Food for Thought *

By Addie Broyles
AMERICAN-STATESMAN FOOD WRITER

I hate to break it to you, but you cannot outwork your computer.

The humming box on your desk at work is a multitasking machine, running multiple programs simultaneously, autosaving spreadsheets and reports, pinging you with new e-mails, keeping open those Internet tabs of articles you intend to read and streaming into your already oversaturated brain the new Arcade Fire album you just bought on iTunes.

For those of us who work in front of a computer, we spend eight (or more) hours a day just trying to keep up with our to-do lists and the steady influx of tasks that come through our in-boxes, often stopping only to use the restroom, fetch the mail or a soda, dig a piece of chocolate out of the office stash or reheat leftovers that we shovel into our mouths between clicks of the mouse.

If you're lucky, you trek out of the office to a nearby sandwich shop, grab a turkey club, lug it back to your desk and mindlessly consume it while answering e-mails.

Our computers don't need a break, so why should we?

Catherine McCarthy, who recently wrote "The Way We're Working Isn't Working" with Tony Schwartz (Free Press, $28), says taking a break at lunch is important from both a nutritional and productivity perspective. According to the American Dietetic Association, 20 percent of us skip lunch altogether and most people eat at their desks two to three times a week.

Rather than working mindlessly for a long period of time, McCarthy and Schwartz recommend in the book breaking up your day into shorter, more focused segments that are separated by designated breaks for recharging. The biggest, most important break? Lunch.


Click here to read the article in its entirety published in the Austin American-Statesman and authored by Addie Broyles.


http://www.austin360.com/food-drink/dining-at-home/refueling-my-mind-and-my-belly-by-taking-851685.html



*(Reprinted with Permission)