It’s been a while, and the blog is back. While the blog has been quiet, a lot things have been going on. One of the biggest things being the release of my first ebook, Not at My Desk Lunch: Eat Well, Digest Well + Thrive During Your Work Day.
The idea of taking a Not at My Desk Lunch started on this blog (the original posts 1, 2, 3, 4), and in sharing my own Not at My Desk Lunches on Instagram and hearing for you, it became clear that this idea could become something more.
I made the ebook to put all of the Four Steps of how to have a Not at My Desk Lunch in one place with some not confusing nutrition science behind it, as well as 15 recipes to enjoy during your work week.
I’ve talked at length on why it’s helpful to take a Not at My Desk Lunch and what you can eat, but what I haven’t talked about as much is why I created it, why it’s so important to me to share and potentially help you.
Some Background
In addition to all of the things I do here, I also have a full time desk job as a graphic designer. I go into an office everyday, there is that stereotypical watercooler in the corner, bagels and donuts appear on birthdays and Fridays.
Before Not at My Desk Lunch had a name and became a thing, it was born out the fact that I desperately needed it. I was working at another job where I had more responsibility than I do now, which became a bit too much for me to handle.
Most of my work days consisted of me answering a never-ending amount of emails and phone calls, coordinating across multiple teams to make sure projects were on track, on time or if things got messed up, how to fix them, and attending so many pre-meetings, meetings, and post-meetings. Not to mention dealing with clients and their needs/demands.
I constantly felt like I was pulled in a thousand directions all at once, and I tackled it the only way I knew how, put my head down and just get to work.
Pretty Close to Rock Bottom
So in response to that, I put work over my own needs. And after over two years of doing that, my body and soul had had enough. I had been anxiety prone before starting this job, and now I felt like I was walking ball of anxiety. I was deeply exhausted all the time and so burnt out. I was constantly light headed, hungry, and kinda shaky and had no idea why. Eczema bloomed all over my shins, then my upper arm, leading me to just cover up all the time, even when it was hot outside.
My soul was tired and looking for something that really filled me up. I decided to invest in learning more about nutrition because cooking and food blogging were the two things that were filling me up. Wanting to really learn more and getting tired of the contradictions I was finding on the internet, I enrolled to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (more on that journey here). While I was in school, I learned so much about how much my stress was affecting my body and how, how digestion is really where it all begins, and how most of us aren’t really eating in the best way to support digestion.
How Not at My Desk Lunch Began
I started making changes at home to make how we ate better for digestion (and adjusted what we ate a little bit, mostly how much), and I noticed lunch was my worst offender for optimal digestion. So I started to really take my lunch break, to eat, in as a relaxed state as possible, and just focus on my food and chewing. Having that break during the day really helped me get through the rest of my day with less shakiness (which I learned was my blood sugar), fatigue, and hunger.
It wasn’t until a few months of taking a restorative lunch break and a deadline to create a project for my NTP schooling that Not at My Desk Lunch became the thing it is today. In looking back on it, I realized just how much power eating away from your desk could have. I added the four steps to make that big change less overwhelming and so I could share what I had learned in school in a (pun intended and not intended) digestible way.
Why a Not at My Desk Lunch is Important to Me
A Not at My Desk Lunch was a small and important step in a lot of other steps that lead me to make changes in my life for me, like changing jobs, taking better care of myself, getting better at setting boundaries, making my digestion more of a priority, trying and then becoming gluten and dairy free, working on ways to reduce my stress, and so many more.
Me in 2016, before I started working on my health, stress and when I wasn’t taking a long enough lunch. Then me in 2017 after prioritizing my lunches, digestion and self care.
I worked with a lot of other smart people who I could see were in similar spots that I was, they were overwhelmed with the huge responsibilities they were given, and just like me, they were putting their head down and doing the work. Just like me they had put their work over their own health, and it was affecting them too.
I knew that this was not unique to my office, that there are a lot more people, women especially, who were putting their jobs over themselves and slowly running themselves into the ground.
How a Not at My Desk Lunch Can Help You
When you’re in that place and just super overloaded with all the things to do and be and how to support everyone but yourself, you have no idea how to start doing much for yourself. Where to begin, how to tackle such a huge task of taking care of yourself and really filling yourself back up. I’ve constantly discovered that big change is made up of a lot of small steps, one after the other, that take you towards where you want to be.
Eating a Not at My Desk Lunch can be the first step for you to feel better in your crazy busy day. To finally have a moment to yourself during the day, to have a moment to take a full breath, to enjoy a nourishing lunch and actually digest the nutrients you’re eating, to start to feel more like yourself again. And over time, as you start to feel more like yourself, more steps, magic, growth and fullness can come into your life again. That’s what I want for you more than anything.