Office Workers' Diets

Dieting at the workplace can sometimes feel like an uphill battle, what with the innumerable temptations lurking in every office party, or well-stocked company pantry. When combined with the sedentary nature of the work, the ubiquity of food at the office can derail the best-laid diet plans. Dieters can take heart, and action, by taking steps to prevent diet sabotage.

Potential Pitfalls

• Threats to diets come in the form of snacks and temptations that can abound in an office setting. If it isn't the leftover conference food or the free snacks, it is the vending machines or the treats brought in by co-workers, or the longer hours at your desk past the standard dinner hour. More hours are spent in the workplace, where nutritious offerings take a backseat to less healthy options such as doughnuts, candy and chips. Moreover, a busy day may mean skipping breakfast or downing lunch at your desk between meetings or while catching up on emails.

Eating Habits in the Office

• With office workers eating many of their meals right at their desk rather than in areas designated for eating, the desk has become a worker's dining area. Companies often provide meals and snacks for their employees, making it that much easier to load up on high-calorie and caffeine-loaded products. When your co-workers are "being bad" by eating fattening food, there may be pressure to do the same. Surrounded by so much food at all hours, workers may be prone to chronic snacking, snacks stashed away in drawers, group runs to a coffee shop for a caffeine hit, round-the-clock quaffing of caloric drinks, and overeating, leaving you full when you go home for dinner.

Possible Solutions

• Making your milieu conducive to better eating may involve several conscious steps designed to make eating a more deliberate and planned experience. Block out time in the day to really enjoy and focus on what you are eating rather than choking it down without tasting it. Keep snacks on the healthy side and remember that "virtuous" salads can be diet wreckers if they are loaded with fatty dressings. Bring your own lunch if you have time to prepare it, to control its nutritional content. If others are curious about what you have brought, you need not say you are on a diet. Your diet is your own affair and should not be subject to what others think, even if they tell you you don't need to be on a diet. When meals are provided, there is no need to abstain; just eat what you like but leave the leftovers.

Staying on Track

• When sticking to a diet at work, office workers might find that saying no to a co-worker who bears treats might hurt the co-worker's feelings. It is important to maintain your resolve, but in doing so you may need to ask for their help so that they are aware what you are trying to accomplish. If you do discuss your diet, be careful that the way you talk about it does not indirectly critique their lifestyle choices.