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Cake in the breakroom - a workplace eating disaster (I need your help)

9/30/2013

4 Comments

 
I got in a discussion with a client this morning which has sparked some synaptic firings that will end in me asking for YOUR FEEDBACK (so please e-mail me or post a comment below or on Facebook with your thoughts).

My conversation was about the prevalence of “shit” in the workplace.  Now, let me clarify that this was not pertaining to modern day personnel issues (that’s a topic for a whole other blog post), but to the incidence of candy, cake, cupcakes and other sweet goodies that are brought into our work environments. 

More and more I hear about the stuff that rolls through the door at peoples’ offices and as I sit here isolated in my little cave, my jaw hits the ground.   I hear the rationale behind bringing it in – leftovers from Little Johnny’s birthday party, Suzy in HR’s birthday, “Marcy was having a bad day yesterday so I thought some cupcakes would cheer her up”,  etc… then I wonder, if people can so readily consume that stuff and think that “a little treat” is okay once in a while… okay… everyday… okay, okay…. every time I walk by the tray on the table in the entranceway, what will the consumption be like if the “treats” are then deemed healthy.

Let’s take a quick break from that train of thought and look at what’s ahead of us.  Firstly there’s the devilishly sweet-friendly Halloween extravaganza in the month of October and half of November as we so conscientiously remove the candy from our house and take it to work – so sneaky!  That’s followed up by Thanksgiving feasts – “mmm, Aunt Jenny’s pecan pie is to DIE for” – you know that isn’t making it to work.  Then comes Christmas and the New Year – “I can’t wait to set those Resolutions, lose these few extra pounds and stop eating sugar”.  Oh, and if your birthday is stuck in the middle of all this, I hate to say it but you’re screwed!

All right, back to my synaptic firings.  Please don’t get me wrong, I think the act of workplace sharing and wanting to make co-workers happy is a wondrous thing and may create amazing cohesion in the workplace (it may also be related to those personnel issues mentioned above but we’ll let Suzy in HR take care of that after she snaps out of her sugar coma). 

Evidently, I don’t know about “the modern working environment” as I pretty much work alone, and I can only imagine how tough it would be to change this environment and acceptance within the workplace.   But no one ever said that change is easy!  We’ve managed to implement ‘Scent Free’ policies, nut and allergen policies and we’ve pushed smokers further and further away from the building.  So I wonder, why can't the same courtesies be applied with regards to food choices (sugar was just named above cigarettes and alcohol as the 'most addictive and dangerous substance' of our time). 

So I now ask for your help… how can the “crappy" treats be removed from workplace culture, the happiness and social dynamic brought about by sharing something “yummy” with others be maintained, and the consumption of low fat, gluten-free or organic snacks (all perceived as healthy) not go off-the-wall (and the calorie consumption exceed that previously consumed in unhealthy treats)?

(I am serious in asking for your thoughts as to what works/ might work, so please comment below, or on Facebook or drop me an e-mail with your thoughts.)

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Priority vs. Preference

2/21/2013

1 Comment

 
As with the rest of our lives, we often develop patterns and habits in our physical training routine (that’s right folks, I’m actually going to write about training).  Generally, working out with a specific goal in mind is tough.  It usually means that we’re focusing on improving things that we’ve outline as weaknesses (which means we’ve gone through the process of identifying these areas – critical self analysis can be shitty) and identified these as priorities.

Our human wiring predisposes us towards positive reinforcement – that is we are more inclined to repeat actions that elicits a favourable response – so we tend to opt for these behaviours (one of the reasons I suggest not using food as a reward).  So in our “workout world”, we tend to do the things that make us feel good – or make us feel like we’ve had a really great workout – these naturally become our preferences.
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Now, here comes the part where I take back some of my previous words…

As part of the Resolution Roadtrip series that I wrote to kick off 2013, I wrote a blog on doing the things that you make you smile, and hopefully you’ve been able to accomplish that to date.  But with about 15% of 2013 behind us, it’s time to buckle down and get serious about the goals that we set (and refined) over the past 8 weeks.
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So, don’t get me wrong, feeling great after a workout is motivating.  It increases the likelihood that we’ll come back and have another one.  That’s great if workout frequency is our goal (hopefully that habit has been established), but it’s time to bear down and focus on the priorities - why are we busting our butts in the gym.  It’s time to walk into the gym after a long day of work and say, “I’m gonna bust out that workout that kicks my ass and own it!  Why?  Because in order to achieve my goal, I have to!”


