Dieter's Diary: Fighting Off Temptation at Work
The average office environment can be pretty diet-friendly. Generally speaking, the distractions outnumber the temptations. You run around to meetings, you're on the phone, your thumbs get a relentless workout on your mobile device, you can't work the mouse with your arm in a bag of chips, et cetera. And in most offices at least, there are no free soft-serve ice cream dispensers. (But we can all dream of a better tomorrow.)
That said, at the risk of making an absurdly, jaw-droppingly obvious observation...Have I ever mentioned how hard it is to watch what you eat when you work at a food site? I'm not complaining, believe me, but there are numerous (sort of funny) occupational hazards. Just to mention a few...
The Taste Tests. Yes, we do actual blind taste tests for our popular ongoing series, and they're really fun. They are also, however, really good excuses to eat your body weight in frozen pizza.
The Samples. Almost every office has its own Bermuda Triangle, often by the filing cabinets, where the free-stuff-nobody-wants gets dropped, like the broken staplers and unwanted office supplies. In our office, I sit right next to that spot, and around here the free stuff is usually samples. So over the past few months, the following things have washed ashore near me and lingered dangerously, like dead jellyfish: An entire bag of red hots. Multiple boxes of hard candy. A box of cheese crackers. Leftover birthday pie. Cookies. Muffins. Soda bread. Vodka.
The Friendly Fire. I am blessed to work with a generous, talented group of people who also happen to be good cooks: Our editorial meetings usually feature cookies or snack mix or leftover (but still delicious) cake. And you can imagine the big guns that come out when it's someone's birthday. (Full disclosure: I like to bake for special occasions myself, and sometimes I go a little overboard. I admit the soda bread and the birthday pie were my own doing.)
Of course, in many ways this is a uniquely health-friendly office, too. Our healthy editor, Megan, is chock full of ideas and support. I've had many satisfying ranting/support sessions with our food editor, Sarah, as she slims down for her wedding (she looks great, by the way). Binh, our traffic analyst, stopped by yesterday with helpful half-marathon advice. And then there are all the slim and stylish staffers at Style.com on our floor, who lead by example in their awesomely intimidating high-heeled boots. So I can't say I don't have any resources to help me swat off temptation.
What unhealthy temptations lurk in your office? How do you beat them back?
For more from Epicurious's diet blogger, check out Dieter's Diary
By Siobhan Adcock
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