The Scariest Room

YIKES!!!! Do you know where the scariest room is.... at your place of employment? Do you know this room can make you “do things” you might not do otherwise? Do you know this room can break down your guard & destroy your will power?

You know what room I am talking about.. Don’t you?

THE BREAK ROOM!!

Last week in What’s Lurking in Your Kitchen....., I discussed how important it is to control your environment. As well as the dangers of having “crap” foods in your kitchen and what can happen when you have that moment of weakness that we all have from time to time.

This week, we look at the Office Break Room. This environment is 100 times more dangerous then your kitchen when it comes to temptations of the taste buds, mainly because you have no control over what is lurking in that room. You know.. All those store bought processed foods like, donuts, cookies, chips, crackers, candy, soda pop, diet or otherwise, and ice cream.

Oh, yea, you might see some “healthy nutritional” yogurt in the frig that is “Fat free” (meaning more sugar is added) or “Sugar free” (meaning artificial sweeteners are used.) You also may see a variety of “health and fitness” breakfast bars or snack bars. I invite you to take a moment and look at the INGREDIENTS of these so called healthy snacks. Don’t look at the ingredient breakdown... check out that VERY long list of ingredients that reads like a chemistry experiment. You will find all kinds of “hidden sugars,” artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colors, soy products, corn syrup, ..... Oh my gosh.. I could go on forever.

So, if you can’t control the break room environment... you can't control yourself, your thoughts, your actions, your reactions, your ability to be distracted, and your cratering will power.

The first thing I tell my clients when we discuss the office break room is to arm yourself with healthy snacks from home AND ..try NOT to go into the break room. Bring your own water or tea to drink in a cooler to keep in your office. Here are a few ideas for snacks that you can bring from home: (and watch out, I can guarantee your office mates will want you to share!)

*a bag of roasted raw almonds, raisins, unsweetened coconut and unsweetened (NOT semi-sweet) chocolate chips
*any fruit
*a variety of raw nuts
*Humble Hummus with carrot and celery sticks, sliced thick cukes or no salt blue corn chips
*1/2 sandwich of natural nut butters and sliced banana with raisins

*no fat, no salt popcorn (Paul Newman makes a really good one.. Plain Jane)


And here is what saves my life in my weak moments... LARA BARS!!! OMG, these are fabulous, wonderful... life savers.... and tastes so good! And you know what else? She adds NO preservatives, additives, sugar, artificial sweeteners, oils, fats, wheat, flour color or sodium... except in her peanut butter and jelly bar. LARA Bars are nothing but all natural ingredients, dates, raisins, nuts, fruit, coconut, lemon and lime juice. And they are only about 200 calories per bar.





Ok.... so now you know how to control your environment by arming yourself against the temptations within the break room and keeping yourself out of the scariest room in your place of employment!

I challenge each one of you.... for one week, bring your own healthy stuff from home, stay out of the break room and just see how much weight you could lose!

Until Next Time.......

GOOD HEALTH TO ALL!!