use to it now. I make sure to switch my weight from one feet to the other every few minutes. Fortunately, my boss is very understanding and, as long as I don’t keep the costumers waiting at the front desk, I can take as many breaks as I want. It means that I can’t have more than a few minutes of break at a time though. I’m always stressed that I won’t hear the door opening. I bring a lot of small snacks so I don’t have to sit for a long time to eat them. It works for me!
Good advice!
A lot of may day is spent in front of a computer, planning lessons for my classes.
I notice the affects and I hate it. My eyes get so tired…
I know that I should be up and moving around, but sometimes I don’t make it a priority.
And do you ever notice that the more you sit in a day the more tired you are when you get home? …which means less motivation to exercise…I hate it!
Must keep thinking positively and making healthy decisions
YES! “And do you ever notice that the more you sit in a day the more tired you are when you get home? …which means less motivation to exercise…I hate it!”
I spent 3 years working at a desk job and couldn’t stand it – I need to be always moving as well. I was lucky in that at my workplace we were encouraged to be active at lunch, so I could go for an 8km run every lunchtime around Sydney Harbour, which was wonderful and made it just bearable. Then I left that to go back and do more full-time study at uni and spent hours and hours hunched over my laptop and would get a lot of pain in my neck and back. Now, I’m a high school teacher and I’m on my feet all day long, rarely sitting down for more than 10mins at a time to quickly eat lunch before heading off to playground duty or whatever. I wouldn’t change it for the world though :-)
Every time I’ve frozen bread, once it thaws it tastes prefectly fresh.
I have a desk job, but I only live 3 blocks away, so I am able to walk to work, walk home for lunch, go back and then walk home again at the end of the day. So, not so bad. Sometimes I get antsy and get up and walk around the office a bit :)
Question – Have you been changing the water daily that the green onion is in?
Noooooooooope. But Eric reminded me this AM and I changed it. It was looking murky!
haha – I linked to this same article on my blog last week. It made me really think since I have a desk job. I do exercise daily but apparently it’s still not enough! I get up every hour to go to the bathroom but I’ve been trying to take a 10-15 minute walk at lunch and a walk in the afternoon too. I’m also thinking about getting a stability ball to sit on at my desk.
My workplace is very health aware in my opinion. We have a gym with a free membership in the building, fitness classes at lunch and nutrition seminars from time to time. The Assistant VP of my department is very active and she definitely supports me in my endeavors. Getting to work out at lunch plus taking a break whenever necessary really helps since I do site the rest of the day.
that is so great!
I recently started a desk job, but I’ve found that I’m sitting a lot less than I thought I would be. Plus, I walk to and from work, and I often walk around during my lunch break.
Looooove quinoa – I think it will be making an appearance in my life today.
I’m an elementary school teacher, so I am always on the go! I honestly am lucky if I sit down for 5 minutes while the kids are working. Usually not though, because someone always has a question. I am always so drained at the end of the day, but love going for my runs right after school to clear my head so I can get work done when I get back (I run straight from school with some girlies). The only days I got to “sit” are the days when the kiddos take standardized testing – then I am bored out of my mind!!! :)
any suggestions or suggested resources about in office workouts or movements? its soooo hot outside right now that i no longer can take an afternoon walk and we don’t have stairs in this building. thanks for the tips!
This might help: http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/231
I have a desk job, but it’s within a GREAT office environment. I get a full hour for lunch, and as much freedom as I need throughout the day to take break and stand up, stretch, and get the blood flowing. All things considered, it’s a very health-friendly environment (minus the endless supply of chocolate that lies around!)
I do have a desk job and my work would not be very happy if I asked for this many breaks! I try to get up and pee every one and a half to two hours and spend my time getting back and forth to help a bit but most of the time it’s only like 5 minutes. I do sit up straight as much as possible and I fought for a new chair since the old one was terrible on my back. This is not a very health-friendly environment to work in. Is it crazy that I’m looking for a new job for this reason?
I used to spend my summers as a camp counselor. Talk about an active job! I miss that.
Now I have a desk job, and the day varies: some days I’m walking all over campus (I work at a university), but more often I’m in my office all. day. long. I’ve actually had days where I sat so long, staring at my computer, that I started to feel nauseous. Not good.
The double-edged sword of my job is that it’s fairly self-directed: my boss is very hands-off as long as the work gets done. On days when I’m being conscious of myself I am good about taking breaks and walking outside for just a few minutes. When I’m _really_ good I give myself the actual hour I theoretically have for lunch. BUT those days are limited. Often I’m bugging myself to get something done, or I just have so much on my to-do list that even a 10-minute break seems like a “waste of time”. I’m still learning how to remind myself that I’m more productive on the days when I take care of myself.
Now that I’m running, I do find that I’m much better at moving around and hydrating throughout the day because I don’t want to feel bad on my evening run! That’s a virtuous cycle I wasn’t expecting.
I work at a Youth Center and my days are very varied, going from 7 hours sitting at my desk doing work to no time in my office and bringing kids on trips, running around with them, etc. I need to do a better job on the mostly-desk-days of getting up and moving!
