10 Tips for Avoiding Sugar at the Office

September 10, 2008 ↓ 1 Comments

If you’re reading this blog post at work in the USA it’s quite possible that you already have a bowl of candy sitting not too far from your desk. Halloween is the start of “sweets season.”

Here are some tips on how to avoid sugar at work.

1. Make An Effort
If you go into the season without a plan you’ll end up floating from candy dish to candy dish. Make a concerted effort to avoid sweets before the treat season starts.

2. Make Friends
You probably aren’t the only one who wants to avoid eating a bunch of junk at work. Figure out who’s in it with you and create a Survivor style pact.

3. Bring Food With You
You’re at work and you’re hungry. You can stay hungry or eat a Snickers. Which will most likely happen? If you bring your own snacks you can eat when you’re hungry and you can eat well. Other people will notice and they’ll either temp you with sweets or join you in your abstinence. You’ll learn who your friends are.

4. What to Bring
Try fruit slices, veggies, unsweetened chips, nuts, dried fruits, fruit juice, or salad. Go down the bulk aisle at your food store (if there is one) and try something new, but obviously avoid the sweetened stuff.

5. Eat Breakfast
Lots of people don’t have breakfast. Some people don’t have time. I say make time! Or bring breakfast to work and eat it there if you can. A protein filled breakfast helps you be energized through the hardest part of your day.

6. Take Action
Nothing is going to happen if you don’t actually do something about getting healthier.

7. Exercise
Eat lunch and then take a walk. Take a walk after work or after dinner. Walking is a great. Get a digital camera and walking becomes an adventure-hunt for interesting pictures. Ride a bike. If it’s snowing where you live, build a snowman!

8. Write About It
Write down what you eat, when you eat it, and how it makes you feel. It’s so easy to eat candy all day all week and then two weeks later you’re doing it again having forgotten how lousy it made you feel two weeks earlier. Writing things down helps you to be able to look back and see trends in your life. By reading past journals you can discover that your sugar consumption might just be emotionally charged. How would it make you feel to know that your overeating of sweets comes as a response to that person you don’t like who works down the hall from you? How would it make you feel to know that you’ve dropped $275 dollars into the office soda machine this year? Write it all down and keep track.

9. Read the Labels, Ask Questions
Maybe you’ve got a place to buy food at your job. If so, start asking questions. Lots of cafeterias offer processed foods that are easy to store, prepare, and sell. These foods aren’t always the best in terms of nutrition and they’re often laden with artificial sweeteners. read the labels or ask what’s in there. Most of the time the staff has no idea what’s in the foods they sell. If that’s the case, you should avoid it. See tip number 3. Bringing your own food will save you money and keep the sugar out of your diet.

10. If You Must
If you must eat sweets, limit yourself only to homemade treats. This way if someone brings in cookies they made with their grandchildren you won’t offend them by not partaking. Always say no to all company wrapped, factory produced sugar foods.

Got ideas about how to avoid sweets at work? Add a comment!

(1) Comments: 10 Tips for Avoiding Sugar at the Office

Teresa
May 30, 2010

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