5 office-friendly, body-healthy snacks to keep at your desk.

When you’re sitting at a desk all day, it’s easy to eat things you shouldn’t.  And it’s even easier to eat things for no reason at all – like when you’re not even hungry.  It’s just kind of what happens when you work inside a building for eight hours of every day.

Food is one of the only things that keeps you from passing out from sheer boredom at your desk.  It keeps you going even when you think you can’t possibly go anymore.  But… you eat the wrong types of food, and obviously, things won’t turn out so good for you.  And you’ll be passing out for reasons you don’t want to pass out for.

So, to avoid all of that passing out, here are a few body-healthy, mood-lifting snacks to keep at your desk.

Almonds

These little guys are the epitome of snack food.  Why?  Because they’re so easy to snack on.  It’s like eating a chip but without all that stuff that’s bad for you.  In fact, almonds are ridiculously healthy for you.  They reduce bad cholesterol, build up your bones and teeth, and help oxygen and nutrients flow through your blood.  WebMD even insists that crunching on almonds can “help you relieve aggression,” which means almonds are the perfect desk companion.

Dark Chocolate

Every now and then, you want what you shouldn’t want.  Cake.  Ice cream.  Candy.  And, yup, you guessed it – chocolate.  And luckily for you, you can have that chocolate and still feel good about yourself afterwards.  You just have to eat the right kind… which, of course, is dark chocolate.  When you eat dark chocolate, a number of things will happen.  For starters, you’ll increase blood flow to the bran, improve your blood sugar, and reduce your blood pressure.  It’s certainly a tasty way to treat your body (and your mood) right.

Oatmeal Packets

Oatmeal is delicious and good for you.  It can lower your cholesterol and reduce constipation.  Another great perk with oatmeal is that it keeps you fuller for longer… which helps with your little snacking problem.  However, you do need to be careful with oatmeal.  The majority of traditional oatmeal packets are overflowing with sugar and sodium.  Choose your oats wisely.

Tea Packets

Drinking water all day every day isn’t always enjoyable.  Sometimes, you’d just like a little variety in your liquid drinking life.  But when this need for variety hits you, it’s easy to run to that extra sugary soda or super frothy $5 coffee.  However, we all know where this leads us.  So instead of turning to sugar and froth, keep a box of green or black tea packets at your desk.  Green tea, specifically, has a whole mess of health benefits like lowering cholesterol, improving blood flow, and preventing things like high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.

Oranges

If you can manage the sticky mess, then you should consider making an orange your midmorning snack.  Live Science says “a whole orange contains only about 85 calories and has no fat, cholesterol, or sodium.”  Oranges are good for your heart and skin, can lower cholesterol, improve digestion, and reduce your risk for colon cancer.  Be careful with how many oranges you consume in a given day, though.  Eat too much, and you’ll experience the likes of diarrhea, cramps, and heartburn.  And also, keep in mind that it’s better to eat the orange than to drink it.