My 30-year-old sister has either been working a desk job or in university since she was 18. She is currently undergoing network spinal analysis to relieve the beginnings of a hump she’s grown at the bottom of her neck. When she began, her head was 13% forward, as opposed to directly over the spine like our bodies are designed to be. It’s frightening. Even in yoga class the other day, NONE of us could to this one posture involving our right arm because we are so stiff there from using computer mouses. Now I sit with a computer on my lap all day… who knows what damage I’m even doing to my quads!
I have a desk job. Although I do make sure to move around and also to stretch, I have had chronic shoulder pain since starting. I have tried everything – accupuncture, massage therapy, physical therapy, novicane injections, steriod injections, oral steriods etc and nothing has worked. It is very frustrating! I think that the bottom line is, until I do not have to hunch over a desk all day I will have this problem :(
I am chained to my desk from 9-5 every day. I am responsible for the phones and they must be covered 100% of the time we are open. So, if I have to go get my mail (another one of my duties) I have to transfer the phones to someone while I am gone from my desk for 30 seconds. I hate it. And my co-worker gives me a hard time about “giving my job away” when she has to take the phones. So yeah, it stinks.
No, my workplace does not care about mini-walking breaks.
I try to take the stairs every day from the parking garage to the main floor. But once you are in the building, all the stairwells are locked from the inside. So, I HAVE to take the elevator every day. I learned this the hard way when I went to take a little movement break and got stuck in the stairwell on the 12th floor of my building. I had to go all the way down to the bottom and take the elevator back up. Ugh
I take no breaks except to use the bathroom. I don’t even leave for lunch. Its not pleasant. I try to workout most days, but you are right, sitting ALL Day and then working out for 1 hour isn’t going to do much. In college I used to walk everywhere. Walk to class, walk to work, AND excercise all the time. It was much easier to manage my weight.
I think I may just start transfering the phones every few hours and walk around for a bit. My co-worker will just have to deal!
I always try and get away from my desk at regular intervals throughout the day and go for a walk at lunch if the weather is nice. If I sit for too long I find I can get a bad back and neck, which isn’t nice. It can be hard to get away for 5 minutes though and some employers do expect you to kind of stay put at your desk for a long time; my manager only gets up about twice a day to make a cup of coffee and that’s it!
I have always been an active person and growing up my mom said I could never sit still. Now I sit at my desk in front of my computer for 8-10 hours per day. I am the type of person that needs to be moving so I try to take breaks when I can and walk around or just stand up from my computer. Luckily I have a job that is pretty flexible so I am able to take breaks now and then and stretch and move around a bit. However, my posture is horrible when I sit at my desk :(
Ahhhhh, love Quinoa and so does the hubby! Made a huge batch on Monday as a matter of fact and it’s all gone. It’s kind of nice alternative to brown rice as my hubby says. I have the last of it to have with my wrap today at work. Yummy!
Here is my take on all of these questions:
1. Do you have a desk job or a standing/physical type job? Do you like it? I have a desk job, testing software for banks all day, 9-12 hrs a day. At the moment I do not like my job, however, there’s room for other opinions on that but I’ll leave that out.
2. Do you feel like your workplace would support mini walking breaks during the day? My workplace supports anything health related. Our CEO is a huge advocate of good health. He is also a runner and has run the Boston Marathon 8 times.
3. Do you implement any of the above suggestions into your day? I get up at least once or twice each hour to either visit the ladies room and/or go wash my dishes from breakfast, snack, lunch or afternoon snack. So I constitute those as my mini walking breaks.
4. Do you think that you get enough breaks at your current job and does your supervisor support breaks? How long and how frequent at your breaks? Do you take them? I do not want to be in a job where I can not take a break. I used to work on the front side of banking and we never got breaks, well we did but we never had the opportunity to take advantage of them. I feel like if my boss doesn’t want to take a break, that’s on her not to be healthy, but I will take breaks and if anyone has a problem with it….well, I guess they don’t need me or want to pay high health bills for me to be injured or sick because of it.
Thank you for bringing up this important issue. I work in research and am in front of a computer 90% of my time. Many times I find myself so busy the only times I get up are to use the restroom and fill up my water bottle. We need an environment that not only “allows” breaks but really encourges breaks and small bouts of physical activity during the day. Thank you for getting more dialogue going about this!
I worked at a desk job for the last 3 years and it has played havoc with my posture, neck and back! Coincidentally I was at a chiropractor today and it was scary to see the results of the scan she did on my back. These days I work 3 days at home but have gotten into a bad habit of working (typing, I’m a journalist) on the couch. Really bad habit! I think reading this blog post today was another reminder to look after my back!
Well…did ya name the onion? I vote for Billy.
I used to work at a desk job for a translation company, each of us translated for a different language, and could work any hours we wanted, which resulted in some really long days! I am a pretty active person and can’t sit still for long! So I would wheedle my coworkers and bosses to have push up contests! Not official or anything, just if we felt like moving we would have one! Every few hours or so :) I’d also always go visit the upstairs workers to get my legs moving, go to the bathroom a lot, lift my legs and tighten my abs while at the desk, stretch my arms towards the ceiling and arch my back. We’d also do these competitions where you both lie on your back and hook legs to see who could flip the other person over backwards! It was great. I would have died a slow painful death without moving :)
Angela,
What food dehydrator do you use? And, do you like it? I’m in the market for one.
Thanks!