Minefield: The Office Kitchen!

I wonder: What's in those cabinets?

So in this weight battle I am waging, I often have to tip toe around land mines -- a sometimes tedious task but one that must be done. When I was Optifasting, it was a fairly easy for me because I was very, very committed to to full compliance, and deeply aware of the money I was spending on product. But now, I am in the real food maintenance world. Which means I must always be on guard for "explosives."

Something very eye-opening happened to me yesterday. I accompanied the Office Manager to Sam's Club, that bulk-buying shopper's "paradise" owned by Walmart. Now, my husband and I cannot have children, so it's just us and we live in place without a lot of storage space. Subsequently,  I don't buy in bulk and hence don't go to Sam's Club. This was a rare visit for me.

Our mission was to buy assorted things for the office. And this included things that are stocked in the office kitchen. And by that I mean candy, cookies, snack cakes, crackers and chips. For an office of 5 people. And wouldn't you know, Sam's Club has all of these things in row upon row, right near the check out counters, so they are easy to spot and reach. How convenient!

What is very compelling to me is, as we maneuvered our cart down these aisles, I started to get very uncomfortable. Huge bags and boxes of very, very caloric, fattening things. I don't buy these things for our home. And I rarely walk down the aisles in my grocery store where they are kept. Suddenly here I was, literally surrounded by this junk. I didn't care if "the price was right." Folks, I wanted to get the hell out of there.

I watched like a hawk everything that went into our cart. The choices made and the sheer volume of it all. And I thought to myself, "Sure, we're saving money, but isn't there a connection between having more and eating more?!" And I thought about the newest employee we have, who told me he gained 10 lbs. in the first month he started working with us. In good part from all the things he was eating at the office. With this kind of selection to choose from, I'm actually surprised he hasn't gained more.

I really do love our Office Manager -- she's a good friend of mine -- and we've been walking together and I give her handouts and articles outlining healthy foods to choose. And when we were at Sam's Club, she asked me what I wanted. I really did sense she wanted me to have something I liked, and actually, I didn't want to disappoint her. Fiber One bars came to mind (even though I have trouble just stopping at one), and we did locate a (big) box of the kind I like. So into the cart went those. At least I'll have something quasi-safe in the kitchen if I start getting cravings.

I do think if I didn't lose all my weight, and I didn't have all my classes outlining healthy foods to select and foods to avoid, and I didn't know about options like having a Fiber One bar for a snack/meal to control calorie intake, I would be darting in and out of the office kitchen all day. So I'm grateful to have this experience and information. Yes, the office has a minefield. But I know where it is -- and that makes all the difference!