No More Lunch Crunch

Why eating at your desk is still a bad idea

There’s no doubt about it – the pandemic altered most people’s habits, including how they ate lunch.  Gone were the runs to the nearby deli for a sandwich and the convivial jigsaw puzzles with co-workers over leftover-laden Tupperware.  The pandemic settled us into a rhythm of home-cooked lunches and/or socially-distanced bites during frazzled short-staffed shifts.

But even our home-cooked lunches as we worked in our living rooms and at our kitchen tables had their drawbacks.  Working from home may have kept us away from the office vending machines and their late afternoon siren song but proximity to our fridges, pandemic baking, and “comfy pants” had the effect of, well, you know.

So as we return to something approaching the before times, it’s worth asking ourselves what habits we’d like to return to and which ones, when broken, we realized weren’t serving us in the first place.

One of the first habits you should ditch is the desk lunch.

On some level, we all know we ought to step away from our workspace for a pause now and then, but we also know that it’s easier said than done.  Meetings run long and blocks of time spill over into the next.  Calls and teleconferences seem to come at any time.  Workplaces are trying to keep up with fewer staff and increasing demands.  And that has led more and more people to multi-task their way through their lunch time, trying (usually in vain) to catch up on work. For a great many of us the thought of taking a real break just doesn’t seem feasible.

But here’s the thing: eating at your desk isn’t just unproductive, but counter-productive.

Some cultures seem to have a grip on this concept. The French, rather fittingly, have a law banning desk lunch. The Swedish have the delightful tradition of fika. And even in China there’s a strong culture of respecting mealtimes.

So if you’re feeling chained to your desk, consider the following:

Our attention span diminishes over time. The first half hour or so of our work time is most productive (check out the Pomodoro technique) and only resets when we take a break. If you never take a break you never reset and eventually productivity drops to negligible. Eating while reading emails is not a break - you can’t check back in if you’ve never left.

We get more irritable. We may realize, intellectually at least, that we’re likely to be disrupted by supervisors and coworkers while we’re eating, but it still makes us cranky. “Can’t they see I have my mouth full?” you think, and yes, they can. You’re giving the signal that you’re occupied, but also that you’re available. They feel bad for bothering you and you feel annoyed and strangely guilty at the same time.

It’s disruptive to the people around us. It’s hard to concentrate on your conference call when your cubicle neighbour is eating a salmon salad sandwich or a jerk chicken bowl. The best foods often have strong aromas and life is hard enough without having to skimp on flavour. The criteria for your meal should be healthy, flavourful, and satisfying - worrying about the smell is a stress you don’t need.

It sends the wrong message. You’d think that after the last two and a half years we would have understood that “presenteeism”, the impulse to spend more face time at work even if it isn’t productive, is pointless. But yet many of us, subconsciously or otherwise, equate being “busy” with being productive and breaks as a sign of not enough to do. I’ve worked in offices where back-to-back meeting were a badge of honour and anything more than a five minute dash to the cafeteria was considered suspicious. Looking back, it should have been a red flag.

It messes with our eating. When we eat in front of a screen or similarly distracted we tend to eat more in the moment, and even more later. Anyone who has demolished a bag of movie theatre popcorn can attest to how quickly mindless calories are consumed, but we eat more even later in the day. If your brain doesn’t process what you had for lunch there’s a good chance you’ll eat more at dinner and when snacking. Your enjoyment of food is one of the signals your body needs to feel full. Mindless munching and sandwiches swallowed whole won’t cut it, and the blue light emanating from your computer monitor isn’t helping regulate your body much either.

But how can we break the habit, particularly if we’re working in one of the countless businesses and organizations facing serious staffing shortages?

Spread it out. If at all possible, encourage your employer to stagger lunch breaks so that no one area is unstaffed for any length of time. Employees feel more free to take a break when there’s explicit understanding of who is “covering” the time.

Have a plan. Have a place to go and a plan to spend your time. If the weather is good a nearby park is a great choice, but whatever you choose should be far enough away that you can’t actually see your desk or workspace. Having a book you really want to read even for a few minutes after eating or a little walking route near the office can make even a brief escape something to look forward to.

Make it a treat. You COULD scrape some miscellaneous leftovers into a container and nuke them in the office microwave. And there’s nothing wrong with leftovers! But if you think about bringing a lunch as an alternative to eating out it makes sense to splurge (just a little) on a few fancier ingredients or a pre-made treat. And when you do go out for lunch make an event of it - try a new place and plan it a few days ahead so you can enjoy the anticipation.

Make it pretty. Don’t forget to make your meal look nice too. I remember a co-worker who ate at her desk, but at lunch would unfurl a nice placemat, a cloth napkin, and real cutlery and dishes. I’m not saying you need to go that far (but you would be the coolest person in the office!) but a nice bento box wouldn’t hurt.

And if you’re the boss? The most important thing you can do is to model the right attitude. It’s one thing to tell your employees that it’s okay to take a lunch break, but do you? Consider the message you’re sending when your employees are always knocking on your door when you’re holding a forkful of pasta salad. Lead by example and take lunch seriously - don’t let meetings run over into meal times and don’t schedule mandatory activities over the lunch period. Ensure there’s a comfortable place to eat, not just windowless concrete walls and flickering fluorescent lighting.

And most of all, remember that lunch ought not be a chore, but a pleasure. It’s a boundary we can put between work and life that makes even the most difficult days more bearable. It’s not a simple “time is money” trade-off when you crunch your lunch over a keyboard - you’re losing a lot more too.