Be the lunch-taker you want to see in the office.
Through a very scientific poll conducted via my Instagram, I discovered that only 63 percent of people in my network take a regular lunch break. What's up with the other 37 percent? Aren't they hungry?
Honestly, I was more surprised that almost two-thirds of my followers do break for lunch. That's much higher than what I've witnessed in my workplaces over the years, and much higher than the bigger surveys suggest. In ezCater's 2026 Lunch Report, 54% of U.S. office and hybrid workers said they skip lunch altogether at least once a week, a number that has climbed four years in a row.
The next question I posed: What exactly constitutes a lunch break? Soon, I was inundated with DMs stating the same sad phrase: "I eat at my desk."
You guys. Boundaries start now. Death to the desk lunch!
Desk lunches need to end, if for nothing else than that our overstrained eyes need a screen break, our stiff leggies need a stretch beyond the ten steps to the office fridge and back, and our bodies need proper fuel to get through the five or six hours left on the clock. Not to mention, our minds could use a little reset, too.
Look, the desk salad is nothing new. I spent years in media taking cues from colleagues that lunch breaks are for the weak. Everyone from interns to managers to founding members of the executive team seemed to follow the same pattern: Reheat leftovers or order from an overpriced delivery app and eat it desk-side while still chipping away at the day's to-do list.
Working from home didn't fix it, either. Your "desk" just became the kitchen table. In a 2026 Talker Research survey of 2,000 hybrid workers, people ate lunch at their desks while still working about two and a half days a week, and spent roughly 61% of their lunch break on a phone or computer anyway.
What's worse? When 3 or 4 p.m. hits and someone exclaims, "Oh my god, I forgot to eat lunch today!"
If you're immune to bouts of hanger and audible tummy growls, then color me impressed. The rest of us aren't: 84% of workers in ezCater's survey said hunger hurts their job performance, mostly by wrecking their focus. And the premise that we're all too busy to pause for a handful of roasted almonds is just depressing.
One more thing worth knowing: In the U.S., federal law doesn't actually require lunch breaks. Some states do, for some workers, and the Department of Labor keeps a state-by-state list of meal break rules. So a real lunch break is often something you have to claim yourself. And while I know meeting culture can creep into our sacred lunchtime, we can't just sit back and accept that that's the way it is.
Suggest meeting-free hours from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. so everyone can make room for mealtime and eat in peace. If that's not possible, propose a proper lunch meeting and take it to a local restaurant instead of the nearest conference room.
Either way, take advantage of your lunch break and find ways to get the most out of it. When I started at Girlboss, I made sure to establish a pattern of taking time to myself around lunch. After years of either dodging food-shaming coworkers with my non-salad desk lunches or feeling guilty for taking my packed lunch across the street to a nearby park, I vowed that lunchtime would be mine again. And I'm pleased to report it has been.
Why Desk Lunches Leave You Hungrier Later
Nutrition therapist Heidi Schauster, author of Nourish: How to Heal Your Relationship With Food, Body, and Self, told us about the possible downsides of eating at your desk. "Of course we are all busy humans, and sometimes I eat lunch while I check my email, too. But, as I tell my clients, whenever I do that, I inevitably find myself foraging around for snacks not long after, looking for the sensory break that I really didn't give myself at lunchtime. Our bodies and minds deserve and need a break in our work days."
That snack-foraging instinct has research behind it. A 2026 review of 50 studies in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that eating while distracted had a mixed effect on how much people ate in the moment, but it reliably made them eat more at their next meal or snack.
"Furthermore, we are more likely to take better care of ourselves with food, listening to our hunger and fullness cues and eating the parts of our meals that feel the most nourishing in that moment, when we are present with the eating experience," Schauster adds.
She's not asking for perfection. "Sometimes we have to munch during carpool or eat at the computer while we are on a deadline. It's better to feed ourselves well on the run than to not eat and end up nutritionally depleted," she says. "That said, the more embodied we can be in the experience of choosing and eating food, the more we get what we need from the care-taking experience of eating. This helps to create a more balanced, connected relationship with our food, body, and self."
On top of the very necessary food part, let's not forget that lunch breaks can also be a time to catch up on the novel you're reading, get in some steps with a brisk walk around the block, or tick off small errands you can squeeze into 30 minutes. Yay, morale!
So now that you're sold on actually taking a lunch break, how do you build that much-needed mental and physical break into your day? We asked Amanda Augustine, a certified career coach and the career expert for TopResume, for her advice on how to reclaim lunch today.
Ask Yourself, "Why Don't I Take a Proper Lunch?"
Augustine says the first step for those who regularly skip lunch is to figure out why it's happening and what's motivating the behavior.
"Is anybody telling me I'm not allowed? That I'm not performing up to a certain standard? Or that I'm not meeting my goals? No," Augustine says. "It's really just in my head." It might even stem from copied or learned behavior. "You see it around [coworkers also skipping lunch], and you don't necessarily question it. Soon, you realize that you're no longer taking any breaks on a regular basis."