What do you want to achieve? 
What are you prepared to do to achieve it?

A few days ago, I shared a post from Ido Portal on my Facebook page (this guy has some pretty awesome philosophies on movement – and some pretty amazing ability).  In his post he talks about how we all “want” to achieve certain standards.  We want to lift heavier weights or perform certain movements proficiently, but he notes that so many of us haven’t accurately assessed the requirements necessary to achieve these standards.
Lou Holtz, a famous football coach from Notre Dame encouraged his players to ask themselves the question “What’s important now?” 25 times throughout the day as a means of keeping themselves focused on the task at hand – for them that task was winning the National Championship. 
What’s important for you? 
Right now? 
Tomorrow morning? 
Tomorrow at lunch time? 
When you lace up your sneakers?
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** If you’re at the stage where you are just starting out – you might want to go back and read the Resolution Roadtrip, establish a starting point, develop your game-plan and bookmark this post for another month down the road after you’ve had a chance to play a while.

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Love... it's a health thing.

2/14/2013

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I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, in fact I’m not a huge fan of any Hallmark-exploited festivity – but I might as well use whatever opportunity I can to make a point.

I’m the last guy that anyone should turn to for relationship advice, but I have been in the fitness game for a while, and I realize that a romantic relationship(s) has a lot of close similarities to the relationship we have (or should have) with our own health and fitness.
1.       There has to be some commitment – one-night-stands tend to be unrewarding.  Making a healthy choice once in a while just doesn’t cut it.
2.       We seldom experience “love at first sight” - it usually takes a while to nurture the relationship;
3.       You have to respect your health.  It too can go “all crazy on your ass” if you don’t take care of it;
4.       Either relationship can elicit a heart-poundingly good time (both of which can improve health… wink)
5.       There are gonna be some ups and downs (no pun intended) – the key is working through them and coming out better off on other side;
6.       Things do get easier as you go along;
7.       Sometimes you need to spice things up a little;
8.       Worse case scenario for both… death.
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… and a few differences between romantic relationships and our relationship with our health:

1.       Breaking up with your health is not an option (well I guess maybe it is but we typically call that something else);
2.       Your health won’t run a key down the side of your car or throw your shit on the front lawn when things go to hell;
3.       Diamonds, flowers and candy don’t help your health - the anatomical heart is not for sale (at least not legally);
4.       Your heart won’t be with anyone else – it’s yours for good so take care of it!
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Resolution Road Trip - Pit Stop (Day 7 in a 9-Day Series)

1/6/2013

1 Comment

 
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7 days in, 2 tips and 3 blogs to go.  I hope you’re all finding this series beneficial and are starting to get a sense of direction in the planning and implementation of your own personal Resolution Roadmaps.

Today we look at what I feel is the most important rule of physical training, and a critical component in planning for success along our Resolution Road Trip – Rest!

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TIP #6 – REST AND RELAXATION

The past month has been filled with waaaay too much stress.  Too much running around, too much focus on money, too much food, too much booze, not enough sleep, in some cases too much family, and far too much pressure on ourselves. 

Even the pressures we place on ourselves to make resolutions and be successful in accomplishing these can be stressful.  “Gotta prepare my food”. “Gotta get to the gym”.  “Gotta read that blog”.  Does it make sense to have our attempts at healthy living become an added stress – a bit oxymoronic and counterproductive if ya ask me?!

