Guckenheimer Insights

"Craving" - it's one of those words that we tend to consider negatively, but cravings are perfectly natural and maybe even helpful at times.

Our environment, physiological state, emotional state, who we spend our time with, and our history with food are constantly interacting to influence the types of food that we're drawn to. Check out all the different factors that may contribute to cravings and some recent research on creative ways to manage them.

While most employee dining spaces are not open, at Guckenheimer we still want to make sure you’re eating well. To help, we’ve put together a few tips for creating great food at home to support you in your cooking endeavors!

Our diet has much more to do with our mood and mental health than we often realize – the foods we eat affect our mood on a chemical level.

Many are using additional time at home to learn new skills - everything from making pastries to needlepoint. But if making a perfect cup of coffee is on your list, here are a few tips to help you get there!

It's estimated that we make roughly 250 food decisions a day - many of which we're unaware of. One of the biggest factors in our food decisions is our food environment which can prompt us to eat in a particular way.

There's no question eating habits have shifted over the last few months, but now there's data to show exactly how food preferences have changed collectively. 

Several months of lockdown and isolation can cause damage to our psychological and mental health. Mental health challenges are expected to be far more commonplace in the post-COVID-19 world, and they can have a significant impact on employee productivity and engagement. As companies discuss the possibilities and solutions associated with re-entering the workplace and welcoming people back, they must consider the stress and anxiety the recent pandemic has put on their workforce.

The ways we live, work and play have all changed. Offices, schools, restaurants, malls and event venues are all having to adjust the way they operate in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an office space, new processes and procedures are in place to protect the employees that occupy these spaces. The way employee dining spaces are operated and managed will have to undergo a variety of changes.

Employee cafés experience a high volume of traffic – people picking up lunch, colleagues taking a coffee break or those who enjoy socializing in the café. In typically crowded spaces such as corporate dining areas, food service providers and their clients are taking a closer look at updating cleaning and hygiene practices to provide employees and food service teams a safe place to interact.

We all know the feeling. Your belly is grumbling, patience is wearing thin, you’re tired, unmotivated and cranky. The feeling is so common a phrase has been coined to describe it – “hangry”. A combination of “hungry” and “angry”. And it is indeed a real thing, a biological response to the stress induced by hunger.

Let’s look at the ways employers can can take positive steps to get the very best out of their workers - starting with the impact that hunger has on your day.

Rules are made to be broken, and resolutions are created to fail. Or are they? The statistics would say yes. Forty-five percent of Americans make New Year Resolutions and eight percent of them are successful in reaching their goal, according to the Journal of Clinical Psychology. 

Are broken promises to ourselves really the best way to start off the New Year?