One of those days
By 9.45 this morning I'd come across the following in the office:
* a tray of bacon and sausage sandwiches left over from a breakfast meeting
* a tray of danish pastries left over from the same meeting
* a box of chocolates for one person's birthday
* two bags of cookies and a box of chocolate for a second person's birthday
* six tubs of mini cakes for a third person's birthday.
And then a "surprise" cake and wine presentation to the first person because it was his 50th at 4pm.
That's just in my bit of the office, where there aren't even that many of us working. What's a girl to do?
Not binge, for a start.
I started to realise the advantages to planning. Let's start with the bacon and sausage sandwiches and danish pastries. No problem, I bring my breakfast into work to eat after the gym, so ate that instead. This actually makes it a lot easier to turn them down than having breakfast before leaving the house, so 1 - 0 to me.
I also had, in my bag, some fresh fruit, a tub of tomato and lentil soup and a low fat yoghurt, to add to the dried apricots and dates in my desk drawer for those moments when a bag full of satsumas or a plum just doesn't do the job. I also popped out at lunchtime to buy a healthy looking tuna, bean and spinach salad to eat before Spanish started at 6.30.
Add that to my three changes of clothes and my Spanish books, and I look like some sort of bag lady carrying my life around on my back. But it helps me to eat what I plan to eat, and to fit the things I want to do into my life. It's all packed before I go to bed, because I know that if I have to get up and work out what to bring in I'll miss that early bus. So it gets me to the gym. The food gets me through the day. And then I'm prepared for Spanish (or I would be if I'd done my homework!).
Of course, that doesn't stop me sampling a couple of the goodies, but far fewer of them than I would have done had I decided to use them to replace a meal. Because I already have food that fills me up readily available, I eat that rather than grazing all day on goodies. I also try to be sensible. I assume that eating one of the treats will give me equal satisfaction to eating a different treat, so I use my common sense. I pick the blueberry and yoghurt cluster at 60 calories rather than the chocolate mini bite at 90. It's not a huge difference, but the chocolate won't make me feel an extra 50% happier than the blueberry cluster, so why eat it?
I really don't like this "bring in cakes and chocolate for your birthday" thing, and I'm considering rebelling for mine by bringing in a huge basket of fruit or something like that. It's sad that the only "acceptable" way to celebrate seems to be by buying lots of calorific, fatty and sugary food, rather than buying something natural and tasty. I've still got a few months to go before my birthday anyway, so I might just cave in to conformity (although this year I might deliberately buy the sorts of cakes I don't like rather than the ones I do, so I can at least stop me eating them), but I am learning to deal with the situation at least.
* a tray of bacon and sausage sandwiches left over from a breakfast meeting
* a tray of danish pastries left over from the same meeting
* a box of chocolates for one person's birthday
* two bags of cookies and a box of chocolate for a second person's birthday
* six tubs of mini cakes for a third person's birthday.
And then a "surprise" cake and wine presentation to the first person because it was his 50th at 4pm.
That's just in my bit of the office, where there aren't even that many of us working. What's a girl to do?
Not binge, for a start.
I started to realise the advantages to planning. Let's start with the bacon and sausage sandwiches and danish pastries. No problem, I bring my breakfast into work to eat after the gym, so ate that instead. This actually makes it a lot easier to turn them down than having breakfast before leaving the house, so 1 - 0 to me.
I also had, in my bag, some fresh fruit, a tub of tomato and lentil soup and a low fat yoghurt, to add to the dried apricots and dates in my desk drawer for those moments when a bag full of satsumas or a plum just doesn't do the job. I also popped out at lunchtime to buy a healthy looking tuna, bean and spinach salad to eat before Spanish started at 6.30.
Add that to my three changes of clothes and my Spanish books, and I look like some sort of bag lady carrying my life around on my back. But it helps me to eat what I plan to eat, and to fit the things I want to do into my life. It's all packed before I go to bed, because I know that if I have to get up and work out what to bring in I'll miss that early bus. So it gets me to the gym. The food gets me through the day. And then I'm prepared for Spanish (or I would be if I'd done my homework!).
Of course, that doesn't stop me sampling a couple of the goodies, but far fewer of them than I would have done had I decided to use them to replace a meal. Because I already have food that fills me up readily available, I eat that rather than grazing all day on goodies. I also try to be sensible. I assume that eating one of the treats will give me equal satisfaction to eating a different treat, so I use my common sense. I pick the blueberry and yoghurt cluster at 60 calories rather than the chocolate mini bite at 90. It's not a huge difference, but the chocolate won't make me feel an extra 50% happier than the blueberry cluster, so why eat it?
I really don't like this "bring in cakes and chocolate for your birthday" thing, and I'm considering rebelling for mine by bringing in a huge basket of fruit or something like that. It's sad that the only "acceptable" way to celebrate seems to be by buying lots of calorific, fatty and sugary food, rather than buying something natural and tasty. I've still got a few months to go before my birthday anyway, so I might just cave in to conformity (although this year I might deliberately buy the sorts of cakes I don't like rather than the ones I do, so I can at least stop me eating them), but I am learning to deal with the situation at least.
posted by YP at 10:31 PM
2 Comments:
A girl where I used to work bought in carrot sticks and tzakiki for her birthday morning tea - everyone groaned until they tasted it. Yum.
I think the fruit sounds great for a birthday treat. You could always take in some chocolate dipping sauce for those that just can't live without overindulging.
There's loads of low fat, low cal treats. Make a few homemade ones to take in. Well done you resisting temptation.
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