When it comes time to put efforts in to our resolution-oriented activities, a workout, meal planning, a run, or reading, do we have the energy, mental capacity and focus required to do so efficiently or do we find ourselves too drained from the rest of our life?  How far do you really think you’re going to get functioning like this?  How long do you think you can sustain the efforts that you’ve outlined (PoA) to accomplish your goal?

Remember, we’re trying to put forth our BEST effort on a consistent basis, and if our “best” is generally sub-par, then so are the results that we will achieve.

Breaking news… sometimes less is more!
(Now I must add the caveat that this isn’t a license or excuse to slack off.  This is time for a little reality check.)

We need to take a quick (and honest) look at our lives, lifestyles and activities and ask, “Is everything I’m doing a necessity?”  “Do all of the things that I’m doing contribute to the success of goals or are there some that prevent me (either directly or indirectly) from putting my best foot forward?”  To refer back to my favourite Einstein quote where insanity is defined as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”   

As we answer these questions honestly, do we need to think about paring back a bit and allowing ourselves some time to rest, relax, rejuvenate, replenish?

As we continue to tweak and tailor our Plan of Action, we need to include rest in that.  Just as you schedule and plan for workouts, meal prep or self-improvement activities, we need to include time for  rest and relaxation in this formula.  Work, work, work kind of makes sense in terms of achieving our results – we’re programmed to believe that more and harder is better. 
NEWSFLASH – this is not a rule!
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Taking a day off and resting amidst our efforts to achieve, achieve, achieve takes balls – many a mortal being has fallen because they’re not courageous enough to take a step back and rest.
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Please feel free to comment below, on my Facebook Page or on Twitter (#ResolutionRoadTrip).
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Resolution Road Trip - Smiles and Laughter (Day 4 of a 9-Day Series)

1/3/2013

0 Comments

 
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Moving down our list of tips, today's post is essentially a sequel to something I wrote last year  (I'm always happy when a year later I look at something and still consider it valid - it makes it feel a little more concrete).

Last January I was inundated with the emotions of others.  Lots of people were expressing a lot of emotions and I wrote a blog for them entitled “Enjoy”.  Hopefully today’s tip will be pre-emptive and help us move forward on our “Resolution Road Trip”.

TIP #3 – ENJOY IT

Resulting from the realizations I had last year, I now include this thought in pretty much all of my discussions with clients and people looking for advice on how to move forward:  "Do things in a way that will keep you happy.  Start to pick away and remove the superfluous BS from your life that you do not enjoy.  If you’re not enjoying something, figure out why the hell you’re doing it."

So as you sit down and begin to create your Plan of Action (PoA for all you acronymically-inclined people out there – and yes,  acronymically is MY word) ask yourself the question, “Will I enjoy doing this?”   And as you answer, be 100% honest with yourself.  Is it just that this sounds hard and I don’t really feel like exerting myself?  Do I really know that I won’t enjoy this particular choice?  A tough workout might seem daunting, and may even leave us a bit sore, but the feelings of accomplishment afterward may be overshadowing.

If you don’t like running, it doesn’t make sense to include running 3 times a week in your PoA.  If you don’t like fish, it becomes counterproductive to state that you are going to start eating white fish twice a week as a good source of protein.  You will begin to loathe that particular activity, it will become burdensome and before you know it, you’ll be finding any and every excuse in the book not to do it.  Suddenly we are not following our PoA and we become frustrated and prone to giving up. 
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If the answer to the question “Will I enjoy doing this?” is legitimately “yes” – perfect!  If the answer is “I don’t know”, place an asterix beside it, revisit this later, and if you truly find yourself not enjoying it, think of how to remedy this.  If you immediately spout “NO WAY”, think of other things that you will enjoy doing that lead toward the same result.  Yes, some of these alternatives may take a little longer and appear as more of a scenic route, but hopefully we’ve come to terms with the fact that this journey is more of a marathon than a sprint.  And hey, you may find that as you proceed along your resolution road trip and you revisit your PoA, some of the things that made you initially curl up your nose may become a little more appealing - so keep an open mind.

