(Diet) Danger Lurks Where You Work

If you're trying to watch your weight, watch out for your office. Because danger lurks at the snack machines, in the deli downstairs and in the conference room. Temptation is everywhere.

Why is the office so dangerous? We asked Kim Ziemer, R.D., M.S. "It's a combination of factors that creates a nutritional mine field. Social pressure, for one. Who wants to be seen as the office curmudgeon by refusing to share in a co-worker's birthday celebration? Social occasions relieve some of the stress that's a normal part of any work situation. For many people, it's not easy to take the break without taking the cake, too."

"One solution," continues Kim, "is to compromise by accepting a small sliver of cake so you can still participate without feeling deprived. Limit yourself to a few bites. But if you find that's too difficult -- and many people do -- arrive at the party *after* the cake has been served. Take the break, enjoy the celebration, but make sure that gooey frosting is all but gone by the time you arrive."

What else contributes to the overweight office? "Boredom and fatigue -- the evil twins of over-eating," says Kim with a grin. Even the best of jobs has its moments of monotony. But too many people go for high caloric snacks when what they really want is a change in activity. The brain flags; they search for something to help feel alert again. Some go for a caffeine kick; others for a food pick-me-up. Neither is a true solution, and unfortunately, the snack solution can boomerang into steady weight gain.

The answer? The first step is to recognize what's really going on. Once a worker understands that boredom is the motivation for reaching for that cookie or heading toward the snack machines, he can instead switch to a new task to relieve boredom. Or rather than the stroll to the candy machines, she can stroll outside in the fresh air or even around the building. A change in scenery, new tasks, *movement* period, can reduce the desire for the sweet treats.

The other evil twin -- fatigue-- wreaks even more havoc in the office. Studies have shown that people often mistake being tired for being hungry. We are more apt to overeat when we've missed a good night's sleep or when we've been active to the point of exhaustion.

And putting in a full day's work is tiring, no matter what sort of work we do. That's why a treacherous time for weight watchers is on the way home or when they've just arrived home after a long day's work.

"So you need to ask yourself, when you reach for that bag of potato chips at 3 p.m.," states Kim, "Am I tired or am I hungry?" If you've had a solid and nutritious lunch at noon, one that will keep your blood sugar at even keel until dinner, you shouldn't be physically hungry. But if you think you are, carry a nutritious snack from home. A piece of fruit or even glass of orange juice should give you a lift.

Lunch can be a booby trap in itself. Lunch skippers do so at their own peril. They're often the first ones to desperately dig in the drawer for that smashed bag of stale corn chips, sneak out for a fatty burger or, if they make it through the day, fall prey to gobbling a candy bar on the way home.

What is available for lunch is yet another treacherous tale. While office cafeterias are improving nutritionally, many of them still serve high sodium, high fat, high caloric fare. The deli next door may not be much better. And any way you look at it, daily restaurant eating requires planning. Everyone loves to eat out -- but you need to have a strategy to stay healthy if you eat out on a regular basis.

The office doesn't have to be a dangerous place. In fact, many have found the office to be a wellspring of support for healthier eating and living. Simply find a few kindred souls and bring nutritious lunches and snacks. Or visit one of the many healthy websites for inspiration, ideas and nutri-buddies.

Here are a few tips on how to protect yourself against office temptations:

FOR 5 DAYS, KEEP A FOOD JOURNAL.
In it, record:
- when you feel hungry &
the signs of hunger
- what time you eat
- what you eat
- who you eat with (if anyone)
- if there is an occasion/event
- how much sleep you got
the night before

After a week, review the journal to see if there are any patterns. Do you grab for a donut everyday at 10:30 a.m.? Think about what you had for breakfast. If you didn't eat enough stick-to-your-ribs kind of nutrition, your blood sugar may be low. That donut may be exactly what you don't need to keep your energy up. Try a whole wheat bagel instead. It'll fill you up without the sugar or fat.

Cravings at similar times everyday may signal boredom. Try to schedule a short break for that time instead. Turn up the music and dance! Do some yoga stretches. Run out and do an errand. Snack on an apple. Spritz your face with cool mineral water. Switch to another project. Change your pace, change your pattern.

GRAZE
Stretch your food into six meals a day. Some people feel better eating smaller meals more frequently instead of three large ones. Again, this requires some planning. You'll need to carry healthful foods to work with you -- unless you have a super boss who lets you run out every couple of hours to pick up yet another lunch. People who work at home often naturally fall into grazing.

BIRTHDAY CAKES AND OTHER BOOBY TRAPS: PLAN THE OFFICE BIRTHDAY PARTIES YOURSELF
Bring low-fat Angel Food Cakes with fresh fruit, low-fat dessert topping and lots of candles!

POWER SNACKS FOR THE OFFICE:
Apples
Air-popped popcorn
Bananas
Boxes of raisins
Cubed cantaloupe
Cubed watermelon
Dried apricots and other dried fruit
Low-fat, low calorie granola bars
Oranges
Pears
Plums
Pretzels
Whole wheat bagels

reprinted from the original HealthZone

Desperate For Chocolate Skinny Chocolate Pudding Shake

Preparation Time: About 5 minutes (but never fast enough)
Needs: Blender
Music to Cook by: HELP! by the Beatles; Bad Day, Daniel Powter
Clothes to Cook In: Anything Loose (Caftans, tents, minimum 10% Spandex)

What You Need:

3 cups cold skim milk
1 package chocolate flavor fat-free, sugar free instant pudding & pie filling
1 1/2 cups fat-free ice cream (any flavor; everything goes with chocolate!)

