Worker Bee: Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats

Welcome to the Worker Bee series – a weekly feature that will highlight food bloggers who are also full-time working professionals.

There are many days where I feel like I can’t fit it in, so I look to other bloggers for inspiration and guidance. This series is a way to see what some of our favorite bloggers do for a living along with how they incorporate healthy living!

This week’s Worker Bee is Kristin from Iowa Girl Eats!

Me at my desk…I’ve taken a minimalist approach to decorating my space!

1) What is your profession? Officially: E-commerce Manager, Newsletters (I had to look at my email signature to remember that one!) Basically, I manage an email newsletter program from a production and strategy standpoint, for a large publishing company.

2) Did you see always see yourself in that field? Hmmm, no! I wanted to be many things growing up – an astronaut, an orthodontist, anything so I could work in the White House (?!) –but managing an email newsletter program never crept into my brain! That said, it’s an interesting field and I enjoy the company and people I get to work with everyday.

My desktop wallpaper is of “The Arch” in Cabo San Lucas. It’s where my husband and I went on our honeymoon. Plus – who doesn’t like looking at the ocean all day!? I also keep a mini pumpkin on hand for some festive, Holiday cheer, some chapstick and coconut scented lotion to instantly transport me to a tropical beach on a stressful day…

3) Does your day job incorporate healthy living? Absolutely! I am fortunate enough to work at a company where fitness and personal health is a top priority. We have locker rooms and a full fitness center onsite, which offers classes such as step aerobics, kick boxing and yoga in the mornings, during the lunch hour and after work. The fitness center is also equipped with cardio equipment like treadmills and ellipticals, as well as free weights and weight machines.

I use the fitness center as my gym, but when it’s nice out I try and go for it least a 30-45 minute walk during my lunch hour. It helps break up the day, clear my head and gets me up out of my chair!

Of course, I still work in a typical office environment where goodies and treats are brought in almost daily, for a variety of reasons – so I do face those temptations a lot.

4) Can you provide readers with any tips on how to balance healthy living and working? Sure!

Tip 1: One of my biggest recommendations for facing & beating office temptations is avoidance. Avoid, avoid, avoid! I find that if I walk by the “treats” table, I almost always grab something. If I take a different path where I don’t walk past it, it’s much easier to pass up. Out of sight, out of mind is my motto!

Tip 2: Squeak in physical activity whenever you can. Set a reminder on your calendar to it least stand up and stretch every hour. Walk to the drinking fountain to get a drink of water. Take a lap around your department area – just get that blood flowing!

Tip 3: There’s always going to be work that needs to get done. Seriously, whether I stay chained to my desk and work during my lunch hour, or leave to take a walk – there’s always going to be emails that need to be answered and fires that need to be put out. Therefore, I try and do myself a favor as often as possible and get out for it least a little bit, everyday!

Tip 4: Bring your lunch! This is not only key to a healthy body (you know what you’re putting in it,) it’s also crucial for a healthy wallet. I love breaking into a big salad that I’ve brought from home, knowing that if I had bought the same thing at a restaurant, it would have cost 10 times as much!

Tip 5: If you don’t have a fitness center at your job, bring your gym bag into work with you in the morning. At the end of the day, change into your workout clothes before you leave so you’re completely ready to work out when you hop into your car. It’s much harder to ditch your workout after a long day when you already have your workout clothes on!

Also on hand – a “chef” pez dispenser given to me by a co-worker, a picture of my husband and I on our wedding day, and a Halloween cup…that needs to be tossed!

5) Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Oooo, toughie. My annoying answer is that right now I’m living in the present. Enjoying each day as it comes, taking it one day at a time. If I happen to be living in California in 10 years…well, I wouldn’t mind that so much.