Company culture plays a part, too. In ezCater's survey, 31% of workers said their company culture makes it hard to take lunch, and Gen Z and millennial workers were twice as likely as older colleagues to say their manager makes them feel they can't step away. "Does your workplace have a culture that embraces lunch and work-life balance?" Augustine asks. "Do they actually have an area for people to eat lunch? Is the space conducive to people who want to take the time?"
"If you are not accustomed to ever taking a dedicated break during the day, it's going to force you to reevaluate your schedule," Augustine says. "Why do you feel like you can't take that break? Is it really 'cause everyone else is not taking one? Or is it because you're not really organizing and prioritizing your day and the tasks at hand in the most productive way?"
Any week is a good week to reevaluate how you're doing your work. Is there a meeting that should really be a Slack update or an email? Once you cut out unnecessary meetings and low-priority tasks, you'll be able to fit in a lunch break with less guilt. If your manager is the one stacking your calendar through noon, it's worth learning how to manage up and say so.
Augustine also points out that many of us are overachievers, plain and simple. "The economy has gone through a lot of ups and downs over the past few years, and there doesn't seem to be such a thing as loyalty between employee and company anymore. So there is a concern of, 'Am I showing my employer that I'm doing everything I can? If it means skipping lunch to get my work done to show that I'm dedicated, I'd rather do that than not have a job.'"
Lastly, we're a culture of multitaskers. "It's so rare that you're ever doing one task and one task alone," Augustine says. "So isn't it just natural that if you're trying to get multiple things done at once, you'll order something in [to your desk]?"
"This culture of multitasking has led to the dissolution of the lunch hour," she says. And the outcome stinks.
Remember That You'll Be More Productive After a Real Break
Workers already know this one. In ezCater's 2025 Lunch Report, 94% of employees said a lunch break boosts their performance. So if we all agree we're better after stepping away from our computers, why aren't we doing it?
"It's going to recharge your batteries," Augustine says. "That's also a benefit to the organization. Taking that little bit of me-time is truly important." The research backs her up over the long haul, too. A study that followed 841 Finnish employees for a year found that people who mentally detached from work and had control over how they spent their lunch break reported less exhaustion and more energy at work a year later.
Think of the link between skipping vacation and burning out. Augustine urges workers to treat lunch as a daily mini-vacation. "I think you're definitely going to be less stressed if you can walk away."
Block the Time Off on Your Calendar
If regular lunch breaks aren't part of your routine, a gradual way to build them in is to block off the time on your calendar. Start small by doing it once or twice a week, whatever feels comfortable to you.
"Once you start treating it as though it were a work appointment, you're more likely to actually commit to doing it," Augustine says. "You'll also be training the people around you."
Make it a recurring event, set your chat status to "at lunch" while you're out, and decline the noon meeting invites that land on top of it. Protecting that hour is a small, practical way to handle workplace stress before it builds.
If You're the Only One Taking Lunch, Invite Others to Join In
Spread the cultural change around the office by inviting others to join you for a lunch outing. "You can make it a valuable experience, even if, say, twice a month, you and a couple of colleagues go have lunch and turn it into a brainstorm session," Augustine says.
"We always talk about how if you miss out on enough after-hours work events like happy hours, you're actually going to start missing out on projects because the brainstorm sessions are happening when you're outside the office." Once people notice you leaving for lunch, they might want to join in on their own.
"I think oftentimes, we assume lunch breaks are frowned upon just because we're observing the people around us," Augustine says. "But don't make assumptions; don't assume your boss is anti-lunch break just because they tend to work at their desk. Everybody's different. It would probably be healthier for them to make a change, but that's them; this is you."
In fact, your coworkers might be quietly rooting for you. In the Talker Research survey, 63% of hybrid workers said they think more highly of colleagues who take a real lunch break. In other words, be the lunch-taker you wish to see in the office.
If you're feeling shy about asking coworkers to join you, nudge your company toward a tool like Donut, an app for Slack and Microsoft Teams that randomly pairs coworkers up for coffee or lunch chats.
Make Your Break Restorative Beyond Just Fueling Up
How can you turn your lunch break into something that replenishes you on more than one level?
"If possible, avoid playing on your phone at all. Most of us are sitting in front of a computer screen for the bulk of our day, so you actually need that screen-time break," says Augustine.
"Could you take a walk? You can get people to join in here. You can also try meditating. That can be done in a short period of time with zero equipment. Or use the time to touch base with people in other areas of the organization or in your broader network so that you keep a pulse on what's going on."
If you work from home, the same rules apply: Close the laptop, leave the room where you work, and get outside if you can. If winter weather is putting a damper on your lunch plans at the office, Augustine suggests booking a conference room for a break if your space allows for that.
"The physical act of getting up from your desk is a big deal. Depending on the size of your office, it could even be taking a lap around the office. That alone has an impact on your productivity because you just need to rest your eyes and walk away from the screen."
Bottom line, a whole world of lunchtime possibilities exists outside of the desk salad, so go on and find 'em. And for more practical ways to protect your energy at work, sign up for Girlboss Daily.