What To Do:
Pour milk into blender container.
Add pudding mix and ice cream, cover.
Blend on high speed 15 seconds or until smooth. Serve at once if it has been a really bad day or refrigerate and stir before serving. Mixture will thicken as it stands ...or as you stand at the counter, slurping. Thin with additional milk, if you're not as desperate as you thought.

Top Ten Ways To Tell If You're A Chocoholic

1. Your children are named Chip and Godiva.

2. You only vacation in Switzerland, Belgium or Hershey, Pa.

3. You think using the word 'carob' in a chat room or message board should be a TOS violation.

4. When you had your colors done, your Color Counselor said you were a Mocha.

5. You saw Forrest Gump 27 times just to see the box of chocolates.

6. You have seriously considered joining the Army simply to get the chocolate D-rations.

7. You summer in Chicago because Marshall Fields won't ship Frango Mints in hot weather.

8. You consider white chocolate sacrilege.

9. Your recipe files are empty --- except for the letter C.

10. Your screen name is Coco.

Will You Finish This Year or Will You 'Complete' It?

How will you end the year of our Lord 2006?

Will you finish this year ... or will you complete it?

Finishing just happens; you don't have a lot to do with it. 12:01 a.m. merely pops up on the clock and that's that. You move on to 2007 without so much as a farethewell to the 365 days that have just passed.

But completing ... now here's a different story. Completing is active, not passive. Completion is something you make the decision to do. You vow to complete on 2006 and all that it was to you. You energetically wrap it up, acknowledge it, and applaud its gifts. 2006's lessons are now bound in its own primer and filed away.

Completing feels like choice. As I am a great advocate of not having rules or events imposed upon me, I'll go for completion over finished every time. Wouldn't you rather have a completion date than a deadline?

So here is what I am saying to myself as 2006 winds on down:

Thank you, 2006, for teaching me so much about ___________________. I've learned so much about _______________ that I am in fact completed on it.

Thank you, 2006, for giving me so much _________. I really appreciated that, 2006.

For example, in 2006, I learned a lot about what it feels like to sit on my butt in front of a computer and let my muscles go to jello. Now I am the world's greatest living expert on tapioca thighs. My lessons are completed in this area so I will thank 2006 for teaching me this and be done with it.

I know that 2007 will bring me new lessons. I am fervently hoping that one of these lessons will fall into the domain of what it feels like to have uber-tight, toned thighs with quads and calves that can zap off a killer roundhouse.

If there are parts of 2006 that you want to be done with -- say goodbye to them now. Don't just finish the year out. Don't drag the grief, hurts, angers, fears, frustrations or sorrows from one calendar to the next. Actively let go of them.

There is a Completion exercise that has worked for many friends of mine. On New Year's Eve, they sit in front of the fireplace, bonfire or candle. First they write down all they want to complete on for that year. They say a farewell prayer or meditation, and then one by one, they place the slips of paper in the fire, watching as they curl and burn. As the smoke rises, they bless the year and say goodbye for good.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life

Some of you may remember this. We wore it on T-shirts, hung it on walls, intoned it during smokey midnight conversations in college dorms.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

I have no idea who wrote this mantra. I can't remember it ever being attributed to anyone. It was one of those catch phrases that merely appeared, spontaneously generated by the age of Aquarius, hours of Dylan, and the legions of students who fervently needed to believe that each moment held its own fresh start.

Too many of us have let go of this idea. In the rush of mortgages and jobs and marriages good and bad we have lost that start-over feeling. Our hurts and mistakes pile up and overwhelm us. We etch ourselves with indelible labels. We are branded with a backlog of our own making.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life.

Simple, so simple. Yet your body already knows this. Every breath is new, every cell is spinning its way into new life even as you read these words. Your mind and your spirit needs to accept what is already a piece of biological reality.

So today, whether you were a child of the seventies or not, remember these words. What you did yesterday you need not do today. What you felt yesterday you need not feel today. In this age of ever-emerging technology, with the promise of so much, nothing needs to be a re-run. Not your life, your actions, your spirit.

Your life is all new, all the time.

I wrote the message below way back in the cyber-dinosaur age of 1995. That was the year The Health Zone launched as one of the first sites in AOL’s pioneering Greenhouse program. Greenhouse was pre-Yahoo!, pre-MSN, pre-Windows. After a great run (pun intended) on AOL, I moved on to other things . . . strategic consulting for companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! But when blogging exploded with a capital B … and Community became the uber-cool subject of hip case studies and Amazon bestsellers, I just had to dig that old Health Zone box out of its hiding place.

As they say, we were Community before Community became cool. And our mission of support and sharing is every bit as relevant today as it was in 1995:

Welcome to the first fitness, nutrition and wellness center in cyberspace.

This is a health club unlike any other you’ve ever visited.

The Health Zone is a real community. Where people pull for each other, laugh together, share the successes and the struggles. While you may not be actually lifting weights together, you are lifting spirits.

In The Zone, you’ll find the experts: trainers, nutritionists, coaches, fitness stars, physicians, mountainclimbers, sailors, trekkers, therapists, even poets, gurus and authors. So you’ll get plenty of advice, inspiration and words of wisdom whenever you want it.

But like all true communities, we expect you’ll speak up and help make The Health Zone into the kind of place you want it to be. We want you to feel this is your place. We want you to connect with each other. The Health Zone is your hang-out.

One suggestion: do leave your guilt at the door. Ours is a community where everyone is welcomed, whether you’re pumping iron, craving chocolate, a master swimmer, worried about your weight or wondering about those pesky heel spurs.

We’re looking forward to meeting all of you.