12 Steps - that's how far this snack tray is located from my desk where I spend 11 hours a day. Early each morning the company baker makes fresh treats, and a galley employee drops this tray off every day around 7:30 am, in my work area and several other areas in the plant. Trays of the daily snacks are also located in the break rooms, and in the galley on the end of the salad bar. During the 7 or 8 months of production, these snacks are available 24 hours a day. Donuts, maple bars, cinnamon twists, pound cake, muffins of several varieties, croissants, brownies and endless varieties of cookies, right next to the coffee pot. We return the aluminum pan each night when we go to the galley for supper, and it is returned full each morning.For those working on the production end of things, the snack tray is a source of badly needed calories, eaten hastily with a hot cup of tea or hot chocolate on the mid morning and mid afternoon break periods before returning to a day full of physical labor. For those of us that have wound up in the white collar jobs, sitting at computers most of the day, working on often intense, deadline oriented tasks, the snack tray is deadly. Indeed, I call it the "Death Tray". The combination pictured in the top photo is particularly lethal.
As you know, Goldfish and I are both focusing on getting healthier this year, and are making good progress. For me, the Death Tray has to be off limits, despite its proximity, because opening that window can end badly if I am having a high stress day. How do you deal with stress and what are your most challenging temptations?
11 comments:
Try Being at home with your Mum making up Fresh apple pie from her own apples, Fresh Pumpkin Roll with her own pumpkin, and having access to PA "Chopped Ham" sliced "chipped". I may have to join the Biggest Loser after this vacation!
I sit in the front yard and watch my birds eat. It is so fun and relaxing--cardinals, blue birds, all kinds of finches and orioles, doves, jays, cowbirds, and 1 woodpecker. Sometimes a hawk circles looking for dinner, and then the deer (3 of them) come up to snack. It never fails to make me feel better. A glass of wine helps with the watching. :) My biggest challenge is not sitting out there when I need to be doing something else. (
I try to walk off any stress. I know how you feel though with snacks being readily available all day. My kids are underweight so we keep snacks for them to add calories and for along time it was hard to not just grab one when we got stressed or a little hungry. I learned to ask myself if I was really hungry before I reached for a snack or other food and usually the answer is no. Now its not hard at all to pass up most junk, except Reeses pb cups and my biggest nemesis, brownies!!
OMG! Kristine and I are drooling!! Maybe you should hire your closest office co-worker to zap you if you reach for one!! Ha, I'm just being mean cause I want one. Be strong, Steve. May the force be with you.
OMG Steve! Okay, if I can stop smoking, you can avoid the death tray! Wow, we both got it bad! I'm gaining weight just looking at those! Stay strong, my friend....at least go for a walk WHILE you are indulging?
I am grateful no one leaves a tray of goodies at my job every day. I would have a very hard time. Rich and I do best when we keep nothing junk-y in the house at all. (He has the same issue at work where he works around food all day and can have his pick of anything) Our biggest downfalls are eating out or traveling and then we eat way too much in general and too much unhealthy food. Having a lot of fruit from our Full Circle Farms box in the house makes us eat fruit for snacks, almost from guilt because we don't want to waste it. I am trying to take a piece of fruit with me to work every day for snacking. My temptations are definitely desserts and anything chocolate and I do best when I just don't even go there. I have varying levels of success with that! I did the darned 30 days with no sugar and maybe lost one pound which I promptly put back on when we went on our last trip. I need to exercise more and I am NOT motivated. Funny thing is that I always feel better when I work out, it's just making myself get going that is so hard. Avoidance!! As for stress, a good laugh always helps me deal. Just seeing the funny or ironic side of life, being a little bit sarcastic, realizing that it is what it is and you gotta just laugh it off and go on
kinda helps me reframe my outlook and not get bogged down. Plus I talk about everything so I don't keep much bottled up. (As you can see by the length of this comment--probably too much information as usual. LOL)
Hey Lauri, glad you are home and hope all's well. Congrats on being a nonsmoker!! I am proud of you!!
Some great advice! CB, Goldfish and I are dreading the food aspects of vacation this year - a couple days in Seattle, Thanksgiving at my sister's house in Idaho, 5 days in DC, 5 days in New York, 5 days in Boston, then Christmas in Maine - it's going to be very challenging to maintain the progress we are working so hard to achieve. Lots of walking!
I love bird watching and have always had a feeder until I moved here - i just imagine it thrashing about in a 90 knot gale - but you have re-inspired me to make it work.
Lauri, great job on quitting smoking. You gave us all a pretty good scare there for awhile, let's not do that again! Walking is great, especially if the weather cooperates a bit. And we definitely control what is around the house to snack on - last weekend I had a friend over and I told him it was BYOF (Bring Your Own Food) as we didn't have too much of interest to snack on!
Steve - we have a bird feeder, courtesy of Shelly. It is in a bucket filled with cement. Tips over once in a while but none the worse for wear. You could even bury the bucket about half way in the ground.
That is a very hard one Steve. I don't envy you that. I found it was a change of the way I think that helped me lose 50lbs about 15 years ago and keep it off (for the most part). The bottom line is: 99% of the things that are tempting us are available all the time. I can have "one" of those anytime. You never feel better after eating it - in fact, there is nothing better feeling than having control and being able to resist. There is always some event/birthday/celebration, etc..so don't use that as an excuse either. Just say no or cut a very small piece off. I work out regularly too - why would i want to waste that effort on ordinary stuff. NOW ..when I go on vacation or a really nice restaurant that makes, say a dessert I won't/cant make - hell yeah, I'll enjoy. But if you don't do it regularly: 1) you can do that and 2) you actually enjoy it more
My motto: EAT to live, NOT live to eat...
If I get super hungry (refusing, maybe, to abandon a spreadsheet in the middle of it's creation), I'll eat anything and everything. My big downfalls are ice cream, chocolate, and rich creamy things.
My trick is to have lots of healthy stuff around; pumpkin seeds, tuna packed in water, yogurt with flax seed, fresh fruit, soup, crackers and cheese, pretzels. That way, when I'm starving and busy, I have to work *much* harder to scrounge change for the vending machines or go out to Taco Bell than I do to grab a handful of almonds or a granola bar...
I've also found that keeping some good, plain, dark chocolate around keeps the damage to a minimum. If I get a sweet craving, a few pieces of that kills it. It's good for you, in moderation.
Unalaska, where do you find birdseed? Mail order? I've looked all over the island . . . .
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