Instead of living on a strict diet of coffee and potato chips, what can we do to live a healthier life at work even when we are super-busy and often stressed out?

—— 1. Eat your own food more ——

Pack your own food. That way you will know what is in your food and, more importantly, you will limit your options, as the best of intentions for eating a nutritious and well-balanced meal can disappear quite fast when faced with the compelling options on a Cheesecake Factory menu.

You can even try to bring food and pack the office fridge on Monday for the whole week with yogurts, fruits, and healthy soups. Then, all you need to do for the rest of the week is to grab the healthy stuff from the kitchen and eat away. This way you will be able to combine healthy eating, convenience, and last not least, even some savings.

—— 2. Do not skip breakfast ——

Many of us do not have enough time to eat breakfast. According to researchers at the University of Erlangen in Germany, the average lifetime of those who do not eat breakfast is 2.5 years less than everybody else's.

So why not bring nutritional shakes or sugar free oatmeal to work that can be readied in less than one minute in order to boost your metabolism in the morning, if your early morning routine at home is simply too busy.

—— 3. Write down your reasons for eating healthy ——

Seeing the benefits of your healthy lifestyle may help you stay motivated.

Put your list in a place where you can see it frequently and remember why you want to continue your healthy lifestyle and stay away from processed crackers or sweets even if you have been filing papers since the whole day long!

—— 4. Keep herbal or green tea bags in your desk ——

Teas are refreshing and have antioxidants.

A nice cup of tea in the afternoon can keep you away from sugar-laden sodas, fruit drinks, and … coffee, as caffeine can produce withdrawals and afternoon energy crashes.

—— 5. Get up and out during the day ——

If possible, try to plan to leave office for lunchtime, even if only for a short break. Your desk environment is too distracting when it comes to lunchtime, with all the work piling up, and healthy eating can't have distractions around. Distractions lead to mindless eating, which usually ends in overeating.

Get some fresh air. Sit down and eat and then take a quick walk. That way you will be able to focus on your food while you’re eating, and then quit focusing on it when you’re done and get back to work! At least, that's the plan!

—— 6. Come to meetings with a full stomach ——

Try to avoid conference rooms stocked with boxes of donuts or “snack-size” fried foods. If you know that unhealthy snacks will be served at a meeting that will throw your diet efforts out the window, be sure that you eat a healthy snack prior to the gathering, so that you're not compelled to munch.

As for birthday cakes and other absolutely irresistible items, you can turn to the nearest person that you know is on a diet, too, and ask if they would like to split a piece. That way you only eat half as much as you would have and can still enjoy the celebration with your co-workers.

—— 7. The long road to diner ——

Instead of starving and then eating heaping amounts of carb-heavy food at dinner, it's better to have a good snack between lunch and diner.

Rather than taking multiple trips to the vending machine, you can plan your afternoon snack ahead and stock up on better options such as: small packages of nuts, rice crackers, snack-size bags of fresh vegetables, fruit, or cheese. Hopefully, this will help you not feel quite as hungry by dinner time.

—— 8. A plan that works for you ——

What is most important to any dietary plan is that it needs to be conceived such that it works for you and your specific needs and preferences. Recognize your patterns and habits, and work with them, not against them. The likelihood of you completely changing your lifestyle is slim to none, so look for places that you can improve and slowly work in new habits.

Good luck!