Is Your Job Making You Fat?
WLR dietitian Juliette Kellow shows how to stick to your
diet during the daytime in the office with the constant
temptation of sweets and chocolates.
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Is Your Job Making You Fat?
By WLR Dietitian
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Ask anyone who has ever worked in an office what the main
diet dangers are and they’ll say the constant temptation of
sweets and chocolates left lying around for everyone to delve
into.
A new study published in the International Journal of
Obesity has proved that it’s not just a myth – sweetening up
staff by leaving regular supplies of chocolate in the office
does actually pile on the pounds. And worse still, the closer
your desk is to the chocolate – and the more easily you can see
it – the more you’re likely to eat.
The study included 40
secretaries and lots of chocolates. The chocolates were either
placed on the desk of participants or two metres away from their
desk in either a covered clear or opaque bowl. The researchers
found the secretaries ate more than twice as many chocolates
each day when they could see them easily and when they were
actually on their desk. Worse still, the secretaries
consistently underestimated the amount they ate each day when
faced with the chocolates on their desk.
The authors conclude
that the closer we are to food – and the easier it is to see –
the more likely we are to eat it.
As this study shows, the work place can be a minefield when
it comes to sticking to a diet, especially if you have a
generous boss or clients who frequently buy sweet treats.
If you
suffer from chocolate overload, why not get everyone together at
the next staff meeting and suggest you have bowls of fruit in
the office instead of sweets. And why not do the same at home?
Place a bowl of fruit on your coffee table and you’ll be more
likely to tuck into it while watching your favourite soap.
Here’s how to handle those 9–5 dieting
hazards:-
The afternoon chocolate run
Offer to go yourself – you’ll burn a few calories on the way
to the shop and no one will know if you come back empty handed
(you can always say you ate yours on the way back). If you can’t
resist, opt for something small. Good choices include Milky Way,
a small Milky Bar, 2-bar Kit Kat, Cadbury’s Crème Egg, small
pack of Chocolate Buttons, Flake, Ripple or packet of Smarties.
Don’t forget to count the calories though!
Leaving drinks
Warm white wine in a plastic cup gives you a good excuse for
having just one sip to toast your colleague – and leaving the
rest on the side. The danger zone is heading off to the pub
afterwards! Swap high-cal bottled beer and alcopops for dry
white wine and soda or gin and slimline tonic and you should
minimise the damage.
Birthday cakes
Offer to cut the cake yourself so no one notices if you give
it a miss or only have a sliver. Otherwise, ask for a small
piece and leave as much cream filling or icing on your serviette
as possible.
The office biscuits
It’s a tricky one, but changing your drinking habits might
help – simply swapping that cappuccino for a low-cal cup-a-soup
might be all that it takes. Custard creams with oxtail soup
taste awful!
Working lunches
Those platters of mayo-laden sarnies, pastries and chocolate
brownies can be a waistline disaster as it’s easy to lose track
of what you’ve eaten. The best solution is to delve in just once
and put all the food you intend to eat on your plate at the same
time. Go for four triangles of sandwiches (choosing the ones
with the least mayo) and a piece of fruit.
Business lunches
Keep calories under control by avoiding all the extras such
as the roll and butter, fries, salad dressing, cream with coffee
and after-dinner mint. If it’s feasible, stick to just a main
course or order a starter-sized portion for your main meal.
Remain tee-total, too. A busy afternoon work schedule gives you
the perfect excuse for choosing sparkling water rather than
wine. More Information:
You can keep track of the calories you are consuming using the
food diary and exercise tools in WLR. |