As we look to develop habits which will help us endure this road trip until our final destination, we must surround ourselves with things that make us smile.  It sets us up for being able to sustain these behaviours once we have reached our destination.  Arriving at our final destination smiling makes staying there a lot more promising.

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Please feel free to comment below, on my Facebook Page or on Twitter (#ResolutionRoadTrip).
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The Nutrition Code

11/21/2011

 
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_ As I was making some turkey soup this weekend, I looked on the back of the bag of split peas that I was adding and noticed a recipe for “Vegetable Split Pea Soup” (can you believe this is the way I start a blog that I'd like people to actually read).  Then I noticed the first ingredient - a ¼ pound of diced bacon - trivial I know.  I was a little confused though (obviously it doesn’t take much).  I must just be too literal. 
 
With all the recent hype surrounding “Pizzagate”, this got me thinking that there seems to be some serious misinterpretation by Big Food about the true representation and nutritional claims of our food.

"Healthy", "Doctor Recommended", "Made with Natural Goodness", "Kid Approved" have all become common place sales pitches.  In Canada, food companies are permitted to make health claims pointing out the relationship between a low-sodium, high-potassium diet and reduced risk of high blood pressure; a healthy diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D and reduced risk of osteoporosis; a diet rich in fruits and vegetables and the reduced risk of certain types of cancer, as well as others.  With 50% of shoppers responding that they are motivated to purchase new food products because a product “seems healthy”, we leave the door wide open for Big Food to mislead us in purchasing less-than-optimal choices.

So, I decided to jot down some of the literal translations for the “code” that food manufacturers use in their attempts to make us buy.


“FREE” DOES NOT MEAN NONE! 

Neither does “zero...”, “contains no...” or “without...”.  It means it has a “negligible amount” according to whatever Big Food has worked out with policy makers (Canadian Food Inspection Agency - Canada’s version of the FDA).

Non- or –free.  Must have less than the following per serving: fat (0.5 gram), sugar (0.5 gram), cholesterol (2mg), sodium (5mg) or calories (5 calories).


“Reduced” IS RELATIVE.

Reduced.  Generally, the product must have at least 25% less of the given component (calories, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar, or sodium) than is typically found in that type of food.  Synonymous with “less...”, “lower...”, “fewer...”.


“LIGHT’s” OUT

Apart from being used to describe things like the color or texture of a food, for example "light brown sugar" or "light and fluffy” (as long as the label explains this (insert uproarious laughter here), this term indicates that a product has been changed to have ½ of the fat or ⅓  fewer calories than the regular product; or that the sodium has been cut by 50% (as in “Lightly Salted”)


THE “LOW” DOWN

Low Fat. Fat is a tricky one to monitor as there are “good fats” and “bad fats” (far beyond the scope of this blog), but as a rule when you see the term “low fat” it means that there is 3 grams or less of fat per serving.

Low Calorie.  Means that a product contains 40% less calories than the regular version. 

Low Sodium. Means that a product’s original sodium content is so high that to lure in the unsuspecting consumer, food manufacturers will label it “Low Sodium”.  Foods labelled such will have 140 mg of sodium or less in each serving, or for a pre-packaged meal (who defines this?) there’s 140 mg sodium or less in 100 grams of food.  “Very low sodium” means there’s 35 mg or less in a serving.


“MULTI-" GROAN

Not to insult anyone’s intelligence, but "multi" simply means more than one.  A product bearing this label can be made with many types of nutritious grains, such as oats and bran. But it can also stay true to its claims and be loaded with sugar, salt, and trans-fats, like many "multi-grain" muffins and cookies you find in coffee shops. And the grains these products contain may not be present in their whole-grain form, which is the most nutritious way to consume grains.


“WHOLLY” MOLEY

"Made with Whole Grains" is another label we see frequently since recent dietary recommendations include consuming more whole grains. Big Food loves a good marketing opportunity so milks this claim by adding small doses of whole grains to their product (preceded by enriched flour and sugar midway down a list of ingredients but just after water).


