Considering the huge amount of material on the Internet that can be found on any topic, it is difficult to name an article so that it is both clickable and reflects the essence, and people are actually interested in reading what is in this article. We called this material “What do programmers eat,” but in fact, we will try not just to describe the eating habits of people in IT companies, but also to talk about what factors influence food choices. We will give recommendations on how programmers can improve their nutritional balance, and why, if you choose a profession in IT, you will have to be a little more careful than many others about what, how and when you eat. This is important, especially given that more and more IT professionals work remotely. In general, this article can be useful to almost any specialists who lead a sedentary lifestyle and work remotely, regardless of the part of the world where they are physically located.

Common Dietary Trends Among Programmers

Many programmers lead unconventional lifestyles, especially in the context of sleeping and eating. This is greatly influenced by the fact that now many companies work on outsource and often IT specialists have to work in a team assembled around the world, which means that everyone is located in several time zones from each other. Many programmers wake up only at lunchtime, have breakfast late, and have their main meal late. At the same time, there is little time left for preparing food, and programmers very typically write in food questionnaires that they order food, or eat a large percentage of dry food — sandwiches, chips, snacks, and so on. All this food is high energy, easy to consume foods, pizza, sandwiches, energy bars, sometimes energy drinks. And when you don’t have enough time to stand, and you have to go to the market, you have to rely on a delivery service, the quality of food in which may not be the highest. Plus, most deliveries also focus on fast food rather than quality home-cooked food.

Unfortunately, such problems with being busy and eating bad stuff is not relevant to only programmers' lives. Students struggle the same. They are glued to their screens, and they don’t often have time for proper nutrition, both on-campus and off-campus (even at home!). If you need more spare time to balance your life, entrust a reliable programming homework service, such as AssignmentCore by sending your “do my programming assignment” request, and just go to that farmers market finally. You can get the whole week's meal prep while online programming experts deal with your homework assignment in Computer Science — be it a database, MATLAB task or Python code. 

The Impact of a Sedentary Lifestyle on What Programmers Eat

In general, the problem of diet planning for any specialists largely lies in the fact that we do not have reliable standards. A lot of calculations of the energy balance of food were made 40–60 years ago. Back then, we had a different energy balance in our food, and our lives looked different. We didn't sit at the computer that much time. People spent less time in cars, and there was almost no work from home. People typically spent part of the day actively commuting to and from work. Plus, the same products 50–60 years ago now contain different calorie levels. For example, apples, oranges and all other fruits are much sweeter now than they were half a century ago. And therefore, the need for calories, which was previously met by three apples, can now be met by one. Low physical activity implies a low calorie requirement. It is very important not to overeat. But the work of programmers is often associated with deadlines and high stress. And late-night snacks when you require quick energy. And therefore, with lower calorie requirements, programmers frequently greatly exceed the required amount of food and often eat food of the wrong quality.

Quick and Easy Meal Options

Of course, we could start talking about how everyone should start taking care of themselves as much as possible. And it is necessary to set aside time for cooking every day, because this is our health. Work does not matter as much as our health, but we all live in the real world, and therefore we need to look for real life hacks that can help you adjust some healthy principles to the reality of your work as a programmer. Now there are a lot of videos with quick and easy meal options for programmers, which can be prepared in a few hours while watching a TV series, frozen, and then used within a week by simply defrosting them in the microwave. This method will not only help you eat one good hot meal a day, and it is healthier than reheating food from the refrigerator, because quick freezing allows the nutrients in the food to be preserved longer and better and does not allow histamine and bacteria to build up in food and products. There are also quick meal prep options for salads and sauces. Also, in an hour or two you can prepare many individual bowls of snacks for the whole week. Of course, you need to set aside time for this too, but it is really worth it, and it will help you feel healthier, more energetic and cope better with life.

Dietary Supplements and Programmers Health

What do programmers eat and what should they eat to have enough vitamin balance? In general, we cannot recommend taking any vitamins, because we are not health professionals, we just want to remind you that it is not always a solution to just start taking multivitamins and think that you can eat fast food, and pills can handle everything else. There are very active, aggressive marketing companies aimed specifically at programmers regarding fast vitamins solutions, but there is nothing better than a balanced diet. The only thing we ask you to focus on is vitamin D, because due to the sedentary lifestyle of frequent night work, the vitamin D balance of programmers is much worse than that of many other people. Therefore, if possible, do the necessary tests and consult your doctor. You may be able to take these specific supplements. Otherwise, focus on eating balanced meals and at least a few healthy snacks that you can add into your routine.

Wrapping Up

Each person may have their own problems with meal planning usually. Someone lives in a place where there are few vegetables, someone has no time because of children, someone works 14 hours a day from home, and cannot even leave the house to buy groceries. The point is not in the profession, but in the fact that now it is really difficult to be both successful and take good care of your health. We hope this article will help you balance your work and health wisely.