Challenging Scenarios When Transitioning Back to the Office -Tedi Nikova, MPH, RD

Many of us will be transitioning back the office, at least partially, as the COVID-19 restrictions are lifted. A few weeks ago, I talked all about how to stick to your healthy eating regime when going back to the office, CLICK HERE to check out the post! Today I would like to dive into two common obstacles that I hear my patients bring up all-too often, these are High Risk Times (HRTs) for snacking, and ‘food pushers’ at work.  I will provide you with my top tips to work through these more difficult situations.

 Consider High Risk Times for overeating

What are High Risk Times (HRT’s)? HRT’s are times of days and environments, where you are more susceptible to have an increased an urge or craving, we call this a WANTING for less healthy food choices. The wanting part our appetite system are different than physical hunger, but both generate similar powerful physiological responses. Food cravings can happen without hunger, and often lead to overconsumption of food. This wanting resides completely in unconscious awareness. This urge can be triggered by emotions, or environmental cues. HRTs are usually developed through learned behaviours, if tasty food is paired enough times with the setting of ‘3pm desk, and stress’, this now becomes the learned behaviour, and the craving in this time of day and environment will be triggered automatically. Typically, HRTs occur later at the day when our executive brain-the brain that makes conscious decisions, is fatigued, therefore our WANTING brain is more likely to stir our eating behaviours. A common HRT of day for our patients is the ‘3 pm slump’, our patients report they “just need a treat to get through the rest of the workday”, during this time.

 I will be sharing the Dietitian teams’ top 4 tips that help our patients deal with High Risk Times (HRTs). We recommend considering applying all these tips. However, if this is overwhelming, starting with tip #1 can be a powerful first step to begin to gain awareness of your HRTs

 Tip #1: Map out your HRTs-what time is it? Where are you? Who are you with? What are you doing?

 Tip #2: During the HRTs evaluate are you physically hungry or is this a WANTING ‘food craving’. To evaluate this, try the protein test. If a piece of plain chicken or plain Greek yogurt sounds tasty to you, that may be a sign you are physically hungry! A food craving shows up as a desire for specific foods, vs. with physical hunger, any food would suffice.

Tip #3: During the HRT, stay hydrated grab water or make yourself your favourite cup of tea, or de-caffeinated latte

Tip #4: Ride the wave (urge surfing): Cravings are like a wave, they peak, and then they settle down. Riding through the urge can involve setting a timer for 20 minutes, and distracting yourself with a task, after 20 minutes you can re-evaluate your craving intensity or physical hunger.

Tip #5: Consider your food environment: Is there anything in your food environment at work that is acting as a cue to consume treats during your HRT’s?

Dealing with the ‘Food Pushers’ at Work

Most of us have that co-worker that comes into the office with donuts for the team! This can be a challenge when being back in office. Some co-workers may bring your favourite treats, and encourage you to enjoy some, these situations can be tough, and you may have the permission thought “It would be rude to refuse, I’ll just have a bite”.

The dietitian teams’ top tips for dealing with food pushers include:

Tip #1: Be polite, but firm, use a simple statement “No, thank you! I actually ate something earlier”, if the pushing continues, I recommend using “I feel” statements. An example includes, “I feel sick when I have sweets this time of day”, I feel statements are more likely to reduce food pushing.

Tip #2: Communicate with your co-workers: If these treats are on the counter every-time you walk into the kitchen, communicate with your co-workers for an alternative spot to place these treats such as in another room, or in a plain box in the fridge. Simply having less exposure to these treats can make it easier to resist the craving for this food. Out of sight, out of mind!

Tip #3: Request for your co-workers to bring healthier options or offer to bring in a low carb sweet treat!

To Re-cap

 HRTs for snacking, and food pushers in the workplaces can be difficult situations, but you can do hard things! You can overcome these workplace obstacles. Once you gain awareness of these situations, it will be that much simpler to control these factors.

 Lastly, and most importantly, I want to remind everyone to be gentle with the process, this is a BIG transition. Instead of feeling like a failure, learn from the experience and use this opportunity to improve your planning, and execution of your health behaviours! This will not be a perfect process, but consistency, reflection, are the keys leading to a successful transition to healthy eating in the office.