“ORGANIC”

If you thought that organic meant pesticide-free, you might be surprised to find that's not necessarily true. Canadian regulations prohibit the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers but allow the use of some natural pesticides to curtail pest problems but the prevalence of pesticides in our environment keeps any crop from being declared totally free of synthetic chemicals.

When a product bears the “Organic” the intended message is that 95 percent or more of the ingredients have to be grown to “organic certification standards” (in accordance with the Organic Products Regulations, which came into effect in 2009).  Although controversial, there is mixed evidence that organic produce holds more nutritional benefit for us than conventional agricultural products.

The claim “Made with Organic Ingredients” means that at least 70% of the ingredients must follow organic regulations, the remaining 30% don't have to be organic at all.

NOTE: The terms “Natural” and “free-range” do not necessarily mean organic.


“ALL NATURAL” DOES NOT MEAN UNPROCESSED

There are currently no standards on the use of the word "natural" when labelling agricultural products.  When applied to packaged foods the requirement is that those ingredients have to be identical to how they would be found in nature without added colors, artificial flavours, or synthetic ingredients.  But a product that contains "all-natural" ingredients isn't necessarily healthy – salt is naturally occurring as is sugar. Just because the amount of physical change has been minimal doesn’t mean the product is nutritious. This label in no way refers to the way an animal was raised, and indeed, animals raised in industrial barns can carry the label “natural.” The natural label also does not mean that an animal was raised without hormones or antibiotics.


Vitamin Claims

A claim may not be made for a vitamin or mineral nutrient unless a serving of the food contains at least 5% of the "Recommended Daily Intake" (RDI) or "Daily Value" (DV).

5%!?  That means you’d need to eat 20 servings to fulfil the daily requirement.

High, Rich In, Excellent Source Of. All designate products with at least 25% of DV per serving (except vitamin C which must constitute 50% of DV).

Good Source, Contains, Provides. The product must have more than 15% of DV per serving (except vitamin C which must constitute 30% of DV).
 


Thoughts to ponder:

How do these light, free, reduced products keep their shelf life and “full” flavours?  

A reduction in fat is often countered by an increase in sodium and/ or sugar.  Likewise with products toting reduced sugar, having increased sodium and/ or fat content.  Foods boasting low-calorie or low-sugar status often substitute chemical options for natural ones – hardly making them healthier alternatives.


Is that really a serving size?

Serving sizes on today's nutrition labels are unrealistically small, leading us to believe they're eating less food than they actually are.  64 percent of Americans eat the whole can of canned soup in one sitting which claims to contain 2 servings (of 1 cup each).  This means they eat 1,740 mg of sodium rather than the 870 mg printed on the label. 


Suggestions:
(please remember that these are suggestions based on the scope of this blog and do not replace professional nutritional counselling)

1.    Nothing beats common sense – I’d say “follow your gut feeling” but in this case I think we innately know what “good food” is.  Screw the labels, buzz phrases and flashy ad campaigns, go back to the basics.  You know you’re probably on the right track if:
     -     a product does not have a label or ingredient list (as of 2007 all
          pre-packaged foods are required to contain a nutrition label);
     -     based on look and taste, you can guess most of the ingredients without
          looking at the label;
     -     it tastes like desert, it probably has the nutritional quality of desert;
     -     a product won’t keep indefinitely without refrigeration.

2.    Check out the noted serving size and do some quick math based on how much you eat (we tend to under-estimate this value).

3.    Read the ingredients (if your grandma didn’t eat it – leave it, if you don’t know what it is or can’t pronounce it – leave it).

Oh,  I almost forgot :

VEGETABLE(i.e. vegetable soup) means it has vegetables, but may also have meat (apparently)


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If it's Split Pea and Ham.. then call it Split Pea and Ham dammit!

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    Thoughts from my rant-filled mind about our health, how nobody else really gives a crap about it, and ideas about what we can do to help ourselves.
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