Healthy eating may not solve all of your problems, but it might be a pretty good start!
In my work at Juno, a startup that helps professionals feel better in and outside of work-- a cornerstone of our work is helping people make better food choices.
Eating healthily is one thing that you can control that helps you be the best version of yourself, and to be better equipped to face the mental challenges of the day.
Let’s not pretend that we all eat healthily all the time, but rather try and look at what we do for our diet as a whole.
For example, I definitely did not eat two cookies before trying to drag my limbs on a run today. That definitely didn’t happen.
But being mindful of what we’re consuming and how we’re treating our insides is a super important step in having a holistic wellbeing that makes you feel better about your body and your life more generally. There are extremes of course, so what we want to achieve is a sense of balance rather than counting peas on your plate.
There’s nothing wrong with indulging in a nice glass of wine and a couple of chocolate hobnobs after a long day. In fact, you should allow yourself that! In a balanced lifestyle, you are aware of what you need to do to be disciplined enough to stay healthy but not too strict that you’re policing every bite.
That being said, gut health is remarkably important. Scientifically speaking, when it comes to mental health and your diet there is a clear correlation. Most of our serotonin (between 70 and 80%!) is created in the gut and studies show that microbes in our gut have the ability to alter our resilience to negative feelings and emotions. Being able to provide balanced and healthy meals rich in legumes and whole foods gives us the nutritional support system that we need so we can think about the more important stuff (but also fun stuff like dancing around the house to 90s brit pop). We at Juno are committed to changing the narrative on employee wellbeing and encouraging everybody to look at ‘wellbeing’ as a big picture, and thanks to the Mindful Chef boxes on our platform, we can do just that!
Oli, a Juno member, has been ordering Mindful Chef boxes through the platform since the Covid-19 lockdown, and says “Soon after lockdown started I realised how easy it is to eat the wrong things. Being stuck at home isn’t always the most healthy eating-friendly environment, so I logged onto Juno and saw the healthy meal plans I could get from Mindful Chef which has been pretty amazing. I absolutely love that I’m eating well on autopilot. One less thing to worry about!”
Our mission, together with Mindful Chef, and all of the food providers on Juno is to show the world that wellbeing is so much more than just belly breaths and lunges. It’s about every aspect of our life, ensuring that we have balance. What’s good for us outside of work, is good for us inside of work.