The best time to have lunch when you work from home

Say wine, snacks or haute cuisine and the gourmands at online food magazine FavorFlav know where to drink, how to eat it and what to cook. This time our cheffies serve you: the best time to have lunch when you work from home. 

Many of us are celebrating a rather sour anniversary around this time: one year of working from home. While it may have seemed fantastic at first that you could stroll to your kitchen at any time of the day to make a snack board for yourself (okay, it still is), it has become somewhat less funny as all the hours and days seem to blend together without clearly marked points and a day behind a screen sometimes feels like one big energy dip. Hence the question: what is the best time to have lunch when you work from home?

Because especially if you don't make sure to regularly schedule some movement and relaxation during a workday, it's tempting to eat away your feelings or energy dips throughout the day with guilty pleasures. The result: the well-known carb coma or sugar crash. But how can we all ensure that we remain as productive as possible while working from home?

Customization
According to Gerard Mullin, a gastroenterologist and professor, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this. It will always depend on caloric needs, appetite, how much someone moves, and how you structure your work-from-home day. It is very possible that you sit longer than usual at the office, that you work at different times, and that the pandemic causes you more stress anyway (tip: go stress-baking). All of this affects your health and digestion. It can also lead to you eating more than you should, which can lead to fatigue, discomfort, and concentration problems.

Avoid real hunger
He does recommend having lunch about three to five hours after you have breakfast (and don't forget: first breakfast, then coffee). If you have eaten a balanced breakfast and haven't stuffed yourself but your stomach is about half full, digesting solid food should take about four hours. According to him, it is good not to wait until you are completely hungry again, but to plan the frequency of your meals and healthy snacks in such a way that you provide a constant supply of fuel (energy) for your brain. And so, according to him, it is also wise to have a small snack two hours after a substantial meal.

Snack attack
And yes, as tempting as it is to treat yourself to a piece of Oreo cheesecake as a snack every day, it is of course the intention that these are healthy snacks with plenty of fiber, good fats, and proteins. Apple with peanut butter, , whole grain crackers with hummus, some dried fruit with a piece of cheese, that kind of thing. But occasionally ‘sinning’ to break the monotony of yet another week of working from home and eating something that genuinely makes you happy should also be allowed. That is advice close to our hearts.